raymond k

I will be there from July29-Aug.2 on Loon Lake.

Looking to purchase a used 17-18' canoe for my trip to Sylvania. I rented a nice one last year,but if I can find a good deal on one I would like to purchase my own.

Thank God they didn't use it on a SMB. Would of caused a few panic attacks. Why learn how to clean a fish properly. Now any yah hoo thinks he can go out and reap the rewards. lol

Heading out for my 5 day trip to Sylvania on Tuesday. We will be camping at Badger site on Crooked. Any info or tips would be appreciated. Thanks to Paul for all the info you already gave me. Cannot wait,hopefully we will get a break on this heat.

Thanks Scott I used to use the mad toms and hellgi's in the K3 all the time. They always have made a good product. Looks like the Sinkin salty minnow and Drop shot worm might be somethings I will check out. The price is nice for sure. Thats the trouble with drop shoting SMB in deep water,you always lose your bait.

Good to know. Been making some small Eakins like finesse jigs for the trip. Cannot wait to go its gonna be fun.

Been useing shad,Ayu,and pumpkin. Its become my number one drop shot bait.The only trouble with them are that they are $5 per 8ct bag. The smallmouth rip them to shreds,but I guess thats a small price to pay in the big picture of things. Keep in touch and let me know when your going out to Geneva so I can give you an update. You think they work good now,soak the bag with gulp and see what happens.

Wanted to tip off members to two great SMB baits. One is the Jackall cross tail shad. Its a 4" bait I use when Iam drop shotting bass relateing to minnow's. I soak the baits in gulp before use. They donot look like much but have been very good for me the last two year. The second plastic is the Jackall I Shad. This bait is a lite line ,highly pressured lake bait. You use it in conjunction with the Jackall nose jig head. It is a stable swiming bait that has a slight bulge in the tail. Its injected with salt,but it is in two sections with the bottom section containing more salt. This helps the bait stay stable. It looks great,you gotta see it. Canot wait to try it at Sylvania this summer. Ray

I fish a few similar pits. I like to fish with heavy but down sized bass jigs. Swimming grubs is a technique that seems to seperate the smb out also. If you locate any deeper rock piles drop shotting them would also be what I would try. Something I havenot done in a long time is to throw small flies and tubes on a water bobber.Good luck

Thanks for the answers fellas,I think the run into town half way through might be the ticket. Cannot wait to do some drop shotting on that clear water.

Going on a 5 day canoe trip into the Sylvania forest near Watersmeet Mighigan .Going in July with my son. Just wanted to ask question on the best product for purifying my water.Any other tips would be appreciated also. First trip of this nature with my son and want to make it as foolproof as possible.Staying at Badger site on Crooked Lake and plan to portage daily to Loon and Deer Island lakes. Thanks

Tough to beat the Gloomis crankbait rods. If you want tons of reviews go to Tackletour.com. They are a great source of info. You can also order and price a lot of rods on Tacklewahrehouse.com. Get any rod at the lowest price with free shipping.Ray

good luck my friend///I'll give Lake Geneva a break soon and see ya out there

I feel sad when I see a fish on the wall ,but as long as you do it legaly I have ne real bitch. But I must tell you that you will miss that great feeling you get when you release her and see her swim away. There is no feeling like it ,it makes me feel right with the world and isn't that what its all about.

send me a PM if you have nay questions/bass season does not start till May 1/

Don will be signing copies at my local Borders/good stuff/Ray

I work Saturday/if we need anyone else on Sunday I would be happy to come by/pm if you need me Raymond k

Those colors make me think of the tropics. I like Malibu/or maui craw///or because of the blue mahi mahi///just a thought

I understand where you are coming from,but a lot of these rods have replacement policies if it gets broke. I use Kistlers rods for the most part and are impressed with there durability. I use the Kistler helium2ltx and at 349 I understand its not for everyone,but the improved feel you get with these rods is unparelled. The rod they have that I think you should still take a look at is the kistler carbon steel. Its advertised as virtually industructable. It comes with stainless guides and frames. I know a few owners and they rave about there performance. Take a look at tacklewharehouse.com,this is a none paid recomendation. This brings up a good point,maybe isa could set up a test day like the bassbuggers do. I know I would enjoy it because its hard to test all rods before a purchase.

My opinion you get what you pay for.With as much as we fish the last thing you want is a piece of inferior equipment. With that said there are many new quality price point rods out. I will list a few that I think would meet many peoples requirements. Wright&McGill have come out with a line of Skeet Reese rods,not bad for $89.99/Abu Garcia have a new rod called the Vendetta for 79.95/falcon just released a rod called the Bucoo for 99.99/and Kistler has the carbon steel for 99.95. All these rods have split grips and some have the fuji components. A lot of times companies that have the 300-400 rods make these lower priced rods with some of there higher priced parts. You can find most of these rods at tacklewharehouse/bass pro also carries some to.

planning a trip for <make a wish> and neeed to know a good capt. out of waukegan/no special treatment just a nice person who will introduce some trolling to a youngster and his family/6 passengers /thanks for any tips///Ray

My party consisting of sean,john and myself headed out to the mouth of Rock creek/we had no luck in this location except working up quite a sweat/the rain seemed to bring some nice humiditywith it,and in the rain gear we shed some lbs/we headed up river to the other end of the park/opposite h.a. #2 and john quickly got a smb bass on the currant seam with a white grub/john unfortunatley had to leave quickly ,hopefully all is well, meand sean continued up stream/got my firsty fish in slack pool 16"lmb, a few rock bass along the way and then we hit an area were I landed 6 smb from 14-17//all were right up along the willows,fast water,I was pulling a blue chigger craw on a keeper, like a spinner bait along this edge.This is a tech. I have used in the spring the last few years with great results,I have also had success with sililar rage tails. Only fish till noon,tried but could not get sean a fish/it was his first outing and he said he couldnot believe how cool the river was/I told wait till you have a 20+ fish day/ Thanks to all

out friday with mexed results. Fished the kank from 4-6pm. Got 6 smb 12-14" and one very large flathead cat. This was the first I have ever caught in 15 years of fishing the kank. Easily topped 10lbs/same old story/thought I was snagged ,went to pop it of and it started to run/caught all fish on dark colored plastics black or dark punkin green/with all this rain it might be a tough one sunday

I will be out on Sunday,should be a nice day on the kank.//if your coming make sure you have some heavier keeper hooks/5" grubs/rattle traps/med. dive cranks/swim jigs/craw plastics/water is still high so be ready to do some hoofing