culprit71

I would try an ultralight rod with a tiny tin split shot 24- 36 " up and a white fly to match the hatch

Weightless ragetail lobster sounds like a good bet for these conditions. I have not tried this technique yet, but I saw one of the pros fishing these type of conditions. He tied a heavy line with a snell knot directly to the hook after a bullet weight on a bead is placed above the hook and allowed to slide freely (not pegged) It's almost like a modified carolina rig. then you cast out over the area with the bottom cover and work like you would work a texas rig. The weight will stay on the bottom in the heavier areas, and the free t-rigged soft bait will float above the cover , readily available to be hit by the fish.

I shall call him The Newton Lake Hermit. or maybe Ol' Man Newton

I haven't had that experience yet in a boat, as I fish from a canoe and most bigger boats keep their distance, but I have had thsi happen to me while bank fishing. There is this old kind of hermit like guy who rides around on his old rusty 10 speed stalking bass around Newton Lake in South Jersey. It's a rather long lake and there is enough room around the lake not to crowd others. He literally walked right in front of me almost as I was casting and I just looked at him dumbfounded and shook my head. I figured when you get to be his age if you can get enjoyment out of something like fishing, then I'm going to just hope that I can enjoy it as long as he has and that when I'm 85 that I can still cast one and some whippersnapper will get out of my way. Plus I think he was a few puddings short of a snack pack.

Yeah lately I've been fishing with my 9 yo daughter and 7 yo son and when we have a big one we say "Bruuuuuce" and when it's little we say "Nemo!"

Dwight, That is the best smallmouth, he is a monster

This whole thread is killing me!!!! ;D That's actually the Jar Jar Binks fish, and I'm dressing up as a pirate next time I go out fishin'

I usually say "Nope........rock bass."

Why don't you tie on a steel leader and see if a pike comes out on the other end?

Hey thanks flipinstick88 for that nice side by side of the 3 species. Spotted Bass almost look like a combo between the two. It seems as though this thread diverged a little. The first question was clearly about identifying a largemouth bass then somehwhere halfway through there was another post with a smallie in it and then people started chiming in about the smallie. The original poster was referring to the first picture. I agree about lg and sm being like cats and dogs. The largemouth is much more elliptical and streamlined "smoother" in shape if you will and it's also more of a silver emerald green compared to the "boxy" smallmouth with a tannish more yellow green with vertical stripes.

Northern pike like big spoons or big inline spinners. Throw a big shiny cleo or a red and white devil with a steel leader. Then let us know what you catch it on so we can find out who had the right answer.

You should try this too. I've been fishing a dropshot rigged with 2 medium small split shot and a fluke style bait (2") And I wade the local rivers or creeks. For the slower areas I'll fish it with a stillwater presentation as Crestliner was referring to. But in riffles and faster water I like to take off the splitshot(I leave on the tag end so that I can switch back to split when needed), cast it upstream and across at 2 o'clock and let my rod tip follow the bait downstream to about 9 o'clock letting the current do all the work. I kid you not I catch 20-30 smallmouth an hour using this technique, most often when I slowly lift the rod from the 9 oclock position. I've caught trout as well this way while fishing for smallies. However, the smallmouth in these areas I find are not usually more than 1-1.5 lbs and 12 inches or under. No real big ones for me this way(not yet anyway, maybe if I size up my bait hmmmm.) This technique is almost identical to flyfishing a wet fly or highsticking a streamer.

Wow that is incredible. Can I ask what your usual numbers are like and if you fished before or after the cold front moved through. We had a a rainstorm fast and furious move through around 3 pm on Sunday in NJ and the temperature dropped at least 10 degrees or more. You also fished furing a full moon phase. I hear a lot about those rage tail craws gotta try em. Excellent man, excellent. (I had a crappy day on saturday, felt like my rod was melting in hands it was so hot out)

In the words of Mike Tyson from "The Hangover" "Nice!!!"

Yeah I had a similar case when I was fishing with my buddies I Think it was Round lake or Little Square Pond or something in the Adirondacks. They told me they were catching smallmouth and since I wanted to catch smallmouth at the time I was anticipating it, but they turned out to be lg mouth. The mouths, though, were not what I see down in NJ. the mouths did not clear the eye ( I didn't know about the upper maxillary) but the mouths were big, the fish were green and had a dark lateral line, no red eyes. Maybe just a different strain, different genes. Now are you talking Kentucky "Spotted" bass? I've never caught a spotted bass