fishwood

up here in NY that time has arrived. Most waters are in the low to mid 60's and the lakes have turned over. The rivers and streams are producing big time!! Finally, no more deep dredging.

I goofed on adding the pics. here is the same fish on the tackle box

I took the canoe out for a few hours before work yesterday and had a great day on a small river near my home. Caught over twenty smallies, five over two pounds, the rest were 1/2 to 1 pound. I used Yamamoto's 4 inch shad shaped finesse worm in green,texas rigged. This was the biggest. About four pounds. It's hard to get a good perspective picture when fishing alone and using a camera phone. The tackle box she's lying on measures 20"x10".

Fishing North America 1876-1910 It's 42 stories/articles covering bass to muskie to tarpon. You won't learn anything helpful, but it's interesting to see how they did it back then.

If your sure you put the plug in the proper drain hole, check the plumbing for the live well. Maybe the hoses are not connected or damaged.

This type of minimalist fishing is great. You don't need to get carried away with lots of rods and tech toys. Just an UL rod/reel setup, a hand full of smaller lures, and your set for a great day. Most days I'll only need an original floating rapala in a smallish size, or if fly fishing, a size 6 olive wooly bugger on a 6 wt outfit

"Nothing quite matches the frustration of losing a large fish, and nothing has a greater tragic aura, in miniature, than a slipped knot. Like all great tragedies, from Oedipus to Lear, one's own downfall is caused not by some malevolent demon in the universe but by our very own tragic flaw. In this case the tragic flaw is impatience." from Nick Lyons- "My Secret Fishing Life"

Yesterday my wife and I went to swinging bridge res. 2 1/2 years ago they found a sink hole in the dam, so they drew it down by 70% while under repair. It also changed ownership, which slowed progress. This res was a fishing heaven before this happened. Strong population of smallies, nice walleye, some of the biggest crappie I've ever caught. I don't know what I expected, but the fishing was really tough. I think the food chain was severly impacted, from insect life up to predatory fish. I caught a few smallies, but nothing like before. I'm guessing it will take a couple/few years for the system to right itself. The water levels are still rising as it fills to normal pool. Anyone experience this kind of thing, and if so, how long should I expect the system to re-establish itself?

anyone out there use the fly rod for smallies? It's pretty effective at times, especially on moving water, not to mention good fun. I usually start out with it, and if their coming to the fly readily I stick with it. If not, I pull out the spinning and casting rods.

I usually fish from my smokercraft 17ft boat, but just this past weekend I came to a realization. I took my nephew out in my canoe and we just hammered em'. I realized that when fishing in a slower craft it forces you to focus on each area more than you normally would. I think I'll pull out the canoe more often going forward.

If there is no map available (and since it's a pond I guess not) you could throw a carolina rig. This will allow you to survey the bottom contour by feel and help build a mental image of the structures you come across.

I've tied the tubes and grubs, but the problem is that these fish are not holding off of structure. They are constantly on the move, making it hard to cast or drift the schools accuratly. a quick troll with either long lines or three way rigs seems to help stay on top of them. I catch a lot of them when I'm trolling for walleye.

with surface temps htting mid to upper 70's, the smallies in my areas reservoirs are roaming deep chasing baitfish schools. I recently went out and had some success long lining cranks and sticks. What are some of your reliabe open water rigs?