ww2farmer

Amen...........I would rather eat bass than crappies any day. And for that matter yellow perch and bluegills before either of them. Beer battered and deep fried. My batter is simple, one egg, two heaping table spoons of flour, and enough Coors light to make the batter light and watery (usually about a 1/3 of a bottle). Makes a nice light batter that is not thick or over powering. Turns a nice light golden brown after a few minutes in 400 degree oil. Serve with french fries..............and what else, the rest of the beer.

Bass will over winter in deeper areas that are less affected by massive swings in water quality. Carp will stay in an area long after the water quality forces other fish out and often this is the result. At least thats the explination I got from a biologist once many years ago when this happened on a local body of water.

Holy crap you guys are making this way more complicated than it needs to be. I watched the video J.Francho posted twice, and begain tying the knot. After about 10 practice attempts I got it to where I can tie it with out thought and right. The instructions are pretty clear. I swear there are people on here that after they were shown how to put there pants on would post "Hey how comes I gots both feet stuck in one pant leg?" :

Same here, I see no "ad to cart" or similer option. I don't even see color/size charts for lures either.

Picasso and Tru Tungsten both were brands under the "Fish Harder" umbrella. I think both are gone. Which double sucks, cause I liked the Picasso Pro Metal sinkers as a cheaper alernative to tungsten, and I am really low on these.

Try the 7' MH/Fast or the 7'6" MH/Mod fast Mojos. A MH St Croix, reguardless of the series (Mojo, Premier, Avid, LTB) is a very stout rod capable of any heavy cover fishing. A heavy powered St Croix is a pool stick......IMHO the worst choice for a bass rod in the whole St Croix line, at least here in the north east. Maybe in Cali., Texas, or Florida where you need the power to pull double digit bass from very very heavy cover on 65+ lb braided line, then I would buy one, but they really have no place in my NY bass arsenal.

Who's tungsten sinkers are you going to be switching too? I probably have enough in my stash for 1 more season, as well as enough of there smart pegs. But after thats gone I will be looking for replacements. I'll probably just go with bobber stoppers as my sinker peg.I don't like screw in weights, and I don't like the sinkers with the inserts, but some of the brands out there that are insert free, have what looks like to me, a giant hole for the line to pass through and a bobber stopper wouldn't be snug enough to keep the singer in place.......I don't know........ What are you guys using for a tungsten sinker/pegging system (other than TT) and find it to be doing the job well?

This is my first year using a fluoro. leader with braid. I have yet to fish it, but from my limited expieriance practicing pitching and casting with it, I (maybe not you) don't want my leader so long that the knot is on the reel when pitching or casting. I think 4'-5' of leader is plenty long enough.

I think Pike season is closed right now in NY to protect spawning fish.

I have gone straight from work, where my hands have been covered in oil, grease, diesel fuel, cow manure, and who knows what else, with nothign more than a wash with soap orange hand cleaner and hot water and caught fish just fine. I do rub megastrike on my unscented soft baits, but I don't add scent to anything already scented, or to hard baits.

I think people who can't do anything athleticly are saying fisherman are althetes so they can call themselves athletes. I can fish hard for 10+ hours a day in 90 degree heat for a week straight, and be tired at the end of each day. Does that mean I just acomplished some grueling feat of sport? No. It means I am tired at the end of a log day of fishing............who would have guessed. I have also finished higher in the standings in some tournaments than a couple of Elite pros who were in the same tournament. I don't think I am blocking Dwight Freeney successfully or taking down Chris Johnson with out a trip to the ER. Why??? Because they are professional athletes............and I am a fisherman.

Yes, happens every year in shallow bodies of water that freeze over. Alot of snow on the ice decreasing light penatration is the usual culprit. Unless it's a massive kill with thousands apon thousands of fish of every kind, it hurts nothing. It always seems to be carp, bullheads, and bait fish too, a few bass, but nothing to get worried about IMHO, mother nature just did some selective harvesting for you.

I never understood those pre-made "easy" c-rig things. You still have to tie two knots. And the line can't pass through the weight, which IMHO is a critical part of a c-rig, when you get into using bigger 3/4's and 1oz + sinkers. They are still made though, so some one likes them.

I wouldn't use any thing more than a H powered bass rod, and a good lp reel spooled with 50lb Power Pro and leader of your choice (I would use heavy fluorocarbon over wire, but that's just me). If you do hook into a fish of a life time with that gear you'll be well equiped to handle and land it, plus you'll have a combo to fish for bass in the heaviest nastiest cover you want to. Your not going to tangle with many if any, 20+ lb pike around here that need super heavy Muskie type tackle. I have caught multiple 10 and 12lb class fish on M and MH power bass tackle and it handles them just fine.

At least you have water to fish. Ice is unsafe at best down here, still locked up from shore to shore though. Just in time for winter to return next week with lows in the teens and highs below freezing. :'( I am thinking my first trip of the year will be to Conesus or Honyeoe as Silver will still be locked up for at least 10 days to 2 weeks after it warms up again. We are always the first to freeze, and last to melt.

In the winter (december- march) I fish tuesdays and thursdays. From april-november I fish 3 nights a week of my choice after work from 5 or 6 pm till darkish. Then I usually get one weekend day in, I usually am on the water at first light and stay till 1 or 2 in the afternoon, and then get the heck out of there before the weekend afternoon crowd gets too bad. Then there are the days when we get rained out at work, or we are slow, I usually fish those days and am home by dinner time. And when I take my late summer 2 weeks of vacation I usually fish every day for most of that. I have been getting 120+ days a year in on just my local lake, add another dozen or trips to other area lakes, and the ice fishing 2 days a week for 3 months and I fish alot. I am glad and lucky to have a wife who doesn't give me flak for it, and I take the kids as often as I can, my oldest is 6 and she goes out with me 15 or so times a year, probably more as she gets older.

If they are "athletes" then so am I ;D ;D ;D Is it really an athletic sport if you can do it while smoking a ciggerette or eating a hamburger? I never saw Jordon dunk with a Newport dangling from his lips. I might not be able to out fish them, but I am challenging Kenyon Hill, Mark Davis, and John Murry to a race, last guy to not stop and suck wind wins. ;D

I'll take all the Spro frogs off the hands of the people who don't know what there doing with them. Like senko_77 said, the problem is you, not the frog. And for everyone who switch's frogs and magicly starts hooking up, I bet you also started fishing them right. I have fished every brand of frog on the market, except for the new Koppers,and have caught fish on every one, there are reasons I choose the Spro as the frog I use now. IMHO the R2S is garbage. The only other frog I keep around is Snag proof's "Bobbys Perfect frog" but they fall apart easy, so I hardly use them any more, and when what I have is gone I'll be 100% Spro.

This non sense about it sounding like a hack saw through the guides is pure BS. I like Power Pro, I like Spider Wire. I don't care what other people like, there is probably some one out there that thinks kite string is the best line going.

Agreed........I have been practicing it over and over all winter, and can do it in my sleep now.

Who says you have to use black? I don't. I use green, darkens the line just fine, and looks almost like new.

I too am allergic to shrimp, penicillin, and bee stings. The bee stings very in severity. Things like paper wasp's just cause severe topical swelling, most of the time I get at least a golf ball sized lump, often times bigger, but they don't effect any thing else. Honey bees on the other hand...........I need a shot from an epi-pen ASAP! Last time I got stung by one was on the tip of my nose when I climbed onto the roof of the tractor cab to reach an apple on a tall branch, the dang apple had a bee on it and it got me just as I was about to take a bite. After climbing down, and walking over to the guy following me to pick me up in a truck to take me back to the farm to get my truck, the next thing I remember is waking up in the ER with my face looking like that guy from the movie "Mask". I hate to think what would have happened had that guy not been there, and until that I had no idea a honey bee sting would do that to me, it had never happened before............or since.

sell them to airborne_angler, he'll buy anything if the price is right.

Yes.........and it sucks. As most gulp does. But there are a few Gulp products that are great DS baits for smallmouth, the ones I like are............. :-X

Zoom trick worms get the call most of the time for me.