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Paul Trybul

ISA Officer
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  1. no, but its good to show them something different.
  2. That's why I stick with my waders and kayak until I'm either not physically able or when I get close to retirement. You can drop a lot of money into a boat and everything it takes to keep it going and trailer it places.
  3. No but it sounds like I should
  4. So offended John, actually I didn't take it that way at all. You commented on an amazing outing and then you went into a Mepps story. No offense taken. I would like to think I've established some fishing cred here over the years with my posts, pictures and outings with other ISA members. In case there are doubters, I do have some pictures. Again, I do feel like the bigger Mepps is a great combo lure for essox/smallmouth in rivers or sections of rivers that offer good numbers of both species. I was throwing a #5 Mepps Aglia and was surprised how many 12-14" smallmouth jumped on the bigger spinner. The lure definitely works when thrown in the right locations. I have found two potential disadvantages for this lure. #1 It's not weedless or snag resistant. Almost was a wood magnet but fortunately the water was shallow enough to get back all my snags. #2 Fish seem to come unbuttoned on this lure more than other lures. If a smallmouth jumps while shaking its head with a Mepps. there is a good chance the two will separate.
  5. The Mepps is a great combo essox/smallmouth lure in rivers. I had an outing over the weekend were I caught 6 pike and close to 20 smallmouth on a #5 Mepps Aglia. It certainly can work in lakes but I think it really shines in rivers. The flash, vibration and the way it can slowly hover in current trigger a lot of strikes. Pro anglers are fishing largemouth in lakes 90+% of the time. They probably find there are better options to fish deeper and tighter to cover to catch largemouth.
  6. I've missed observing bass spawn for quite a few years now. As soon as I see it, I hit the woods in search of morel mushrooms. Those two activities seem to be very much in sync. I did start to see it my last day in the northwoods.
  7. DieZel MinnowZ™'s. This is the answer to all your problems of littles ones biting off the tails of your paddletails. They have a Jr version too if you want to go on dink clean up mode. You'll snag and lose the plastic before it wears out most of the time.
  8. Big fish are particular and some days its tough to get them to bite. I would start by fishing that section again. You have a section with numbers and some big ones mixed in so I would keep hitting that until you unlock its secrets. Bomb long casts - The water looks low and clear so the big fish can get spooky. Approach good spots with stealth and bomb long casts before the fish can see you. Bigger baits - Sounds like you tried that and little ones will still tap on bigger baits. Bigger topwaters have been the key of me. They don't catch as many dinks and they can trigger some really aggressive strikes from the king of pool. Topwaters like walk the dogs, chug bugs, and whopper ploppers are all able to cast very long distances as well. Fish the low light periods - When the water gets super clear like that, big ones seem to get tricked more often around the sunrise/sunset periods or on cloudy day with an impending storm front. Some people will call this cheating but bring some creek chubs. Drift one through one of those nice pools where you saw a big one but couldn't get it to bite. Make sure you work over all the dinks first or they'll just steal your bait. Preferably catch your creek chubs out of a tributary of the same river basin so you're not introducing anything invasive.
  9. Looks like a lot of quality bronze was caught this year. This was my 4th year staying at the Tinkers Dam and it was one of my better big fish years. I had to fish after all you experienced ISA anglers just pounded the area for the past week. The fish still have to feed and I had nice low water levels for my wading and kayaking. The boat guys might have struggled to navigate if you came week 2. Like I wrote earlier, I got one a little under 21", a 20" along with a handful of 19's. The two Brutus class fish came on topwaters. Jason told us about Mr quackers and my wife was out there feeding it every day. Turns out Mr quackers is really a Mrs Quackers and she is a domestic duck called a khaki campbell. We drove down the road to buy some fresh farm eggs. The owner of the small farm raises all kinds of birds including ducks and they were missing one. Perhaps she will find her way home as a domestic has little chance of surviving a northwoods winter on its own. It did feel like something was missing this year. Yes, we were missing Mike. I was looking forward to having a few drinks with Mike by the campfire but it didn't happen...maybe next year. The weather was great, bugs weren't an issue and there are some great trails to hike and waterfalls to see. Until we meet again, I will miss you Northwoods.
  10. Hey Eric, we found your egg maker and Larry took it with him since he lives closest to you. Congrats on your first 20" , looks like a think healthy fish. Great pics and reports from the week 1 crew. I can tell you my wife and I had a great time relaxing at the cabin and have drinks by the campfire. We also explored the local parks, waterfalls, kayaked and did some fishing. You guys left us plenty of food too. Fishing was great, It was never on fire but it was steady and I caught some giants. I got a 20 3/4" within view of the cabin and a 20" about 1/2 mile upstream. I caught at least a 19" all 4 days. I can out up some pics when I'm not so slammed at work.
  11. So I went out and got one of these that looks exactly like the one Eric pictured. I took it out this morning and did some field testing. I've got a mixed review at this point. The negatives, were it was expensive and I found it to be kind of clunky. For a bigger heavier lure it doesn't cast as far as I would have thought. Due to the clunky up front hardware, I had two line tangles in the first hour that resulted in me needing to cut the line and retie. It makes a huge splash when it lands. It one of those lures that goes to extremes. It's either going to spook everything in a general radius or its going to create some violent reaction strikes. On a positive note it works. I caught a sweet 17.5" within the first hour of field testing it. I feel it has good essox catching possibilities as well. Probably a good smallmouth/pike/musky combo lure and a good alternative in waters that have been whopper plopped to death.
  12. Jonn knows his stuff, is out field testing all the time, and with paying customers. If he says something is a winner, I believe it too. He was the first to tell me about the lucky craft pointers. 1,000's of smallmouth later, that is still a big part of my cold water smallmouth arsenal.
  13. Welcome to northern IL and the ISA. We have some good moving water for you to explore. You'll even get to experience some random fish with teeth while out chasing smallies. The MSA is a well run organization with a strong following. From a leadership perspective, we would love to hear more about what made the MSA successful and what we can duplicate here.
  14. I've done this trip 2 different ways and they were both very enjoyable. I did the hard core fishing way with the guys. Its not a big numbers section around the cabin but the average size, girth and fight on these smallmouth are exceptional. I've landed 2 Brutus class smallmouth on 3 trip all within a few miles of the cabin. This solid 18"+ came from across the river from the cabin on a whopper plopper. I've also done the trip with my wife. The upstairs is like a honeymoon sweet with a great view of the river and its own bathroom. Those trips were less about the fishing as we did more hiking and tours of the waterfalls in the area. There are also enough walleye and small pike if you like that tradition of a fresh fish meal on your fishing trips. The value of the price versus location is outstanding. If you go the same time as me, I can teach you the ways of fishing mid river structure and the secrets to looking for the subtle clues of mid river current breaks. I feel this is the best way to catch big smallmouth on this river in August. I also can't forget the time I caught 2 fish, 2 different species on one cast.
  15. It was the shadow rap, which does have that slight sink. I tried the ripstop and wasn't that impressed. It doesn't run very deep which is probably good for shallow rivers. Not so good for lakes or deeper sections of river. I'm not so sure how important a feathered hook is. I catch a ton of fish on lucky craft pointers which do not have a feathered hook. I do like the Rapala X-rap XR-10's & XR-8's as they are great for smallmouth in lakes or rivers.
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