mackkie

Ive been hammering em on a jig and paca chunk trailer. Also, got a couple throwing a BBZ-1 6" perch swimbait as well

Going to head out this weekend to work on my jig fishing and i have a bunch of options for fishing different depths. At this point early on in the season, what is the ideal depth you would fish right now? I just got one today in about 6' of water on a jerkbait, but if you were given the option to fish areas from 4 to 30' of water - where would you choose?

I hit up the Sudbury Res today and all I have to say is wow, that was a lot of rain! Most of my usualy spots were under water and i was having some trouble casting because of the trees/brush around. Anyway, me and my buddy went for a little over an hour and managed 1 fish each (each about 1-1.5 lbs). I got mine on a xrap jerkbait and my buddy got his slow rolling a spinnerbait. I will probably head back this weekend after some of this nice weather, but it was a good sign that we got a couple shortly after all of this rain.

Thanks for the info How well does the GPS show detail? Also, I have heard that the small screen display might be an issue when using the fish finder feature, but i assume you can go "full screen" on this when you are done using the GPS feature?

Are you thinking northern new england or something? Like Maine, NH, VT? A little more specifics and people may be able to a little better

So im going to be itching to get out to do some fishing this weekend with all this wonderful weather (just like everyone else and their mother)...my question/concern is: With all this rain, is it going to hurt the fishing at all? Does this change your strategy or how you approach things? What do you plan on throwing?

Ive been doing a lot of searching for a new fish finder unit for my boat. I want to spend around 200 max and I came across the eagle cuda 350. I think its a huge bonus that it comes with GPS for navigation and marking locations. It also seems like it picks up the structure well. BPS and Cabelas reviews have gave it great ratings (4 out of 5 and 5 out of 5 stars). Has anyone used one of these personally? How are they? Should i spend my $200 on a different unit or is this a good one? Thanks

Yes, and yes!! I'm heading to BPS in a few weeks for the first time and looking forward to it. Andy, if you are thinking about making a "bigger" purchase at BPS, be sure to check out the website before you go. I just went to BPS this morning to buy a BPS extreme rod. Checked out the rod online Saturday night and it listed it on sale at $69. I got there - no indication of a sale and I actually had to ask the guy at the counter to match the price. Also, I was in the market for a fish finder - same thing $50 off online, but nothing marked sale at the store...I am sure this has been posted a bunch of times on these forums, but just wanted to let you (everyone else) know in case you didnt

All too true I wasnt sure if BPS or Cabelas have a annual sale that comes around every year (like Memorial day weekend or something)...if you come across a good deal, but sure to PM me!

Hmm, thats odd - BPS is showing 5 reviews for the 300c and each of them gave a 5 star review. Anyway - any advice on "best" times to buy?

I was thinking of getting the Garmin fishfinder 300c from BPS tomorrow, but then i started thinkin back to the crazy sale they had on the lowrance x135 fishfinder ($200 vs. $400 or so retail). My question is should i be waiting for a special sale from BPS, cabelas, etc. that is coming up, or is there a better time to buy during this spring season? Id love to be able to get a deal like they had on the lowrance x135...

Me and my brother's go to line is "he hammered it" when talking about getting a fish on a spinnerbait, etc...I dont think its a New England thing, actually, I dont really know where that came from, but we like using the expression ;D

1. Learn how to fish a jig - the best thing I did last year was to really learn how to fish soft plastics, now a jig is the next "must" in my opinion. 2. Get a 5+ lber (my PB is right around 4 right now). 3. Gain some more confidence in swimbaits. I started to catch a couple at the end of last year, just need to keep that momentum going to have the confidence to pick up the swimbait rod under the right conditions. 4. Get out on my boat more. My brother and I go away on weekend trips about 3-4 times a year to big bodies of water up in Maine, but I should start fishing more locally on the weekends as well (but I do quite a bit of shore fishing during the week days instead). I hope to go 4 for 4, we will see what happens

Doesnt really answer the question so much - why would someone spend $100-200 on a cranking rod - what benefits would you really expect to get out of something that gets quick, reaction strikes?

I was thinking during work today: I can see the value in spending some good $ on a rod that would be used for jigs/soft plastics, etc. But if you are fishing crank baits, spinnerbaits, etc., then why spend money on a pricey rod? Its not like you need to "feel" the bite or anything - they just come up and hammer it. With that said, I am looking to buy 2 rods, 1 MH for jigs and 1 for cranking/spinnerbaits, etc. If I had around $120 to spend on some rods, should i spend approx. $40 for a cranking rod and $80 for a jig rod?

I dont know about you guys, but i have not had"better" success with using jj's. i have noticed no difference...i used it 3-4 separate occassions in the middle of the summer last year with no luck at all. Maybe it was just bad conditions, because some people on these forums swear by this stuff.

Randall, excellent post...thank you for the info!!!

Oh, ok I was under the impression the originial bluegill was to be fished with more of a jigging motion over the beds. I guess i will let it sink as low as possible and slow roll it.

Hey guys/girls, Ive read many times that the "original" mattlures bulegill (the soft version) works excellent early in the season around beds. I have a mattlures hardgill slow sinking. I dont think it will be heavy enough to drop in right on top of beds, but can this also be fished effectively early in the season? if so, what are your recommendations? I generally just slow roll it and switch up my retrieve. Thanks

Just did a swap with someone on the resource here and i have to ship a 6'6" combo...i dont have any boxes here that would fit well. Any recommendation for the best enclosure to ship this thing in? I just want it to get there safely (and not cost me an arm and a leg, which i think is going to happen!)

I'm looking for a good spot to head for ice fishing this Jan in Maine, either Sebago or Belgrade regions. Any suggestions would be great. I was looking for a place like Yukon Camps on Cobse, but a place open all winter.

I just got a slow sinker - i threw it a lot saturday morning...didnt catch anything, but no doubt i had 3 potential PB's following my hard bluegill for about 10ft before they lost interest. I was rolling it nice and slow with some pauses in between...not sure why they didnt hit it. That def. got my heart pounding...its good to know that it really attracts the big girl's interest...cant wait to catch one!

As far as a soft bodied swim bait goes, i agree with RW, you cant go wrong with the mattlures baby bass. Find your spot, cast, and reel it just slow enough to make the paddle move back and fourth. That should get you some strikes. If not, try to mix up your retrieve... Also, like everyone else said, if you are fishing a tourney, you might want to think of a different time to experiment with it

Sorry if this seems like a highjack of the post but i hope it helps everyone - What does everyone else thing about weightless vs. weighted? ive only used it weightless and havent caught anything on it (but i havent put in enough time with it). I fish soft plastics reguarly, but i just dont seem to have confidence in it.

Im going on a fishing trip this weekend up to beautiful Maine. We are going to a place that is a great smallie fishery. I loaded up on tubes and bucktail jigs. I have some paca craws that i packed up with me. I was wondering, when i am fishing the bucktail jigs, is it best to use it as-is, or should i throw a trailer on there?