rookie

I would find a shallow pond, that would eliminate deep water,I live in southeastern ma. and we just had some heavy rains and a lot of flooding, so the water around here is going to be high, cold and muddy, which makes for a tough bite, if I were to fish a deeper pond I would still stick to about 6' of water throw the jerk bait and maybe a minus1 and if that didn't work through a jig into laydowns.

My biggest mistake one day WAS putting the boat in the water!! I fish out of an old Coleman Crawdad, it is great for getting into the smaller ponds in Plymouth and down Cape Cod, but there are times when the wind can push it around. This story is one of those times .Easily my worse day on the water. (i copied and pasted this from another site that I posted it on.) Sorry it is so long. March 15 2008 I tried to fish today ,first off I went to Glen Charlie and the only ramp I know was blocked with two big sand piles ,so I headed down the street to Halfway pond ,it was raining and there was a little wind ,but I launched the boat anyways(first mistake, I should have gone home when I could'nt get on Glen Charlie) I knew it would be raining and I was dressed for it,as I motor away from the ramp I noticed my motor wasn't spinning as fast as usual so I switched batteries and problem solved (one battery down) ,I thought I would head towards the other side of the pond to get out of the wind however when i turn the corner there is another boat fishing that area, so I head across the pond to use the trees as a wind break, which worked well, so I start throwing jerk baits towards the shore hoping there was a shallow bite because the wind is picking up and to move out away from the shore I would have been blown all around, I come to a big tree and pick up my jig rod and make a cast and the top 8" of my rod breaks off, so I reel that in and again throw the Jerk bait(one rod down). Well now the wind is really blowing so i say screw this and start to head back to the ramp,well once I get into open water the wind starts really pushing me around,(why does it seem you are always heading into the wind when you are heading back to the ramp?)with the waves now crashing into the front of the boat and I being about as far away from the ramp as I could be, my second battery starts to slow down, I make the turn around the island and can see the ramp,now the waves start to crash over the front of the boat and the boat is slowing down(down two batteries) I pick up the paddle and start paddling along with the trolling motor and after a few minute my paddle breaks in half (one paddle down), so with that being the only paddle I brought I continue to paddle with it but I am not making much headway,I am starting to get a little nervous now, I know I am not going to make back to the ramp and I also notice that there is a lot of water in the boat, more than I think there should be, I know it is raining but I don't think it was raining hard enough to put that much water in the boat, I look around to see what I could do and I notice the pump house that has the little inlet to it, the one that has the rock walls, so i spin a 180 and start heading there, now the wind is at my back and I moving pretty good now I aim for the inlet and the wind pushes me right in, I hop out, tie the boat to the shore and make the walk back to my truck, I drive back to the boat, now if you know the pond you know were I am, I have to figure out how to get my boat up and over this rock wall(it is about three feet from the water to the top of the wall), well I jump in the boat and unload everything except one battery and the trolling motor onto the this little deck that is on the front of the pump house, it is now pouring freezing rain and wind is howling, I turn the boat around and start heading out into the lake again. I plan on pulling the boat up on land right at the mouth of the inlet,the wind pushes me sideways into the shore and I throw my anchor onto land to keep me from blowing back into the inlet, I undo the trolling motor and put that onshore and in doing so i breal the prop(down one prop) I get out of the boat and it immediately blows back into the inlet so I trypulling back with the anchor line but it keeps getting stuck on a big 4x4 that is sticking out of the water, well I finally pull the boat out of the inlet over the rock wall, load the truck and head home ,when i get home and start unloading the boat I realize that my life jacket is missing(down one life vest), the perfect ending to a perfect day. Final tally two batteries, one fishing rod, one trolling motor prop, one paddle , one life vest, and no fish ,I think that is everything. Easily the worst fishing trip I have ever been on sad.gif Sorry this post was so long.

Thanks guys, I will try the p-line cxx, one more question if I could, will this line also work for my swimbait set-up?, right now I use Berkley Big Game, but I have come to hate that line mainly because of the stretch, I have recently switched to braid, but I find braid is more prone to backlash on my swimbait set-up resulting in an expensive cast off.

I know there is thread about Iron Silk, I just have one question regarding the line, I didn't see the answer in the last thread. I know there is mixed feelings towards Iron Silk, but I actually really like the line, I was wondering if there was a suitable replacement?, something with the low stretch and abrasion resistance, I would have thought that flouro might be close, but its still not close enough.

I agree with most posts, I want to see a classic where they have to "fish" not just "catch". I liked the Pittsburg Classic, I think that tested the anglers skills.

I am not sure if this is the right forum for this. I just wanted to say thanks to Mike at Delaware Valley Tackle, I mentioned in my first post that I found the BFR website looking for bearing replacements, well Mike contacted me helped me find the right bearings and is shipping them out to me as we speak, and, at a more than reasonable price, I will definitely use them again in the future. I hope I haven't broken any rules by posting this, just wanted to give Mike some "props". Thanks again Mike.

I too am Quantum fan. I have an Energy 861, it is my go to reel. I am in the process of upgrading the bearings, not because of any particular problem, the reel just seems to be a little "slower" now than when it was new, which I guess is expected after more than four yrs. of use.

Ya the ice is killing me right now. I have organized my tackle more than once and also have cleaned and lubed my reels twice as well. Just waiting for the soft water.

I fish Quantum, Shimano, BPS and An old Browning crankin reel, but I find myself gravitating towards the Quantum, those are all baitcasters, for spinning reel i use strictly Quantum Catalyst and Kinetic. I am actually in the market for a new reel, which I am thinking will be a Quantum, the BPS was looking good, but the more I read the more I learned that no one will service them or has parts for them.

Welcome...NEF'er? Thanks for all the welcomes, everyone. I am a NEF'er, I go by the same screen name over there. Again thanks for the welcome.

Hi all, I am new to the site, well not really new, I signed up almost four years ago and , had my computer crash and lost all my favorites, and I just found this site again, while searching for bearing upgrades. I am from southeasten Massachusetts, I fish mainly small lakes and ponds from a Coleman Crawdad, targeting both Largemouth and Smallmouth bass. I consider myself a jig fisherman (not an expert by any means) I also have gotten into throwing the big baits, from the Depps Buzz jet to the 9" M.S Slammer,wit reasonable success.

Twice a week if Im lucky.