joshw

I agree it will add more boats and pressure to an already highly fished lake. I do also agree a 9.9 at full throttle will cause more shoreline erosion than a larger outboard at idle. A simple fix would be a 5mph rule for larger crafts with higher horsepower motors.

This is the first year I have been able to attend (usually I'm fishing Muskies somewhere!) and I have to say it's a nice little show with some good deals at it. It was great to see some old faces. There were some great deals by some of the vendors. I bought some materials and tools from Hawkeye Fly, a tying bag and line (both 50% off!) from Matt at the Driftless Angler, a couple new/improved version Shannon's streamers from Rich, and a few used DVD's from another shop for 5$ ea. Jeremy from Dupage Fly Co was there with some great deals on Lamson reels but I'm all set for reels at this point. I was even able to grab a brat and rootbeer on the way out that were pretty tasty. Thanks to John for putting this together. It was a nice assortment of vendors for a smaller event like this.

I've been fishing a Rowdy buzz for two seasons and agree it's a great replacement for a Boogerman and constructed with a better hook and more durable wire.

I've fish it in black with white rubber legs (traditional girdle bug color) and had some in yellow with brown legs that were really good at times on the local rivers here. It reminds me I have to tie up some yellow ones to fish again.

I had a chance to stop by and see what Tom was tying. He is a very good teacher and gave a great presentation on how to tie this pattern. There is a lot of thought that he put into how it was constructed.

I have found the biggest killer of wading boots to be HEAT. Don't leave them in your car trunk or truck bed during summer as the heat effects the glue on the soles and the stitching appears to rot out faster on seams. I was going though at minimum a pair of boots a season. After I started removing them from the hot vehicle on a regular basis the lifespan of my boots have doubled. If I'm not going to be wading in them for a few days I throw them on a boot dryer to dry them out thoroughly and store them inside the garage where it's cooler than the vehicle. I would suggest staying with a higher end boot from Simms, Patagonia, Orvis because of their warranty as stated above in this thread.

What do you currently use? What is your budget ? What is the largest fly you expect to cast?

Tom is spot on as always! Spawn sacks, beads or small crappie tubes (pearl white is a good color) tipped with a waxworm under floats are usually the ticket in colder water of December/January. If you want to throw hardware, inline spinners in nickel, brass or orange blades in size 2-4 can also be effective at times slow rolled through holes and on the swing in runs.

I'm pretty sure Dahlberg was trying to copy the Mud Puppy sound when he created the Plopper. I believe the Mud puppy then Tally Wacker and LeLure's were the first tail rotators mass produced. That Poes Awaker was one of the first musky baits pushed on TV from Bob M. He for sure is a great salesman! A tip I can offer on those style baits is to take some sand paper and rough up the rivet portion that contacts the bead at the tail. It helps create a grind/squeak that seems to draw some extra strikes at times.

Give Three Rivers Fly Shop (Knoxville) a call. Even if your not fly fishing they can point you in the right direction and may suggest a guide that both spin and fly fishes for a float trip. If you were looking for a striper trip I could point in the right direction but I haven't targeted smallmouth on my many trips down to that area.

420 Meadows Road North or South? there are two addresses listed. If I can get down there I will. I'll miss the parking lot conversation with him...I often ran into him when hopping spots in the lots and pull offs. We both always made time to talk for a few before moving on.

For moving water trout nymphing I like the New Zealand style wool indicator system. It's adjustable and reusable and doesn't splat down like thingamabobbers. https://www.strikeindicator.com/

I think I saw this guy in Cabelas the other day testing rods

I know drum feed on mussels a lot. Maybe try a carp fly like the Hybrid carp fly. A second choice would be the clouser swimming nymph (following the nymph suggestion above). It's a general nymph size pattern with some size too it (good smallmouth fly as well). I would start with those two and would be very interested in seeing how you do. If they hit the pearl crappie tube I can't see a small pearl clouser not working as well.

I have not tried the mono loop hook tied in Intruder style. I also have not experienced a lot of short strikes on this pattern either. I still find that almost all predators head hit all baitfish if possible. I guess if I was swinging these for steelhead and browns exclusively I would look into the intruder style hook because quite a few strikes you get are pure defensive as in "get out of my riffle" type nips at larger streamers. That trailing stinger would get a number of those fish that are striking out of aggression rather than feeding at times.

My 2 cents on eyes. While there is no doubt it can be a trigger and allow predators to focus on the head area of a bait, think of how many fish have been caught on a zoom fluke or original sluggo type plastic bait. No eyes and a simply deadly bait on most gamefish. The hollow tied craft fur flies have been a staple in my boxes for years. If you want some other tips for craft fur look up dave's bad hair day fly on youtube. He has some tips on helping distribute hair on the hook and is a master at simple very effective patterns that are fast to tie.

I agree. The MLF type format as well as the format used on the PMTT musky tournaments (measurement with pics and witness if available) are definite steps in the right direction for tournaments. I have found heavy resistance on some other sites when I expressed my opinion as well. Several sites had administrators send me private messages that I would be banned if this continued because tournaments help fund the sites! Needless to say they can keep their site. I can't imagine the type of fishery we would have for Door County smallmouths without all of the tournaments held on a weekly basis. It made me sick to see the large prespawn females hauled around to weigh ins during the spring tournaments let alone the horrendous rides they take in livewells for many miles in big seas that are a regular occurrence on that body of water. I have seen a change in the south end lake Michigan smallmouth population as well. I believe largely because of tournaments the Indiana smallmouth population in lake Michigan is not what it was 8-10 years ago. Don't get me wrong, its still good but nothing like it was before the tournament onslaught. Maybe down the lines the changes could be made for tournaments to be immediate release or charge huge tournament permit fees for those who choose a different format. On a side note I have a friend who is a tournament fisherman and he informed me that the DNR had reduced tournament hours on the fox chain during August. Their days were cut short due to the "usually high water temps". Actual water temps were in the 70's. The tournament weigh ins were to be held at Noon instead of 3pm and a DNR representative was onsite to make sure they were in compliance with this tournament permit time....kudos for the DNR making a move in the right direction to help protect the resource.

Heads up that gander mtn in Joliet has their fly lines 70% off. The had a lot of six weight lines, some 7's and eights along with lots of trout lines. There are some good tapers too like mpx textured sa lines as well as some streamer express lines... time to stock up. Those who know me know I have no affiliation with gander. Just passing along the deal to other smallmouth and trout guys in the area.

It's a very large area to fish and bays on both sides of the peninsula hold smallmouths. You can always find some water to fish. In my opinion the better fishing of the year is may- end of June. I like to fish the early prespawn and postspawn patterns as I'm not a big bed fishing fan.

Sawyer harbor (Potawatomi state park launch) and little sturgeon (Carmody park boat launch) would offer you two protected areas to launch and fish. BTW, the Sturgeon bay open is not the only event to avoid. I'm up there starting on the 10th and just found out the Friday/Saturday (12th-13th) has a 150 boat field tournament as well ! The Sturgeon Bay Bass Tournament along with the smaller bass "club" tournaments that seem to take place every weeknd through mid -june. The Sturgeon bay open is the following weekend with up to a 200 boat field...lots of pressure, but lots of fish as well. I don't like tournaments and really don't like prespawn/spawn tournaments were fish are being transported. Needless to say i'll be fishing "North" to get away from some of the pressure.

I have not fished their reels but see them continually pumped by "prostaff" on a few sites. The one casting reel I handled did not impress me at all. For how inexpensive you can get a decent fly reel like a Redington Surge, I would stick with a commonly available commercial reel.

I'll have to check into the NuCanoe frontier 12. Maybe Rocktown will have one for demo...thanks for the suggestion.

What makes the nu canoe a better fly option? I would be both fly fishing and fishing general tackle with probably more time spent with a casting rod over a fly rod.

Yes I was thinking about being able to stand up at times and fish. I agree 100 lbs is a lot but manageable. I would be open to other brands too. Have spent lots of time in canoes years ago and had no problems walking around in them as well as standing and fishing in moving water.

It looks like the coosa is 70lbs, coosa hd 79lbs and big rig at 100lbs. Anything besides weight that would keep you from choosing the big rig? Is the coosa hd a better choice because of fish ability?