webertime

Get the kids down to the Brattleboro Retreat setbacks on the Connecticut! It's a menagerie down there! PM me your address and I'll mail you some books that are really helpful (for all species) borrow them for as long as you want and send them back (I'm no more than an hour and a half from you). Lake Fairlee and Morey are VERY good spots near you as well. My other suggestion would be to join a club and learn from more experienced guys first hand. While my mom did get us out there as often as possible (single mom with 3 kids) we (my brother who is a Guide in NZ and in VT. I'm a tournament guy) were basically self taught, what you are doing for the kids is something that is more valuable than you realize... Thank You!

Until recently all I used for bass was a 6wt. It should be fine. An 8wt is pretty nice to have for the bigger bushier flies.

Whiskey River's Whip Tail (by a mile). Fantastic shape, nice thick body where you hook it, big chevrons on the back (moves water) then tapers to a very thin tail. Great bait, very durable. Strike King 3X Finesse Worm. It's made with the Elastech plastic and it floats. Good action and since it is so tear resistant the dinks and rock bass can't tear it off. 4" Robo's as #3. A classic.

I've used a bunch (BPS/TruTungsten/Koppers/SproJr/KVD/Booyah/Bobby's Perfect). The best "walker" is the Booyah. Spro Jr has the best hook up ratio for me, maybe it's because it's so "bite-sized". I would be happy for the rest of my life with just those 2 frogs.

Join a club, I have grown up fishing (had a fly rod in my hands at 4). I was a good fisherman and seeing things on TV/Computer are helpful there is nothing that comes close to seeing a good fisherman do their thing right in front of you. I learned more from the back of the boat in the last 2 years than I had in the previous 15 years! Read blogs for the guides in your area as well, often little nuggets of gold can be garnered from them.

This weekend I added using biffle hardheads and dragging them over gravel to the long list of ways to catch fish with them.

Which Sellus model are you using?

So I fish a lot of spots where you flip and pitch AND throw frogs. Right now I have a 7'6" Phenix Recon and it's awesome for everything above. BUT I sort of hate re-tying snelled T-rigs and frogs back and forth throughout a trip. So I am looking for inexpensive rods to use for Frogs only. I am looking at everything from 7'6" H Berkley Lightning rods to Abu Vengance (same size) and the Powell Diesel (same size)... Basically keep it cheap. Anyone out there with Frog experience with one of these or similar rods. I like a softer tip (Not a pool que) for frogs (recon and carrot stick LTX heavy's feel perfect). Any advice/tips would be appreciated. I'll be using either a spare Citica or PQ with 50lb braid as a reel.

(mumbling to myself) Darn Bassresource, got to add another item to the cart...

Fat Ika's = Bon Bons Senkos = effing Senko (for a buddy that I am 90% sure only owns senkos and 3/0 Gammy hooks) Champlain Special = Lucky Craft Pointer in the pale sexy shad color they do. You cannot find a local's boat without this bait in it.

From what I have found on various retailer's sites, the lure range of the medium Winch is 3/8-3/4 oz. If you want to toss 1/4oz cranks check out the Lamiglas Excel 734c, that's what I use mine for.

So I got the backstory. There is a pool below a small dam on the Otter Creek that is about the size of a dump truck and hundreds of Longnose Gar get in there. Well there was a family in a canoe that got into that pool and there were so many Gar banging against it that it freaked them out... (Yawn) Evidentally he did get a good Gar though (~50").

I have no definite knowledge, but I would GUESS that Father's day would be the next one...

I'm aware of the Legend of Champ. I know people that have "seen" it too. That being said fishing for a Pleseasaur is probably not what he's doing. He's actually going after Gar and Carp (couple locals watched him).

While nobody can really argue against a Dobyns... I have the Phenix Recon 766c and 715c, both are great flipping rods with the 766 being a great frog rod as well and the 715 being great for C-Rigs, Footballs, and soft swimbaits (Keitech Fat Impact 4.8 and 1/4 oz head). If I had to go with what's a better "flipping" rod of the 2 "I" would go with the 766. Only arguement against the Recon's are the hook hangers. The one on the 766 broke (lost the flappy loop) and the position on the 715 snags clothes and cuts hands. EASY fixes though...

So Jeremy Wade and his crew have been down in Addison filming an episode of River Monsters... For what? Beats the heck out of me. "I am Jeremy Wade and I am fishing for a fish that has killed dozens of fishermen by having them wake up early eating greasy breakfasts, giving them sunburns and frusterating them until they have heart attacks or diabetes or aneurysms or skin cancer... The Smallmouth Bass." Seriously though, my bet is that they got word of the Pirahna or Pico that got caught in the area (20" or something) and doing a show on invaders/aquarium dumped fish. We have great fish up here, but nothing that isn't dramatically bigger and more abundant in other areas of the country.

Which model Winch do you have the M or MH? What baits were you throwing? Just curious as I am looking that that/those models. Thanks

They rank VERY low in the cost:catch ratio... Brand new Rage Shad (cast)... Pickerel... put on new Rage Shad... repeat... Mendit stays in business thanks to Pickerel!!! Big ones are fun but every pond/lake around Champlain has more Pickerel than water it seems and very few are over 18"... Boca Grips are perfect for them.

I run a 14' Scanoe myself with a 30lb Minn Kota. I lowered my seats (huge help) and got some Spring Creak Canoe Stabilizers. THESE ARE GOLD! I'm 6'5" and need to be able to move/stand and these things are amazing for adding enough stability for me and my 200lb buddy to stand and flip or toss big swimbaits with no issues. I have sitbacker seats as well, but I find that I don't need/use them with the stabilizers. I just sit and make my run to a spot, pull up, click out the stabilizers, anchor (if need be) and stand up. I run a 10lb mushroom anchor and only have issues in very high winds if I am standing (IE I'm a big sail). I love my little rig and fish everything from little ponds to Lake Champlain in it!

Hag's Tornado (F5's) and Z-Man Elastec and the Strike King version all stand straight up, the latter two actually float!. The Tornado has a little pocket in it for a glass rattle as well, which can be helpful.

The new Champlain Bridge? Good luck navigating around the fleet of boats trolling for Lakers and Salmon there! PM me (if you want) for where they are still pulling 100 Smallmouths a day currently. Good Luck!

Bowfin usually start spawning before LM and BG. Although with the goofy weather we've all had up north it's entirely possible that they all overlapped. If Bowfin are around make sure you throw a strong bait.

PM me where you are staying and any other questions, I live in the next town over and know some SICK spots right in the area.

Fished Mallett's Bay last Friday and Sunday. Friday started out cruddy rain and sort of windy and ended gin clear and calm. Fished from 9am to just after 7pm. We boated 83 Smallmouths, 78 of them on Jerkbaits, nothing smaller than 1.75lbs! 5lbs was the lunker, also got one random Brown Trout and some Lucky Craft Eaters (AKA Pike). Sunday was sunny and clear, but really windy! We boated 43 Smallies all 2lbs+! Their bellies were so stuffed with Perch/Alewives that they were bright white from being stretched so tight! You could feel the fish in their stomachs! Again jerkbaits ruled, but the biggest fish came on soft swimbaits. The boat next to us go doubles of 4lbs 14oz and 4lbs 9oz! I don't think I can make a jerkbait motion for the next week after those fish! On Northern Champlain right now find 6-10fow with bolders and you'll find them!

Arrowhead can be pretty goofy, all the spots that look "bassy" will often have nothng but pickerel or sunnies, then you go to a sandy/silty flat and they are all over. Fish around that bridge in your pix, especially now with the smallies running up into the Lamoille now. It can get nasty brown in the blink of an eye after a good rain and it can get a pretty crazy current. There are some big fish in there, but they are few and far between. There are some BIG Bowfin in there though. Senkos, Fat Ikas and Pit Bosses!