As fall fades to winter, some answers to your outdoors questions
Face it - we've had a wonderful autumn season, with temperatures warm enough to ignite the passions of quite a few area fishermen. Those eager folks willing to tempt the weather fates wound up on the positive side of the great late-season gamble.
And with that said, those outdoorsmen who found themselves choosing not to hunt deer and waterfowl went to their typewriters (keyboards) to pen a few missives.
• Stan R. from Buffalo Grove asked, "Is there any time that could be better than others when to use a surface lure?"
That's a question I receive numerous times each year. Please remember I'm answering these e-mails with solutions I've learned over the years from the pros. I am like a storage locker, saving the information I picked up so I could share some of it with readers and listeners.
When I was a kid in my Dad's boat he always told me to tie on a surface plug to see if I could "scare up" a muskie or pike. It worked numerous times.
Before I ever seriously fished Geneva Lake, I never consciously thought about using surface noisemakers to catch smallmouth bass.
A retired doctor invited me to fish with him on that lake. He started casting the familiar Pop-R lure on a section of water that went down 30 feet.
He finally got a massive surface strike after a half-dozen casts. A 3-pound smallmouth was quickly released.
He shared with me that he'd spotted a large school of smallies on his sonar suspending at 15 feet. He figured those fish would respond to surface noise, and they did.
The answer to your question is simply this - it may take a while a for a fish to react to a surface lure, but in many instances the surface bait will often trigger a fish's instinct to chase and eat it. Just use the lure and be patient.
• Ron K. is from Palatine. He just moved in to Illinois from Maryland and is about to buy some new fishing gear. Here's what he wrote in his e-mail: "I continue to look at the major brands of casting and spinning reels, and then I go to the catalogs and even paid a visit to one of the huge outdoor stores. The catalog reels (store brands) and outdoor store gear looks exactly like many of the major brands, but with their own house brand names on the boxes and reels themselves. I don't understand how the reels can be so similar."
This isn't a tough one. Because the big box stores do a pretty good volume of business, almost all of the major rod and reel manufacturers will make reels that are almost an exact copy of their own models, only with the logo of the big box store either engraved or labeled on the house-brand reel. The big box stores will then sell their brands, even though they are very close approximations of the major brand, at a lower price.
• Marty is an Elgin resident and has become enthralled with carp fishing. He's been working mostly ponds - but now he wants to graduate to bigger fish. Here's what he wrote. "Where can I find the jumbo carp in this area, or anywhere for that matter?"
I would try the harbors of Lake Michigan, where some monsters are swimming around the docks. I would also try just outside the harbors as well. I have fished for carp on Lake Michigan and missed a great opportunity to go for some real monsters on Lake Erie, but the Great Lakes are good carp fishing grounds. Keep in mind not many anglers chase carp, so they are generally left alone.
• Contact Mike Jackson at angler88@comcast.net, catch his radio show 7-9 a.m. Sundays on WGCO 1590-AM (live-streamed at www.1590WCGO.com) and get more content at www.mikejacksonoutdoors.com.