Turkey sandwich

Weird. I have quite a few St Croix rods and the blanks tend to have pretty similar diameters other manufacturer's that I own (Abu, Fenwick). Regardless, blank diameter or wall thickness matter very little to me compared to how my rods fish and despite whatever differences there may be, I can't see any sensible argument that a $79 Lew's rod is going to compare favorably to a Legend Elite, Avid X, or Mojo 2 simply because of the blank thickness.

Everyone's preferences aside, the faster the tip on the rod, the lower the weight rating for the power. So an XF rod will not handle the same weight as well as say a F or MF rod in the same power. Extra fast tips do tend to be more brittle as that's a byproduct of the super responsive, extra fast action. That all being said, there's a chance the rod had a defect, but likely 90% of broken tips are due to user error/abuse/etc. It would be worth checking on the warranty, the general consensus is that the Johnny Morris signature stuff tends to be of good quality, and likely has some warranty.

Incredible photos! It almost looks like an alien landscape.

Also, now days later, I'm still disappointed that this thread is not about fishing with actual rocks.

Welcome! Where in NEPA?

There's some good gear advice here and some other gear advice I'd steer away from. What are you fishing? Grubs? Tubes? Jigs? Drop Shot? Texas Rigs? Umbrella Rigs? The gear for fishing these are all really different. If I can make a few general suggestions, 15-20lb high viz braid main line (I like Power Pro Super Slick) with a mono or copolymer (Yozuri Hybrid is my first choice) in 8lb test. I like the abrasion resistance of the Hybrid, and will be my first choice for fishing clam beds, boulders, ledges, etc. For casting gear, 30-40lb braid (I like 832 a lot on my casting reels) and usually run 12lb Hybrid as a leader for anything likely to be dragging on the bottom. The thing is, gear only goes so far. There's a time to downsize your weight. There's a time to fish heavy with a faster, more erratic retrieve. There's a time to drag the bottom. The tricky part is figuring out when to do which.

Pretty well said. It's just silly that "environmentalist" and "conservationist" have become dirty words. And both ends of the spectrum are to blame. But maybe those responsible for shortsighted legislature a bit more. end rant.

That's a nightmare. That sounds a lot like the issues with the Susquehanna and upper Delaware here. The Susquehanna has silt and farm runoff issues, but the dam is basically the PA/MD border. Exelon owns the dam and it has a MASSIVE influence on legislature in both states and the federal gov't. This has been an ongoing mess that's effected the Susquehanna and Upper Chesapeake significantly. In fact, PA sold optional S.O.S. (Save Our Smallmouth) pins as an additional fundraiser to better deal with the industrial farming. The Delaware is a mess because it provides water to NYC and involves PA, NY, and NJ gov't. There's a huge risk of a major draw down of the reservoir supporting it, which could basically destroy one of the best trout fisheries in the north east. This is a hard time to be an environmentalist.

Great rods! To improve your hook up on tubes and jigs, I'd suggest throwing them on a Med power fast or X-fast rod. With the current, especially on a big river like the Susquehanna, it makes driving the hook a lot easier since most tube hooks aren't exactly light wire. My hook up percentage throwing those baits goes up likely 25-30% when I switch from a ML to a M. My ML still gets lots of work on that river throwing Ned rigs (new addiction), drop shots, and small poppers.

Don't overlook 2.5-3.5" tubes. You can fish them aggressively or swing them in current like you would a Ned rig or Senko. Generally, for shallow water 1/8oz is a pretty good starting point for weight. Also, don't overlook 3-4" grubs. They're old school, but they're about the best numbers bait for smallmouth that I know of.

There's already good advice on here. But to give you a really good answer - what kinds of baits are you fishing and how are you rigging them? How deep are you fishing? How are you presenting the lure? How much weight? Also, knowing how to drift and swing your bait through current is a really important thing to learn for fishing rivers. It can be the difference between catching 30+ fish and hanging on every submerged boulder, tree, tire, or fence post in the river. I've had smallmouth run me around or through boulders, but that's rare. Any time I'm hooking them in or around nasty stuff, I'm making sure to pull them clear of the snags IMMEDIATELY. Abrasion resistant line helps, but in all likelihood the problem here is in your presentation.

I grew up fishing farm ponds that looked a lot like that. Vegetation isn't a bad thing, generally, for fish. It just makes our jobs trickier. Texas rigged worms, jig/craw, and weedless frogs are all excellent choices in this kind of stuff.

I would be somewhat mindful of trying to paddle through extended sections of jagged rock or gravel in 2" of water and would basically use a common sense rule. It's a molded plastic kayak, so it's going to be reasonably durable. If you were paddling fiberglass, I'd tell you to avoid shallow, rocky rivers all together.

Conditions and seasonal patterns dictate almost everything. If the water is clear, grubs and tubes fished on 1/16-1/4oz jigs can be incredible numbers baits. Craws fished on football jigs can also be fantastic. I also catch a lot of river smallies on crankbaits, walking baits, poppers, flukes, spinnerbaits, drop shots, swimjigs/swimbaits, and lipless cranks. Realistically, under the right conditions, you can probably throw 90% of your tackle box and catch fish. Knowing the conditions you're fishing would make it easier to help you better. All of that is secondary, though. The biggest key to success in a fishing a river comes from understanding current - how fish orient in it, how it effects the way fish hunt, how it effects metabolism, how to present bait naturally in it, what it does for oxygen content, and what it means when you're finding fish in different parts of the river.

@jigfishn10 - Makes sense. You're using it where I would fish a Rat L Trap or bladed jig. Same concept. If it works, it works.

I suppose that's an option, but I've never really considered it because I can't think of many conditions that I fish that would require thump and super fast presentations. Most conditions that call for thump are due to low visibility. The thump is there to allow fish to follow vibration in dark/muddy/blooming/generally crappy water conditions. In those conditions, I don't see a reason to fish anything fast, as it only makes it near impossible for fish to locate. Not to say anything is "wrong", or doesn't have a place, but in the instances I want thump and a faster presentation, I'm reaching for a lipless crank or a chatterbait instead.

I can't speak for A-Jay, but my rationale has been that the conditions (semi-cleare/stained, esp with wind) generally warrant flash over thump, but also that the wider, rounder Colorado blades have a bigger, wider wobble and simply don't respond as well to fast cranking.

These things are all tools, but you don't need them. Does it help to have more features? Of course, but they aren't necessary to do well/learn. I fished for years without a sonar and it forced me to learn to read maps and contours/how the landscape continues under water, and learn to feel cover and structure with bottom contact baits. It's also a good way to learn how to fish shallow, and pick apart the visible stuff. I won a charity tournament this past weekend pitching shoreline cover. You don't need a $3000 boat to roll cast a jig into visible cover.

Yep! it may not always be my first choice, but it can be really effective at kicking up a mess on the bottom like a flying baitfish or crayfish. The key is finding soft bottom areas that hold fish without thick weeds that would make presenting a treble hook bait a nightmare. Around good structure dotted with rocks, stumps, submerged timber, or sparse vegetation it can be a really good technique. Learning to fish them through cover can be tricky, and certainly has a bit of a learning curve, but it can be very effective.

I would have some of the same concerns as stated above with a "do-all" rod. Generally, my most versatile rods are MH F casting and M F spinning. Still, those only cover lures from around 3/8-1oz, and 1/8-1/2 oz respectively. For the connection knot, the most important thing is finding one that you can tie very confidently. Alberto, FG, blood knot, uni-to-uni, and a slew of others can all work well, and you'll find someone on here that swears by each of them. What's most important is that you can tie it well, and reasonably quickly on the water when needed. I like the uni-to-uni because it's fast, holds extremely well, and I'm confident in it. It's the knot I tie best out of the group and it's yet to fail me in the 3 years or so that I've been using braid to leader connections regularly.

unless you're fishing for pike or muskie in freshwater or toothy critters like blue fish in the salt, there's no good argument for 30lb FC. I'd suggest 10-12lb to cover a lot of conditions and presentations as well as provide good knot strength with a relatively simple connection knot like uni to uni.

Nice!

The purpose of the braid isn't necessarily the strength, so much as it's limpness, castability, ability to cut through vegetation, and a slew of other favorable characteristics. The purpose for a leader, as stated above, is to provide abrasion resistance against rocks/wood/shell beds/etc, provide lower visibility than braid, sink, float, etc to improve the presentation. The idea, generally, is to match a similar line diameter braid and leader for the sake of connection knots. As for strength, it's almost the last consideration. Except in really horrendous cover, 12-15lb mono, FC, or copolymer have more than enough pure "strength" to overpower virtually any bass you're ever going to hook.

Welcome!

The Noxen Rattlesnake Roundup is a pretty incredible thing that I've struggled trying to explain to folks who aren't from NEPA. Its basically a weird carnival that serves beer and encourages all things snakes. It's been put on by the local fire department for as long as I can remember, and the people watching doesn't disappoint. I have no idea how people haven't died at this thing.