Turkey sandwich

Yo-Zuri Hybrid isn't 100% flouro, but it is still super low viz, low stretch and really abrasion resistant. Right now it's on sale at tackle warehouse for extremely cheap. I've used it as a main line without problem, but now mostly use it mostly for leaders.

I was out this past weekend and despite it dropping to near freezing the night before, the water temp was still on the low side. The front + clear skies and super clear water made it a tough day. Definitely no big bite: 2x 14inchers, and one pickerel that was somewhere in the 20" ball park that I shook off boatside because I was too lazy to deal with teeth and take a measurement. The pond is very shallow and the fish were super lethargic.

It's all about learning which poppers behave which ways andpracticing each one for what it's good at. I like Pop-Rs as a popper in certain conditions, but I'm not going to walk the dog with one. Chug Bugs are really walkable as mentioned above, and Skitter Pops are without question my go-to poppers 85% of the time because of their versatility. I've never had lures get physically destroyed (no exaggeration... I mean broken Balsa) by bass like sunfish colored Skitter Pops. Notes on fishing poppers: - spend the time practicing and fishing the different poppers and feel their actions. - I've noticed that color can make a big difference - match the baitfish present unless the water is chocolate milk. If it's chocolate milk, big profile and noisy can be way more important than color when throwing topwater. I keep saltwater Super Spooks in my box for days like this because they're huge, loud, and come in obnoxious colors. Big profiles walking the dog give fish a huge target in murky water. - be patient with new baits - they all work once you figure out how to best make them do what they're good at doing. Hope this is helpful.

Reading this thread brougt back some crazy memories. I grew up on the Susquehanna River, and while it's a great smallmouth fishery, it's also a great place to pick up trophy musky. We'd wade throwing grubs, tubes twister tails and poppers on light tackle and there were days where we'd pick up 20-40 smallmouth, a handful of rock bass, and whatever weird that day would have in store. Sometimes it was a handful of delicious walleye, other times it'd be hooking into 20+ lb carp (in current with light gear, these were probably some of the most ridiculous freshwater fights i've ever had), or get the **** scared out of you when a 40"+ musky would blow up your top water 10 feet away in waist deep water. Hell, i even remember foul hooking a 20" quilback in current on 6lb mono and being confused for 20 minutes trying to get it out of current. This came out of a lake I used to fish a ton while growing up. The guy was fishing for trout on 4 or 6lb line and caught this:

Probably pretty common. I live in PA and for us, largemouth over 5lb are considered lunkers. My personal best is just over 7lbs, but I've had days where I've caught multiple 4.5-6lb fish in a day. It's all about knowing where to look and finding the right conditions. My best day was a 5 fish limit (all released) on a farm pond ranging from 4.5lbs through 6.5lbs (and definitely missed one that would have been in the 8lb range) right before the most horrifying lightning storm I've ever experienced struck. On the way out of the pond (running like hell) down the shoreline i almost **** myself when lightning struck 20 feet away. Totally horrifying, but pretty awesome to put together a 24lb stringer here in PA.

I've mostly encountered really helpful employees anytime I've been in my local (hour and 30 minutes away) Cabela's. The last time I was in, I had a great conversation with the fella who helped me on the fishing floor about water I grew up fishing and that he now travels well over an hour and a half to fish regularly. His knowledge of gear was spot on and offered some solid tips on fishing water that I'd fished hundreds of times before. And most notably - he was chipper and enthusiastic about doing it because he seemed to enjoy helping me. Realistically, that's what matters - and I don't care whether they're directly commissioned or not - a good sales person is someone who's primary concern is helping the customer get what it is they want.

Ww, their service rocks. One phone call and the new rod is on it's way. Thanks fellas.

The Chronarchs have a great drag, cast a mile, and unless you overfill the spool, you have to try to backlash them. Great product.

Thanks for the feedback. So, my rod showed up from Cabellas today... With one of the guides bent straight down and another slightly bent, pulled away from the finish. What's the word on Cabella's customer service on these issues? I'm pretty ticked because I was planning on having it to take my dad fishing in a week and a half and now I likely won't have a replacement in time if I go through Cabellas/Abu Garcia.

Spooks and skitter pops have given me a lot of numbers and quality over the years. On top, I've found it's not worth worrying about size as much as find what type of presentation they're chasing and even color. I've oddly enough caught plenty of 8-12 in bass on spooks half their size. The thing is, once you get the hits from the topwater, you've found the fish and you can throw plastics, spinnerbaits, etc behind it and get hits from whatever is schooling or hanging to the cover.

Check out the other river smallmouth read. There's some really good advice on there. As far as money baits go, 2.5-4" grubs and similar sized tubes weighted as light as possible to get them down are pretty much guaranteed to get you hits once you find fish. A good popper and either crank baits just diving deep enough to rake the bottom or spinnerbaits make for good locators. As far as tackle, I'll go as light as 6# mono or as heavy as braid with a flouro leader depending upon what I'm throwing and how active/aggressive the fish are.

Thank you!

Hey everybody! I've been skimming the forum here for a while now, saw a lot of great information, and finally decided to join. I'm in Philadelphia, but grew up near Wilkes-Barre/Scranton fishing mostly the Susquehanna River, local lakes and farm ponds and still head back because the Susquehanna is just that good. From 13-22 I spent on average 3 days/week on the water, but since moving to Philly 10 years ago, it's been a lot harder to get out (kinda tough parallel parking a boat in the city). This past year I've decided to commit more to getting on the water and I'm looking forward to fishing the Delaware, Nockamixon, etc by kayak. If anyone else is local, knows of fishing/kayak clubs, I'm all about learning the area. There's a lot of great information on here, I'm just looking forward to reading/contributing more.

There are some good posts on here, but most are just giving more options that'll only make a buying decision more confusing, especially for someone who doesn't know their preferences yet. There are a lot of good rods mentioned on here, and you'd probably be happy with most of them. The thing is, as stated above, you're going to feel buyers remorse with almost any purchase you make, especially when A) you cannot immediately hold e item in your hand, it's something that you haven't been totally educated on. So what you're feeling is natural, and you'd have the same feeling if you bought anything from Duckett, Shimano, Powell, etc. So, (if I were in your spot) my goals in is purchase would be to purchase A) a quality rod that's going to hold up, a strong/sensitive rod with good versatility, and C) a good company that's going to stand behind it if you ever do have a problem. So to address the catch all rod, you aren't going to have any 1 rod that you can trust to finesse trout in streams and also chuck musky plugs and 1oz plus jigs. However, you can find a good middle option that'll work for most, and frankly St. Croix's Premier line is one of those great options that'll entire you into the world of upscale rods without breaking the bank. I've had one ( medium fast action 7' spinning) for nearly 15 years that still fishes great after hundreds of small and largemouth bass, walleye, perch, some pike and a musky or two And the thing is, if you do have a problem with he rod, St. Croix has possibly the best customer service of any manufacturer in the industry. Of all the options in the low $100 price range, you went with probably the safest option in my opinion.

The St. Croix rods with a SCIII blank or higher are incredibly sensitive. I have Premier series that I like, but the jump in blanks when I picked up a Rage was unbelievable. The SCIII blank in the Rage, Avid and Avid X series rods are super sensitive, light and have a shitload of backbone for $160-$220.

Loading a rod is what happens when you draw back to cast and unloading is when you release the cast. Think of the rod blank as a spring that allows you to catapult your lure/bait. The best distance/accuracy is typically within the range stated on the rod. Simple analogy - the rod is like a spring. Now, you may have springs designed to close the front door on your home and they're adequate for that. You may also have springs to close your garage door that are adequate for that. And here are also springs in vehicle suspensions designed to be adequate for that. If you took the springs off of your car and somehow installed them on your front door, it would never open (load). Similarly, if you were to take either set of door springs and put them on your truck, they'd never never release or "spring back" (unload).

Good to hear. What are your thoughts on the rod?

Keep it simple Grubs/tubes - 2.5-4" on as light a jib as you can run and still get it to sink. I've gone anywhere from 1/32 to 1/4 oz depending upon the depth or the river, the current, and the activity level of the fish. Colors - keep it lifelike- think crayfish when the water is clear/lightly stained (pumpkin, green pumpkin, watermelon, watermelon red fleck, etc) as it gets a little more stained, I like using those same colors with a chartreuse tail. As it gets more stained, I'll use more chartreuse and/or something dark - junebug or black perhaps. Also note - you want light line here. I like 6-8lb mono and no more than 10lb fluorocarbon. I've gone as low as 4lb with light jigs and finicky fish. Crankbaits - you first want something that's going to be one smashing into rocks without getting hung. (Flat bills are great for this) Second, I like something that has a wider wobble (right now, I like Rapala's scatter rap) for fishing flats on the river where I can't see the weed edges or all of the underwater structure/eddies. Those things kick up sand/dirt/gravel all over the place. Colors - if it's clear, match the baitfish and crayfish they're likely eating. If the water is muddier, high contrast colors work great - everything from Sexy shad to chartreuse/fire tiger/clown, etc. I'm not on the water 3days a week anymore, but my rule was always to get crazier with the color as the water got murkier. Also, when the water is dark, rattles can come in handy. Spinnerbaits - high visibility - willow blades, low visibility - Colorado blades. Keep appropriate weights to fish the water column. I treat the colors for spinner baits, just like plastics above. Also, if fish are coming up short or you're missing hits, a trailer hook is typically a good idea. Topwater - note top waters float on their own, so a heavier 12lb+ mono line-leader can be a good call to keep the bait on top where it's most effective. Walking baits - different sizes are great, but I've had a lot of success catching smallmouth on big ass Zara Spooks just walking he dog and pausing. I've been successful using spooks in the more lifelike colors and in stained water I keep crazy colored Yo-Zuri walking baits in my box. Poppers - probably my favorite way to catch smallmouth in a river - the classic Pop-R is still great, but I love the Skitter Pop. I like to keep the colors natural and I've had several completely destroyed by bass, pike, and musky over the years. Jerk baits - some people love them, but they haven't been my biggest producers. Colors are treated like above based on water clarity. Note - countdown and suspending jerk baits can be killers on lakes or ponds, but in the current, you'll be snagging/losing baits like crazy if you aren't super careful. Stick with floating options unless the rivers your fishing have some real depth. My .02 hopefully is is helpful.

River fishing for smallmouths can be awesomely fun. I grew up fishing he north branch of the Susquehanna and north east PA weather isn't unlike Indiana. You'll want to pay some attention to water temperature to help dictate the size/speed of what you're throwing (2.5-4" curly tails on 1/16 to 1/4 - oz depending upon conditions are super consistent producers). Location is all about finding what's different (like any other type of bass fishing) and will provide access to food. Bringing your bait on the edges of ripples, behind bridges, around trees/stumps/windfall, edges of weedbeds, and across visible eddies are great ways to present, but don't forget about what you can't see. Often, you'll have smallmouth sitting behind submerged rocks and holding to their underwater eddies, especially near changes in depth. Some over suggestions to help locate active fish - bring crank baits you can rip along the bottom and spinnerbaits you can run at different depths. Mind water clarity, and if it's clear, match what they're feeding on - crayfish, helgramites, shad, perch, etc with your color selection. And of course, bring your top waters. Depending upon what the current is like, I love throwing Spooks, Pop-Rs, Skitterpops (I've retired at least 3 sunfish colored because they've been destroyed), and buzz baits or prop baits. I like using he above to help locate active fish, especially over flats where I can't see the underwater terrain. Once I have them located or if I'm fishing specific pieces of structure or cover, the grub or tube on a jig has always been money. On the topic of water temperature, once it starts to get legit cold, don't be afraid to switch up to buck tail jigs. They tend to look a lot more life-like than frozen plastics. I hope this helps, and good luck!

I was looking thought the Cabellas site and the original series Veritas rods were (probably still are) on sale for $69. I needed a crankbait rod so I picked one up and a new Chronarch to go with it. I've loved the Chronarch reels and have been super satisfied there. However, I have seen mixed reviews on the first generation Veritas rods. I figured that for $69 I couldn't possibly go wrong unless it snaps he first day I get it on the water. What are everyone's thoughts? Anyone still using a first generation Veritas? I've had St. Croix rods for years, and realize that they may be a tough a to follow, but for the value, what are your thoughts?