Norm M

Gavin In the heat of summer , in low water conditions, they are one of my top choices for fishing the faster water the smallmouth are in. Unless they are slamming buzzbaits in those faster flows .

these https://www.google.com/search?q=rattle+baits&biw=1600&bih=722&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=9SZuVe_zBMbhsASgooDwAg&ved=0CEEQsAQ

My last high water venture stuck a couple chatterbaits, ewg hooks, trailers for the chatterbaits and a few swimbaits in a Ziploc bag. All I needed for that trip. Only lure I use regularly that I don't recall seeing mentioned is a rattlebait. Awesome lure for river fishing .

I was thin and single

I fish more than the average guy, time on the water helps considerably. I can't wait for retirement to come .

just one option out of many. too many start low and slow and never give the fish a chance to prove just how aggressive they are .

hopefully they learn what to look for thru that process

River is still rising , over 12,000 cfs. no visibility, didn't bother with water temps. A lot of big wood and other debris headed downstream . The good news is that the water willow is developed enough to hold all sorts of food and the predators that follow . Weather warmed as the day went on, bit windy . I covered a lot of water, no other fisherman out . Well, they missed a fantastic day of fishing . Why so many think you can't catch fish in these conditions is beyond me. It's actually easier location wise. You can eliminate at least 95 % of the river from consideration . Well , unless you try boating, which would be crazier than anything I'd try with all that stuff in the water. Consider how much of the food and predators are in well defined easily accessible areas from shore . I had the waders on but most of the fishing was done from shore. I only waded out enough to get better casting angles in the types of spots I know from decades of experience are safe to do so. If it wasn't safe and I couldn't get the casting angle I wanted, I simply moved on. A 3/8 oz chatterbait with a 6 inch Kalins musky twister tail was the most productive lure. The 4 inch Charlie Brewer twister and assorted buzzfrogs were also used as trailers. The only other lure I used was a 5 inch swimbait on a 5/0 ewg hook weightlees . Most of the fish came from flooded water willow beds, Smallmouth bass, largemouth bass and channel cats in the willows. I got some on the chatterbait around bridge pilings, around rock bluffs and on the mudline on a crick. I got some gar on the swimbait a little up the crick from the mudline. 3 gar landed , 7 hit, lost two swimbaits. 3 smallmouth at the mudline on the chatterbait. 2 smallmouth on the chatterbait at the bridge pilings. 7 smallmouth on chatterbait around the bluffs. 17 channelcats on the chatterbait in the willows. 2 largemouth on the chatterbait in the willows. 28 smallmouth on the chatterbait in the willows . 62 fish total ranging in size from small to very large . An excellent day in any conditions to my way of thinking

go whenever you can. can't catch them if you aren't out there. too many factors come into play to make blanket statements about what time of day is better.

got some fish there . definitely could have been worse .

Tthem Ned Rig guys have a serious case of the slows. Likely even leaving about 10 minutes behind them, I would have beat them back to the car.

I'm built for comfort, I'm not built for speed . Speed went away when I tore my knee up playing hockey as a teenager. The way I see it leaving something like a go pro out in plain view is putting temptation in the way of those who don't need temptation .

fun with friends and family, great time even if the fishing was slow .

I was at an out of the way spot, only car there on a holiday weekend . While wading, I hear someone coming thru the woods, and then hear two voices. One says oh, ****, the other that mfer is in our spot. I turn to look and all I see is the back of someone disappearing back in the woods. I think jeez, they could have went up or downstream a bit and fished but whatever. I fish for about 10 more minutes and head to another spot. I get back to the car and find the mirror on the drivers side just hanging by the wires. I make a quick check, no other damage. I figure it might have been pay back for being in their spot or some random fool who gets off on doing crap like that . Either way , I just don't get it . Duct taped in back in place to get around the rest of the day . not pretty but it held

river has been dropping steadily, below normal levels, better than a foot of visibility, though stained. water temps maxed out at 72 degrees. algae better in many places , still getting it on crankbaits where it's at but just some on the hooks and the bill, not a complete green goo job . some emergent vegetation out on the flats, water willow 6 inches or so in height, green and leafing out at the top. rain not much of a problem, weather man missed again. sunny to overcast depending on the day. same deal with the wind, varied thru the weekend. first bikini hatch of the year . avoided the masses by wading out as far as possible and/or getting well beyond the access points. the female smallmouth I've been catching still had full egg sacks. I've been avoiding known spawning areas so I can't say for sure what's happening there. when I walked up to take a look most of them were not being fished, not sure what that means on a holiday weekend. the best known crick was another story as usual, almost more guys on the crick than fish in it at some points when I looked . cpo's keeping an eye on it from what I saw. with the lower levels the fish had definitely moved off shore . I fished heads and tails of riffles, cobblestone flats off the main channels, current seams, bridge pilings and around rock bluffs that had deeper water at least near by. a rattlebait was the primary lure, square bill cranks, single spins, chatterbaits, swimbaits and magnum flukes on unweighted ewg hooks filled out what worked. I never fished a bottom bouncing jig at all, no need to . excellent numbers and size on the smallmouth , some of the biggest on the magnum flukes. I tossed them on top of the riffle and just let them drift down . had two decent catches of walleye as well, both on rattlebaits on cobblestone flats off the channels in 2 to 4 ft of water . handful of cats most on chatterbaits, two really nice ones on the rattlebaits in the same area as the walleyes. smattering of gar landed, more hits than landed for sure. one pike about 26 to 27 inches on a singlespin behind a boulder just inside a seam . the rattlebaits worked best at the head end of riffles, the square bills at the tail . single spins tight to bridge pilings and pulled around the downstream side was a nice option, never got a fish on the upstream part, kinda odd

Mental Aspects of Fishing Success- Musings From a Lifetime of Learning When I first set out to learn how to fish rivers there was not a lot of information availible on the subject.There was no Internet-ergo no easily accessed websites like River Smallies or the ISA forums where you have excellent information avaiible.The national magazines really didn't cater to river fisherman with the exception of some minimally helpful trout articles.I finally found a magazine-Fishing Facts on the newsstands with articles by Dan Gapen which were very valuable.The local libraries had some books written by trout guys with names like Bates, Brooks and Ovington. These books were helpful once it occurred to me that current was current and learned to apply thier teachings to my style of fishing. For the most part though it was getting out and doing it and learning from my mistakes,putting in my time on the water.I was lucky enough to have a couple old riverrats take me under their wing but only after I proved myself worthy in their eyes.It was through their efforts that things finally started coming together.At the time I didn't understand why they helped but I was glad they did. Now that I am older I realize they felt the same thing I am feeling now, the need to pass along what I learned and not let it die with me.They were limited to passing it along person to person but that is probably the best way to teach.I,however,have the opportunity to share with a much wider audience through the RS forums. There have been some sources of learning already acknowledged and others like InFisherman and The Hunting and Fishing Library to name a couple to which I am indebted.There have also been some individuals along the way who have contributed.One who desreves acknowledgement is my good friend Phill Fiscella . He has the rare gift of really making me think about things and coming up with truly innovative and interesting approaches to fishing.I would like to thank Phil now for all the great conversations and times we shared on the water and wiil have in the future. The best thing you can do for yourself to be more successful is to develop a sense of confidence in your abilities.You should be able to believe that YOU WILLCATCH A FISH ON EVERY CAST and to sustain that belief no matter what.If you go in with the attitude I'm not going to catch fish that will become a selffulling prophecy.Learning to believe in yourself and that you will catch fish is not easy to do.It is worth the effort as once you have the attitude you will succeed you are more alert and attentive to your surroundings.Your mind will not be wandering, you will see and feel more strikes, thus catching more fish. In my opinion the next best thing you can do is to keep learning, all the time,everytime.You should learn from both success and failure.I believe you can learn more from failure than success even though it is human nature to remember the good times and forget about the bad times.When you have success do your best all the factors involved and write them down if necessary.When you fail remember what you tried and analyze it for ways to change and improve.You should question your usual ways of thinking as well as trying new techniques and changing locations.You need to bear in mind that you will never know everything and that learning will be a lifelong process. Another thing that helps is to make a gameplan before you get in the water or start casting.Learn to read the water and decide in advance where to wade, the route to be waded,where to cast and what you will use in each spot.I would reccommend a plan to throughly cover the water if that is how you fish.If not, than make yourself happy and use what floats your cork.I would suggest something on the order of:shallow fast-shallow slow, deep fast-deep slow and then strain the mid and upper parts of the water column. If your initial efforts fail,don't keep stubbornly pounding the water.It is better to take 5 or 10 minutes to think things through and review your options before proceeding.It may well be that your intial plan is the best option but by stopping you may notice changes in the conditions that warrant changing your plan.If you are fishing with someone else they may have insight gained from experiences different than your own that could help make for a successful day. You should pay close attention to your surroundings as natural cues can be important and extremely helpful.You should consider the total environmental package:changes in bottom content,depth,contour of the shoreline or islands,water clarity, water velocity, water temperatue,wind direction, cloud cover or shade to name a few.The presence of woody cover, weeds, boulders or man made objects should be noted.You should learn to watch for the movement of forage and note the types in the area.If you learn to see feeding activity of fish or even the flash or shadow of their movement you will benefit greatly.You should strive to notice birds feeding over the water,bug hatches,weeds moving without the benefit of the wind or anything that may give you a clue as to fish location or attitude. Look around you and pay attention to plants blooming or wilting or animal activity that will be a much more reliable indicator of similar fish behavior in the future than man's calendar. Let's consider thinking about the fish themselves for a bit as after all that is ultimately what we are after.Fish don't have intelligence as we know it but rely on instinct instead.Yes.you may be smarter than the fish but they have had the best of all of us,probably more than we care to admit.Fish instincts let them know such things as when and how much to feed,when to switch locations or food sources and when and where to spawn.They do this as a result of changes in such things as local climatic conditions,intensity and duration of light,temperature,seasons[theirs not ours],and water level or clarity.There may well be other influences that we don't know or completely understand. There are also different kinds of fish interactions that need to be considered as well.These would be the relationship with their prey,relationships with other species that compete for food or habitat, relationships with fish higher on the food chain that may eat them and their relationship with man through fishing pressure. The presence of food may be the most important factor to consider outside of the time frame when they are spawning.Very simply the fish that are easiest to catch are those that are closest to their food. If these fish aren't activelly feeding than probably soon will be.If food isn't present or nearby the gamefish generally won't stay near that cover or structural element for any great length of time. If there is another species that can out compete the bass for food or utilize the habitat more efficienly they will take over that environmental niche and limit the areas the bass can use. By the same token if there are no competing species the bass can use a wider range of niches in that watershed. When the bass are not the top of the line predator in the food chain that can limit when or where the bass can be found or when they feed.These limitations can have a profound effect on your fishing success. Anyone who has fished my flow can attest to the smallies shutting down when the gar start activelly feeding. You may not have considered man as an influence but as pressure increasesit can have much more effect than many give it credit for.I have had the experince of heavy fishing pressue causing a shift in the times fish become active in particular locations.In some cases it could cause fish to relocate to less desirable but less pressured locations.Keep both of these ideas in mind the next time that the classic bass holding spot that everyone knows and fishes doesn't produce. With experience and time on the water you may reach the point where you have an understanding of how fish behave in your body of water,well most of the time.The fish have a way of humbling you if you get too cocky.I know I'll never be able to understand everything about the fish. I also know that I wouldn't want to reach that point as it would take all the fun out of it.Would you really want to know ahead of time what is going to happen and to catch a fish on every cast? Believing that you can do it helps to be a better fisherman but actually doing it would be a reciepe for boredom.I'll take the challenge presented by having something new to learn as it helps keep things fresh and interesting. What holds us back as fisherman? How about the self imposed obstacles with which we limit our potential.If we fail to use our senses to the fullest or not let our imagination work for us in problem solving,we will not achieve the success we desire.Pre concieved notions of what should be and the reluctance to reconsider those notions can hinder your success.Clinging to outdated fishing lore and not making an attempt to educate yourself will severely limit your potential to grow as an angler.I would also suggest taking manufacturer's claims with a grain of salt or two.We should strive to make learning a lifelong process that allows us to continually improve our chances of success. One of the more important things you can do is to figure out what makes you happy and what you want out of your fishing expeiences.When you put your efforts into learning how to fish effectively in in the style you are happiest with you will learn faster and retain more.If you try to be something you are not because of what you percieve others expectations of you than that will take the fun out of it. It is more important to make your own choices and please yourself.Now, that is not to say that you shouldn't try to expand your knowledge by trying different techniques or methods- if you want to. It is just that I believe you should learn what pleases you the most first.You should bear in mind that what pleases you can change as you grow as a person and an angler. Please realize that you will never know it all and don't get frustrated by that fact. I believe there should never be a final limit to be reached but instead a neverending quest for knowledge to be gained.For me, the continual challenge is what keeps things interesting. I know I have made this point several times but in my experince it is extremely important. Finally we should be grateful for what we have as fisherman.We shouldn't necessarily judge the success of our trips by the size or amount of fish we catch.I believe we should enjoy the total experience, the surroundings, the company or the solitude as well as the challenges meet and overcome. Please just enjoy the simple fact that you could get out and fish. Peace be unto you. Norm Minas aka Creekyknees

Mental Aspects of Fishing Success- Musings From a Lifetime of Learning When I first set out to learn how to fish rivers there was not a lot of information availible on the subject.There was no Internet-ergo no easily accessed websites like River Smallies or the ISA forums where you have excellent information avaiible.The national magazines really didn't cater to river fisherman with the exception of some minimally helpful trout articles.I finally found a magazine-Fishing Facts on the newsstands with articles by Dan Gapen which were very valuable.The local libraries had some books written by trout guys with names like Bates, Brooks and Ovington. These books were helpful once it occurred to me that current was current and learned to apply thier teachings to my style of fishing. For the most part though it was getting out and doing it and learning from my mistakes,putting in my time on the water.I was lucky enough to have a couple old riverrats take me under their wing but only after I proved myself worthy in their eyes.It was through their efforts that things finally started coming together.At the time I didn't understand why they helped but I was glad they did. Now that I am older I realize they felt the same thing I am feeling now, the need to pass along what I learned and not let it die with me.They were limited to passing it along person to person but that is probably the best way to teach.I,however,have the opportunity to share with a much wider audience through the RS forums. There have been some sources of learning already acknowledged and others like InFisherman and The Hunting and Fishing Library to name a couple to which I am indebted.There have also been some individuals along the way who have contributed.One who desreves acknowledgement is my good friend Phill Fiscella . He has the rare gift of really making me think about things and coming up with truly innovative and interesting approaches to fishing.I would like to thank Phil now for all the great conversations and times we shared on the water and wiil have in the future. The best thing you can do for yourself to be more successful is to develop a sense of confidence in your abilities.You should be able to believe that YOU WILLCATCH A FISH ON EVERY CAST and to sustain that belief no matter what.If you go in with the attitude I'm not going to catch fish that will become a selffulling prophecy.Learning to believe in yourself and that you will catch fish is not easy to do.It is worth the effort as once you have the attitude you will succeed you are more alert and attentive to your surroundings.Your mind will not be wandering, you will see and feel more strikes, thus catching more fish. In my opinion the next best thing you can do is to keep learning, all the time,everytime.You should learn from both success and failure.I believe you can learn more from failure than success even though it is human nature to remember the good times and forget about the bad times.When you have success do your best all the factors involved and write them down if necessary.When you fail remember what you tried and analyze it for ways to change and improve.You should question your usual ways of thinking as well as trying new techniques and changing locations.You need to bear in mind that you will never know everything and that learning will be a lifelong process. Another thing that helps is to make a gameplan before you get in the water or start casting.Learn to read the water and decide in advance where to wade, the route to be waded,where to cast and what you will use in each spot.I would reccommend a plan to throughly cover the water if that is how you fish.If not, than make yourself happy and use what floats your cork.I would suggest something on the order of:shallow fast-shallow slow, deep fast-deep slow and then strain the mid and upper parts of the water column. If your initial efforts fail,don't keep stubbornly pounding the water.It is better to take 5 or 10 minutes to think things through and review your options before proceeding.It may well be that your intial plan is the best option but by stopping you may notice changes in the conditions that warrant changing your plan.If you are fishing with someone else they may have insight gained from experiences different than your own that could help make for a successful day. You should pay close attention to your surroundings as natural cues can be important and extremely helpful.You should consider the total environmental package:changes in bottom content,depth,contour of the shoreline or islands,water clarity, water velocity, water temperatue,wind direction, cloud cover or shade to name a few.The presence of woody cover, weeds, boulders or man made objects should be noted.You should learn to watch for the movement of forage and note the types in the area.If you learn to see feeding activity of fish or even the flash or shadow of their movement you will benefit greatly.You should strive to notice birds feeding over the water,bug hatches,weeds moving without the benefit of the wind or anything that may give you a clue as to fish location or attitude. Look around you and pay attention to plants blooming or wilting or animal activity that will be a much more reliable indicator of similar fish behavior in the future than man's calendar. Let's consider thinking about the fish themselves for a bit as after all that is ultimately what we are after.Fish don't have intelligence as we know it but rely on instinct instead.Yes.you may be smarter than the fish but they have had the best of all of us,probably more than we care to admit.Fish instincts let them know such things as when and how much to feed,when to switch locations or food sources and when and where to spawn.They do this as a result of changes in such things as local climatic conditions,intensity and duration of light,temperature,seasons[theirs not ours],and water level or clarity.There may well be other influences that we don't know or completely understand. There are also different kinds of fish interactions that need to be considered as well.These would be the relationship with their prey,relationships with other species that compete for food or habitat, relationships with fish higher on the food chain that may eat them and their relationship with man through fishing pressure. The presence of food may be the most important factor to consider outside of the time frame when they are spawning.Very simply the fish that are easiest to catch are those that are closest to their food. If these fish aren't activelly feeding than probably soon will be.If food isn't present or nearby the gamefish generally won't stay near that cover or structural element for any great length of time. If there is another species that can out compete the bass for food or utilize the habitat more efficienly they will take over that environmental niche and limit the areas the bass can use. By the same token if there are no competing species the bass can use a wider range of niches in that watershed. When the bass are not the top of the line predator in the food chain that can limit when or where the bass can be found or when they feed.These limitations can have a profound effect on your fishing success. Anyone who has fished my flow can attest to the smallies shutting down when the gar start activelly feeding. You may not have considered man as an influence but as pressure increasesit can have much more effect than many give it credit for.I have had the experince of heavy fishing pressue causing a shift in the times fish become active in particular locations.In some cases it could cause fish to relocate to less desirable but less pressured locations.Keep both of these ideas in mind the next time that the classic bass holding spot that everyone knows and fishes doesn't produce. With experience and time on the water you may reach the point where you have an understanding of how fish behave in your body of water,well most of the time.The fish have a way of humbling you if you get too cocky.I know I'll never be able to understand everything about the fish. I also know that I wouldn't want to reach that point as it would take all the fun out of it.Would you really want to know ahead of time what is going to happen and to catch a fish on every cast? Believing that you can do it helps to be a better fisherman but actually doing it would be a reciepe for boredom.I'll take the challenge presented by having something new to learn as it helps keep things fresh and interesting. What holds us back as fisherman? How about the self imposed obstacles with which we limit our potential.If we fail to use our senses to the fullest or not let our imagination work for us in problem solving,we will not achieve the success we desire.Pre concieved notions of what should be and the reluctance to reconsider those notions can hinder your success.Clinging to outdated fishing lore and not making an attempt to educate yourself will severely limit your potential to grow as an angler.I would also suggest taking manufacturer's claims with a grain of salt or two.We should strive to make learning a lifelong process that allows us to continually improve our chances of success. One of the more important things you can do is to figure out what makes you happy and what you want out of your fishing expeiences.When you put your efforts into learning how to fish effectively in in the style you are happiest with you will learn faster and retain more.If you try to be something you are not because of what you percieve others expectations of you than that will take the fun out of it. It is more important to make your own choices and please yourself.Now, that is not to say that you shouldn't try to expand your knowledge by trying different techniques or methods- if you want to. It is just that I believe you should learn what pleases you the most first.You should bear in mind that what pleases you can change as you grow as a person and an angler. Please realize that you will never know it all and don't get frustrated by that fact. I believe there should never be a final limit to be reached but instead a neverending quest for knowledge to be gained.For me, the continual challenge is what keeps things interesting. I know I have made this point several times but in my experince it is extremely important. Finally we should be grateful for what we have as fisherman.We shouldn't necessarily judge the success of our trips by the size or amount of fish we catch.I believe we should enjoy the total experience, the surroundings, the company or the solitude as well as the challenges meet and overcome. Please just enjoy the simple fact that you could get out and fish. Peace be unto you. Norm Minas aka Creekyknees learning helps catch fish . it's a life long process, you never know too much . learn from the tough times as well as the good .

if he used the DuPont spinner no trick photography could help disguise that .

the old DuPont spinner will out fish the j rig and the ned rig combined

river dropping, just under 10,000 cfs. still muddy, water temp 54.5. fished a variety of inflows , all natural , varying in size . catfish bite on chatterbaits still going strong. a few smallmouth on chatterbaits, most on square billed crank .. seams most productive . at one crick mouth ran into actively feeding gar, switched to a fluke. 5 hookups, 2 landed, no bite offs

1/4 and 3/8 oz mostly I remove the standard tail on the chatterbaits, use a twin tail grub or a thick, fat twister tail. most most productive has been the rear 3.5 to 4 inches of a 7 inch ditto gator tail worm. down to my last 4 gator tails, haven't been able to find any of those for better than a decade .

surprise, surprise , it's been raining for the most part and the river is about twice it's normal flow and muddy. slack areas getting skinnier daily . pretty much singlespins and chatterbaits on the seams . if I want to just catch mostly smallmouth I stick to singlespins. with the chatterbaits it's almost 4-1 channel cat to smallmouth ratio. I'm doing pretty well numbers wise on the chatterbait for bass, it's phenomenal numbers wise for cats . most of the cats 2-3 lb eaters, some mid sized, a couple double digit weight wise . pretty much have the river to my self. wonder how many cats I could catch using cutbait, livebait or stinkbait ?

http://chicago.suntimes.com/outdoors/7/71/593365/passing-fishing-tradition

I said they were morons because they would rather drive 1.5 hours than spend 2 minutes on line to save them selves that drive . They could have decided it's unfishable before they left and been executing plan b.

Just got back in from early am outing, spinnerbaits and chatterbaits on the seams. Channel cats taking chatterbaits. Ran into 2 yahoos, said they drove 1.5 hours to get there . They were turning around to go home because it was too high and muddy to catch fish. This after watching me catch fish. They were bitching that there should be somewhere on line where it's posted the river is unfishable . I asked who defines unfishable ? To me, if there is open water, it's fishable . I advised they check the USGS gauges before they left, they said that was too much trouble. Lord two minutes on the net beats 90 minutes on the road .Morons