BrianSnat

Give Grout Pond in southern Vermont a try. http://www.hookandbullet.com/fishing-grout-pond-manchester-vt/ http://freecampsites.net/grout-pond/

I had a pretty good day trolling with a Binsky blade bait. Boated 5 good size pickerel up to 24 inches and a 2 lb crappie. I was trolling hoping to hook into a trout or hybrid bass but didn't get either. Later on I tried the shallows (2-6 feet deep) with a Senko to see if the bass were in and bagged two in 10 minutes. It's been a strange winter. I've never seen bass in the shallows so early.

I prefer plastic. Better at keeping the tackle dry. I actually have both. I keep my freshwater gear in a hard box and my saltwater gear in a bag. With the latter, I dislike having to remove the trays and dry out the bag if it winds up sitting in water in the bottom of the boat, or it rains. Also I've never had to unsnag a hook from hard box, but I've caught hooks in the fabric of the bag.

I was at a show a few weeks ago where a "bass pro" was casting one of these http://www.basspro.c...SwarmMar2012_HM in the "hawg tank"(BTW the bass in the"Hawg" tank weren't all that big). He was insisting that if you weren't using one you had no chance in today's tournaments. He mentioned that a diver he knew watched bass ignore schools of minnows, but if there were a handful of minnows, like 2-5ish they would go crazy. This is supposed to imitate that. Take that for what its worth.

I T rig plastics but make sure to bury the hook inside the bait.

Last week I went jigging for lake trout, a fish I've never tried before. My fishing buddy recommended something called "The Binsky". I had never heard of it but I was impressed by the action and versatility of it. We didn't catch a thing but I liked the action of the lure. Today I thought I'd go for trout on the local lake using the Binsky but hooked into 4 nice bass in about 30 minutes. It is apparently what they call a blade bait (I have a hard time keeping up with the terms these days) but can be rigged as a jig or crankbait. Abybody else use this thing or heard of it?

I've been doing OK in northern NJ trolling slowly with crankbaits. Nothing close to what I was catching in the spring/summer as far as numbers. But I'll get a bass or two and some pickerel. I actually put my boat away for the winter today and now I'm waiting for the ice.

A seagull once when I was surf fishing. The thing went right after my lure it the air, thinking it was food or something. A bat at my local lake. Same thing, it thought my lure was a bug and went after it.

And then some. A few weeks ago I caught a 3" smallmouth on a 4 1/2" crankbait.

I usually don't hang it up. When the lakes freeze I simply break out the ice auger, tip-ups and jigging rod. The only time I hang it up are years when the ice isn't thick enough to walk on but that only happens maybe 1 out of every 5 or 6 years around here. March is probably the closest I come to hanging it up. The ice is usually still on the lakes but too weak to walk on. The streams are too cold to wade in (I don't have good, insulated waders).

I just hold the camera at arms length and snap the photo. You might have to snap a few to get it framed properly. Here is one taken with me holding the camera at arms length with one hand and the fish in the other.

Any of you NJ guys ever fish Monksville? If so how do you do there? I've fished it 6 times over this year and last and only once caught anything. 2 weeks ago I caught a bass and a pickerel. But the other 5 trips including this Monday, nothing. Not a nibble. Is there a secret to unlocking this reservoir? A friend of mine calls it Skunksville and I'm starting to believe it.

For $10 more consider the Fenwick HMG. I bought one recently and was very pleasantly surprised. I have several Shimano Crucials and the HMG I just bought is pretty darn close performance wise. I also have a St Croix Triumph but haven't been too impressed with it. On the lower end price wise, consider the Berkley Lighting Rod. I asked almost the same question 2 months ago and a few people suggested the Berkley and I bought one for $29. It's a darn good rod for the money. But if you have the extra $10 or so dollars to spend try the Fenwick HMG, it's an excellent rod for the money.

Oops, I should have read the whole thread. I see some Star Tron users here. Do you really need that little? 1 oz for 8 gallons? Heck if I want to put it in my lawn mower I practically just have to wave the open container over the fuel tank.

Anybody try Star Brite Star Tron? I want to the local tackle and marine store yesterday looking for either Seafoam or Marine Stabil and they were out. They did have one bottle of Star Brite Star Tron left so I bought it. It seems I need to use very little. I had 3 gallons of gas left in my tank so I just put a splash of the stuff in the tank because they called for 1 oz for 8 gallons. Is the stuff any good?

See if you can find one of the older Garmins like the 76CSX or 60CSX. Many places still sell them. They are outstanding units and you can get them for half of what they listed for a few years ago. The newer Garmin units have little on the 76CSX and 60CSX other than geocaching features. As one person here mentioned the old Lowrance H20 or H20C are good units that you might be able to pick up cheap. They would be an excellent value at around $100 used. The newer Lowrance Endura series however is junk. Don't even THINK of buying one. DeLorme also makes some pretty good units. The PN60 is an excellent unit. Unless you have geocaching in mind see if you can find a 76CSX or 60CSX for around $200 or less. If you do you got yourself a bargain. One advantage of Garmin is that they have a very good, but expensive line of marine mapping software. Also you can find free options online. DeLorme has pretty good free maps that come with the unit and for $30 a year you can download all kinds of maps and sat photos. I noticed you said 76CSX and 62CSX. The 76CSX is an older, but still outstanding unit. The 62CSX is the latest version of the old 60CSX which as I mentioned is still a great unit. The 78SC is the latest version of the 76CSX. Generally with Garmin the 70 line is meant more for marine use. The units are larger, they float and have some marine related features like tide calculations that come standard. The 60 line is meant more for the woods.

Do you have pickerel where you fish? They'll slice a worm in half.

My favorite is the original jointed Rapaka.

There is no such thing as bad weather, only inappropriate clothing.

When I started fishing I almost exclusively used the pre rigged Creme worm with the beads and small spinner. I remember going fishing with my uncle and we were in the tackle shop and the owner telling my uncle that never mind the other brands, Creme is the ONLY brand he should use. This was probably the early 70's. I'm not sure where I learned about Texas rigging. Perhaps it was diagrammed on the back of a pack of worms I bought. I was skeptical. 1 hook? Buried inside the worm? I was used to the Creme worms that were rigged with a trailer hook. Even when I rigged my own plastic worms I emulated the Creme two hook rig. Anyway, I first tried the T rig some 25 years ago and I really started bringing in the bass. I used it pretty much exclusively until I discovered the C rig about 5 or 6 years ago and the wacky rigged Senko more recently, I still use it and always have at least 1 rod with a T rigged plastic tied on in my boat. I admit I use an unweighted Senko or the C rig more often these days, but if those aren't working I go right to the T rig before anything else. BTW, my dad's pretty much retired from freshwater fishing and gave me his freshwater tackle box. There are about half a dozen packs of Creme worms in it. One of these days I'm going to tie one on for old times sake.

I'm heading up to the Adirondacks this week for a paddle/camping trip. I've heard the bass fishing is good at my destination (Bog River and Lows Lake), so I'm bringing my rod and tackle. I was cruising the Internet trying to get some info on how to fish the area as I've never bass fished in a the Adirondacks before. What I learned was a surprise. People suggesting that all bass caught be kept. One person who said he catches bass there and tosses them in the bush for the raccoons and bear to eat. Bass are a considered a pest and an invasive by the locals. Apparently the lake and river were a top notch brook trout fishery until someone introduced bass in the not too distant past. The bass have thrived to the detriment of the trout. As someone who has always practiced catch and release, I'm still hesitant to keep any bass I catch, but at least for once I can probably grill up some bass for dinner without feeling a tinge of guilt. Anybody else ever hear of a situation where bass were an unwelcome species?

My local lake is 40 feet deep in places, but all summer long I've been catching bass in a cove that is 1-3 feet deep. T rigged Senkos, unweighted have been effective.

Could just be the change in seasons/water temp. I've been killing the bass all summer on the local lake (caught 19 bass as recently as last week), then the last two times out, nothing. Well not exactly nothing, but 1 bass each trip and both under 10". On the day last week when I caught 19 it didn't matter what I threw. When I ran out of watermelon Senkos, I went to pumpkin, then to black. When I ran out of Senkos I was using a Junebug Zoom. This week it still didn't matter what I used. Tried nearly every plastic in my box in every color I had and then went to jigs, crankbaits, spinnerbaits and swimbaits. Still nothing. Tried deeper water and still nothing. Could be the bass just weren't in the mood to bite. Could be what is happening to you. Maybe next time out you'll be catching again.

I've long used the bargain lines line Stren and Trilene, but over the past two years I've upgraded my rods from Ugly Sticks to decent rods like Shimano Crucial and St Croix Avid. I figure it's time I went with a better grade line to get more out of the rods. What are your favorite mono lines for spinning?

Been fishing with them for many years. Don't use them a lot now, but they are a go to when the usuals aren't working.