archman

Dwight do you have much experience on the Niagara? It’s pretty much jerkbait heaven for me. The only thing that stops me is the floating moss and weeds in the summer. Here are some pics from my recent trips.

I fish the Niagara river but just started fishing it hard in the fall. I am 3 hours away. It’s really not your normal river. In the lower I am fishing 4-14 feet. In the upper it’s 5-8 or so.

I hit a major river that last two days and landed over 60 smallies. The water was 53-54. A local told me it gets tough when the water hits 52. That seems kind of high to me as I have gotten them between 40-45. In this river in the spring I have hammered them when the water was 46-48. So wouldn’t that tell you the bite is still good when it’s that cold in the fall? I am usually fishing for steelhead this time of year but that has been slow so I am not that familiar with late fall smallies.

The owner isn’t too big. I catch a ton of fish with them.

The owner ultra finesse ball head is a great option too.

Just bringing this back to the top. I am from Ohio and come up to the upper or lower maybe once a month from May until November. Been hammering the smallies. I would love to have a group who can give current river conditions. Nothing is worse than driving 3 hours to find moss or floating grass all over the River.

My sister used to live out in Salem. I wish she still lived out there. What happens to the smallies in the fall? I would think they would put the feedbag on for winter.

Sounds like a great day!

Nice job bluebasser. Just curious at what depths did you get them at?

Sorry I forgot to add these lures were brand new and dropping fish left and right. So I don’t see how replacing hooks with the same hooks could have helped. Is it possible the longer bill could have caused this?

So do Rogues for $6!

Fished a major river and did very well the past two days. I primarily got them on jerkbaits, probably close to 100 in a day and a half. 1. Do you feel jerkbaits work better in large rivers with current vs lakes in the summer, or even all year round? I know you can use jerkbaits in the summer, but I just seem to have better luck in this river year round. Maybe it's because it's shallower than a great lake and the fish are always in the jerkbait zone? I can't say I tried it that much since jerks were working so well, but I only got a few on finesse tactics like Ned and dropshot. 2. The surface temps were 72 degrees. I was there a month ago and many were on beds then. Do you think this was a post-spawn bite? I've always done best with jerks in pre-spawn. Also got a bonus Muskie, first one ever!

So you think the replacement hooks of the same kind are better than the stock hooks? I only dropped one fish on the mega bass with the replacement hooks today that I use from the Yozuri lure. The other mega bass kept dropping fish. My only issue is the hooks that I put on made it sink slowly. Any idea of hooks that are good that won’t cause it to sink slowly?

I can’t believe we pay $25 for garbage.

Is Megabass putting new hooks on? I never had issues with their hooks. I had two brand new 110s plus 2 today. I probably landed 50 bass. I probably lost 25 on the plus 2. I also tried a rogue and an osp rudra. I did not drop a single fish on those. I replaced the megabass stock hooks tonight with some ones that were on a yozuri crystal minnow. We will see tomorrow how that works out.

Those things are crazy. It’s like they are alive.

Orlando bass pro has a ton of them. Got 2 this morning.

Anyone kayak fish for bass the Detroit River? Looking for some insight. Please PM me if needed.

Online it says the ci4 is sold out when you try to check out.

Hobie compass is around that price. I have an outback and love it.

I get what you are saying. It happens on all of my rods and my buddy’s brand new Legend Elite’s. I don’t think many people fish this way (at least I don’t see them). I have had days where I don’t catch many and it still frays. I am still jerking the whole day. I am hoping with more abrasion resistant line I won’t have to change out that part of the line after every outing. Maybe every other outing.

After doing some research I think I just need a more abrasion resistant line than yozuri hybrid. I don’t think it will permanently fix the problem but it will alleviate it. From my research it seems as if p-line cxx and Big game are the most abrasion resistant. Any thoughts on that?

The line is breaking right where it’s constantly rubbing against the rod tip when I am jerking it.

I have a Hobie outback pedal drive and absolutely slay the smallies trolling jerkbaits and jerking as I go. I made 3 extended trips in the past 2 weeks and probably got over 200 fish. Most others were not having luck. Regardless, while I am catching fish I have discovered one downside. I typically cast back the same distance each time so I am constantly jerking on the same part of the line. The second day of each trip within 2 minutes of jerking my line snapped and there goes a megabass. Do you have any suggestions? I switched from 8lb to 10 lb yozuri hybrid. I don’t really want to go higher than 10. Maybe a rod that is known for having a really smooth tip? Figured I would come to the experts here. Here are some pictures from the trips.

I fish Lake Erie, the Niagara River and Lake Ontario probably 40 times a year out of my Hobie kayak. I typically have better control than boats in those waters on flat days. The one poster though is right as you may not be into a kayak if you are used to a boat. For another $500 over your $700 budget you can get a pedal drive these days.