holleybob

I remember fishing a tournament on Lake Shelbyville in southern Illinois. A good friend of mine blew his engine a mile out from the launch site just after take off. He put his trolling motor down and just fished. Fished everything he saw all day. He took 3rd place and told me his success was being forced to fish water he never ever would have fished before. Caught fish on bare nothing banks throughout the day. Makes me wonder if these fish are less pressured ? We'll never know. I do know it's hard to catch them at 40 mph.

I used to fish Sturgeon bay and Green bay alot 15-20 years ago. I'm happy to see that it's still an amazing fishery. Back in the day the locals fished for walleye and salmon mainly considering the bass more of a nuisance. When you find the fish you can at times you find hundreds of them. I never met anyone up there that had a problem cathing smallies. Catching good ones was the key. One weekend in October my wife convinced me to go to Washington Island which is off the tip of the penninsula. It's a tourist trap that you ferry to with overpriced nick nack shops and bikes to rent to tour the Island. She also convinced me that we would NOT be fishing. Back then I was a weaker man than I am now and said ok. When we got to the pier to catch the ferry to the Island there was a Ranger bass boat with 4 guys in it fishing grubs around the pillars. For what its worth the pier and the pillars are mammoth. 6 hours later upon returning from the Island they were still there. I had to ask how they were doing. They reported over 100 fish with 10 or so over 4 lbs. All from the same location. If you have the opportunity to go you really need to make it happen. It's such a diverse and incredible smallmouth factory it's hard to emphasize it without experiencing it.

First of all I'll say I can appreciate your point of view and conservationist attitude. I respectfully disagree. If we were talking about an Ozark stream or any fragile ecosystem I would agree wholeheartedly. Many of the small rivers and creeks in Wisconsin, for instance prohibit fishing for bass during the spawn. Not on lake Michigan and there is solid data to back that up. I'm actually pretty familiar with the spawning process in general and more specifically the northern smallmouth. Also your attempt to belittle my fishing skills I think colors your profile more than mine. I really had not expected that kind of reaction on this forum. Maybe I was wrong. The fact is I usually use whatever tactic works the best at that given time. I can't imagine your opinion on powerbait! As far as predation on the fry/ eggs you may be interested in a study from the Indiana Department of Fish and Game: "Bass fishing during the spawning period, or during any period, is only harmful when anglers take more than a lake can replace. It makes little difference when individual bass are removed, whether during the spring, summer, fall, or winter if the overall number of bass taken by anglers is too high. Biologists generally believe bass over- harvest occurs when more than 40% of the population is annually taken by anglers regardless of the time of year. Even when over 40% are taken, bass reproduction is more than adequate to replace the missing adults with new recruits. The current 14- inch limit, as long as anglers comply with the law, in theory protects 100% of the bass, including many sexually-mature bass, up to 14 inches long

Your thinking of the Fox river in Algonquin Il. I lived about 700 yds from it. No salmon or walleye there but there were smallmouth. The Fox river I'm speaking of flows into Green Bay Wi.

Each to his own I suppose. Is there evidence that a fish caught from its bed and released minutes later will not spawn ?

I lived in the Chicago area at the time which was about a 3 to 4 hour drive. Looking back I did not take near enough advantage of it. You can actually follow the spawning smallies from May in the Fox river all the way up to early July in the Washington Island area. When I was there the locals considered the smallmouth a nuisance fish. They were after salmon and walleye. That suited me just fine. I still have gps spots marked on my very old Lowrance handheld GPS. I still dream of going back.

I found one in an Arkansas Craigslist ad about a month ago for 1200.00. It had Florida registration and a 40 horse yamaha. Great price but it was real rough. my gut said go for it but my head kept saying "money pit!" I passed.

Syllamo trails by the White River in Arkansas are pretty cool. https://www.imba.com/epics/syllamo-trails-epic Camp, fish, moutain bike. Good times.

Years ago I caught a prespawn female that went 22 inches out of Rowley bay in Door county Wi on Lake Michigan. If memory serves she went 5.85 lbs. I had the only other guy in the bay motor over and take a photo of it but I've not sen it in years. No digital camera back then. All 35 mm. Went back a week later and found hundreds of fish spawning in gin clear water at the back of the bay 5 ft deep with a sandy bottom and sporadic pencil grass. I caught 3-4 lb smallies till my thumbs bled. Never even started the big motor that day. Likely my best day fishing in my lifetime.

If you decide prop vs jet you may consider welding pods on the rear for better shallow water running. My dream boat is a 1648 or 1748 center console. no carpeting with pod's on the rear and a 30 hp prop. No carpet. Like a mini bay boat. I never thought I'd like a center console till I fished out of one. With kids I like a wider boat vs narrow. That way when they get all tangled up or cant get that knot tied right you can set next to them and help them out. I'm not sure how feasible that would be with a narrow "river" boat. I guess it depends on the age of the kids too.

Thanks guys. I appreciate the warm welcome!

A few years back I took an old friend from Chicago fly and spin fishing at the dam. He caught a flat nosed rainbow that went 6.5 - 7 lbs. on a rooster tail. He asked me " should we eat it". I just laughed.... city guy!

"MDC stocked a bunch of REAL NICE rainbows downtown area. We've seen some 14-16 inch stocker rainbow brought in the last 2 days and lots of them. Mostly caught on Power Bait eggs drifting from Cooper down to the bridges." That's exactly what I found Saturday. If my picture loaded you'll see a nice 16 incher with a rather flat nose that hit a power bait rig a little south of Fall creek. Only chasers north of Fall creek on jigs, spoons, rapalas. Interestingly all 5 fish we caught were on powerbait and all were hooked in the side of the mouth as opposed to every fish caught at the Little Red last week completely swallowed the hook.

I've been frequenting this site off and on for a number of years now and thought it was time to join. I've been fishing since I could walk and have always taken to it naturally. In the late 90's with the support of my wonderful wife, I jumped neck deep into tournament bass fishing with high hope and dreams. I was living in Chicago suburbs at the time and fished mainly Illinois, Wisconsin, Kentucky and Missouri. After fishing an invitational at Bull Shoals in 1996 We decided to move to the area. In August of 97 We moved to Springfield and have been here since. I sold the boat and gave up competitive fishing in 99 when my first Son was born with no regrets. I was burned out anyway. I've spent the last 14 years raising, guiding and coaching two great boys. My 10 year old has a love for being outdoors that is simply rare. He is perfectly content to sit at waters edge or in the woods for an entire day. My 14 year old is the competitor and sports addict. After 2 broken arms and 2 concussions he's done but discovering that a day on the lake trying to out fish his Dad is pretty cool too. I bought a 17 ft aluminum boat with a 50 horse 2 weeks ago and we have already had it on the Little Red, TableRock and Tanneycomo. The next 10 years with my kids will be gone before you know it. I want to expose them to as much in the outdoor world as I can and teach them all that I have learned over the years. This forum and It's generous contributors will allow me to now teach them things that others have learned as well. Phil a personal thanks for creating this forum. It's been a magnet for so many willing to give and receive nothing in return. Maybe I'll even have some insight that will help others. Regards, Jeff