Crestliner2008

I usually squeeze a bit into a bag of Senkos and roll them around in it. Megastrike always!

We'll be hitting the Quabbin tomorrow AM for a few hours. I'll let you know.

#1 for me is the Roboworm. Small flukes, cut-tail worms and tubes all have their time & place as well.

Love 'em! Caught a ton of smallies on them last year drop shotting. Went to BPS in Foxboro yesterday and I was very disappointed that they didn't have a single one!

Great job out there! Congrats!

A group of six of us western MA anglers took a road trip out east to visit Bill's Bait & Tackle Shop in Norton, MA. Bill specializes in swimbaits and has some pretty high end gear available for the die hard big bait folks. I picked up a 6" & a 8" Huddleston, as well as some Bico Jigs and some misc. tackle. Great selections and prices. He did not have any BBZ-1's, which I was hoping for however. I'll have to get those online. However, if any of you big bait folks want to take a value added trip, this would be the place for you to target a visit. As he just moved into this new location, Bill suppose to have even more goodies to stock his shelves in about another month or so.

Hard jerkbaits will always be a significant part of my aresenl in pre-spawn through post spawn. But nothing is my favorite. I go through various presentations until I find something that produces the bite. Then, when I find some that brings fish to the boat....that becomes my favorite for that day!

A good friend of mine (Yote Buster) developed this gadgetry which works very well and is very cost effective to boot:

Great job out there folks! Congrats! Have you ever tried a controlled drift with a drift sock instead of anchoring? I'll be using one for the first time this season myself. I figure, with that and the electric, I should be a bit more effective in working various structures in bad wind conditions like you had to face.

I totally agree with TommyBass. Two of my fishing buddies have this device. It works flawlessly from any position in the boat and gives you a world of control. And you don't have to stay locked on the foot control. Especially nice if you're fishing solo. I'm curious as to why would you want to "get good" with a foot pedal? No need to "get good" with the remote. You're good to go, right from the "git-go". I've fished with these fine fishermen for a couple of years now and it baffles me when people criticize innovations, like these remote controls. Please, tell me what the "negatives" are?

The Congamond? And yes, I've been bank fishing around the Northampton area for a while now. My boat is regulated to fish the Quabbin only, so all I can do now is wander the shorelines around the Oxbow and other local ponds. Until next week when she opens! I've had good success using a weighted Sweet Beaver, as well as a weightless Fin-S Fish used like a jerk bait. The 4" Senko has produced for me as well. Haven't caught any giants yet, but the largest LM went a solid 3 lbs. last week. Good luck out there and try not to catch 'em all! ;D

Great recover! Nothing wrong with a bunch of panfish to keep the skunk away. Did you try wacky rigging a 4" Senko at all? Sometimes, when the fishing gets real tough, that bad boy will turn the tide. BTW....do not let anyone "psyche" into believing you "can't" catch fish under any given circumstances....ever!

You are comparing your Cabela's knock-offs to Sebile and Spro swimbaits. That could be your first mistake. Have you tried a Sebile Magic Swimmer? Or a BBZ-1. These are awesome lures with tremendous inherent action. Maybe you just need to get ahold of one of the "real" deals? Or I could just be dead wrong?

The problem with Senkos is that they sink to the bottom and are probably hidden with bottom muck when they reach there. The drop shot presentation will hold your offering up above the bottom, which is basically what I think you are going to need to do, in order to be successful. I like the suggestion of using the Senko like a jerkbait. But if you're going to do that, there are better baits to accomplish that presentation; i.e.: Slug-gos, Fin-S Fish, tubes, etc.. In that kind of presentation, you really would be better off with something that doesn't sink so fast, and stays in the water column longer - I would think anyway?

Great lures! Rig them Texas style with an appropriate sized hook. I like using them for fishing rivers with a lot of snags. Work them just like a miniature Slug-Go. They are basically small, soft jerk baits and can be dynomite on smallies! The ones I use are call the "Creek Chub Minnows". Same as you have, except mine don't have eyes.

Remember, if you are trying to get the "best sonar for your buck", adding a GPS is defeating your purpose - unless you truly want that. The same sonar with a GPS will have less vertical pixels. It has to, as a manufacturing cost issue. Handheld GPS units are relatively inexpensive and serve just as well. For a "plain" sonar, you will not find a better unit than a Lowrance X-135. But again....depends on what you "want" out of a sonar. If color is mandatory, then you'll want something other than a B&W like the X-135. If you can live without color and do not want the GPS feature included on your sonar, you will do no better than the X-135.

Really! I would never allowed line to slip on any spool on any reel of mine. A relatively easy fix if it's not the drag washers. Just unspool and place a strip of electrical tape around the spool knot. It'll never slip again. If it is the drag washers, best get them replaced A.S.A.P.!

Great reel you've found there! I've had Ambassadeurs since the '70's. I have 5 now, including the first one I bought. They all still function perfectly and make great bass fishing reels. Best part is, you know up front that you'll be able to pass it down your grand kids someday! They're that tough.

How old is this Symetre? I have two; one is 5 years old, the other is 3 years old. Haven't hand any problem with either of them. I have my reels clean and re-lubed every winter by a competent reel mechanic in my neck of the woods however. I also have 3 Saharas with nary a problem as well. These are even older!

I do a lot of anchoring, as I fish mostly off-shore, deep structures for smallmouth bass. I drop shot a lot, as well as use various other techniques to fish passing schools of bait. Some of these depths go down to 45', but the norm is more like 25' - 35' of water, depending on the seasonal patterns. Why would you let out 100' of line under any circumstances? Never happens with me. I drop my anchor and when it hits bottom, I let out enough line to ensure the chain is on the bottom - period. That's maybe another 10' of line once the anchor touches down. I've never had a problem holding under such circumstances. And I've been doing this for a very long time. Now your stern is going to swing slowly, with the wind. That's normal when anchoring. I have a TM mounted on my stern, so I can use that to compensate, as we fish along. If the wind gets so bad that you're being blown back and forth rapidly, then don't anchor! Use other techniques to fish the structure. A wind sock, combined with your TM, drifting the area, is usually productive under these conditions.

Micro-Lites are O.K., but if you want to get serious with UL, look at what's offered by the B n' M company. They have a Sam Heaton Super Sensitive 7' spinning rod for about $50. that is a real crackerjack. One of the best UL rods I've ever used. The BPS Micro-Lites are a great value however. You can get them on sale for about $29. if you pick it up at one of their stores.

I would suggest you get two separate rigs for those vastly different presentations. With Texas rigging plastics, you're going to need a medium-heavy baitcasting rig (or spinning rig). It has to have a strong backbone to drive a 4/0 hook through plastic and into the jaw of a bass. A lot different than what you're going to up against with drop shotting. To drop shot effectively, you really need a very responsive, light action tip and although you'll need some backbone in the lower section of the rod, it's not as important as with Texas rigging plastics. A good quality 6'6" - 7' rod with a medium-light action is a good choice. Here, spinning has the edge in most cases. However, I've used a baitcaster before for drop shotting in heavy pockets - bubba rigging, if you will, where you use heavy line and pitching the drop shot rigging into targetted cover. Most drop shotting is done over open water however, with lighter lines. So you have decide what it is you really want to do. Yes, both can be accomplished with one rod & reel. But to maximize your presentation skills, I'd suggest investing in two separate rigs. JMO.

Bubba drop shot. Use a 12# or 14# test main line (braid) with a 10# test fluoro leader. No more than 1/4 oz. weight on the end. About 8" between hook & sinker max.. Make short casts.....30' or less. Try to just barely reach the edges of the deeper drops. Do not do a lot of "shaking" when you present it. Nose hook a tube or 4" finesse worm. You are going to get bit.

I'd like to see a baitcasting rig that could cast a 1/32 oz. anything! If you get much lower than 1/4 oz., you should be looking at a spinning rig. You're fooling yourself and stretching the tackle's limitations if you do otherwise. JMO.