Neil McCauley

FYI the Top Knocker is available in Europe under the name "Hart Knocker." A seller on ebay has a bunch and is shipping to the US for reasonable prices. http://www.ebay.com/itm/201269025953 Mine arrive in a week or so, will share results.

Deeper. Deep diving crankbaits trolled, 1 oz jigs, drop shot rigs, wind drifted worms on split shot or texas rigs. Yep. Re: summer time nightfishing...it can be slow going. IME you will catch a ton of great fish between 8pm-10pm then maybe just one monster from then until sunrise, at which point it picks back up. Those hours 10p-5a can be pretty boring.

Big waters = big fish. Yes, there are a few exceptions, but the numbers of large (for the Northeast) fish in the Great Lakes, Champlain, and other similar lakes, is incredible. If you play it right, every time out is a great day and you can catch dozens of fish the size of the largest pond/small lake fish. Monster after monster. Just can't find that experience on small lakes. I will say the experience of small back-country ponds with no road access or shoreline development is nice, too. Panfishing with a fly rod from a canoe is a blast.

My canoe: -Old Town Guide 14'7" -MinnKota C2 55lb trolling motor -Bullnose TM Rudder -Kipawa deep pitch weedless propeller -Kayak Fin Skeg mounted at the bow end -Kayalu Kayalite Navigation lights -custom motor mount Fin skeg at the front end has improved tracking somewhat. It can maintain course a lot better with a headwind. It would probably work better if it was mounted more forward but the bottom of the boat isn't quite flat enough past this. Attached the skeg to the hull with JB weld epoxy. The first job was kind of half assed and it actually came off. Second time I made sure to sand it down, clean it, blow torch it, and used a lot more epoxy. Much stronger now. C2 55lb is about as much thrust as my canoe mount will take. It is abut 4.0-4.2 mph on a full battery in calm water according to my navionics. Mount I made out of maple and has held up well the past 4-5 years. No concerns about anything coming loose but I do keep a safety rope tied to the motor just in case. If you ever make a mount like this for a canoe make sure to use 1/2" or bigger carriage bolts. I think mine are 5/8. It's important because you need to torque them down every trip out without stripping the threads. Maple or another quality hardwood is important too. Pine will definitely not last, and anything plastic will warp. Don't think any commercial products will hold up long. Bullnose rudder has helped with turning, adjusting the direction of the boat when going longer distances. The Kipawa prop is deeper pitch so acceleration is less, top speed is more. Kayalu Kayalite Navigation lights from amazon. Nav lights will last about 72 hrs on AAs

Happened AGAIN yesterday. Right thumb this side, the distal joint. Hook was a #2 KVD and a little past barb deep. I worked it out backwards. It was a great LMB though, almost worth it.

I slather sunscreen on as soon as the sunrises and repeat every 2 hours thereafter. SPF 30 or better. SPF50 is best imo. You really want to protect the tops of your ears, your nose, and your upper face. That is where basal cell carcinoma will appear someday with too much sun exposure. Everyone is afraid of the killer Melanoma, but it's pretty rare compared to basal cell, and basal cell can disfigure you badly if you don't recognize it soon enough and have it removed when its small. Anyone out in the sun 10+ hrs a day needs to take it really seriously... put sunblock on thick and frequently. Happened to Hugh Jackman:

My theory on this....A lot of the time a small fish takes a big bait it isn't feeding on the bait-it's attacking it. If you've ever sight fished for sunfish you might notice that when one takes a bait or lure and runs off the rest run after it. Even if it's hooked sometimes they will follow the hooked fish. Sometimes they will ram into the fish with the goodies and try to knock it from its mouth. I have caught 2 fish on one lure this way a few times. Many lures like crankbaits, spinnerbaits, etc that simulate the swimming of a fish aren't necessarily simulating an injured fish but one weighed down by carrying something in its mouth. Lures also catch non-feeding fish during spawning when they're defending their nests. Just because a fish takes your lure/bait doesn't mean it was intending to eat it.

No question here- Long Lake, in the Adirondacks. IMO it's the ideal summer getaway...remote but still has one boat ramp access site at the southern end. There is a lot of state owned shoreline but some summer cottages as well, only reachable by boat. May be pricey to rent. It is deepest, and best to fish, in the northern end which is an 8 mile boat/paddle up the lake. I have caught some great smallmouth there, a lot on a fly. Never even caught one dink LMB there, but they apparently exist, too. It's a very good pike fishery, and has some brook trout and yellow perch as well. One of the most beautiful, well preserved and enjoyable lakes I have found in NY. My alternatives would be Indian, Sacandaga, Lake George, Saranac chain, Tupper, Cranberry. I like Hemlock and Canadice too but 100% of their shoreline is state owned.

Lately it's a baguette cut into small section sammiches with proscuitto, sharp cheddar cheese, salami, lots of mayo and this incredibly spicy mustard I bought in Paris. Plus salt/vinegar potato chips, sour patch kids, a monster energy drink and a few ice cold PBRs. Again yea I'll die a few years (decades) early but it will be worth it.

You purchased wut?

I fish the same usually unless it was a massive cold front and a true high pressure system moves in afterward. That calls for small plastics, slow finesse presentations, live bait, possibly even large quantities of beer.

Is it worth it? Yes, the experience alone is like no other I have found in the outdoors/fishing. Fishing productivity wise though it can be hit or miss. I have been night fishing 7-8 nights this summer, on LG. There are good periods around sunset and sunrise and then it is slow. I did catch a huge LMB trolling a giant 9" plug at 2 AM. Aside from that it has been a lot of dink smallmouth and rock bass, but only between the hours of 11pm-3AM. In the few hours after sunset and before sunrise the water becomes like it is caffeinated and the bass go crazy. Staying from 6PM-6AM for those two period alone is worth it. But again the late night hours things seem to slow down significantly. That 2AM LMB on the 9" plug, this is the only pic I could get. As for fishing tactics I've found the same things that work in the day-time to produce at night. I absolutely have not had success with topwater in the summer at night, again except dink fish. Jitterbugs, skitterpops, buzzbaits, nothing has worked on the surface at night for me except around those periods at dusk and dawn, but even then none of the fish were big. I have done best with loud rattling crankbaits and huge oversize plugs.

I would guess it's not much different from the healing time for humans. Which is 48 hrs to granulation- point when it is most fragile and prone to damage/re-opening- and about 2-3 weeks until it close to normal strength. I have pulled a lot of LMB from the lake recently with jaw wounds in various stages of healing. These fish are beaten up this time of year. Ooops sorry back to fish slime.

I have used the Mustad KVDs now for about 10 trips. Losing fewer fish but still losing a few, I have noticed mostly on the smaller hooks. I may try the Gamas and Owners for the heck of it.

In my experience waders will last as long as you treat them nicely. Don't wear them hiking through thorn bushes and thick brush. In fact try not to walk far in them at all. Put them on before entering the water and take them off when leaving it. Hang them carefully to dry after every trip. Even a "cheap" $100-150 pair will last years if you do this.

Really? No one has had a pike eat a bass they were retrieving? I am disappointed.

Have been to Middle but haven't fished it. Never been to Lower. I would guess that lower has better SMB fishing because it is deeper.

Honest question but where do all these delayed mortality dead bass end up? I do see occasional pike washed up on the *****. I do see dead perch and sunfish quite often floating or dying at the surface. But I have never even once seen a SMB or LMB.

Speaking of fishing with wives... here is the wife unit upon arrival to the lake the one and only time we ever went fishing. A perfect June morning! As you can see, even at 5AM, she could hardly contain her excitement. And... back in the car 30 minutes later.

Yes I'd say the answer is almost always "deeper" when people have this problem, assuming the lake has areas >30' with structure and is fairly clear. I've found at least on my lake that bass fishing doesn't really slow at all in the summer, it just changes. I spent quite a few years getting frustrated every July/August by the "slow fishing" but now realize it's because I would still be fishing the shallow 6-12' areas with topwater/spinnerbaits/plastics because that's what produced in the Spring. The only fish there in the summer were dinks under 12". I got fed up with it and just started trolling the lake with crankbaits. I found that there were a lot of fish out way deeper and much further from structure than I ever expected. Weed beds also existed much deeper than expected, as deep as 40' sometimes. Mid lake humps and submerged islands 40-50' deep were holding bass suspended at 25' a hundred yards away. And these were almost always big fish, the borderline trophy class size that are basically non-existent in the shallows in the summer. There are some real monsters out there if you are willing to fish deep. Trolling does pay off also. I will long cast a crankbait and not catch much. Fan cast it 50 yards out 20+ times and not catch anything, but as soon as I start trolling it and approach a hump or submerged island 30' down it very predictably produces a big fish. I think it just spends significantly more time in the 25-30' target zone where the fish are. Dragging around crankbaits is obviously not as fun as sightfishing or topwater but it really does produce big fish in the summer where I am. It's a tactic that is very under-utilized imo.

It is a blast in the spring, but I don't even bother bringing the fly rod after June. You need different type of line and leader for sinking lures that have to reach bass 20 ft deep vs surface poppers and flies, and line is $30-50 per spool and leader is $5-7 each. Helps to have an extra fly reel to just swap out between trips instead of re-spooling and retying lines together, etc. The $ adds up quick and now we're looking at hundreds just for line and reel. Because of this I only bother fishing surface rigs. I can target bass, panfish, even streams with trout. But this limits the time of year mainly to spring. Fly fishing loses a lot of its appeal to me in the summer when you could be fishing more effectively with a deep diving crankbait or a drop shot rig. My #1 suggestion though is do not be afraid of larger fly rods or the more expensive ones. Get a 9' and don't spend under 100, it's one of those things that is worth spending on. You will be able to cast further and it will make your life a lot easier. Also, GET the warranty the store may offer, these rods have a tendency to get broken.

Fish alone 99% of the time. Then, once I have a lake/season/species figured out I'll take a friend or relative out and show them some great fishing. It's a lot of fun seeing peoples' reactions to catching huge fish one after another. Most of the time I'm solo because I stay out for 12+ hrs, a few times 24+...I know...I should seek help. But who else is crazy enough to stay out long enough for sunset to moonrise to sunrise? "...and now of course I usually fish the big waters alone, although some friends think I shouldn't. Like many fly fishermen in western Montana where the summer days are almost Arctic in length, I often do not start fishing until the cool of the evening. Then in the Arctic half-light of the canyon, all existence fades to a being with my soul and memories and the sounds of the Big Blackfoot River and a four-count rhythm and the hope that a fish will rise." - Norman Maclean, A River Runs Through It

It is possible. How many actual hours would you say you have put on the motor? How hard are you on it- ie do you jack it up to full speed from a stand-still, reverse it while it's still propelling forward, etc? The bearings do eventually wear out on the lesser brands of these motors. My MK C2 has burnt through 4 deep cycle size 27 batteries and is still going strong.

I have a lot of experience there, what would you like to know? In general I'd say fish deep, and be ready for boat traffic.

Couple pics at dawn on LG this past week.. It has been a hell of a summer and I caught some monster smallies this year, plus a few good size LMB, a surprise lake trout and a Northern, and of course many many rock bass and yellow perch.