fayegarnett

guys, i gotta tell you what happened today and you probably won't believe it. I was fishing at that outlet pond by Ellicott Creek Park. My friend saw a huge pike with a 2lb bass in its mouth, roaming by the bank. He asked me to go over to take a look while he took a picture of it. I went over and the pike swam away and i could barely see it. But then i tossed my wacky worm toward the direction it swam. I got a hit. my first reaction was: did my worm make the pike spit out the bass and hit my bait? I brought the fish it and it did not fight at all. It was the bass in the pike's mouth!!! It was almost dead!! I did not snag it up, i mouthhooked it as you can see from the picture. How the hell did this happen? A dying bass in the pike's mouth a second ago bit my worm? Again, how could this happen? The bass was either so sick or injured or both that after i released it, it was lying by the bank barely moving. there was missing scales and injuries all over its body and its eyes were blurred. you probably won't believe cuz i am still not so sure if it happened.

Nice!! I was using a tube yesterday and found a sweet spot in the shallow. I kept pulling them out. Which part of the river did you catch that nice smallie? I've been looking for a good spot to catch smallies.

my friend and his buddy were there on friday, and the two of them caught five. they left at 5 or so. i was there today and caught five, though three were pretty small when is a good time to catch smallmouth off niawanda park? there are **** ton of minnows there, but i didn't see any big fish the other day.

ha i live 10 houses from that pond. it's amazing that i accidentally chose the best place to live by. i caught two last week. well, only one of them was keeper. most people i saw there haven't had much success yet. but i think it's getting better.

any recommendations for a good place to catch steelheads from the shore now? I can't wade cuz i don't have that suit.

spending a couple weeks in Rochester MN. read from the fishing regulation that you could not even target bass right now. what does that even mean? what if a bass bites? I understand if you are not allowed to keep the fish, but not even targeting them? Does that mean not fishing at all until May then?

no one ever tried the lakes in UB north campus? I ran into a guy earlier last month when i was fishing there. he said lake lasalle was very productive. he said he sometimes caught more than 10 in a day. but that day i did not catch anything. it's very interesting lake. half of it is super clear light blue water, the other half is stained.

i'd love to meet up! i went out today to the creeks cuz i live by the creeks. nothing, so frustrating. i miss catching fish this time of the year in the midwest.

Hi guys, i just moved to Buffalo NY from the midwest and we are blessed with an exceptionally warm year. I can't believe there is so much open water now in buffalo. I was wondering if there is any good productive local ponds to fish? I've tried Lake LaSalle in UB cuz i am a student there. and I tried ellicott creek park and tonawanda creek. so far no bites.....any pond and bait recommendations?

first, all the lures i purchased say suspend on the package. i don't know the smithwick model, but according to the package it really is designed to suspend. as for the mcstick, i am using them in pretty low water temp (40s and 30s). they just sink really like a rock. I used the same baits before and they suspended. but they got hung up so i purchased the same ones, only that they are no good. i did not test it in the sink, but in the lake. i know from my previous experience that testing in the sink could produce skewed results.

I've had some real bad experience with them, not fishing them, but buying them. so many of them don't actually suspend. i bought two mcstick 110 and they sink like a rock, two smithwick floats like a squarebill, one luck-e strike rick clunn stx 1/2 oz, again floats, one lucky craft 100 5/8 oz, floats, rapala shadow rap, sinks not very slowly. so frustrating!! they are expensive too. the only one that's consistently good is the strike king kvd 300. they always suspend right out of the package.

Dam, i am moving the Western NY, buffalo, to be exact in Jan. I heard i won't be able to fish until Apr. What am i gonna do?

i think you can still catch fish shallow in winter. i don't have a boat so i cant really get to deep waters in winter. i just caught a keeper today. it was by the rocky shoreline. riprap has been the most productive for me in winter and all my winter fish have been caught by rocky banks. I was using a mid diving crank beating the bottom.

been wanting to start this thread, but too lazy. always wonder to what lengths fishing addicts can go for fishing. for me, the craziest thing was this past winter, after losing about $100 worth of hard baits, i finally caught my first winter keeper. then i got that kvd sexy shad jerkbait that i caught the fish on hung up. i got so ticked of myself, seeing nobody's around, i stripped myself naked and jumped in the that mid february water (i am in missouri), trying to retrieve the bait because it was about 20 feet away from me. as soon as i jumped into the water i realized how cold it was and my swimming capability completely abandoned me. i struggled back to the bank, realizing that i stopped short of becoming the idiot who killed himself for a $10 jerkbait and you would've probably seen me in the news.

i have been struggling lately. the fish are all over me in the lake, but can't seem to catch them. the only time i caught them was when it was getting dark with a water melon senko. i heard that invisible line is super important. is it true?

watch a youtube video with Paul Mueller talking about sight fishing. he said if as soon as you drop the bait to the bed, the fish swims off, then you can't catch that fish. a bedding fish has to be really committed to the bed to be catchable. that was exactly what happened, maybe that was why i couldn't catch that fish.

what's everybody's tactic? this is my second year attempting sight fishing. yesterday, i spent more than an hour on this one bedding fish, to no avail! i tried a water melon craw, a worm, a white fluke, even a lipless crankbait. every time, the fish checked out the bait, but never committed to bite! is it because the fish was aware of my presence and knew that was a bait? should i be stealthier?

one thing i recently learn is a deep diving crank bait. just reel it slowly and you will feel the bottom structure! rocks, weed, anything. 59 degree aint too bad. i was fishing at 34 35 degree water today. could not catch a bass either, only a few trouts. but you don't really have to slow down that much in 59 degree water. winter is challenging but last week when i caught one, it was really satisfying!

why is it done already? i'm still fishing in st. louis.

I'm the opposite. the ponds i fish in here in st. louis are all pretty stained and muddy. i do very well with water melon and green pumpkin plastics, but i also catch fish on white flukes and spinner. so sometimes i feel like the color is not necessarily the most important factor. could be wrong though. what type of baits are you using and what colors?

I feel so welcomed!!! Thank you very much!! I will keep experimenting! The trouts here come in different sizes. The park actually had two separate trucks when they stocked em this year with one with bigger ones (4 to 10lbs!) and another with smaller ones. I don't know if the trouts actually affect what would be a more normal bass pattern in winter. Anyways, i will keep trying different things you guys suggested. I don't mind slowing down. the problem is i don't know where the fish are. In summer i always catch them around cover, the lily pads. it's such a small pond, i should be able to find em. that's why its so frustrating.

Thank you very much for your reply!!! i happen to just have a beetle spin. will give it a try!! the trouts here almost bite anything. the pond is pretty stained so they can't see very well. recently my search for bass has inadvertently produced quite a few trouts. i've been catching them with 10lb test and a large rip bait, unbelievable, right? so i guess when the water's stained, jerkbait is not as productive, right?

Hi everyone, nice to meet all of you. finally got an account. more of an observer in the past and a fan/subscriber of Glenn. decided to ask for help when all research fails and hope you guys can give me some suggestions. i live in st. louis and mostly fish in a nine acre lake in a park. the pond has a lot of weed in the bottom and the deepest part is about 14 feet. i am always able to catch bass there in the summer, but winter so far is zero! every winter, they stock this little pond with 3000 trouts, crazy right? after they did that, the bass seem to have vanished. i been doing a lot of research on winter fishing, but i just can't seem to find the fish. should i go deep or shallow? what type of search bait should i use? I tried deep diving crank and lipless crank, but the weed completely destroys the actions of the baits. but jigs are very slow and not really good for searching the fish, so are jerkbaits. should i try a slow rolling spinner? or a swim bait since the bass may be feeding on some smaller trouts? it is so frustrating. Anyways, thank you all and merry xmas to all