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Weather Underground predicted sun, 60ºs and 10 -20 mph NNW wind which I know meant 20 - 30 mph howling over the wide open spaces of Quabbin Reservoir. Did I want to subject my 63 year old self to the punishment these conditions would provide? Was set up on the Way Offshore Flats (WOF) at 7:00. First spot was too shallow at this time. Moved further out, anchored deep - 30'(?) - and settled at a depth between the dark and the visible bottom, the break where the flat drops into the deeps. Breeze was only about 10 mph at this time so I started with the 1/8 oz. hair jig, casting with the wind onto the flat. That's a blurry smallie of about 3 3/4 lbs. It could be a good day for fishing if not for photography. 8:00 now and I'm facing a wind that's whitecapping the waves. Control of the 1/8 oz. jig was impossible so I went to a 5/8 oz. vibrating blade bait. The tackle used was a 6 1/2' medium power, fast action St. Croix Avid with a Shimano Curado spooled with 10 lb. Silver Thread AN40. I'd cast at an angle to work 20' - 30' depths. When the blade hit bottom I'd pull - not rip/stroke - 18" - 24" to get good vibrations, a tune that sang, "Eat me!" to the smallmouth in the neighborhood. Five sucked it off the bottom between lifts. Here's another 3 3/4 lber. and a solid 5. A more filled out than most laker of about 4 lbs. liked the blade too. By mid morning the fish had either moved on or wised up and I explored other steep drops. They should be liking suspending jerks with the water at 48.7º. One small laker whacked a Duo Realis jerkbait 100SP after the first sweep of the rod. Among the several Lake trout I've landed this season, this one was the fins down winner of the twist-in-the-net competition. Aargh. Northern smallie anglers know exactly what I'm talking about. Noontime found me working my favorite early spring shoreline. The wind had backed off to 10 - 15 mph which is where I like it. Water temp here was 52.8º. I've got fantasies of ripping 'em up. Big ones. My rich mental life was grounded by three 1 1/2 - 2 1/2 lbers. and a number of follows. Also checked a sweet spot for largemouth. Here's a 2 lb. LM with the head of a 3. It continued its poor eating habits by snacking on my crawfish colored jig with a GYCB Double Tail Grub trailer. 3:30 now. Enough. I'm beat. Back home I left the gear in the car, ate, and washed down a couple ibuprofen with a Steel Rail Pale Ale. Was this level of exhaustion worth it? I'd bet I'm singing with the choir when I say: "Yes!" I'll close with a photo of this day's tools for fish trickery:

Hit the lake after work for a couple hours, and finally had some good pre-spawn action. Fish were shallow and all caught in timber/downed trees. Started off with this CHUNKY 13 incher. . Thought I hooked a hog on a lipless. Ended up being a chubby smallish pike. It made a run like a pike twice its size. I got a couple more decent bass, and then landed the lunker of the day. 19 inches long, 4.16 pounds and the fattest belly on a fish I have caught: . Ended the day with another good one: It was a great couple hours on the water, and I finally got the pre-spawn bite I was waiting for! All fish were caught on lipless cranks and 5" senkos. Gonna try to be on the water everyday for the next couple weeks I wish pre-spawn was all year long.

I've been finding most of my fish in 2-3' of water, these are smaller bodies that must be a few degrees warmer than bigger places.. I struggled in a larger spot I was fishing which could have been for a number of reasons but I definitely noticed a water temp difference just from touch. I probably wasn't fishing deep enough in this spot and should have probably slowed down a bit.. I ended up going back to where I had some success a few weeks ago and nailed this 4.71 pounder on the same swim jig...

The T-Rig is like the SUV of all rigs we use, the weight is used for not only distance but can also be used for rate of fall as well, the T-Rig is also used to get into and through heavy vegetation and all sorts of cover, the purpose of the T-Rig is to allow the weight to get to the bottom quickly or quicker than your bait, in turn as the weight sinks to the bottom it slides up your line as it travels if you let it fall on a semi slack line, this gives the bait roughly 6 to 10 inches of weightless presentation, depending on variances of depth and weight choice, once the weight hits the bottom it takes a little extra time for the bait to reach bottom afterward, depending on bait size and chemical construction along with hook size, some baits will fall slower giving you a little longer weightless presentation, shallow waters really require very little weight, heavy vegetation and deeper water usually require heavier weight, pegging your weight takes away the use of this portion of presentation before making contact with the weight, which a lot of times is where you will get a strike and becomes more like a Carolina rig or split shot type rig, pegging your weight close to the bait makes it more like a jig type presentation, I never peg my T-Rig because I want that momentary weightless presentation from the fall as well as on the first movement before it makes contact with the weight. The T-Rig is best suited for working cover, although it's a truly great presentation for almost anywhere, just like an SUV would use 4WD for better traction in rough terrain, this rig allows you to come through and over some pretty mean stuff with less chances of snagging, not that it is completely snag free but it does work these pieces of cover much better than many other rigs because of just how thorough it is, if you are working a brush pile or grass, keep in mind that the tail of the bait may want to grab or wrap around whatever your working, for example, a twist tail worm is less likely to come through or over a brush pile without getting tangled in which case a straight tail worm would be better suited for your presentation where as a ribbon tail worm might be better suited to work just outside of these rough areas.

Picked up a pair of nrx's after a good night at the casino. 852 and 803 with daiwa ballistics.

Just got these today, was hesitant on the Aldebaran but now I'm so glad I ordered it. Thing is sweet!

This past weekend I journeyed back to Maine for some early season lunker hunting. I was hoping the recent warm weather had warmed up the water temperature above 50 degrees. After making the journey to Maine, waking up at 5 am to drive another 2.5 hours into Maine, I arrived at my destination. The water had warmed since the last time I fished. When I launched around 8 am the water temperature was 47 degrees. The wind was calm and it was sunny. My plan was to target isolated wood and 5-10 ft of water. In the first hour of fishing I boated 6 bass the biggest being a 5 lb 2 oz largemouth on a jig. I was getting more bites on moving baits, especially a rage tail swimmer. The bite slowed until it basically shut off around noon. The water kept warming until it reached a high of 49 degrees. The wind picked up out of the north blowing 10-20 mph. It made fishing on spots a challenge. After struggling for hours with out a bite I went back to my first spot where a tributary was dumping in. It was a smart move as I boated 6 more bass but nothing larger then 2 lbs 14 oz. I fished until dark and finished with 11 largemouth and 5 smallmouth. Saturday started off cold. I met Shane J early in the morning and after another 2.5 hour drive into central Maine we arrived out our destination for the day. A relatively new lake to me. I had been there only 2 times before this outing. After what I saw I really wanted to fish it in spring. I had a feeling that it would be a great day for big fish. After the cold start in the morning it warmed up nicely. It was sunny as well but the north east wind blew 10-15 mph all day and was constant. The first 2 hours we were fishless. We hadn't even had a bite. We were targeting the primary drop off but it didn't have any kind of structure or cover. The water was warming up nicely, already over 50 degrees. Once we got to the first area that had cover along the drop off we started getting bites. Shane was committed to fishing glide baits and I was fishing a rage swimmer. Once we got dialed into the pattern we consistently caught fish. We focused our efforts along the primary drop off along the western shore of the lake where there were isolated milfoil patches in 4-8 ft. The fish were there and we were catching numbers of fish with several 3s and 4s mixed in. Around 2 in the afternoon we caught a couple lunker largemouth. She weighed in at 7 lbs 10 oz This fish weighed in at 5 lbs 8 oz Once we landed the two lunkers we really dialed in the small area we were fishing. We didn't get bit anywhere else on the lake and felt as if we should concentrate our efforts where we were. After boating the 2 bigger fish the bite slowed down for awhile. We were still boating fish but not nearly as quickly. Around 5 in the afternoon the wind slowed a bit and then shifted to a south wind. Just after the wind shifted the bass really started hitting. Shane boated a 5 lb 5 oz largemouth, a 3 and a 4 in a matter of minutes. After switching to a deps side swimmer I caught a 4-13. Then it was Shanes turn to catch a lunker. That girl weighed in at 7 lbs 7 oz The fish continued to bite but we didn't get any more lunkers for the day. Between the two of us we caught 22 largemouth. Our biggest 5 were 7-10,7-7,5-8,5-5 and 4-13 for a 5 fish limit of 30 lbs 9 oz. It was a great day of spring fishing for big fish. The water reached a temp of 53 degrees by the time we left. All of our fish came on moving baits I caught most of my fish on rage tail swimmers and my brand new deps side swimmer. I returned by myself to the lake that was so magical on Saturday. I had planned to take my father but he wasn't able to make it. It was a long boring 2.5 hour drive from my fathers place in Maine. I planned on going right back to the same are where Shane and I had done so well the day before. The morning bite was good. The fish hadn't moved and were still slamming the rage swimmer and the deps side swimmer. My first fish was a 3 lb 4 ozer then the next 2 fish were picture worthy lunkers. She weighed in at 7 lbs 2 oz Got this 5 lb 5 oz on a deps side swimmer. Then all of a sudden the bite shut off. The water was 55 degrees, the wind was calm, it was sunny, the air temp was very warm for April, and I was in the right spot. For some reason the bite shut off. I couldn't get a bite on a moving bait if my life depended on it. After going fishless for 2 hours or so I decided I needed to change up tactics a bit. I started fishing a jig and a senko in a little deeper water 6-10 ft in the same areas that had been producing the day before. The jig was a bust but the senko was catching fish. Most of the fish were smaller then what I had been catching but I did manage one more decent fish. A hard fighting 5 lb 9 oz largemouth on 8 lb flouro. Sadly I had to leave around 5 ish to make the 2.5 hour journey back to my dads then make the 2.5 hour journey back to Barre, VT. It was worth it though. I ended the day with 10 largemouth. The 5 biggest being 7-2,5-9,5-5, 3-4,2-12 for a 5 fish limit of 24 lbs. I have this coming Saturday, Sunday, and Monday off. I will be going back and hopefully be able to catch a few. It sure was a weekend to remember !

A. Don't peg it. No reason to. Fish will hold it longer if you don't. I'm sure people will disagree with that and there are exceptions. But not many people would tell you bass hold a jig longer than a worm. So it does matter. B. The shallower the water, the less weight is required to keep the bait down. I usually will use 1/8 oz min. on spinning and 3/16 oz min on baitcasting, the latter only because I'll birdnest with 1/8 on BC equipment. Higher winds might require more weight to keep contact with the bait to feel a bite. You'll get more bites with less weight. If you can stand it, try a Trick Worm, weightless. Then you can fish it from top to bottom and in very heavy cover. This is always tied on a spinning rid if I'm at a pond. Second Mike L. I use a black glass bead between the weight and hook and am convinced the click-click draws some extra bites. Another reason not to peg.

Exactly how long do you you expect to keep your "secret honey hole" a secret? By the way, if you go across there to that far East shoreline in the background, to the right of the beaver hut, in the cove where the rocks come down to the water, there's a hump out about 20' from shore, with 7' water on the back of it. Stay back, cast onto the rocks, drag your bait into the water, and slow roll it by that hump. See ya around, and think, McFly!!

The ozark river smallmouth are gonna hammer these babies

Once again, great information from long-time BassResource partner and contributor, Bob Lusk!

Out of the gazzillion dollars I have invested in tackle I´m pretty sure that with around $500 ( or maybe even less ) I would have all the lures I really fish with 95% of the time in 95% of the places if I lost all my stuff like you did. Sad considering all the money I´ve spent throughout the years but ....... purchasing s*t I´m not going to use is as fun as fishing.

Good buy my friend. Around here rebel craws are the go to bait when the weather gets hot and the river gets low.

My Yamamoto Tate Pencils did pretty well last weekend and I lost one, so I replaced the color I lost and picked up a black one too. Still 2 for $10 at DSG. Live Target (excluding sunfish and bait ball) is all buy one get one free at DSG right now, so picked up a crawfish and a blueback herring. Also grabbed some Keitech in Silver Flash Minnow. Oh yeah, and I ordered 10 more Rebel Craws at Amazon that should be coming in today in 5 red, 5 brown-my nephews lost all but one of my stock last weekend.

Sorry to hear that man! I'd start with baits that are multi-purpose and 'year' round sort of baits. If I had to start someplace the baits I'd go to would be: -Zoom Trick Worm (or similar shape) in Green Pumpkin or similar - Can fish it t-rigged, on a shakey head, wacky rigged or on a Drop Shot for Smallmouth or Largemouth, etc. -Zoom Fluke in White - Smallmouth and Largemouth go-to for me, year-round. -Squarebill (cheaper) - A KVD 1.5 in a shad and bluegill will cover a lot of bases -Medium Diver (cheaper) - A Strike King 3XD has caught a ton of largemouth and smallmouth for me. With those 4 baits, you don't have a ton of money invested and you could probably catch fish most days.

Oddly enough, as long as you rig the bait straight you can do it upside down or even off the side (either one) and it will work fine. It will change the action somewhat, and this is sometimes good, and sometimes not.

The recent warm up this past week had the big fish slamming. My buddy Shane J and I caught a few lunkers on Saturday and then I went back Sunday to get a couple more. Water temperatures were 53 on sat and 55 on sun. Moving baits were working and big fish were biting ! Now is the time to catch big fish in the north east ! Get out there and fish ! 5-9 7-7 5-5 7-2 5-8 7-10 Rage tail swimmer and a deps side swimmer were working good ! Got the 5-9 on a senko. The only non moving bait big fish. Time to get out and fish guys ! Big fish are biting !

It is far tougher to find good spots that produce trophy class fish then for someone to look at your picture and find your spot. I guarantee that more time and effort goes into finding a trophy producing spot then some yuppy on a computer attempting to find your spot so he can catch fish. Some of those spots have taken YEARS to find and fine tune. To have someone click on your picture and find your spot in a few minutes or hours....Guys that spot steal like that... Should probably spend more time fishing and becoming a better angler then staring at pictures on there computer trying to figure out where your spot is. Individuals like that, in my opinion, are terrible for the sport. They seek instant gratification and results without putting in any hard work to attain it.

Nothing crazy, but managed this 3.5 prego at Whittier last night. Getting the kayak out on the Potomoc Sunday for some smallie action.

Yes. If you've not introduced yourself to the benefits of braided line, then I'd encourage you to do so. When compared to 15 lb Big Game (a line I like and am very familiar with) the sensitivity and hook setting authority while using right braid for bottom contact baits / presentations is dramatically improved. A proper & balanced rod / reel help too. Braid may not be the best or only line choice in every given jig fishing situation, but I prefer it over mono in almost every scenario in my fishing; especially when a long cast is required. As for pound test, for me it's more about line diameter than actual breaking strength of the line. I've been very satisfied with Sufix 832 in 30 lb for casting & open water to light cover situations, 40 lb for moderate cover and 50-65 lb for heavy cover & the slop. More recently been trying some of the newer braids with good results. Diawa Samari & Seagar Smackdown braids are both very nice and quite a bit thinner diameter. So I've kicked up the pound test just to get a manageable line size. 40 for open water 50 for moderate cover and 65 / 70 for heavy cover and the slop. A-Jay

I used this frog (non-Poppin') religiously last season because I got a ton of bites, including big bites. BUT, it has a flaw IMO that is a major pain. The frog is extremely easy to walk, and for whatever reason vs. other frogs I've thrown in the past it got more bites and bigger bites. I struggled mightily with hook-up ratio though (to the point that'd when I found fish with this frog, I'd follow with a Boohya or Spro to catch them) and after tons of testing it I found out its the rattle inside - I think. I'm hoping someone else may have found a fix for this? Basically, the rattle should stay in the head or top half, but after a few casts it falls into the 'butt' of the frog and then the bait can't collapse when bit. When you move the rattle back up to the head the bait is super soft, it collapses very easily, and you catch fish on almost every bite. Its beyond annoying to be doing this after every few casts though. I like the rattle inside, I just don't know how to keep it pinned to the head. They should mold it into the front half of the frog and it would fix the issue and the frog would be literally perfect. Just my two cents.

I go fishing! One key to being consistent is to fish a lot It will keep you on top of what the bass are doing It will keep you cocked, locked, & ready to rock!

Just get the Tatula Type R from Ebay for $120 in your desired gear ratio, don't look back. If you budget is $300 that leaves you some money left over to get a nice rod. I have at least tried or even owned the others mentioned. By the way I have the Zillion TWS and I would not be able to justify what its "superior" when it comes to casting, smoothness and drag, but if you want to give another $50 to Daiwa that's your choice. You'll wonder why you paid some much more for the Rockets, unless that 37" per turn was super critical. It's not even a bang for buck issue! If you don't like the Type R I will buy it from you at a slight discount ($15 off)! Just make sure you keep original box and it cost you $15 to try it out.

I totally understand that. I'll just say for the record I found that spot on my own and I respect all of you who catch big bass at your own spots it definetly is a grind and to put in the time at your spots.

For $150 you can get 2-3 really good rods! Academy H2O AllStar CastAway Bass Pro Shops Cabela Gander Mountian Berkley Or ya can just buy one!

I agree with starting with your favorites and hitting the clearance bins. If it were me, I would definitely start off with: 3/8 and 1/2 oz jigs (6 or so of each with an all-purpose head design) 6 lipless cranks (2 of each in my favorite 3 colors) 2 spooks (white and black) 2 frogs (white and black) 4 poppers (1/2 and 1/4 oz) 4 3/8 oz spinnerbaits (2 double willow or tandem and 2 single Colorado) 3/0 worm hooks 5/0 worm hooks size 2 hooks for dropshot (dealers choice) 1/4 oz dropshot weights 3/16 oz jigheads (ball and shakeyhead) 3/16 and 1/2 oz bullet weights hope this helps, sorry to hear about your loss

Fished for an hour tonight. The bass are now extremely shallow in less than four feet of water holding tight to cover. Caught fifteen fish up to about three and a half pounds. Started out with the Ned rig fishing where they were a couple days ago, but only caught one. Then I moved into the coves and found the majority in the very backs of them holding in brush, weeds, and the edges of docks. All of the fish were caught on a brown 3/8 ounce jig with a four inch purple/green/brownish Berkley pit boss as the trailer. Sometimes I just flipped or pitched the jig, but most of the time I casted and gave it a couple short drags until it bumped into something. Then I let it sit for a few seconds before giving it two short twitches getting it over the rock or limb and making it look like a panicked crawfish. I actually saw two female bass getting ready to bed today, good sized ones about three and a half pounds, and both readily bit my jig.

I wear sun protection religiously, yes. UV rays from the sun are the leading cause of skin cancer.

I think the best rod under $150 is the Ugly Stik.

There is another thread of the same thing, MANY pages long. Jeff, above me, just linked you to it. It just so happens to be my favorite thread on here!

Check out this thread Jeff

Why not just sell it? I would have no use for the rod, it doesn't fit anything I do with spinning tackle.

I think I'm mostly comparing it to my other medium rods. This one just doesn't seem to flex as much during the cast so I feel like I'm getting less "fling" off of it. I kid you not, the only reason I have this rod is because I was browsing Gander Mountain and saw this rod sitting there with a $59 price tag on it. I knew right away it wasn't correct, so I took it up to customer service, asked them if it was right, they said "No, it's $199.99, but pricing errors go in favor of the customer. Would you like it for $59?" I felt like I couldn't get my wallet out fast enough.

those GY single tail grubs are great! not the most durable, but man the fish seem to love them around here. that giant dog x is a fantastic topwater bait! sooooooo easy to walk the dog with it!

I actually am one of the few Eagles fans who doesn't have a problem with the trade. If Roseman feels the guy they want at QB is going to be there for 10+ years then the price paid isn't too much. You can't win without a solid QB and we haven't had a great one since McNabb was traded. This trade allows Wentz/Goff to sit at least one maybe even two years, depending on how Bradford does, and then come in and not be in a horrible situation. The eagles have the majority of their top players signed for a few years and their only starter that is at 30 is peters. Could this trade be a complete bust, sure but your chances of drafting a top QB is exponentially increased the higher up they are chosen. All this being said, ask me again in three years and my answer may be a little different

I do believe that you heard that, yesterday was a holiday for you right?

Frog eggs would be my guess.

Here's a little bit of my tackle. I try to stay organized but...... It gets outta control sometimes

The bite is slowly turning on. We only had two keepers on a tough day last weekend but they were both fat and white. 8lb 1oz fish was caught by a high schooler on a crankbait, think it was a 1.5 not certain. 17lbs took the tournament. Temps were getting to be 68 and some said they saw 70 in the hot arm.

I bought one of these last year on sale at academy.. caught a ton of fish off of the chartreuse black back until it broke.. Found out they was on sale for $2.48 .. Got 20 for me and 10 for my tournament partner..

A light rain will have less effect than a moderate or heavy rain. If it has effected the "flow", as Scott F says, look for inlets-places where water flows into the pond and, to a lesser degree, where water flows out of the pond. I have really good luck dropping a soft plastic into these areas and waiting for the pick up.

Especially the gifted ones.

well done, sir!

Care to expand on the differences?

An Ambassadeur with 5:1 gears would be good for this. I built a pretty sweet wiffle spool model for this a few years ago.

I stopped at "Calcutta." (and I'm actually a Daiwa guy)

If there are yellow perch where you are fishing it very well could have been perch eggs. Typically they spawn in 3-8 ft of water. They leave a long white egg mass that could be up to 2 ft long. The do not make nesting sites. It would be laying on bottom most likely in a weedy area. They spawn when the water temperature is around 50 degrees up here in New England. If the eggs you found were real shallow and in a more spherical shaped egg mass then they are probably some sort of amphibian eggs most likely from toads or frogs.

Some lures you can see teeth marks. But as far as a smell goes, I doubt that. Jeff

Personally I have never observed the "trace slime on lure" phenomena that you describe. But I can tell you that a rule I always follow "when in doubt, set the hook"