MGF

What you guys are calling a "flatfish" looks like what I know as a "lazy ike" I have some bombers...some still new in the box I think. I've caught a lot of fish on the original bomber...a "long-a" I think it was called. I also have a river runt that I stopped using because it needs paint.

It sounds like the drag was just slipping. If the drag is set too, you won't get the fish in. Also, if you put too much line on the spool it will tend to come off on it's own

I guess all accidents are preventable (that's why they call them accidents) but, reading the article, it's not clear to me what caused the boat to flip.

I wish I lived someplace that had streams like that. But...I was an avid cave diver at one time. I didn't fish much during that time but I used to dive a cave in Missouri that supplied a spring run into a creek (not that far from St. Louis) that I would have loved to fish. We used to have small mouth and trout follow us hundreds of feet back into the cave and to depths of 160 feet. Without our lights, I don't think fish wandered past the natural light zone of the cavern. I apologize if this was too far off topic.

We made it out today. The water was 57 F in at the ramp. We fished a part of the river we don't often fish and with the water "up" it's not as easy for me to read the river. Anyway I was at it for probably 5 hours and caught 3 smallmouth. None of them were anything to write home about but better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick. LOL One was caught on a swim jig on the bottom is a hole that was actually pretty impressive for this river and next to a sand bar...all below a little island. The other two were both on a tr tube and at the mouth of creeks (two different creeks. Both creeks had a little bit of flow into the river. The creeks were kind of muddy. We had some rain a couple of days ago. All these fish were hugging the bottom and biting more like a crappie. You know, you're dragging the bottom and it just gets heavier and maybe eventually makes a movement that lets you know it's a fish. It seems to me like these fish are wanting warming weather just like I am. LOL

If it's public land I'd call DNR, or whoever. In my experience the DNR doesn't usually show up or do anything but what else can you do. If it were my property I would immediately and completely block access one way or the other.

Jig or weedless plastic of some flavor. Specifics are going to depend on depth and cover.

I'm usually fishing in some current so I most often put a carpet tack or little piece of a nail weight in the nose and tail.

I never really thought of fishing for chubs. Obviously I can sometimes see other minnows or even shad but I don't recall seeing those larger chubs except when bass spit them out in the boat. On my river there's a reservoir 20 miles or so down so these fish can travel a long way and get to some very different environments. The difficult part is river access down there...nothing public and I haven't looked into buying access from one of the marina's on the lake. Going out today. Things have been warming up a little so we'll see.

I hadn't seen them anywhere in a long time so I assumed they weren't around anymore. I still have some here someplace. I used to fish them over pads or matted weeds that had a lot of holes instead of a frog type bait. Now I have to go find them and put them to work.

I've had my drag anchor hang up many times. I've had it happen in some pretty strong current too. It was never a big problem. Last year I had it happen in some current that was strong enough that I couldn't budge upstream without using the gas motor.. The water was deep enough that I could use it. I just motored upstream until we got above the anchor and my wife could lift it off the snag. As long as the anchor is off the bow (bow pointed upstream), it would take one hell of a current to be a problem. We use regular anchors all the time in the river and that doesn't sink us.

I use one on the canoe and on the jon boat. I don't like doing it because it can't be good for the river but boat control sure is rough without it.

The water I spend most of my time on never gets so rough that it's dangerous but it doesn't take much wind to make boat control miserable in my little boat. I love my flat bottom boat on the river but it doesn't take much chop on the water to beat you half to death if you try to motor someplace. In short...the less wind the better for me.

I guess I'll add a question. If you don't use one, how do you address boat control? This is fairly skinny water I'm thinking about.

Another river related topic. Do you use a drag anchor and what are your thoughts on them?

I live by a popular river and we get canoes, kayaks and tubers from all over. There are two canoe/tube rental outfits within 5 or 10 minutes of my house. I don't know what kind of business they'll do this year but one of them buses people down from Chicago by the hundreds (3 or 4 buses at a time) to float the river in tubes. Locals get together in large groups and float the river towing coolers and such. These tubes are often tied or held together forming a large mass of scantily clad drunks. LOL So it's motors that need to be banned? It looks like there's more traveling of tubers and paddlers. Thankfully, I'm not in Michigan so I can use my boat. mostly because of weather and water conditions, I haven't been out much yet but I'm looking forward to it. Look, the virus might kill me or I might go broke and starve. In the mean time, I'm going to continue living as well as I can. At the stage of life I'm in, there's no sense in putting anything off. LOL so I'm going fishing. I'm old enough to know better than to try to apply logic to what government does. It just can't be done. It's like looking for a penny in the corner of a round room.

I have a rear mounted tiller control trolling motor. It takes one of my hands to steer which means I ruin lots of casts fighting wind and current. Nobody ever wants to take a turn driving the boat. I have so many stories of days where I wore myself out doing nothing but fighting the wind all day. I love days with little of NO wind.

Do all you folks have "bass" boats?...a boat with a casting deck and a bow mounted trolling motor? I feel like I'm from a different planet. LOL

That sounds like my experience but I sure would like to figure it out.

My favorite for "line to lure" is a uni-knot but I grew up with an improved clinch and I also use a snell quite a bit. For attaching leaders (usually flouro to braid) I use two. The fg is probably the best but, the way I tie it, I sit or kneel on the leader spool to keep it tight. If that's not convenient I use a blood knot. I've tried a bunch of them and these are my two favorites with no close third choice. To be honest, I could get along just fine using nothing but the blood knot. Over the years tying knots has gotten more difficult. The line has gotten thinner and my eye sight isn't as good. To make things worse my hands are calloused so it's hard to feel the line. There's always a way and I've had to resort to actually practicing knots to find ways around these difficulties. I don't drop shot much but I do use a palomar for that and there are some loop knots I use for tying up crappie rigs.

Interesting point about the horizontal baits. I did use some but it wasn't my main focus. It probably won't happen this year but next year I want to try down river where it's bigger in the early season. I've read that smallmouth are very "migratory" but I haven't really tried to track them.

It's the Tippecanoe river in Pulaski county Indiana. I don't know how to describe the size except to discuss depth. At summer water levels you can walk the whole river and not find anything deeper than 4 or 5 ft. I only know a couple of places that would be over my head. In the summer it's mostly a one way float because you can't motor up river very far. I keep oars in the boat because there are places where I can't even use the electric motor. When the water is "low" we sometimes have to get out and walk certain areas. This time of year you can add a couple of feet to that and I can motor almost anyplace. Down river about 20 miles (by land) there's a reservoir. I am starting to think that there just isn't enough water up here for the bass to winter when they could cruise down to the lake and find MUCH deeper water. Is that reasonable? I haven't fished down there because there aren't any public launches. If they were open there is a marina where you can purchase access. Only been out twice so far but I have ned and neko rigged the daylights out of all the "slack" water I could find. That's not to say that I was there at the right time or the right day but you would think I'd hit on something over the years. In the last two trip, I have focused on slack water and current seams. I've used ned, neko, my normal 1/4 or 3/8 skirted jig, jerk bait, tube and and a square bill. I've also drifted some areas where I catch summer fish even though there isn't any obvious reason they would be there now.

I just wipe my hands on my pants. Sometimes I rinse them in the lake/river before wiping.

A 17 or 20 pound mono line is nice for practice. It's inexpensive and untangles easy. If it works for some of your fishing so much the better.

I never do well on the river this time of year. Last weekend the water was 50 F and a front was moving in (when isn't it this time of year). For the second weekend in a row I fished my backside off and never got bit by a bass. In the past I sort of thought that I just didn't pick things apart well enough in the early season high fast water. I've been more careful this year. While I've only been out twice I've both covered a bunch of water and anchored on obvious structure picking it apart with numerous baits from different angles. I caught one small pike on a square bill. I don't even know what else to try. If the bass are in this part of the river (I'm starting to think they aren't) then I clearly don't know how. Most years I get skunked once or twice in the early season and then just wait for warmer lower water. Any and a;ll suggestions welcome. LOL