billmac

Not for me. Abu Garcia Black Max is a good solid reel for around $50.

I've written about the challenges of storing rods in my 16ft Cajun Maverick, but with rod socks I get by. But what about having them handy when you are fishing? Do you guys with smaller boats just lay them on the deck? Stand them up some where? I find this a bit of a challenge.

Come to NY and try not to catch a smallmouth.

I've got basically no experience with a jerkbait. I think I understand pretty well how to fish them, but where? When? Do you have to know there are suspended bass around? They don't strike me as good lures to pull through cover.

One of these days I'll go somewhere where there are not smallmouth.

My new (old) bassboat wouldn't get up on plane, and like Alex's story, I wasn't trimming down the motor. I had no experience and when tilting down the motor, I stopped when it seemed to stop. And WOT scared me to death until I got used to it.

Is the town listed for the St. Lawrence River event the same as usual? Although Clayton is close by, the event has been held in Waddington for years. In fact, I think Waddington holds the record for the highest attendance at a BASS tournament. Update: My local paper confirms that they are indeed moving to Clayton next year.

Yeah, under the seal strip on the back (right I think) pontoon. Should start with a Z. That is the HIN.

I bought an old one on Craigslist, and the guy threw in a trolling motor. Looks a little beat up, but it floats, and now I can get on water that I can't get my bassboat on. Caught some nice pike and bass on my first outing. There was absolutely no paper trail with it, so I thought I was going to have trouble registering it, but fill out enough forms, and you can register anything.

I think you should choose a color scheme that looks good to you. The fish don't care.

From a business perspective, part of what we are seeing is that Walmart operates on slim margins, and other companies simply don't. I imagine the $7 spinnerbaits people are buying don't cost much more to make than Walmart's, even if the quality is a bit better, unless those baits are being made in America.

I've been watching Scott Martin's first year in the Elites with interest, but he's not getting it done. I don't think he's in the cut range, but he's well down in the pack.

Great stuff. My university is hosting the BASS collegiate championship in August and the college club I advise is sending two teams.

When I was young I caught a 10+ fish that my much older brother in law said was a chain pickerel which, if true, would have been a world record. But honestly he might have just been incorrect and it might have been a pike. We ate it.

I have a 1988 Mercury I6, 115hp. I've had it about 3 years, and it has gone through the same cycle each year. First outing, runs great. Next 1 or 2 outings, when I throttle up, it will hesitate a second or two, and then take off and be fine. After that, at the beginning of each fishing trip, when I throttle up, it will dog down and stall, or just plow through the water without planing up. If I throttle down, or even shut it off, fish a few minutes, and try again, after 4 or 5 times, it will throttle up and work fine the rest of the trip. I've changed plugs, trigger, fuel lines, needles, seats and floats, rebuilt the fuel pump, all to no avail. I can live with it, I only paid a few thousand for the boat and motor, but I would get it fixed if I could. I tried a local mercury dealer and although they didn't outright tell me not to bring it, they made it clear it was too old for them to work on. Anyone got any experience with motor repair in my area?

I bought my first baitcaster around '78, a Daiwa Millionaire. Although I got pretty proficient with it, I used to carry a knife and an extra spool of line because I would occasionally get an epic backlash. I haven't had to cut one out in awhile, but honestly the "press on the spool with your thumb" technique to get them out doesn't usually work that well for me.

Pike are excellent eating fish. You have to fillet them a bit differently but it's worth it. I have read about pickling pike, which dissolves the bones, but I've never tried it.

I actually don't like to eat fish that much, and bass are way down on the list. I haven't kept and eaten one in decades, so I don't know if it is still true, but in upstate NY, by the time smallies were legal to keep, they were invariably loaded with parasites.

I always wonder at reports of broken rods. I've broken several rods through carelessness over the years, but I can't say I've ever had a rod break when I was actually fishing.

I don't know about Quantum reels, but I just bought a Quantum Graphex casting rod at Runnings (M/H). I haven't gotten a chance to use it yet, but I've got it rigged up with a Black Max reel and it casts beautifully and I love the feel of it (and of course it was really cheap). I had purchased an Ugly Stik Elite online from BPS and I hated it as soon as I took it out of the tube. It felt like it was made of lead. Luckily the coating came off the tip of the rod and I was able to return it for a refund.

....about your cheap setup. I'm a fairly cheap fisherman. I use rods and reels that run about $50 each. I'm somewhat skeptical of super expensive tackle and probably wouldn't buy it even if I had a lot more funds than I do. I don't begrudge people spending $$$ on tackle, but I've been watching some old-time fishing videos and it dawned on me that my $100 baitcasting combo is probably light years better than what these pros were using 20 years ago. It's all a matter of perspective.

Anyone dropshot using tubes? I know Glenn has a video on it. Smallmouth love tubes. Smallmouth love dropshot. It seems like a good combination. The main reason I ask is that I have lots of tubes, but not so many other drop shot baits and my local stores don't seem to be carrying much. Quite likely sold out because of the recent MLF and upcoming BASS Elite tourneys.

It's not a big deal to me, but it's interesting that flogging is legal but standing on your yeti cooler to see better isn't.

So by now you should have gotten the gist that smallmouth are not a finicky fish. They are generally aggressive and opportunistic. Put a bait in front of them and they will bite it. It's not 100% true all the time of course, but locating them is a far bigger challenge than making them bite.

I usually fish roostertails in current, so it's not usually a problem. I wouldn't fish them in pike/pickerel country though.