Goby

I can tell the difference in fish on a lake by lake basis even here in the cool waters of Michigan lol There are about 3 lakes here in NW Michigan where the Walleye taste far better than any other lakes in the state and it's not even close. Their diet has everything to do with it... If you were to say eat one of these fish side by side with say a Saginaw Bay Walleye, the Saginaw fish would go in the garbage... Get out of Saginaw Bay a good distance though and Lake Huron Walleye taste better, more diversity to their diet... Lake Michigan Walleye are not very good, eat too many Alewife and Gobies... Just like Great Lakes Salmon compared to Pacific Salmon, if you ate them side by side, you would toss the Great Lakes fish in the trash lol Lake Trout caught in some of the inland lakes here in Michigan, typically taste far better than ones caught in Lake Michigan which basically just eat one thing, Alewife. A Crappie caught here ice fishing will taste far better than one caught in the same lake in the Summer, part of this is consistency, the meat is mushy in the Summer and firm in the Winter, but getting them a few months before the spawn makes a big difference. Spawning fish never taste as good as the same fish would, 6 months away from the spawn... Fish that have a very limited diet, never taste nearly as good as fish that don't. I am not a huge fan of eating fish, but I love Panfish and Walleye, I am definitely picky about where I catch fish for table fare, can genuinely tell a difference. I would be willing to bet a Bass that eats nothing more than Shad most of its life wouldn't taste all that great, but never tried one. I did not know it at the time, but I once kept a native Cisco I caught ice fishing a local lake, was one of the finest tasting fish I ever ate, I don't mind the ones caught in Lake Michigan, but this one was way way better, meat was ultra firm, etc... I later found out they are threatened/endangered... Wish I had released that one lol

One of the single greatest attributes to having Muskies in a watershed, they help keep Pike populations in check, which has been proven to help other species flourish and the average size of things like Perch to improve. Pike are obviously very likely to overpopulate a watershed conducive to reproduction, where as Muskies, even in the greatest environments never reproduce very well, a trait of keystone species. In lakes that can sustain them, Muskies keep Pike in check and soft rayed fish like Suckers in check exceptionally well, which helps Pike properly keep Bass in check and Bass help keep Panfish in check, so on and so forth... Many never take into account the damage that Suckers can have on all species, they love fish eggs and to compete for food with other species and they reproduce exceptionally well. There have been some watersheds here in Michigan where Walleye were introduced and what was once stellar Bluegill fisheries were ruined and have largely never recovered. Not all fisheries are the same obviously, why you see most states unwilling to introduce new species into any bodies of water any longer.

There are many fisheries that would vastly benefit from many smaller Bass being culled from their depths... You know, the ones full of fish under 3-4 pounds, virtually none larger... Small streams would be exempt from this logic, but most watersheds would not... The key is releasing most if not all of the large ones, to ensure those genetics stay within the watershed... Don't forget, Smallmouth, Largemouth and Spotted Bass, aren't Bass, they are technically members of the Sunfish Family, just like Bluegills lol Small Largemouth aren't all that different than Crappies when it comes to table fare, have eaten a couple that weren't gonna make it. The growth rates of Smallies are so slow though, a keeper sized Smallie will typically be a very unhealthy meal when it comes to toxic chemicals, etc... When Japan attempted to eradicate Bass from their waters, the lower population densities that were a result of such endeavors, lead to record sized Bass...

LOL, did you win it?

Auction ends today, might be of interest to you. eBayThem Ol' Brown Fish: Billy Westmorland On Smallmouths Boo...Good, solid copy of Them Ol Brown Fish by Billy Westmoreland. Only slight damage that a saw on the top of the cover, see photos. Solid binding, overall good condition. If you have any questions please

I don't believe this is intended to be like Tatsu, it's said to be stiffer, but ultra low memory. If I had to guess, this new stuff is far better on a baitcaster than spinning gear, just like Shooter. To me it seems like a direct competitor to Sunline Shooter. For slack line sensitivity and deep water jigging with a lot of abrasion resistance, Shooter is better than Tatsu, for most other things, I would opt for Tatsu or something else. I literally just bought two bulk spools of Shooter last week lol, wish I had not as I would have tried this stuff, I probably still will try it, but will be a while. It's cheaper than Shooter by a little bit, but no bulk spools.

By the time I do such things in the Fall, my non-insulated garage is below freezing, I will run a kerosene heater to warm the place up while I work, but the fluids are cold as can be when I drain them and I can't use my hose to hook up muffs so it is what it is, just let it drain a long time. I change my fluids mid-Summer as well, I will warm the engine then before changing, but the end of the year stuff is always in late November, early December when the lakes freeze. It is better to change it when it's cold than to not change at all.

Seems like there is a new, high end fluorocarbon available from Seaguar this year. Maybe Seaguar's competition to Sunline Shooter? Anyone tried it? https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Seaguar_Carbon_Ultra_Fluorocarbon_Line/descpage-SCPU.html

TW's 15% off sale starts today, just have to be on their emailing list, makes buying some of these fancy cranks slightly less painful... I fish the Evergreen CR series, like a couple of the colors and the baits work very well, they have a weight transfer mechanism in them.

There are a whole lot of books on Bass on Amazon, lot more than I ever thought there would be. I was interested in the book that @Dwight Hottle mentioned, but it's $200 - $250 on the used market. Ouch!

If you are ever on a brook trout stream and come across a tree branch hanging over the water with a bunch of bug shucks on it, you can scrape your oar across the shucks and knock them in the water, as they descend down river, you will see many of Brookies feeding on them... it's always the small dumb ones though... lol

I don't know anything about those products, but definitely stay away from your traditional waxes, no buffing wheels, etc... In fact, the less you rub on that finish throughout its life, the better. The more you rub, the smoother it gets and that changes the appearance... Some of those liquid waxes, can still leave behind a residue in the textured areas that will make it appear like there are chalky looking spots in the areas that are harder to wipe clean, etc... If that occurs, a good citrus cleaner to get rid of all the wax and then redo with something else... The longer that stuff sits though, the harder it is to get out, even with a strong citrus cleaner... You can guarantee that warning page is there for a reason, someone treated their new motors like their old ones and made them look funky... I bet a detailer at a marina took a buffing wheel to one and ruined it... lol Initial looks on those motors is 10/10, think they look awesome. Just require special care and maybe not the best option if you are hard on stuff and still like it to look great for a long time...

It should be noted that Suzuki has a typo in the article I linked... The statement "Waxes that have polishing compounds are to be used." is 100% false, do not use a polishing anything on this finish or you will be sorry... You shouldn't use it on any outboards plastic components either, only glossy paint and only if you know what you are doing... Imagine operating a company like Suzuki and a typo like that making it on your website LOL The future legal ramifications of such a mistake, wow... It's essentially telling people to use liquid sandpaper with wax to clean their engines, ouch... Do not do it, very much a typo...

Just as I assumed, well to be honest I knew, wasn't an assumption... The matte textured finish is a pain with waxes, etc... Been there, done that, never again. SPECIAL CARE FOR STEALTH MATTE FINISH PAINTLearn how to properly care for your Suzuki outboard's Stealth matte finish to maintain its appearance and performance. Discover key cleaning tips and precautions.

I was at the local mall the other day and a local marina has a few pontoons inside the mall for folks to see and ideally, buy. One of them had one of these Suzuki's on it, they look cool, but a matte finish will be far more likely to show scratches and cosmetic flaws and such down the road than a glossy one. It's also impossible to get rid of them too as you can with a polished finish, etc... You would have to refinish the entire part, no spot repairs or buffing it out like one could typically do with a glossy finish... We used to put glossy and matte finishes on our river boats for the company I worked with for a while, I would never opt for a matte finish on anything boat related, ever... My Family has also been in the auto body, salvage, sales, etc... business for over 75 years so I have extensive experience with such things... It's easy to fix a scratch on a glossy part, whether it be painted or gel coat, metal or glass, but the moment you make it matte, all easiness of repair goes out the window... I especially would not want anything even remotely textured being submerged in water or sprayed with dirty water... It's a pain to clean and keep clean... I am sure they will sell well, they look cool, my brain always just thinks of what it takes to make them remain looking good, years down the road...

They like hard bottoms, they like food and they prefer to have something around that makes them feel safe... Notably, while you may look for cover on say a river Smallmouth fishery, most lakes I would look for structure... Structure that also has some form of cover like a log sticking up off the bottom or maybe huge boulders will rank higher than cover or structure on its own in most scenarios... This also holds true for rivers, but in rivers, fish don't want to work harder than they have to, so you typically need to mix a current break with cover... Depending on available forage, depth, time of year "water temp", this will dictate the best bait to use, but personal preference can also come into play here... All fishing is, is an itemized list to check the boxes on, if you address time of year, water temp, available forage and what you prefer to fish, then take into account the makeup of the body of water you are on, while also taking into consideration the weather pattern, you have done everything any book is going to teach you. Not every Bass in a body of water will be eating the same thing or they may be eating multiple things, think about how many Bass you catch on topwaters that begin spitting up Crayfish in the boat, etc... so personal preference does play a role to some degree, maybe you like fishing crankbaits or maybe you prefer a jig, etc... Most of the time you can have success with both, it's all about how you prefer to approach it... You just have to approach it properly, given the conditions, if you remain within those limitations, you will likely have success... The more you do it, the more you can develop your own pattern or series of boxes to check off so to speak, over time, the manner in which you approach each body of water you fish will change as you will learn that body of water more and more and thus your approach to that body of water will become more specialized. Never forget, luck is a skill... :)

Honestly, I am a book nerd, but you will find more valuable information on YouTube and this website than you will virtually any books. The first question to your question is, pattern them where? What climate, type of water, time of year? Once you answer that, then you can move forward...

It's not fluoro, but... Sunline Super Natural mono in 10 pound is a fave of mine, no memory, fishes a jerk bait really well, casts a mile. I prefer 2500 sized spinning reels for most Bass applications where I use a spinning rod, most fluoro is awful on all spinning reels, you can get a lot of life out of a spool of super natural and it's great on spinning reels, even 2500 sized ones. I don't like to go under or too much above .010" in diameter for jerkbaits on spinning gear, I would pay more attention to that than advertised pound test rating.

Photo of my buddy and his kid holding one, used to do it a fair bit, super easy, just drop a jigging spoon down and they usually eat it before you even have a chance to jig it... When you get bored catching Trout, you make an adjustment and target Cisco's for dinner...

I have been trying to find the actual findings of the study my local fisheries biologist mentioned to me once. In short, she basically told me all the Lakers I was catching jigging, were dying. My locals, you can go out and catch 30 or more a day, not hard, just need 2D sonar, some basic mapping and some common sense. I quit doing it after she told me about this study, as I never kept any of them and wanton waste isn't my thing. What I seemingly missed or she failed to tell me was, that the biggest issue derives when you have warm surface temps, common sense says though that the warmer the surface temps, the deeper the fish will be, at least here, so is it the temps or barotrauma or a combination of both... One can logically perceive that barotrauma would increase stress, which would increase the buildup of lactic acid in the fish or the ability to rid the body of it at the least, which is what kills fish when they die of heat related issues. So logic would say, it's a combination of both. How this would carry over to Bass, probably not the same as Bass can handle warmer water much better than Lake Trout, but it would definitely be a huge strain, depending on depth. Culling a few Bass out of a healthy watershed isn't a bad thing though, within reason, but when everyone is doing it to fish that are over a decade old... If surface temps are at or over 70 degrees, you likely won't catch a Lake Trout much shallower than 60' and many will be pushing the 100' mark or more, so this would align with my own observations that Lake Trout act much much healthier when caught in depths of 50' or less. It's like a night and day difference... I still fish them in the Spring when they are shallow, they LOVE blade baits, but no longer pursue them in the Summer months... A Michigan study found that nearly half of lake trout caught and released in warmer waters die due to stress and trauma from the catch-and-release process. The research highlighted that factors like water temperature significantly affect the survival rates of these fish, especially when caught from deeper waters. Duluth News Tribune Great Lakes Echo Lake Trout Mortality Study OverviewKey FindingsA Michigan Department of Natural Resources study revealed significant mortality rates for lake trout caught and released, particularly in warmer water conditions. The study found that: 43% of lake trout caught and released in surface waters above 50°F likely died. Mortality rates increased markedly when water temperatures exceeded 70°F. Factors Influencing MortalityThe study identified several factors that contribute to the high mortality rates of lake trout: Temperature Stress: Lake trout are cold-water fish. Warmer temperatures cause physiological stress, leading to higher mortality. Catch and Release Practices: The trauma from being caught, combined with temperature differences, significantly reduces the fish's chances of survival. Barotrauma: Rapid changes in pressure when fish are brought from deep water can cause injuries, although this was not the primary cause of mortality in the study. Recommendations for AnglersTo protect lake trout populations, anglers are advised to: Limit the number of lake trout caught to the daily limit (typically three). Avoid releasing excess fish, especially in warmer water conditions. Consider targeting other species, such as salmon, when lake trout fishing is particularly good. These practices aim to reduce the impact of catch and release on lake trout populations in Michigan's waters.

Besides the normal Family photos, mostly just framed photos I have taken, nature and landscape photography is a favorite hobby of mine. You have to really downgrade the image quality/clarity to get them to post here on the site, but you get the point.

Been able to find a couple reviews of the Boat Drip spray that mentioned "the strong smell" so I am assuming, like Hot Sauce, it consists of Vinegar and some liquid waxes/polymers, everytime you see someone ask online how it compares to Hot Sauce, no answer lol There is yet another one called "Boat Juice" that I think has a fruity smell according to reviews, no idea how it works or any of that... Maybe a citrus based cleaner, I have never found a citrus based cleaner that worked very well on water spots though. I am going to try some bow to stern this year, see how it does. Had never heard of it before.

I would like to believe I would take a good photo for my own records and release it, especially if it was caught on an inland lake and not one of the Great Lakes. It seems like everytime I go to use my Rapala digital scale, which is like twice a year, the batteries are always dead, the livewell is empty and I hate to have the fish sit in a livewell for over a minute before the water is deep enough to allow them to breathe so I can put fresh batteries in it. So the chances of me even knowing it was a record are slim to none anyway LOL While I am competitive in regards to my angling endeavors, it's with myself, not a tournament guy, just love to fish and explore new places and I live for solitude in wild places, so the chances of destroying future chances at peace and quiet on already busy fisheries, hope I would keep my head down and just keep on trucking without the ole Bass Fever getting to me... I have no problem with the man or woman that would do otherwise though, I get it.

I would agree with this 100% The debacle that is the Muskie World Records, we now have "Modern Day World Records" as it is believed that the old one was fraudulent. So they are already doing as you suggest with Muskies, why not everything else! https://www.modernmuskierecords.org/