spin king

Yeah, no desire for a war here either. I was responding more to the comment by UNHBass that there's no reason to kill a bass period, and he would have voiced his opinion. My point was that bass fisherman don't need the stereotype applied to them that a lot of trout fisherman have (condescending, nose in the air, etc.). If someone wants to keep a fish, regardless of motive, I say (like you did), "To each his own." The fact is that most people don't keep them, and those that do are doing extremely little to effect the population (as evidenced by how many there are around).

C'mon guys. Give me a break with the catch and release rants. If someone wants to keep a bass to eat (or stuff for that matter), it is their choice to do it, and it is perfectly legal to do so. There are PLENTY of bass out there, and people keeping a few here and there does virtually nothing to the population. I can't remember the last time I went bass fishing and got skunked (that's not a testament to my ability, but rather the amount of bass that are out there). I keep less than 1% of the fish I catch, but every once in a while a LMB on the grill is pretty good. Rants like this sound more like the comments I hear from my Trout Unlimited friends. Pretty soon, I'll be reading about the evils of those who don't use single point, barbless hooks.

I wouldn't plan on keeping many (if any) books. I am an engineer and have found it extremely rare that I would ever reference a text book I used in college. You can find what you need on the internet.

I think it's time for a new scale jaystraw. That fish looks a lot bigger than 4-6 to me. Nice work.

Pleasant lake is pretty good to fish also. I always thought freese's looked good, but never tried it. I'll have to stop by. Nice fish, by the way.

Are you talking about Pleasant Lake in Deerfield? Maybe Freese's Pond? Pleasant Lake never goes under 107 that I know of.

Kevin, I know it sounds a little weird, but work really hard at sneaking up on the fish. If you can see them, than they probably can see you, and often that makes them not want to bite. Try casting parallel to the shore where you know the fish are, but aren't close enough to see them.

So, was it "too early" like "too early for the bass to be biting", or was it "to early" like "it's unethical to be lifting bass off their beds"? I've heard the latter from some PETA types before. It's definitely not to early for them to be biting...we all have been experiencing that. I went out for a quick trip on Saturday, and caught SMB and LMBs pretty much at will.

I would recommend to anyone who fishes to wear polarized glasses. It is a huge advantage to be able to look under the water and see structure, fish, bottom composition, etc; particularly this time of year when the fish are on beds. The difference between the cheap glasses and a more expensive pair is that the polarization is just a coating on the cheap ones, so it scratches easy and you'll need to buy a new pair quicker. They still work real well, though. As a side benefit, you would be amazed at how much better you will feel after being on the lake for extended periods of time, if you are wearing sunglasses. The squinting tends to end up giving me a headache.

How did Bow lake turn out for you? I rarely do very well there.

Your leader looks like string trimmer line. What was that stuff?

I don't know of any other way to do it, other than get input from others who have fished the lake. Fortunately, most lakes around here are not all that big, so it doesn't take too long to figure out what's going on.

Not sure if this has been posted before, but it is funny enough to be posted again, if it has. http://www.wimp.com/classicbloopers/

How much line do you put on the spool? I plan on fishing mainly for crappie, but may get into some trout as well. Also, do you add a leader on to the end of the line? If so, how long? Thanks.

fmoore, where were you cutting 7 inches of ice? I live in southern NH and am thinking about getting out, but haven't seen anyone out on our local ice. Just curious what part of the state you were in.

Matt, I haven't heard of smallies in Pawtuckaway, but there is a ton of largemouth. I'm not sure why you say it isn't good for canoes. I grew up fishing there out of a canoe. Launch out of Fundy Cove in Nottingham, and you'll see what I mean. You can actually paddle back under the bridge at the launch and catch quite a few back up there where the bigger boats can't go.

I have fished Bow Lake several times. The locals call it "Slow Bow" for a reason. It's a beautiful lake, but it's tough to fish. That being said, there are some real big smallmouth in there, and you would probably do best to fish deep with Jigs. Most of the action I've had has been on the Dam side in the channel.

Definitely post the latest pictures. I love bass fishing, but hiking in to a remote place for trout fishing is the best.

Frogs aren't too big for smallmouth, they just seem big compared to the flies you are using. We use jitterbugs quite a bit in the Northeast, and I have found that pretty much any popper with a bucktail works great for smallmouth.

Thanks for the input on the skip gap hooks guys. I didn't intend to hijack the thread. So, I went out last Friday for about 2 hours and caught a few. I caught a couple LM 19" long. My scale battery decided to die, so I'm not sure how much they weighed...maybe 3 lbs? All were caught on 5" senkos in watermelon w/ black and green pumpkin w/black.

I texas rig also, but I use the extra wide gap gamakatsus. Is there any advantage to the extra jog in the shank?

UNH, I'm curious what kind of hook are you using there. How are you rigging that?

Great fish Jaystraw. Just curious what size senko you were using. I'm finding that bigger is better, but wondering about what others are doing.

Sorry I can't help with specifics, but a buddy of mine was up there two weekends ago and he caught a ton of smallies. He said quite a few of them were in the 3 pound range. He did say that the bugs were terrible.

Are you using ultra-soft or the straight up hybrid? I'm wondering if I really need the ultra-soft for a spinning reel.