plural_of_fant

blue marsh is tough.. lots of traffic pretty much ruin the main lake after about 9 or 10 am this time of year. The Spring creek and Tully arms in the no wake zone are your better bet once the traffic gets going. I've been doing ok lately with some dark green tubes and jigs. Senkos are still getting some fish to bite, usually around the wood. Cranks can be good sometimes, but be ready for the tiger muskies if your throwing cranks. I've caught at least 20 of those so far this year.

I use it.. one of the guys from the shop tracker01 is referring to suggested it when i bought a shimano stradic there. Iv since started buying the 1400 or 1500 yard spools. I dont use line heavier then 10# for anything so obviously the larger lines the total yards goes down a bit. I really like it.. Casts nice on baitcasters and is pretty good with spinning reels. I use the camo escent type. not really sure if thats a copoly or a mono. Whatever it may be its a pretty decent line for the price/size spool

Thanks for the suggestions..

Few questions about the recomendations I often read about for using the lower gear ratio baitcaters for cranking. How beneficial is a low gear ratio reel for crankbait fishing. And secondly does anyone make a smaller capacity reel with a low gear ratio.. Somthing similiar to a curado/chronarch 50 size in line capacity and ability to cast smaller lures. I mostly use crankbaits like the SK 3XD, Bandit 300s. Id also need somthing offered in a left hand retrieve. It seems that there arent very many low gear ratio baitcasters in left hand version. I am looking to put togeather a good crankin set up for next season. Right now I am using a curado 51e with a cruicial 6'8" medium. The rod has taken some getting used to, I think this rod might be better suited for things like shallow squarebills. I would like to find a good low gear ratio lefty for a 7' MH cruicial, but id like something with a smaller line capacity. Any thoughts or suggestions are appreciated.

Id make the choice based on intended line diameter. If your going to want to use something over 8lb I'd go with the 3000. I bought two stradic fjs this year a 3000 and a 2500. THe 2500 just feels ugly trying to run 10lb test triplefish.

What do you do with a bass that has completely engulfed a crank? I had a few the other day that were crushing square bills. One had some hooks in her gills. I used a pair of wire cutters and just cut off the hooks and left it at that. What should be done to give the fish the best chance of survival? Thanks

No offense was taken at all. As I said in earlier posts I've had plenty of fishless days there myself. There are fish there.. maybe not as many as there could be if it was managed better. It's a shame because the lake itself does have a rather interesting lay out and a good variety of structure and cover. I do need to branch out and find some new water this year. Maybe I will venture over to the susquehanna more often this year.

Blue marsh does have its problems. The lack of vegetation is very true, I really don't think its fair to call it the dead sea though. It is interesting though your points on the spawn. I never thought of the flood control aspect of it. Because I've always wondered why I never seem to catch small dinks. It seems when you do catch a bass its always 15-20 inches. I seem to find most of the challenge over there being during the june/july/august high boat traffic times. It's almost impossible and or dangerous to try to fish in the main lake. But during spring early summer I have had some very good days over there. It also was amazing how quick the fishing became outstanding last year after those floods we had. Last fall was absolutely awesome. It was almost like that flood washed it out and revitalized it. I am very interested to see how this spring plays out. If this warmer weather holds out I plan to start hitting blue marsh in the next few weeks.

While a good thought, I personally wouldn't pay someone for their used up baits. I don't consider plastisol to be expensive enough to even worry about it. I don't even remelt my own baits where I know the formulation of each bait type. I collect my used baits in the back of my jon boat and toss em in the trash at the end of the day. Heavily salted baits remelt very ugly. The salt picks up moisture and when you remelt it. The moisture boils and makes all sorts of nasty bubbles and froth in the plastic. If there is enough moisture it can actually be quite dangerous or at least messy depending on the mode of heating. It is a little easier to remelt non salted baits but still not something i think is worth the hassle. Other pourers might disagree, just my opinion.

They can go either and all ways. Better same or worse. In most cases they are all made from the same chemical. It would depend on what your looking for. Its all the same chemical but you can change your end product by how soft or hard the plastic is. How much salt or other fillers. The softer the bait the more action might mean more bites. But you trade of on durability with softer baits. Harder baits might mean more durability but might mean less bites.

Thanks for the suggestions. I have been looking on ebay and other places. I might be willing to go that route for a new in box type item. I'm not real into used items without being able to inspect them in person. I suppose I could use a right handed baitcaster then I'd be switching hands. Right hand retrieve never bothered me on big offshore conventional type reels with a good tuna on the line. I just feel slightly more comfortable with a left hand retrieve and not having to switch after the cast. I will have to take a look at the plfueger's I have not ever used much of their stuff outside of fly fishing.

Blue Marsh can be a frustrating lake. The first thing about Blue Marsh is it gets alot of traffic. Both fishing traffic and recreational drive in endless circle boaters. There are fish there and some decent ones. Not having a motor can present some problems. To be successful there you need to cover alot of water. I spent alot of time there and I consider myself to be pretty decent at fishing over there. There are both decent largemouth and smallmouth bass in blue marsh. The smallies can be very frustrating to find sometimes. My best areas are closer to the main lake. Either use the state hill boat ramp or the dry brooks boat ramp. I usually use the state hill boat ramp. If I do use the Sheidy boat ramp which i will in the warmer months once boat traffic picks up. I usually work downstream from that boat launch. At Blue marsh your best bet for bass is to target the sheer drop rocky bluff areas. A decent stretch of rock wall can be found south of the Shiedy boat ramp right before the old Church rd bridge. Look for lay downs and wood. Many days you can nail some decent largemouth banging crankbaits against the timber laydowns. Jigs and tubes are good on the rock walls for small mouth. Senkos are very good over for both largemouth and smallmouth. If you want some good action there are lots of trees down in the water and parking over top of these and a simple slip float and live minnows can find you some really good crappies. Even the crappies can be frustrating because there are lots of trees. Sometimes you have to try 10-15 spots before you find one holding fish. The best times for this lake are spring late april/may through early june. And then again in late September up until drawdown which usually happens somewhere in october or so. The fall can really be alot of fun over there. I had some great 20+ bass days over there this past fall. I even had quite a few small musky and caught several hybrid stripers the biggest was just under 14lbs. Sounds like its a bit of a drive for you so it might not be your thing. I can justify spending fishless days there as I live only a few minutes away.

Hey folks... I'm looking for my first serious baitcaster. I had sort of made up my mind about starting out with a curado 51E. But have recently found out those are discontinued. It seems the only options from shimano that are a similar size. Is this years Chronarch 51.. which is a bit more then what i wanted to spend. As I am not totally sold on baitcasters in general. Or the Core 51 which is just way out of the question. I have no real personal attachment to the curados that some people seem to have. It just seemed like a good option from all of my research. I do want somthing that can cast decently well with lighter lures. I have a cheapy baitcaster that I just flat out cannot use unless I'm tossing a heavy bait. I was also attracted to the low line capacity of the 51 size. I can't seem to find any other reels that are of similar size. I was looking at some Lews but most of them seem to be a little bit bigger from what i can tell on pictures. I haven't found any local places that carry Lews to check out in person. The other problem is that it seems many models are not offered in left hand retrieve. Any ideas are appreciated. Thanks

That's just mean... just plain mean...

Didnt have a scale. Want to say around 4-5. Maybe a bit bigger.. Caught late August on a Damed section of the schuylkill river. Caught this one, and then not 10 seconds later on the backside of the exact same bush, caught another one almost as big..

hey folks, Im from up north, never been to florida. But its one of my goals to get down and catch some snook. Where would be a good place for a tourist to come and stay and get out with a guide or charter for snook and tarpon, red fish would be cool too.. Snook is just my ultimate goal... my last name is Snook.. which is part of why i want to catch one..

Hey Folks, new to the board I'm from Berks County area. I'm fairly new to bass fishing. 08 was my first year. Would love to hear from anyone else in the area on some places other then blue marsh. I do have a small boat. Is it April yet?