Tokyo Tony

Been to the Cabela's many times - it's 15 minutes from my house. It's AWESOME. I haven't been able to find something that I need and that they do not have, and I'm not sure that I will.

SPRO frogs are good, but rubber frogs (SIZMIC toads, YUM horny toads, Gambler cane toads, etc) are more versatile and I think more effective in general (and cheaper). If you haven't tried those, do yourself a favor. They're a lot of fun to use and the bite starts earlier in the year and finishes later than you would guess.

I like that discussion JWO - is that from a psych course? Anyway, I get pretty depressed in the winter, just by default (d**n that Melatonin), but mostly because I can't do some of the things I enjoy most in life (fishing - ice fishing does not do it for me at all, golf, just being outside in the warmth). I usually just play a lot of internet poker and go to Foxwood's a bunch. I need to get one of those sun lamps. Anyway, wintertime duldrums almost seem worth it when spring comes around. When it starts getting warmer, I drive around to many different lakes just to see which ones are gonna ice out first, and I even make casts to holes in the soft ice, even though I'm pretty sure I won't get any hits. The pure act of casting a lure and retrieving it is just awesome after a winter indoors. In this respect fishing in the Northeast is a nice change from the South - I would guess that fishermen in the South (much like southern golfers) burn out a lot more easily than northern anglers just because they're doing it all year long. Anyway Other, you can't force your interest in fishing, but I defy you to go out, catch a few nice fish, and not have a helluva time. If you are able to catch fish and not have as much fun as you do while playing video games, stick to the video games. Be happy.

Prozac and a sun lamp

Hey guys, wondering if you could help me out a bit... Two nights ago I decided instead of going for sluggish LMB in my local ponds to fish a little cove off of the CT river for some stripers. I fished from shore. I've never really chased schoolie stripers before, and I really don't know anything about them at all. I couldn't get them to hit my topwaters, so I tied on a 4 inch Storm swimbait and ended up getting three fish, biggest about 6 lbs. Those babies can fight - the 6 lber went on 4 or 5 runs pulling out a good bit of drag ;D (drag was set about 8 pounds, using 15lb PowerPro). Anyway, I went out again last night and got one single hit over 2.5 hours, and caught no fish. The place I'm fishing is the little canal-type thing that leads from the CT River to a cove called Wethersfield Cove, and the fish were caught under a bridge where the streetlights shine down into the water. Is this time of year in CT not very productive for stipers in these types of areas? What types of lures would you recommend? Do colors matter as much for stripers as for LMB? I'm thinking the reason I didn't get any last night is because there just weren't as many fish there as there were two nights ago. It was also significantly colder last night than the night before. What do you think? I'm gettin' desparate here trying to find fish I can catch at night now that it's getting colder. I work during the day during the week so night fishing is my only option until the weekends. I'd love to be able to go out a couple nights a week and have a good shot at catching some schoolies. Any help is much appreciated.

In the future when I'm living in Miami, my flats boat will be "I got a bone" For bonefish, of course. Really mature huh? Yeah I came up with it when I was about 12.

This past year from late spring until early fall I fished a couple hours after work everyday during the week from shore at a bunch of little ponds in my area, and on the weekends I'd either take the canoe and Minn Kota out and travel 30 mins to an hour to better lakes or I'd go out in a friend's boat. A full day on the water was around noon 'til after dark, or dawn to around 2 pm. For a while I was going night fishing for 3 hours or so 3-4 times a week. Now that it's getting chilly, I'm either chasing smallies in NH on the weekends or nightfishing for schoolie stripers along coves on the CT river, from shore. I need to get a boat next spring. But to answer the question, when there's not ice on the water, I probably average 5 times a week, even if it's for an hour or two (I'm young and don't have any real commitments yet...).

Nice fish man! Jeez, I miss snook and tarpon - those are my favorite. Used to live in Miami, FL, now I'm in CT. No fish fights harder than a tarpon.

That's one of the ugliest fish I've ever seen. Would have loved to catch him though :

I think a good general rule is not to tie a non-loop knot directly to the hook eye (unless you're going for a subtle-type action). You need some kind of loop in order to get the full action out of your bait, whether it's a loop knot, split ring, or some kind of snap. I use regular snaps and they work fine. The only time I use a loop knot is with walk-the-dog topwaters, where I don't want any extra weight on the front of the lure, but still want the full side-to-side action. Otherwise, a snap allows me quickly to change colors/styles of lures without having 30 rods all over the place.

That is a freakin' FAT pickerel - can't say I would be ticked off if I caught that slime dart.

When you get a $60 gift card from Dicks for your Scorecard Rewards points When you offer to pay for things with your Cabala's credit card so you can get more points, which makes less than zero sense. When anytime you feel a little down, you go buy lures you absolutely don't need and may not even use, and it makes you feel better.

I find Terminators to run the truest and to be the most durable. I like whitish skirt and silver willowleaf blades most of the time. For night fishing, you can't beat a Strike King black/blue or black/red with single Colorado blade (I like the smooth blade, no ripples). It's actually made for night fishing and also has a rattle. Otherwise, I don't like Strike King and Booyah spinnerbaits - I'm always tuning them.

Johnnydel, glad to see you're trying out the old X-Rap. This is by far one of my favorite baits, and I have more confidence with X-Raps and LC Pointers than with any other lure, even senkos. If I'm not sure if there are fish in an area (that isn't too heavy with cover), I throw an X-Rap, and if nothing, I'm confident no fish are there. I really feel that fish hear and see these things from a long way away, approach it out of curiosity, then attack it either because it makes them angry or triggers some kind of reflexive reaction out of them. Love 'em. All good tips above for sure, but I have one thing to add, and it applies moreso to smallies, but also to a lesser degree to largies. You'd be very very surprised how fast you can work these baits sometimes. Not so much this time of year in the northeast now that the fishing is starting to slow down, but especially when the fish are active. If you see fish following your bait but not committing, speed that thing way up. I'm talking reeling fast while making fast erratic jerks and twitches. When you do this, sometimes it's important to let it come to a dead stop right in the middle for a couple seconds, but definitely experiment with this really aggressive approach. Smallies can't resist. You won't trust it until you start getting fish with the super fast retrieve, but when you do get the confidence, it's a lot of fun. The types of jerks that seem to work best for me are very short and sharp - I prefer braided line with a flouro leader and a medium action rod, but mono or flourocarbon will work well too. I just like the feel with braid more and the tighter, more erratic action that comes with zero stretch line. I actually feel kinda stupid when I'm fishing around other people and they see me working the bait this way because I'm pretty sure I look pretty stupid, but that self-consciousness goes away when the fish start piling in ;D And someone said color is important with these - sometimes it is really important. Last weekend in NH they wouldn't touch anything but an all-white X-Rap. It was crazy. White/blue, white/black, no dice. Just white on white.

A tool I always have with me is a lipper/scale device (Great White I think, about 34 bucks). This thing, for me, has become an indispensable tool when I'm using baits with trebles, especially when fishing for smallies. Get the fish close, and just grab her lip with the device and take the hooks out with pliers. It prevents self-hooking, and it really seems better for the fish because you don't have to touch her at all if you don't want. Sometimes when I catch a smallie on an X-Rap, there's no way I can lip the fish without one of these things, and for the last year I've always had one with me. Can't remember the last time I had to grab a fish by the body to remove the hooks. Oh, and you can see how much she weighs at the same time.

Went to the new Cabelas here in CT last night and walked out with nothing. But it was only because I was going to pick my brother up and go straight back to Cabelas. We went back and I didn't walk out with nothing that time. Bought a few lucky craft deep diving pointers that were on sale for 8 bucks, some plastics, pellets, etc. I don't think I'll ever walk out of there without some product, just on principal.

When it comes down to thousands, or hundreds of thousands of dollars, the life of a bass doesn't really factor in past making sure it lives until just after weigh-in. I'm always very careful with my fish, but if there were that much money on the line, I can't say I wouldn't do the same thing as those guys.

So Cabelas just opened up 15 minutes from my house. This could be a huge problem for my bank account. The store is amazing though - I've never been in a Cabelas or BPS, but it is pretty impressive. They have a huge "mountain"-type thing in the middle with "museum quality" game, and in the cave underneath there are two tanks, one with trout and the other with LMB, smallies, perch, bream, pike, and pickerel, and a couple of large carp. It's pretty cool to just watch the fish there. Rows and rows of plastics, rows and rows of crankbaits, everything you can think of. They have a whole rack of lucky craft baits, which may be a huge problem for me. Racks of high quality rods....anyway, the list goes on. Just wanted to say that it's a pretty impressive store, and if any of you are in the area or haven't seen a Cabelas, you should stop by.

Yeah I've tried maybe 5 times to skip with a baitcaster, and it just doesn't seem like it's worth the trouble. Even the best baitcast skippers can't skip as consistently accurately or as delicately as someone with a spinning rig, especially with soft plastics, which is pretty much the only type of bait I ever skip. Kudos on being able to skip a baitcaster though, it is really difficult, or at least it seems very difficult to me.

I agree Johnny - a large part of the fun for me is actually holding the fish by her lower lip and taking a close-up look while trying hard to resist the strong urge to kiss her ;D . Weird? Maybe a little...

I think if you take a pro who's amazing with both casting and spinning gear, he'd say casting gear is more accurate, both for pitching and for long casts. It may not be so for someone who's not proficient with casting gear, but the fact that your thumb is directly on the spool gives you more control than you could possibly have with spinning gear (even if you control the line with your left hand when casting spinning gear). For the same reasons, I believe it's possible to make a much quieter entry when pitching with casting gear than with spinning gear. That's actually something I've worked on all year - making a really quiet entry with my casting gear, especially with roll casts and while pitching/flipping - and I've found it to be more effective than with spinning gear, and I still have a long way to go. Think about the cast - with casting gear, the bait doesn't sling off the rod immediately like with casting gear when the line leaves your finger. Basically, it's a smoother transition at the start of the cast, kind of like flooring it in first gear vs. second gear in a car. That smoother transition I believe is part of the reason that someone who is equally proficient with casting and spinning gear will be more accurate with casting gear. Of course, you can't beat spinning gear for skipping and certain finesse presentations, but each method has advantages, which is why it's important, or at least useful, to get good at both.

In other posts people said the snakes melt very easily, but they look like they'll work on big bass. Just keep them out of the sun

It's easier to make a very quiet entry with a casting rod because you have more control and can keep the bait closer to the water

RW - I assume weightless t-rig for the Ika (skirt up), and a 1/16 to 1/8 jighead for the grub? And just fish super slow? And jaystraw, the lake is called Boston Lot Lake, it's just outside of Hanover, across from the big dam on the right from Hanover to West Lebanon. There's a dirt parking lot and the lake is about 1/3 mile up the mountain. It's really beautiful. I'll be up there next weekend as well - I plan on fishing from shore but if you have a canoe are are anywhere in the area, let's go fishin' 8-)

Just got back from a weekend in NH fishing my favorite little smallie lake. The bite was slower than I've ever seen there, but still somewhat decent by normal standards (14 smallies in 5 hours Saturday, 6 in 3.5 hours Sunday - and this is a lake where a month ago I had a 70+ fish day, literally). I had my float tube with me, but decided not to use it because the water was freezing cold and my waders are not insulated. We just had a front roll through after the much needed rainstorms at the end of last week, so I'm thinking this was the main reason the fishing wasn't as good as usual. Almost all fish were caught on either white X-Rap or white/yellow or silver/blue LC Sammies, twitched slowly, and for the first time, I didn't catch a single largie there. Do you guys have any ideas as to what would, if anything, work better than jerkbaits? The problem is, I had to fish from shore there so really couldn't work the offshore structure, which made it tough. Most of my fish were caught at the end of very, very long casts. I wasn't able to cast a tube far enough to be worth the effort, and didn't get a bite with a jig. The fish seemed to be suspended about 6-10 feet off the bottom, but I could be wrong. Any tips for next weekend? What I am gonna do is respool my 7 foot medium action rod with 6 lb braid instead of flouro so I can really wing it out there.