Davis

http://www.dec.ny.gov/permits/6091.html You are correct. I didn't know there was a residence or non-residence fee. My apologizes. 40 dollars for the year. 25 bucks for seven days. Man thats steep.

A NY license is only 19 dollars. I think its only 12 or 13 for a weeks pass. I live about a half hour from Dunkirk and about 45 minutes from the Harbor in Buffalo. To me it looked like a lot of people were having luck in the harbor in Buffalo about 200 yards outside the marina area. There looks to be an inlet that looks like a silo out there and people were throwing lines out around it. Probably about 12 boats around this area.

If I get skunked than I get skunked. I have been fishing a place with trout and LM as of late. The trout have been teasing me like crazy so if I'm not catching bass than I throw on the 4lb test and 3" berkley trout worms and try for the brownies and brooks. Last night I brought home a nice 12" brook and had a nice meal. But usually I will do or die trying to pull that nice LM out. I know there in this lake but I have yet to track them down. Thats the fun of fishing. Find the fish. Catch the fish. With no fish finder it makes it a lot more interesting to try out the different points on this small 60 acre lake. If I really want a guarentee bass than I will pack up my stuff and head to my dads pond where there all over the place by the brush lines. But I like a challenge. ;D

Wacky all the way if the conditions permit it. Texposed if I have some weed beds that I want to fish. I'm not a fan of the trigged. Have not caught one bass that way. Only a bunch of bites.

That is not true. Our local Hatcheries here in Western NY have Rainbows and brownies along with some brooks. Brownies are actually one of the toughest trout that you can find as far as living in certain water conditions. I actually caught my first trout since I was young (bass fisherman) last night in a small lake that the DEC stocks with Brownies and Brooks. http://www.dec.ny.gov/press/29622.html

Man I wish we had LM like that here in Western NY. Maybe moving to Cali isn't a bad thought after all. That thing is huge. You hit a 18" LM around my parts and thats considered a big boy. But at least we have some nice smallmouth fishing.

Bass you grew up fishing the Catt as well? Or are ya just busting my chops! Maybe its from some of the chemicals that have flowed down from the old glue factory about 10 miles upstream over the years. But being close to the mouth of Erie makes me think that most of the smallies are coming up from the Lake. But Erie isn't the cleanest of Lakes either with Dunkirk being so close.

Another smaller sized smallie but I wanted to give you guys an idea of the beauty of the place that we fish. Bald Eagles are very much present here. A couple nests up the creek a bit. Very pretty place. Another smaller creek smallie (fight like crazy in this creek, if they take you into the rapids hang on) Lots of shale ledges and rocks.

I don't know RW. It has me baffled as well. I have been fishing for 18 + years and have never seen anything like that come out of this creek. I grew up fishing this creek. Like I said it seems like its part of the pattern in a weird way. No rough edges or abrasions. Odd to say the least.

Here is the weird one that I caught. At first I was thinking oil on the fish. But upon rubbing the markings they felt the same as the rest of the fish. Any ideas? I was wondering about lamprey but the wounds would be much different. Again sorry for the size. I don't have a resizing program.

This 17" was grabbed out of the Cattaraugus Creek which is right down the road from me in NY state. Great creek for smallies to come up out of Lake Erie. My son caught this one on a 7" Black/Char Berkley Power Worm. They just smash them in the rapids rigid weightless. I was a very proud dad this day seeing how this was his first smallie ever and his biggest bass ever caught. He don't have a boat so this creek is the best chance we have at smallies coming out of Erie. I have some more pics of others that we caught including a weird one with black marks all over its body. More to come soon.

If you have a local Dicks Sporting Goods stores they should have them Also suprisingly enough I found some at my local walmart and tried them out for the first time this weekend. Tough bite so I wasn't catching anything that day but the Gitzit has some nice action in the water. I plan on throwing it my next time out.

I just started fishing jigs this year too. I think the best advice is to always keep a tight line. You feel something out of the ordinary, set the hook. Sometimes it will be some vegetation....sometimes a nice bass. After I caught my first bass on a camo colored jig with a zoom chunk trailer I went out and bought about five more bass jigs. It also helps if you can see the fish heading for them though. Also make sure your making those suckers hop and be patient after the cast. Let them sit on the bottom for a bit.

Jitterbugs are up there with me too. Great action and sound in the water. I try them at night but nothing. Probably doesn't help that I'm fishing them in heavy pressured waters though. I may try them out in my dads small pond.

I need to do this more often. I can take one or two different plastics with me and only fish one. But for some reason when I try this with hard baits I always get frustrated and go back to my plastics. Leaving my plastics at home would do me some good. Need to learn to be more versatile in my fishing. Thanks for the drive to do this Road.

Same. I have a lot of lures in my tackle bag but when it comes down to it.......I love using plastics in all sorts of different setups. Thats my talent is fishing plastics. I used to catch a good amount of bass on spinnerbaits as a kid but it just doesn't happen anymore. Same with crankbaits and rattletraps. Killed bass on them as a kid. But now at 27 years old. I can't catch squat on them. But give me a plastic of any kind and I will catch bass on it. Maybe its a confidence thing on knowing how to use them?

Berkley power bait or gulp bait. Enough said. ;D

I also agree that dark colors like watermeleon/green work very well on a standup type jighead. I fish in a creek called the Cattaraugus that has some monster smallmouth in the waters. But the deep holes are few as well. Gulp Shakey Worm in a watermelon color with a shakey head jig pulled a nice 18" out of about three foot of water for me. Biggest so far of the year. Regular 7" Berkley power worms (numerous colors based on water conditions) have always worked wonders for me. Zoom tricky worm in a bubblegum color has also garnished me some hits. I usually do not use any type of hard bait as there are a lot of rocks and ledges. Snags are very common if you don't go in rigging a plastic weedless. Good luck and always toss up stream and fish it slow.