DanielG

Man!... you've moved to a fantastic area. My go to to area to go camping. You're surrounded by the White Mountain National forest. You're right on the Perriguwasset river. Never fished there but there's got to be some. I live in Southern Maine. Just south of you about 30 miles there is a series of lakes with one that is very large, Lake Winnipesaukee. My son in law has fished there with great success. I'm at Mousam lake in Acton maine. About 80 miles from you. You're always welcome there. But out of state license issues and of course it's a ride. Good luck with finding a good place.

I've recently upgraded rods. I'm not that experienced. I researched and found that whoever has a rod, that's the one that's good. So, I looked at all of this and decided on a Dobyn's Fury $120. Some consensus on it being a good rod and company for the $$. But, it looks like there are a lot of other good ones too. Hard to decide with all the info out there.

Ah.. this makes a lot of sense, thanks. When I get braid for my casting reel I'll get 50 instead of 30. I thought people used it this high because they were in a place that caught big fish. But, I think the fish would have to be pretty big right? Seems on youtube they're all using 50 lb. The advice I was looking for.

Thanks.... 'dig in'? What am I checking for?

I just have this observation and a question. I have always used mono and more recently fluorocarbon line. I have just put some braided Super pro slick 8 on my spinning outfit. 30 lb. First time using it. I am amazed at the distance and smoothness of my casts. It casts really far and the sound and ease that it leaves the pole is very noticeable. I'm thinking that because the curvy coils that the fluorocarbon has as it leaves the end of the reel the braided might be unspooling easier?? My Question: I am also new to bait casters. I have a new Curado with a glass Dobyns pole. I've been using it awhile now and am pretty comfortable with it. I have mono on it simply because 1. I know mono, and 2. because I understood that it was a good 'getting used to a casting reel' type of line as it was more forgiving with backlashes. Would I feel as good about changing to braided on my casting reel as I am feeling about it on my spinning reel? Thnx.

I agree (even though I'm not a pro) and I think that these guys being all over the country, lakes, ponds, streams, rivers can be very different. Some techniques and lures are more specific to some areas than others. i.e. I look at all those southern bass videos. We just don't have those sort of waterways here in Maine. The water's often deep, cold, clear. A lot of people seem to be fishing in shallow mud by comparison.

AAAAhhh! As a guy who's still trying to feel this fishing thing out I was interested in this thread. What I'm garnering from this is that 'when all else fails' any one of 50 different things work.

I was fishing in the rear of the boat and my friend was fishing in the front. He hooked what must have been a big one and it bolted under the front of the boat. He was working it as he didn't want to break the line or bend the hooks. At that second I also hooked a fish. We both had 50 lb braided line and I was reeling as hard as I could . We realized we both had a monster as the more we reeled the harder it was. I thought the fish was in the weeds so having a glass rod and good line I gave a monumental yank on the pole. At that point my friend (on the boat bow) dove headfirst into the water. Now, when I yanked and the fish let go of the weeds, my engine which had been on idle, opened wide as I fell backwards on the throttle pushing it completely forward. I was on my back with my shoulders on the wheel and my legs up over the seat back. I was stuck. Good thing we were in a wide and open portion of the lake as we were going about 40 mph in a few seconds. After the boat began to plane I saw that my buddy was gone. I panicked. I began scanning the surface looking for him. As my gaze approached the boat aft I saw that he was walking on water. Or rather sliding along fast on his feet. He was holding onto his Shimano pole with one hand with the other hand flailing around in a large ark as he tried to hold his balance. He was foot skiing. I was amazed! I reached for the throttle but decided to see how long he could maintain his balance. I mean, you don't get to instantly learn to foot ski every day. He saw that I wasn't slowing down so he took his flailing hand and began to reel himself in. He had to take a second to tighten the drag but after a fashion he was near the transom. I reached out with my long handled net, lobbed it over his head, and pulled him in. He was so angry. He'd lost the fish and blamed it on me. Today he's a feature attraction in Florida. He skis on his feet after hooking a boat with a cast from his pole as it speeds by. He's making the big bucks but I'm happy to still be here fishing. That's my story, and I'm stickin' with it.

My shoulders are great. It's my knees that are more of an issue. I'm glad about that for casting but My boat is 32 steps down and up from door to water. So, I can cast okay but getting to it is more of my issue. This getting older thing is for the birds.

A few times? Did you manage to reel it in or did you lose the rod? I can't imagine losing a rig to an reason like this. I have a spinning rig and now a casting rig. I don't really plan on having the half dozen or dozen setups like some people. I will be much more careful. Thinking of adding some sort of vertical standup to boat as laying it down isn't a viable option for me.

They're in about 14-20 ft of water and grow so they're about 3-4 ft from the surface. Pretty thick this time of year. And they're just in certain areas. That's interesting. Is this actually good indications of good fishing days or more like farmers almanac stuff? Any science behind it? You're probably right. I've been doing that some but at this point to no avail. Probably me though..

Well, they don't like anything I've got. It's August 22, 2019 right now. I've only gotten back to fishing the last two years. Maine, roughly May to October season, realistically, give or take. I've had a great summer on the lake I live on. Crappie, bass, an occasional trout. I fish nearly every other day from about 6 am to 9 am and sometimes at dusk. I mostly troll and sometimes cast in cover areas. Like I said a great summer. I've tried lots of new (to me) things, I moved from swim baits to a lot of crank baits with a lot of success. Then I tried wired spinner baits and chatter baits with some success. I moved to learn wacky and texas rigs. Fishing has been good to really good from May until about two weeks ago. All has stopped. My lake is a flooded river valley. About 5 miles long and 1/4-1/2 mile wide. Deep spots are 60-80 ft with rolling ups and downs in some areas. It's not like a sediment filled natural river. It's like the regular rolling land but filled with water. Some rocky areas with some large shallow areas 10-25 feet with thick weeds reaching up towards the surface but just below the surface as you troll over them. The water temperature has only dropped 5 degrees from about 80 to 75. Regular rain, no floods, no droughts. So, that's the lay of the land..er lake. The past few weeks the fish on the finder are pretty much still there but they won't look at anything I put before them. I've done light and dark, small and large swim and crank baits. The same for spinner and chatter baits. I spent a few days deciding to see if they're hiding in the weeded areas and tried jigging them. All this stuff worked great or to some extent all summer. So, can anyone shed any light as to what might be up that I, with only a couple of summers fishing under my belt can remedy? Is there a usual lull this time of year in Maine lakes? If so will it pick up again in the fall or is this it for the season? Is there anything I'm missing or that I could try? I know it's hard to diagnose via a forum post but any ideas would be appreciated. Thnx.

So, this morning... I had been using my new bait casting setup exclusively for awhile, a Curado DC and a Dobyns 735 glass. But, the past couple of weeks the bites have been nearly nill so I decide to also bring my spinning outfit and maybe do some finesse fishing with jigs. I trolled a trusted path with my casting rod to a weeded area (no bites) where I was going to do some wacky worms and maybe a texas rig. I propped my casting rig up against the console, loaded a wacky hook and worm on my spinning rig and did some spin casting and slow jiggy retrieves. On one cast I went waaay back and bombed the worm out there.... But, the hook grabbed the middle grommet of my casting rod and I saw it sail over my head like a well thrown javeline and land in the water in a fairly long cast considering the lure I had just thrown. After the initial shock I began repeating to myself... "stay hooked, stay hooked". Luckily it did and I reeled it in. I opened up the reel and it didn't seem wet inside. I'll keep a check on it for awhile to make sure it's alright. And I left it in the sun for awhile. So, that's my new lure story. Happened this morning. Afterwards I thought, "I was ready to dive for it if I had to", but then I thought, "I was also wearing an auto inflate vest"... That would have added to the absurdity of the situation. I'll bet this doesn't happen to many people. Why me?

I went out to take some more casts with the Curado DC and Dobyns Glass this evening. The wind was nil, so it was nice. I'm not sure what it is but do reels break in? I've only had a casting reel for a couple of weeks but I've put in hundreds of casts by this point. Part of it has to be that I'm getting better at it and learning to us just the right adjustments on the reel but it seems as if the reel is sort of loosening up for lack of a better term. Casts are longer and the spooling out seems smoother. Without the wind, I dare a setting of 1, the loosest break setting. Man, does it go a ways. But I don't do it too much because if I should release the lure prematurely and it smacks short on the water I will get a backlash. If I keep it on 2 though it doesn't seem to happen. I am, now, beginning to thumb a bit. I find that if I should mess up on my swing/release I can catch a nest. Boy, bait casting reels are fun. It might be awhile before I use my spinning set much.

This is very interesting. I've often considered (longed) to use snaps to facilitate quick bait changes. I don't have a plethora of rigged up poles like some people have. But, I thought it might affect the catch. I'm going to give it a try now.

I almost invariably use two depending on wind and overcast/sun conditions. One is a darker yellow perch color and the other is bluish with a lot of white. I have them in two sizes. The smaller ones will catch small and larger fish (mostly smaller). The larger ones will cause more larger fish to strike. Using my other plethora of colors is okay, but it seems to be the light and dark and to some but less extent size that determines the fish hitting . I'm really hooked (pun?) on trailered chatter baits right now though. I've ordered some trailer hooks though as I get a lot of strikes but limited actual hooks. Funny, same color conditions light/dark like the crank baits.

I think I sometimes cast off the dock just because I like to cast. Even on a quiet day after I've covered the area around the dock in a fan pattern a few times I just cast to see where the lure lands and watch the line spool out. At this point, the word 'mindless' is more appropriate! I do think it's therapeutic for me though. Calming maybe?

Yesterday, Saturday, it seems all the summer tourists were out. Summer is winding down, labor day next weekend. Skiers, Tons of jetskis, swimmers, etc. It was a little windy. Fishing on a day like that is an effort in futility. Ya, the lake is 4 1/2 miles long but there are a lot of camps on it. Hence.. a noisy busy lake. That's okay. It's what people enjoy and it's all good. But no point fishing. During the weekdays it mostly becomes a ghost lake. Thankful for that. Well, accept for that guy who keeps practicing skiing on his feet nearly every morning at 6 am. He and I are waving buddies. He always passes me while I'm out fishing. I went down to the dock to try out a new chatterbait/trailer combo. I started casting. After awhile I kept telling myself "this is the last one then I've got to go"....then, "this is the last one", over and over again. Well, an hour later I did pin the lure on the keeper and went up to the house. I had casted into a choppy, wavy lake with kids swimming and diving on the right of me and someone trying to learn how to get up on skis on the left of me. And me casting, I sort of felt foolish. There's no fish there. No fish in their right fishy minds would be there. Casting must have looked like a stupid activity in the current lake climate. Yes, mindless casting. I've been doing it since I was a kid. I'll bet some of you do it too... But why?

Your gonna love it. I have a 2015 xlt and it's been the best vehicle I've ever owned. I traded a silverado, nightmare vehicle. I think I bought it twice. My f150, 64,000 miles and nothing but maintenance. I'll probably get 70,000+ miles out of first tires and brakes too. That may seem normal for some but It's amazing compared to what I'm used to. Which engine did you get? That being said... I'm fixed on the lake. I don't haul the boat anyplace else. Just me and 'my' lake.

As a kid we used to catch bass, white perch, pickerel, and hornpout (small catfish). I've eaten them all. For a long time now though I prefer cold water fish. Ocean fish mostly. Here in Maine haddock (the king of eating fish to me), cod, and even mackerel, an oily fish but very good.

In the early morning I listen to the morning news on local public radio the later on a little soft rock maybe. Sometimes I just turn it off. I've got a stereo on the boat.

I'm left handed and cast with my left and reel with my right. You have to try it out to see if it feels right. If you're already doing this with your spinning outfit it will be also work for a bait caster. And if you don't have to switch hands to crank they that's a good thing. Not a lot of us can it seems like.

A few reasons for me....And it's not just 'bass' fishing. It's just fishing in general. 1. The morning view from my house as I cast off... 2. The calmness of the lake, especially if it's warm and before the other boaters wake up. 3. The possibility of a 'hit'. Doesn't matter what. Just a good fight and maybe, just maybe it's a big one. 4. The chance to try new tackle and try to figure out what they might like today. 5. And the ride. When I troll, I like the ride on the water.

I've got a auto inflate. I have a fishing platform boat. The reason is that after trying on a bunch even the slighter kayak vests none seemed comfortable. With the auto inflate I forget I have it on. I can even wear it under a rain parker (don't try it under a zip up coat, imagine it going off under that?) Mine is the type that inflates by water pressure of 6" or more. The wife doesn't worry too much when I swear that I'll wear it. And I do, all the time. I hope it works and I hope I never have to find out.

Old thread but I'll put in my 2 cents. I just got through a day giving my first chatter bait a whirl to make an honest assessment. I always do that with a new bait. I give it a fair chance. A bunch of strikes but none nailed down. I had the same issue with my spinnerbaits awhile back and put trailer hooks on them to get a much better hooking result. Granted, I'm using mono so setting isn't what it would be with a non-stretch line (but I like mono). So, trailers on my chatter bait will go on next. At least I found out that fish in my lake like the bait. BTW... not news to anyone else but new to me, but don't chatters (with added trailer) look and feel like they have a nice fish attractive action.