Jonn Graham

Mr. Terrill:

You are right! IT IS DEFINITELY FLOAT N FLY TIME! If anyone is fishing during this time period, and is not throwing the fnf, they are truly missing the boat!

I have a Falcon 6 foot casting rod I would like to sell. It is a medium action. I have used it only a handful of times. I payed $75 and am asking $45. I will pay shipping or hand deliver it. PM me if interested.

I will be there selling my jigs and promoting my guide service. Should be a good time. Hope to see all there.

Guess I did not answer the first prompt. When it comes to winter fishing, I carry very few lure types. Usually start with a suspending jerkbait (pointer 65 is my favorite). If that doesn't work I will usually go to a small tube or hair jig/trailer fished slowly along the bottom. And lastly, my ace in the hole is the float n fly. If none of those options work, I am either fishing in the wrong place or at the wrong time of day.

I don't know how to stop fishing for smallmouths!

I just sent Mr. Pallo and email and congratulated him from the ISA.

I will have to find out his email or phone. I will work on that.

Steve Pallo has been named acting chief of Fisheries here in Illinois. If you don't know Steve, he is a great guy. Though a muskie nut, he has a fondness for smallies as well. Our fish should be in capable hands!

So it's Monday morning after a great weekend of fishing. Gotta go to work like everyone else. Hate Mondays! How can I spice up a cloudy, windy morning???? Going fishing before work...............of course - why didn't I think of that sooner.

Anyway, I hit a wintering area before work. Woke up early, threw on some clothes, and off I went. I fished for 30 minutes and was able to catch one nice 15 inch smallie on the float n fly. Made my day, and made Monday not seem so bad.

Maybe I will make breakfast with the smallies a habit? Stay tuned.

Is there a phone number I could reach you at?

Wow! Just checked out your site. I am very impressed. I make jigs myself. Yours are very nice. I think I will be placing an order for skirts very soon.

I think I fished one of your prototypes this summer with Rich M. on the Rock River. Really liked the bait. I will order some come spring.

Clinton Lake does have a few smallies. They have tried to stock more throughout the years, but they never really seem to grab hold. I do know that when a smallie is caught, it is usually a good sized one. Lake Bloomington has had smallmouths naturally since the dawn of that lake. They are caught occassionally and some can be quite nice. Banner Marsh has some smallies in a few of the lakes. But I have been told they are few and far between.,

Mr. Clifford:

Awesome. Can't wait for part two.

Hey you Illinois boys turned cheeseheads, leave me a few of those Wisconsin smallies. I plan to catch some in 08........if there are any left.

i was checking on Mike Mladenik's website and found Bill Calhoon holding some nice smallies from a trip just days ago. Good to see ol' Bill having a good time. For those of you that don't know, Bill was one of the earliest ISA members and did alot of the work to get the regs we have now!

http://www.mikemladenik.com/mikesnotebook.shtml

I agree with Mark K. Four minutes is a long time. Any angler should be able to land the fish, measure the fish, and take a photo or two in well less than four minutes. My initial remarks were a result of the original post. I would never want the alliance to go to a stance where we discourage anglers from taking a photo or two and/or measuring their prized catch. In my opinion, pictures are my way of "taking the smallmouth home with me". In addition, pictures are a marker of each and every trip.

I live for river smallmouth and would always want pictures to be a way to remember the trips I have taken throughout my life. Hopefully, my kids will someday enjoy looking at their father happily holding up a smallmouth.

Sorry, but I will continue to measure and take pictures as well. I don't think I am killing too many smallmouths. Sometimes the fishing community takes catch and release a little too far! Also, Norm, don't believe everything you read. Upon working on my masters degree, I took a class on being critical of research papers and projects. I learned one thing, many research projects tend to produce the results that were theorized (before the project begins) by the researcher. In addition, in a year there will be another test that will say smallmouth can't be out of the water any longer than one minute.

I don't want anyone to think I am into hurting smallmouths. Anyone who knows me will tell you that no one loves and respects the fish more than I do. But measuring and taking pictures, if done in a timely manner, does little to hurt the population.

Sorry for the rant, but I feel very strongly about this topic. Let's just fish and let them go and not have to whip out the stopwatches.

Since it is fall and cloudy, I would probably throw a Sammy 100 and quickly canvas the whole area. I would try to get my bait as close to the far bank as possible on each and every cast.

Trust me, that kid is hooked on smallmouths now! During our trip he was already talking to dad about coming back to the river in the very near future. In addition, that is only one of the two big smallies this youngster caught. here is the other.

And make no mistake, this boy catching two big smallies was no accident or luck. This 10 year old could fish like you would not believe. He was skipping baits back under trees and landing nearly every cast within inches of his target. It was unbelieavable.

Yah, I thought the same thing. The photo really popped

Just had to share this photo of young Garrett Taylor. Him, his father, and grandfather were all clients of mine this past Sunday on the Mackinaw. This photo is only one of the two big smallies this youngster caught. All on his own. I have never in my life seen a 10 year old fish like this kid. Skipping baits under trees, setting the hook like a champ, fishing a jig slow on the bottom, etc. I was blown away!

I am sure it is.

I have been using the 10 pound on the spinning reels and 20 pound on the baitcasters. I wish they made a 12 or 15 pound test, but they don't.