ww2farmer

I have yet to see one invasive species harm any fishing here in WNY. It has done just the opposite. Thats not to say that someday something won't, but the stuff we have now, like gobys, zebes, milfoil, alewives, etc... have done nothing but help. The zebra mussells eat and filter the same stuff here as they would in any lake, yet our forage base is stronger than ever. We heard the same things, how all this stuff would ruin the fishing.

Just another day on the lake. Last 2 months have been like this almost every time out.

We used to have about a dozen of them on the farm, the kept unwanted flying birds like starlings, pigons, etc....who's crap carried alot of bad stuff for the cows in it away. We got rid of the cows 8 years ago, pea-fowl shortly after. They are very loud, but interesting to watch. The hens are very plain, either just white or grey, the males co exist, except during mating season, then they fight all the time. We used to sell the chicks, unles we were running low on birds and needed some more, one year nobody seemed to want any, so going into the winter we had like 35 of them running around, but that must have been too crowded for them , some took off and never came back. They always slept on the roof of the barn, or in the rafters, unless the hens were guarding chicks. Let me tell you.... a barn cat vs a mother pea hen = bad news for the cat. We never fed them, they just ate whatever, but being a farm, there was plenty of "whatever" they wanted to eat around. Two of them stand out that I can remember, we had a one legged one that my wife rescued from the mouth of a fox when it was a chick, named peggy, she was as friendly as a cat, and liked to sit on my shoulder and eat from my hand. The other was a rouge male that developed a hatred for his own reflection, he would jump up on the hood of a car/truck/tractor, and fight with the reflection of himself in the windshield. He had to go..............he also tasted just like turkey.

A 6:1 Citica is fine.............I use one on my frog rod and amazingly catch fish with it. The KVD frog is also a decent frog, not as durable as a Spro, but they catch fish. Avoid the Mojo 7' H "Frog and Slop" rod, it's a heavy miserable broom stick....and I am a St Croix fan, If you want a St Croix Mojo, get the 7' MH/Fast " Spinnerbait" rod, 1000 times better frog rod than the H powered one.

While I don' think it matters much to the fish, because I have caught them on black in gin clear water, and on green pumpkin in very stained water, this is how I do it, for no other reason than confidence. Clear to lightly stained water = green pumpkin on clear days, watermelon red on cloudy/low light days. Dark or stained water, I use junebug on clear days, black/blue in low light. I don't vary much from those colors, except for things like flukes, or bed fishing where I will toss a white or bubble gum colored baits. Most of the time color matters not, but I have found that subtle tweaks, like this or that color of metal flake will get you an extra bite or two on a tough day, but thats so lake/fish mood specific.

I have seen many many bass with the "finny" part of there tail worn in odd shapes. Bigger older ones almost rarely have a unscathed "full" tail. Years of spawning and such I assume have worn it out.

Thats dissapointing..........I was thinking of using it on my ice fishing rods this winter, I guess I will stick with Micro Ice.

I like jigs in cold water, and/or around hard cover. Warm water and grass = plastics. For some reason I have never had a lights out type of day on jigs in the weeds in summer, some guys do, but I don't. I have on plastics tho, so I just stick with what works for me, and don't try to put a square peg in a round hole.

Reaction Innovations. I like to spend my money on baits that work, and they work. Much like GYCB with the senko, the R.I. beaver was the original, and IMHO the originals are always the best.

Just about anything is better than Yo-zuri IMO, I hated that stuff, but then again I hate anything BUT braid as main line. I do use fluoro leaders, and have been fond of Seaguars Abraz-x lately.

Bitsy Flips have a heavy wire hook and stiffer weed guard. They come in 1/4, 3/8, and 1/2 oz sizes, and are small heavy cover jig. Bitsy bugs have lighter wire hooks, softer weed guards with less bristles, and come in 1/16, 1/8, 3/16, and 1/4 oz sizes. They are more of a lighter cover/tackle jig. I like the bitsy flips, pretty good hook, cheap, and when you fish them where I put them you will lose jigs, so at less than $2 a pop it's not a big deal. Not a fan of the regular bitsy bugs, hook is cheap and rusts easy, there are much better light wire hook finesse jigs out there.

You have a good "all purpose" spinning combo that will let you fish a wide range of things, an ideal (IMHO) casting complamentary rod to it would be a 7' MH/Fast. Use your spinning rod for weightless softplastics, drop shotting, small jigs, small cranks etc... and the casting outfit can handle the rest.

Realistic is over blown. Make it look like an easy vunarable meal, or make them react to something wizzing by there faces, and thats that.

I may or may not know anything about that lake, give me your debit card pin number and I'll give you all the info I have..............Nice first....... any only post BTW.

A used 50E (or 51E if you want a LH) is a reel you will never regret buying. I have two 51E's mounted on a pair of St Croix Legend tournaments and they are a joy to fish with. I find myself using those two combos for most everything, and will cut off and retie lures to those rods before I reach for my other combos, which are not junk either, Avids, Mojos with other Curado's and Citca's, etc....thats just how much I like those reels.

NEW: Rod: St Croix Avid 7' MH/Fast $180 Reel: Shimano Citica 200G6 (201G6 if you want LH) $130 If you don't have to have it "right now" great condition used stuff pops up here, ebay, or other fishing forums often, then you could save some $$ on the reel with a lightly used D, or E series Citica or Curado, and bump the rod up to a Legend Tournament.

Cranks: Strike King Plastics: GYCB or Zoom Jigs: Strike King Frogs: Spro Hooks: Gamakatsu Line:Seaguar, Power Pro Rods: St Croix Reels: Shimano

I'll recomend the Berkley Lightning Rod Shock, I have three of them and am not ashamed to have them laying on the deck of my boat right next to my St Croix Legend Tournaments, and Avids.

I carry ten in the boat, on a good day, I will use two or three rods all day, on an average day I will have 5-7 out, on a tough day all of them will be out. I tend to be a "junk" fisherman even when fishing is good, I just can't sit in one spot and do one thing all day long, but I can do one thing all over the lake, or I like to switch up in one spot aftre a while and show them a few different things.

I have had LM bass, rock bass,crappie, bluegill, and yellow perch out of my local waters. The bass taste just fine, in fact when cut into "nugget" sized chunks, mixed with the panfish, and then battered and deep fried, the only fish out of that bunch I could tell what it was where crappie.............and I didn't like them as much as the bass.

Rage Tail grubs have been good for me.

Also the term "frog" is just that. To us it looks like a frog, to a bass it looks like vulnurable prey. Any where bass live and are willing to come up and hit top water baits they can be caught on a "frog".

It's not slow here, been a very good summer, even in the heat. Other than a slow April, this whole season has been good, much better than last year.

Keep it down about that thing !!!! LOL.

Exactly! I don't get the whole " I want a bait that lasts for x-number of fish" mentality. I want baits that catch fish, I don't care if they are $3.99 a pack Zoom trick worms, or $7.99/pack Senkos. If they only last one fish.......so be it. I got more, and they make more every day too. Yeah I get a little miffed when a pike bites off, $15 hard bait or a $7 tungsten sinker, but oh well, I was smiling ear to ear when I caught a 4.5 lb bass on it three casts ago.....money well spent.