Marty

I was gonna say bowfin, but that underside fin looks very burbotlike.

Agree, pike will take anything in your tackle bag. I've always used steel leaders when necessary; I would not trust any filament, be it mono, fluoro or braid.

Agree. Pike are very good but they have to be fileted right.

Do you ever fish Salmon Creek? I'm referring to north Manitou Rd. where the creek goes under the road. Unfortunately, parking was a problem, but I haven't been there in a few years.

Like BigBlock, I fish topwaters all day, including mid-afternoon under bluebird skies. I've seen myself and my partners have too much action under sunny skies to dismiss any time of day.

My personal best was caught before I started taking cameras with me, so I couldn't be mad at myself for forgetting it or something along those lines. But subsequently I caught a couple that were 1 and 2 ounces below my PB and they were photographed, so it's not too bad in my case.

There are 26 listings on eBay. Search for gillraker worms. Gillraker = one word.

I'm really surprised that you haven't caught anything on them based on how much you say you use them. Forgetting the weedless stuff that is needed when fishing the slop, the buzzbait is my 2nd-favorite topwater after the Jitterbug. You shouldn't need to make them squeak or use a particular brand to catch fish. I would like to know if you are alternating your topwaters and catching fish on others while failing to catch anything on a buzzbait. Personally, I don't use trailers but always use a trailer hook.

I'm not a pro (far from it) and have never fished a tournament, but I have very little confidence that I'd do any better on a new lake after hearing someone's opinion of what the "hot lure" was on that lake.

I'm sure that lure will catch fish. I personally am not a tinkerer, but I know a lot of fish have been caught by folks like you who get creative and put something together from two or more other things.

There was this thread which probably won't help much, but a PM to the original poster might be worth your while. http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/122975-bank-fishing-in-upstate-ny/

I used to use it too. But I switched away from it to the Mini Fat Rap. I don't know why I switched, but I'm sure it wasn't because the Kastmaster didn't catch fish.

Since a lot of the distance on a spinning cast comes from the lure pulling the line off the spool, yes, all other things being equal, a lighter line with the same lure will result in a longer cast. Sorry, this is not true. Larger spool = longer cast. The reason is with a smaller spool, for a given distance, the line has to make more revolutions. That extra friction from the line slapping the spool lip cuts down the distance. Or stated slightly differently, if a cast from two different reels have the same number of revolutions, the one from the larger spool will travel farther.

I use a snap with buzzbaits. I slip a piece of tubing over the bend to keep the snap from sliding. On some baits you can also wind some line a few turns around the bend and tie it to prevent the sliding.

I use duolock snaps for crankbaits and other stuff. Snap swivels are attached to each of my inline spinners and that's the only time I use them.

I bought a Pflueger 6935 a few months ago and I'm quite pleased with it. A 7' rod with medium power and fast action will serve you well for a wide variety of lures and techniques. Balance your tackle. That means using rod, reel, lure and line that are compatible with each other. For example, a reel rated for 6-8-10# line would probably match well with a rod rated for 6--12# line. If you're concerned about fitting, literally, take your reel with you before you buy a rod to make sure it fits the reel seat. However, the odds are 95%+ that this wouldn't be necessary.

Read up on baitcasters, know your reel and its adjustments and get some practice in. Don't be intimidated by backlash talk and other noise. Yes, they can be annoying, but tens of millions of anglers use baitcasters and if they can, so can you.

As far as I'm I'm concerned, panfish such as bluegills, perch, rock bass and crappie will take a wide variety of size-appropriate lures. The only one that I've targeted with any consistency is bluegill and use a Rapala Mini Fat Rap. However, I'm sure other small crankbaits would work well too. For the ones with bigger mouths than bluegill a grub on a 1/16 oz. jighead is good too. I just remembered that I used to target rockies years ago and used the aforementioned grub/jighead combination. Increase your fun and use an ultralight combo with 4# line.

OK, thanks, that did it.

It's working on other sites. I know this has been discussed before but I can't find it.

Crankbaits that run an appropriate depth and topwaters are musts for me.

Welcome. I've done a ton of bank fishing over the years and it has ranged from incredibly rewarding to incredibly frustrating. My best bass and 4th best came from the bank of a six-acre pond. Here are some of my guidelines, not necessarily good ones, just the ones that I used, in no particular order: Get out as often as possible. Try to fish at higher probability times, such as morning, evening and overcast days. Don't rule out any type of lure; if it works from a boat, it'll work from the bank. Target visible cover/structure. Until and if you learn some good spots, don't stay in one place too long. Move around and cover a lot of water. Sometimes you'll find a good spot that looks like nothing, but it produces. Talk to people and see if you can learn anything about what waters produce. Good luck and thanks for your service.

I've caught hundreds of walleyes, but not from conventional walleye water. Most were from the murky waters of the Erie Canal with a maximum depth of 10' or so. I used crankbaits 90% of the time and grubs on jigheads the rest of the time and they readily hit both lure types in any shape or color. I do know that I caught more in spring and fall, even though I caught some in the summer, and that evening fishing was better than daytime, even though I caught daytime fish as well. I never used any type of live bait but I know that many walleye fishermen use bait or tip a lure with a piece of live bait. I don't know if you can apply any of my experience to your weedy lake, but good luck.

It's widespread, including within the fishing industry, to use the word "action" when describing "power." Until we hear to the contrary, I think it's reasonable to assume that the original poster was referring to power.

I don't know what a Shock rod is, but I've used the original 14# fused Fireline and 15# braid (on my spinning reels) and both performed well. My only complaint about the fused line was that it didn't flow off the spool on the cast as smoothly as I would've liked, but otherwise was good.