Funny. I moved from Wisconsin to Ohio At the end of 03. Where in ohio did you fish? I Live in Dover / Philly. Fish primarily Salt Fork since it’s 15 mins from work.

You probably have the incorrect time zone set. If this is so and you reset the time. the next time you turn your pc on it sees that you time is incorrect for your time zone and fixes itself. To check it double click the displayed time on your screen in the lower right corner and click the timezone tab on the top. Set it to the correct timezone and your problems should go away…

I’ve always figured you used Dupont spinners to get those big fish….now I’ll know for sure… I got extra fuse.

ROFLMAO

Now my sides hurt.

I run a Purple Stroker with a 280ss. What water do you haunt with that bullet? I’ll start looking for you

95 is old news. Put up a 105.4 last fall (cold air, 0 weight in boat 29 pitch prop @8000 rpm, I can’t run that everyday… But 95 is a pretty common number to see on the gps.

As for the fish, I got a few tourney trophy’s on the wall. Mnfish remembers the KFAN from a couple falls ago, I bet. But when you don’t have the fish going all the fast boat does is get you to the bad spots quicker.

Just tell him he fishes gravel carp.

I’ve been seeing the same in pool 4 looks like a fungus to me. Looked at a lot of bass at the bfl weigh in in Lacrosse saw none of it there.

Wait a minute if there is going to be a race, I want to play. Bring an umbrella, rooster tail might make you wet.
For the record, it’s purple and black.
James I catch an occasional gravel carp when I’m bass fishing. Doesn’t make my bass boat a Walleye boat.
Got a new job and been on the road all week. Finally figured out how to connect my laptop to this dsl line in the hotel. I normally read this forum every day but am a little late getting in on this one, but my opinion.
If you had to pick from the two boats you listed take the Gambler. Looks cool and it’s faster. The front deck on the gamble can sub as a helicopter landing pad. Or you could just buy yourself a Stroker, Save yourself 10k from the Gambler you didn’t buy. Use it to buy tackle… You want fast don’t mess around. You want to see what fast is ask me for a ride. 3 years no stress cracks, I’ve never taken water in the boat in large enough quantity to kick the bilge on, and I’ve take on Lake Pepin when its at it’s worst. (Or at least what James would call a “Heavy” walleye chop. lol Course my friends have told me I am a little crazy , and that Im destined to die on the water, but what better place to go?

My opinion is that the spawn started and stopped again. I fished a couple of my favorite post spawn spots in pool 4 Saturday and caught several post spawn females in the 3-4 lb range. These fish were hollow bellied, and would produce small amounts of spawn with a little coaxing, but had dropped their spawn for the year. I did however find a few bedding males, and know that many people caught pre spawn fish last weekend as well. I have yet to find concentrations of bass in the Lake this year, so my current theory goes: River temps ran high in our last warm spell, and the fish started to move in with some limited spawning occuring. When the water dropped and cooled off the spawn halted, the fish backed off. The lake either hasn’t started or the fish just plain descided to hide better than I can find them. James’s comment make me think they just haven’t had the trending they needed to get comfortable. Last year in 50-55 degree water I could go out and catch 30+ bass per day in the 3-5 lb range in lake pepin. This year Nada. I can’t seem to muster more than 1 fish per hour in my favorite spots. The river fish were set up and ready to go. They almost completely abandoned some areas where they ALWAYS spawn, and have yet to move back in. This is what keeps fishing interesting. Every time I think I have the fish figured out, mother nature throws a new twist into the equation. If the “Big push” is yet to come, look for it to happen in the next 7-10 days. More stable weather, and rising water levels, temperatures and the calendar ( full moon is Friday ) are going to make the fish realize they are LATE… My 2 bits.

Jim.

I thought that this was the best format that I have ever seen at a Bass tournment. The point of the tourney is to raise money for kids with CANCER. God forbid any of us ever have to go through such a thing in our own family. Me and my partner kicked in $80 of our own money and moved ourselves into the middle of the pack for takeoff. We didn’t spend time raising money as the format allows, but with very little effort, anyone could raise much more than that. Day 2 was determined by weight… Brilliant as far as I was concerned. Let the people in the run for the cash get on their way. Anyone concerened about the way this tourney was run should reflect on their values a little. Great tourney, great format, and the best cause that a benifit tourney could have. Hope we raise 2x as much next year. Hope my fish don’t abandon me like they did this year.

Cliff they are saying it was fuel related. I asked what else can I do. I feed it 92 octane, and am meticulous with the oil mix. Even fed this motor Merc perfomance blend. Didn’t get my block today, so now I may not get broke in for KFAN. Took me 5.5 hours to get through the 6000 rpm barrier when the motor was new. My partner has a good backup boat though, so we may be in stealth mode, in his boat if I’m uncomfortable with my break in time. The speed is fun but after the first spot it doesn’t make a tinkers damn.

Id’e have to look in my garage to find mine. Just not something I ever throw. Just never gained confidence in them, spring summer or fall. Each to their own I guess.

Yep, Almost a year to the day to the last time it happened. Wound up fishing the whole day with my trolling motor. Me and my partner fished our buts off on the one spot that we could get to that we knew had fish. We finished 7th I believe in a 27 boat tourney. Could have had a pretty good shot at the leaders, if we could have just moved the boat That’s life. I run a high performance motor, so plenty of peeps tell me I should switch to something more dependable. I say there are lemons in all of them. I know a couple of people that have had Optimax, motors, evinrudes, and even Yamaha’s blow up more than once in a season. Scheduled to have my boat back Thursday. Friday will be a lot of hours trying to get through the perscribed break in procedure. Hope to be “Setting the water on fire” By Kfan Saturday morning.

Jeez, lots of tension guys. My two bits: cast off concerns about what anyone else thinks, It’s the fish you have to beat. There are enough bass in every pool that everyone should catch a limit of them every time. Unfortunatly the bass resist this process. If you feel you got to run to catch them, run. If you feel someone else is wasting their time running, then smirk to yourself and teach them a lesson at the weigh in. If you don’t feel like your going to catch them where you are, your beat mentally and won’t fish well. Sometimes I run, sometimes I stay put, sometimes I cash a check, sometimes I suck. You think you got it all figured out, come to the tourney the scale tells no tales. If tournaments are not your thing, just slip them back in the water, go look for the next bite.

Not schooled? Ever consider they are just not schooled in the places that your used to looking? Believe me, there are schools out there already, just in some odd places. I’ll agree some of the “Typical spots” that I catch spring smallies seem off, but there are schools to be found. When you find them they are agressive. Mother nature is about to kick in I believe, as the water flowing through the dams hits the mid 50’s look for the migration we’ve all been waiting for. In the meantime, don’t give up on looking for pods of fish. I’ve got a hot date with several schools tomorrow, and an even hotter date sunday, at the great river open. Just hope they don’t have an early dismissal, at the School I been attending… bass have a way of teaching us a lesson once in a while… Hope Sunday isn’t my day for a lesson.

Bass guys are a little more possessive. Certainly around tournaments. Take the great river open, this weekend, Kfan next weekend. Extreme bass may 10. Denny’s super 30, may 17. That makes about $10,000 reasons not to talk about the hot bait, sweet pattern, that you’ve spent night after night scouring the river to perfect. Yes in a perfect society we would all share… however many topics have been discussed in detail about spring on the River, so scoure the earlier posts, or post specific questions, not many go unanswered at this site. All I’m saying is the information is here you just may have to dig a little harder, for it, and don’t expect a map with an “x” on it from a hardcore bass guy. If he marks one for you… he’s probably lying.

Sounds to me like your rack is hanging up. Check the back of the steering wheel for any sign of looseness. If the pinion gear is loose it can get out of time under load. One tooth can get stuck basically trying to climb on to a high point rather than meshing smoothly in the bottom. If a jerk of your wheel relieves the binding and you have no trouble with the wheel on the trailer. The problem is in the rack. If nothing appears loose you probably have a defective rack. If the dealer won’t change it for free, then I’d find a new dealer, and change it yourself. Changing a steering wheel is not that big of deal. You need to remove the wheel from the drive mech (you may need a gear puller for this then remove the 4 bolts that hold the drive mech in. Remove the hardware on the motor end and pull the cables. Trick it to pull a rope when your pulling out your old cables. Then you can pull the new ones through with the rope. Took me and my partner less than a half hour on his Stratus. And we were telling stories…

Soon as I catch a Smallmouth the “gravel carp” season is over for me. Little slow yet but with warm weather on the way next week the smallies will be on the move, shaking off the cold water blues, and streching those lines…

Wouldn’t miss it.

Yep today after the cold front hit. pool 5. Wish id’ have been out yesterday with the butterflies… Had to try it in the 20 mph wind though lol

You can get extentions for a jackplate without adding a second manual jackplate. If your really looking for speed the extentions give you the setback without the extra weight. Look to your jack plate manufacturer for the extentions. All the major manufacturers sell them. I wouldn’t mix and match components. Your risking you motor, and yourself if you have a faliure. Not sure if you would benifit from added setback. Again talk to the setup expert for tritons at bassboatcentral.com He has experience to back up opinion. They offer information for free, you can also get the set-up and opinion of many other triton owners there. My experience is limited to the one fast hull I own. My last boat was an Alumicraft… Borderline cumbersome craft by my current standards

Still here, never left. Yeah I’m fishing kfan. Pool 4 no good with low water??? What you think the fish leave? I prefer it high to low myself as well. Kind of like it when the channel gets blown out. No secret I love the Lake. It seems to be stronger when the water is high. Fortunatly my partner is strong on 5. Weights were phenominal last spring. Flick is right, my expectations are high. Took 3lb + average last year to make a showing in a spring tourney. I look for the weights to be even better this year. Means a guy has to set his sights on 4 lb fish. Now I just got to get them to bite Pepins open. Time to get your boat out and play. People I know either love Boger or hate him. All depends on your expectations. All the custom prop guys thin the props. Make sure you are willing to give up some durability for speed. I break enough props a year without feeling the need to have a guy grind mine thinner… The peeps that swear by him say he’s going to give you 3 miles an hour.

Setback does several things to a boat. Primary functions are increase in leverage and increase in motor height. Increased leverage allows you to lift your bow easier, less whetted surface = greater speed. Unfortunately at low speeds it tends to cause a boat to porpoise ( a fact of life with large setback rigs ) . Increased motor height allows you to lift your motor higher. This helps you turn higher rpms. Higher rpms = faster as long as your prop doesn’t start to slip. Drawback there is loss of holeshot. The perfect setup for your boat depends on a lot of things. The Hp of your motor, the loaded weight of your boat (200 lbs of gear changes my set up significantly), your pitch and make of prop, the max rpm you can turn that prop. Arm yourself with that information, and go to bassboatcentral.com. Click the setup expert link. They have a setup expert for tritons that can help you pick a setback, prop and motor height, for your specific rig.
The setup on My 21’ Stroker : 13.5” setback on a detwieler hydraulic jackplate. 280hp Merc racing motor. 27” trophy 4 blade. @ 7800 rpm i’m running ~95mph depending on boat weight. 2 peeps in boat tournament load im 92-93 mph. My best recorded gps speed was late last year 38 degree, dry air ,no gear in boat ¼ tank fuel 29 pitch 3 blade tempest. 105.4 mph

Usually fish a jig when I go deep. You got to think like a crayfish.

They aren’t all shallow, just the easy ones. Find some structure in 20 feet of water, you better check your drag and hold on to your rod. If you get bit, you wont need to check the fish on a bumb board

The classic Debate … Smallmouth vs Largemouth. It is my opinion that a 4 lb smallmouth weighs exactly the same amount as a 4 lb Largemouth. I often have and always do target both species in Prefishing. Come tournament day I fish my biggest fish to try to win the tourney. There are big enough fish in either species to win consistently on the river. Fish the fish you can catch, let the scale tell the rest of the story.

Went to the kfan site looked up the results. To bad they posted the money and not the weight. 48 lbs to win.

FINAL RESULTS

NO. TEAM WINNINGS

1 George Liddle, Paul Neumann $3,250

2 Aaron Laroque, Joseph Hall $2,500

3 Rick Billings, Jeff Janet $1,750

4 Eric Kielb, Paul Kielb $1,200

5 Torrie Oswald, Robert Biehlar $950

6 Chris Luedtke, Brian Brown $850

7 Steve Sandberg, Scott Sandberg $700

8 Graden Hanson, Mike Vinci $650

9 Jim Merthan, Larry Carlson $500

10 Bob Chapin, Dwayne Finch $500

I’m not in the everstart. When I blew my big motor in the kfan, I went to a 280 offshore. Too big for their rules… Would have been a fun one to fish. How about you? You entering it?

I would never share any of my secret spots topwater… maybe just a couple of yours LOL. I suggest buying any of the well written books on Bass. You can find them at gander mountain, bass pro shops, ect. In them you can find out all you want to know about the General habitat and habits of river smallmouth. If you really want to be a student of the game, get a book, study, and go fish. They are not that hard to find if you spend some time on the water.

It’s not so easy to narrow it down to a particular area… but I’ll give you what I can. Biology tells you that at the time this tournament was held the fish were close to spawning. So the fish were VERY close to their spawning areas. The cool water temperature seemed to have backed the fish off the real shallow areas (At least in the lake). So the fish were at points, and the closest deeper water they could find to the area’s they wanted to spawn. Always in the spring I start fishing where the fish will spawn, and fish my way out to where they winter. They’re always somewhere in between… You just got to go fish them and find out what they are up to. Every year you fish them, you get a little smarter, you understand their habitat a little better, you get to know the river better, and you will start to succeed. Only shortcut is to team up with a person that will show you the ropes, or Join a Bassclub. That’s what I did. My partner, and a couple of other people, gave me a crash course on the river. A class I’m certain that my wife wishes sometimes, that I had never taken. LOL