Spankey

This is in line with my goal. A 7# Greenie is doable with some luck. I’ve had her on a couple of time lost her with a head shake. I fish for a new personal best every time out. It will happen. My PB Smallie and LM are very close in size. I don’t really fish targeting Muskies. My catches over the years have been freak catches while fishing for river smallies. Majority have been landed. I’d like to hit that 48” mark. But one that size as an accidental catch is gonna make a 6-8 lb. Smallie Rig a real mess. The chance I’ll have to take. If I purposely fished for them I’d probably never catch one.

Yep I’ve noticed the same thing. Package comes without a packing slip and that is the most frustrating thing about it. Sort of don’t know what to expect. Guess you can check your email but I just want a packing slip. I won’t talk ill of BPS or Cabela’s but I don’t have the customer relationship I once had with them years ago. At one time, years ago, they were full line dealer for many top manufacturers . BPS would rather push the house brand of items these days and I’m not interested in them. I've had a couple of recent orders where a few items were damaged. Not in shipping, damage at their place and sent out damaged. They acknowledged it was their fault and made good in a short time frame but it’s just a hassle. I could name a few dislikes and give some poor opinions but won’t dis them. I have found others that can get me what I need/want.

I hear ya. I’m kicking on a 2nd Victory rod. Leaning toward the VTS71MF. Have touched it numerous time but have not pulled the trigger. YET. When I retired last year a couple of work buddies bought me a Victory VTS73MXF. I almost sold it or was gonna trade it because I didn’t think I’d ever get use to the long, longer, fore grip length. Fished it off and on, was still up in the air about it. Fished the bay (brackish) twice with it later in the season and caught everything going with it using bottom contact baits. Boated a lot of fish. That Was all it took to get use to the longer fore grip. I feel the 7’1” Med. Fast will get used hard with the soft plastics I used. Like the bit slower tip to it. I’m now a fan to the longer fore grip. Was easy to get use to when you have days with a decent bite going on. You don’t think, over think about it. Have two gift cards burning a hole in my pocket. Don’t need another rod but would like to have a pair of Victory’s.

Will kick the season off midweek on approx. the 10th. Here in the North East/Mid Atlantic we’ve been slammed with some torrential rains (the way of Mother Nature) a few rivers have to get back to a normal. Tuff river conditions right now. Can kick it off on the lake. Smallies are a tough catch. At least in my case. Will cove fish for them and fish chunk rock banks. More apt to catch Mr. Greenjeans. But I’m fine with that. The lake has a heavy stain to it and up right now. Went to the ramp today. Needs a few days of sun on it. Bass season doesn’t kick off until mid June but my bass fishing is 100% catch and immediate release. For the most part not late to the party getting out. Been hammering the trout fishing spinning and fly fishing. My middle grandson has been having some real fun with it and I enjoy spending every minute I can with him. We’ll keep getting out for more. Have him signed up for a couple of fly fishing seminars that I’ll go with him. My winter project of finding duplicates (triples) of some of my crankbaits didn’t go real well. Many of my productive Bombers and Bandits are long out of production and longshots to find. But not impossible as I did find a few. Rapalas are a go to anytime I’m out but have started fishing some SPRO, MegaBass, Googan and 6th Sense with success over the last handful of years. I like my old school but want to get out of the box every once in awhile. I have to get back heavier into the topwater game for river smallies. Have not been fishing it for longer time lengths. Been too quick to switch techniques up. Not that that was a bad thing but I’m shorting myself on topwater time. Sorry for being so long winded. Got carried away.

Height and flow will certainly increase. What we got last Saturday created a better flow. I’m not gonna deal with the downpours this weekend. I’ll mess with them during the week. My middle grandson has taken a liking to trout fishing. He wants to give the fly fishing a whirl. I have him signed up for a class in a couple of weeks. I’ll go with him because I can use all the help also. I get my river and lake time in but running down to the creek is quick and easy spur of the moment stuff. Actually gets me more fish time in.

I’ll fish up there on a few creeks. Little Lehigh and Jordan Creek. Those wild Rainbows on the LL are good looking fish. Colors will knock your eyes out. Was out this morning doing a combination of spin fishing and fly fishing in a couple sections of French Creek. Had a rough start. Was able to get them to take a couple different San Juan worms. I was a happy guy. Admittedly I’m a fly fishing hack. I just try to give it heck. San Juan worm is like fishing live bait. I like fishing a bead head version or I just split shot them. Missed a few fish on a Joe’s Fly. Another bait I just splitshot them. I don’t own any of the weighted version. See where they have 1/16, 1/8 and 1/4 oz. versions. Will maybe order some 1/16 even if for next season. I’ll be directing all my attention to smallies real soon. Good fishing.

Saturday night rains got creek levels up slightly, and created a lot better flow conditions on two local creeks. Caught some nice brown trout on a streamer and bead head nymphs. Water clarity slightly got stained. Not what I thought it was gonna be. Streamers I was using had chartreuse in them.

Fluoro on a spinning reels is real tough. I gave that a shot years ago. Short lived. Trilene and Stren are great all around line but for my bass fishing I got sort of hooked on SunLine monos.

A lot of wind knots are caused by a poor spooling job. Not sure if I’m putting this correctly but line that comes off your bulk spool wants to be going on your reel spool the same direction the rotor lays it on spool. A bait caster is generally easier to spool. Bulk spool and reel spool are easier to make the transfer of line.

In my trout bag I have a version of a Trout Magnet that are Craws. They are very effective. The white one and a green and gray work well. Sort of like a NED. Sort of like a tiny jig. But I don’t fish they under a float like a traditional Trout Magnet. I’m going to primarily be trout fishing but when I get to where this one spillway is on the creek I’m expecting smallies to be there. Have been there in the past. Dang thing of it is sometimes those creek smallies wont hit anything but live bait (minnows).

I’ll be fishing a Trout stream a couple of counties over mid-week next week. A lot of Smallies in there. I won’t pass up fishing for them. Will throw Power Grubs or CB Slider Grubs. I suspect 3” Power Trout Worms could work also.

Just wondering how you guys have been making out. I realize this is a bass site but Billy Boy has to trout fish or his mind ain’t right. Have been doing it since a young kid and enjoy it still as much. In S.E. Region water levels have been low. With low flow. Air temps have been above average also. Have some rain suppose to kick in on the weekend and will be well deserved. Have been going at it with Fly Fishing and Spinning gear and have been catching my share of fish. Mostly just fishing on the move along stretches. Caught two nice rainbows on a Panther Martin this morning at sun up. Have only fished on somewhat of a local scale lately. Had appointments I’ve had to fish around but they are taken care of now. Majority stocked fish with a few hold overs in it. This coming week I’ll be hitting some nice fly fishing stretches. I’m an admitted fly fishing hack. Don’t know all the hatches by location, just fish a few flies that work. Most likely won’t get any fishing in this weekend. I’m taking my one grandson and some of his buddies to fish for trout. I’m pretty sure they will keep my busy. If I can educate them some. And a few fish get caught it will be a perfect weekend. Sorry for the long rant. Just wondering how y’all have been making out with the conditions we are facing.

I’ve used the 3” version of “natural” and “blue craw” on the river for smallies. They produced fish. The Bandito Bug is a good bait also. I have no desire to get into it about Googan one way or the other. They seem to put out a quality product.

Mo I wish I could have made out as well as you. 4” and 6” black ct’s and 4” and 6” pumpkinseed CT’s were a killer. I’ll put them up there with some of my favorite baits. I think Lucky-E-Strike took a nose dive as of recently.

You are probably right. My first guess was maybe ‘79 or ‘80.

Put that baby on an ol’ pistol grip casting rod and take a step back in time.

On a bait caster 10-12 lb. But I’ll fish 8 lb. On a lighter setup I have. Spinning 6-8 lb. Majority of my setups are 6 lb. but some soft plastics I fell better with 8 lb. Sort of like the med. light vs. medium.

I retired this past June. Slightly early but I jumped on it. Am I fishing, hunting and shooting clays ALL THE TIME? No because I have other things to do like work around the house and help others (kids & friends) if they need a hand. But I am fishing when I want to. Not trying to squeeze it in in a window on the weekend or go a night after work when I wasn’t really prepaired for. I’m loving this being on trout water at sunup and fishing till 8:30 am, the same will be smallie fishing on the river. Back to back to back mornings at dark waiting for sunup and pulling the plug by 9:30 or 10:00 am. I never even unhook my trailer when I get home. Work around the house some. Sleep some. Head back to the river. That was the life last summer. Gonna be the same this summer.

I have not picked it up yet. Being the Rapala junkie I am, I wanted to see it first without ordering blindly. Do doubt it will work. I didn’t jump on the OG Slim bandwagon real quickly but finally did last season. I fish them like a DT. My be designed for cold water but I throw it at anytime.

My Weber Propane is on its last leg. I’ll be buying another in a few weeks. I used it hard this winter. At fall time never thought I’d make it through the winter. It owes me nothing, gets used hard, replaced burners and deflectors. Couple of igniters also. Broken tree branch bent my lid a few years back. I use a grill/smoker a lot also. Some things are just meant for that. Whether 100 deg. + days or when only 13 deg. with snow on the ground I love it. One of the few things that makes me happy. Good eats.

I’ve had many of them also. Wish we could get together and swap some kidney stone stories. The pain is not funny as you well know. But after they pass or after the operation and think back on the places you got the attack or where you realize where you are with a stuck one can get pretty funny, but not at the time. Hope you feel better. Wish we could get a few good laughs.

I don’t see an increase in productivity when a plastic bait looses a tail, claw or appendages.

My favorite of my deer rifles is a Savage model 99 in .243, maybe not the best choice but it was I bond I made with that gun years ago. Shot placement is very important with these lighter calibers. I have a Model 70 in .270 and Remington GameMaster in 30-06 both tack drivers. But hunting with that straight English style stock 99 just happens to be my favorite.

This season I have to pick back up throwing more “pinks” for smallies and large 10” worms for lake greenies. Pink soft plastics got me a few river smallies. A phobia of pink that I’m over now. At the lake it will be a series of early mornings and end of daylights and fishing nothing but these big worms. Mixing them in more. When you throw 4”-6” worms, that 10” seems off the chart but it should work. Just have to make it work.

What does a crawdad smell like? Do they all smell the same? Does a PA crawdad smell the same as a Wisconsin crawdad? Can’t say I’ve had a Smallie smell like anything or smell out of ordinary. Have caught a lot of smallies. I’ve kept smallies in my livewell and have never opened the lid and get knocked to my knees with the smell of anything. I’ve caught a few Spotted Muskies while smallie fishing and they had a sulphuric smell to them. A few tiger muskies that had an odor but not as strong as the Spotted. Healthy fish showing no signs of a sickness. These were immediately released and skin (slime layer) not touched. Maybe that smell/excretion has to do with surroundings. I don’t know. Smell or no smell of smallies I keep my livewell washed, clean and flushed. I’ve had them hock up a bunch of crawdad parts while being in the tank. Can only imagine the smell of that in a day or so of not getting flushed out.