Aaron Faulls

Aloha, gang: This is a long shot, but if there’s any anglers that are familiar with Opossum Lake in Cumberland County on here that have solid knowledge of the lake (particularly anyone who fishes it by boat), I’d love to hear from you. After 30 years in Massachusetts, I moved back to the area a few years ago and if I’m not out in tour, I’m at Opossum Lake at least 3-4 times a week from March til it freezes over. I’m aware it’s still a bit of an immature lake since its drain/filling but I do know as of a year or two ago the F&G now consider it a Trophy Bass/Muskie lake. My question is this: Where the hell do those fish go in winter? For the life of me (other than one very big and very unintentionally-caught Muskie in Dec ‘20) I cannot locate them. I’m fishing from shore and 9 months of the year my half-dozen spots will usually produce something. Opossum isn’t particularly deep but with that said, I’m beginning to wonder if the bass move into the middle (deepest) section of the lake which is way outta my casting distance from shore. I’m getting the seasonal movement patterns of Opossum down pretty acutely after a few years after fishing it so thoroughly but winter bass activity is a code I’ve yet to crack there. any help would be greatly appreciated - even (or especially if) I find out I’m wasting my time until about March …

I was so sure that the Gilly was going to absolutely crush it for me last year that I stocked up on all 3 sizes and all patterns before the late-winter/early spring thaw. I threw every possible setup, rigging and modification during all 4 seasons in 4 states across 2 separate regions. I think in all of 2022 I hooked one, *maybe* 2 largemouth on the smallest Bluegill HD pattern, and they were nose-rigged. A year later, in January of 2023, I have 6 or 8 of them left in various sizes. I’m not going to toss them out but I definitely won’t be buying more any time soon.

I picked up a bunch of these in all three sizes, mostly in the Bluegill and Pumpkinseed pattern. My lakes are just now thawing enough to get out and cast, so I took a few out to test them out. Used a homemade nail weight buried in the snout and a weightless EWG. They look incredible in the water - action is a dead ringer for the real thing, regardless of retrieval method. That being said, I haven't hooked anything with it yet and even though they weren't available until late last year, it's really odd to me that there's so little online about the this bait's real-world effectiveness. The only person I've seen catch bass on the Gilly is, conveniently, Ike. Looking forward to seeing how everyone here fares with them this year.

Hi, all: New to the board, looking forward to participating further. Curious if any of you have any advice on targeting bass in lakes, reservoirs, etc. that are in the immature phase. There's a spot near my my house in PA that I've caught some decent dingers in but is a really tough lake to fish overall. Recently I learned that it was drained for civil engineering reasons about 10 years ago and refilled within the last 6 or 7. All species besides trout are still under catch-and-release rules until further notice. I've read the DER reports from the last couple years and know there's some decent bass in there, but locating them has been unusually tough. Does anyone approach immature bodies of water notably different than you do one with a fully-developed/healthy ecosystem?