ww2farmer

Post them in this thread. Sounds like your going to be the early leader in the SM category. I was going to go to Conesus or Honeoye today, but the mega winds talked me out of it. Silver should be ice free by next weekend.

I use 50lb braid for most of my frog fishing. Sometimes 30lb if the cover is not super thick, and I have gone as low as 20, especially when throwing the smallish "baby" size frogs.

Sounds like a loose drag.

I liked the ones I tried first (grass pig, devil spear, slop craw) enough to add a few more to try this year. I added the pit boss, craw fatty, rocket craw, bottom hopper, and sick fish. The ones I tried all produced well, and at $2.99 a pack I am not out a lot if I don't like any of the new to me ones I am trying this year.

I carry 12 combos in my boat, some of them for technique specific purposes, and some of them do double or triple duty for multiple techniques. Is all that needed? No, but I enjoy it. I could get by with just a handful. Personally of all my combos, my favorite one to fish all day is my St Croix 7' M/F Legend Tournament casting rod, and Shimano Curado 51e reel. It's a pretty good "all purpose" set up, that can fish most everything I do, except punching heavy cover, or chucking large, deep diving cranks

5/0 Gamakatsu EWG superline hook. I usually fish soft jerkbaits in two or three different ways. #1 is the "traditional" twitch-twitch pause, and repeat. #2 I reel really fast for a few feet, this cause the bait to blow out of the water and flop around on top, then I kill it and let it sink for a second, and then burn it again. And I also just dead stick them like a senko, let it sink and soak, and after a while give it a sharp jerk and let it sink and soak again.

I have fished them since they came out. I like them a lot in shallow grass, what works best for me is T-rigging and pegging a small tungsten sinker to it's nose. I use 1/8th oz. most of the time with a 5/0 EWG superline hook. If I want to fish them a little deeper, and around a little sparser grass I go with the Gamakatsu 6/0 spring lock weighted swimbait hook in 1/4 oz. They have good action on moderate to fast retrieves, I usually don't fish them slow, I have other baits for that. I also fish them on a 7' MH/fast casting rod, with 30lb braid.

Clear water...........high 40's or warmer water temp.

Nothing but minor adjustments is different for me either. I usually get the cull tags out and within easy reach, rotate the rods I plan to use that day to the top of the locker or out on the deck, move the tackle I need to get to quick to an easy location, and have the net in a handy spot. The night before I make sure I have anything I am running low on restocked from my bulk storage, and retie every leader and/or bait so in the morning all I have to do is go.

I use it for everything I tie fluoro to. Except my braid to leader knot (alberto), or braid direct to a bait/hook (palomar). I used to use a palomar for tying dropshot rigs to fluoro, but since I started using the VMC spinshot hooks, it's a trilene knot for that too.

Yikes!!! So in other words, the homemade bullet proof vest I made out of an old life jacket stuffed with used power pro line is not going to work? Noel, that experiment we had planned for tomorrow...................it's off. Back to the drawing board.

BAN THEM!!! And then hang every one who has ever fished one in the town square..........................or not.

A few years ago when they first came out, you could have swore god made them himself, just by reading reviews from all the internet experts. And for about a year after all these instant "experts" were flailing about the lake with them, ready to go pro at any minute, and fishing was so easy for them I heard guys would just walk up and hand them their entry fee money rather than go through the pain and embarrassment of trying to compete against Carrot Stix ninjas. Today that bandwagon is pretty empty. But never fear, every year they seem to glom on to a new "wonder rod" and beat us senseless with post after post after post...........after post..of how great THAT rod is, and how everything you own sucks. All the while guys fishing plain, old, boring rods like St Croix's, G Loomis, Fenwick, Shimano, etc.....(you know, companies that are stealing your money by charging for things like.........gasp......a real warranty, and have a reputation built on years of making quality products) keep on fishing and catching fish on what are obviously junk rods.

So............maybe it's just me, but how is it a "high end" rod if it can't even stand up to being shipped, handled and displayed in the store?

Well I'll be...............That's also the new packaging they come in. I wonder when they started sealing them shut? Mine are from the older "clam" type packs, that have the paper folder with the hooks in the folder. If I had known they started sealing the eye up, I would have bought some more, I like the hooks just fine, except the non-welded eye, but it looks like they addressed that. Oh well, I got VMC's coming, so we'll see how I like those.

I just ordered a pair. I'll let you know when they get here, and I have had a chance to use them. FWIW, I always thought their "cheap" 19.99 glasses were great. I have never been one to spend much money on glasses because I am always losing them, breaking them, or what not. So $40 is a big leap for me LOL.

Not to many ponds around here with SM, and I don't do any river fishing, but in the lakes I fish, reaching pre-spawn SM is almost impossible. They just don't get close enough. They will stage in 10-20' FOW, and only move in shallow once they are actually spawning (for the most part). I have yet to see a massive amount of SM cruising the shallows here in the pre-spawn time to make me think any different, loners or small groups yes, but unlike LM, they just prefer to stay out deeper.

I am as big a fan of braid as anyone, but I know from exp. how easy, even 50+ lb. braid can get shredded by abrasive conditions. It's one of the main reasons I used to always have few rods rigged up with fluoro. And is now one of the main reasons, after going to braid exclusively as main line, that I use fluoro leaders.

What I do........usually, is work the outside edges first. If you have some cloud cover, or winds cranking the outside edge with a crankbait that will hit the bottom to pick up any active fish out there. If that's hauling water I go over the top, but still staying out side the grass, and rip a trap or squarebill through it. If they are showing no interest in a moving bait I'll pick up a jig, or a t-rigged creature bait and work that along the edge and as far into the grass as I can accurately pitch it. I won't move into the "meat" of the grass bed until I am convinced there are no fish along the edge, and even then I do it slow and easy so not to spook any fish in the grass.

The BPS in Auburn NY didn't have any the last time I was there (about 3 weeks ago) The only high end hard baits they have are usually Lucky Craft. They do have some Jackall plastics, but that's about it from them. They have a lot of other stuff priced like it's high end though, if that counts.

Sorry, but they are most certainly NOT. I have some from two different packs in my possession and neither of them are welded shut. One bought from TW, and one from Dicks. Both in the 5/0 size.

What to throw?.......throw on a pair of sweatpants Where to go? ............settle in on the couch and watch some fishing shows Muddy + Cold = the worst. I live to fight another day. If it's muddy from recent rains/wind/runoff wait a couple days till it clears up. Or if it's always muddy, wait for it to warm up a little. The windows are small and tight in muddy water.........and even more so in cold water. If your bound and determine to fish it, I would go shallow, and pound and pound and pound away at the thickest cover you can find. It's all about timing in cold muddy water, and unless your willing to wait them out for that brief flurry of activity, skunked is what you will get.

Yes. Use low stretch line, and it will be fine. The moderate fast rating on that rod is misleading, it's not whippy at all. It has a pretty stout blank, and if anything the MF tip on it is a blessing in disguise. It offers a little protection to the line when you lay the wood to them, but still has more than enough power to send the hook home.

I use braid for both. Tied direct to a buzzbait, and sometimes with, sometimes without a fluoro leader for spinnerbaits. I have in the past tied fluoro direct to buzzbaits and it was fine. Your usually not letting a buzzbait sit, or sink and have a pretty straight "line" to it. Not the ideal choice for me, but it works fine.

I live close to some of the lakes on the list, been to Erie several times. Champlain, Oneida, and the 1000 islands area........... haven't made it yet, but they are on the bucket list. Tough to justify the travel when I have several smaller, but productive lakes in my backyard, that suit my style of fishing and are friendlier for the small boat I run. I'll have to rely on wnybassman, and J. Francho to invite me to tag along some day LOL.