ww2farmer

Or why not just come up to Buffalo, IMHO the fishing is more predictable than Dunkirk, there are WAY more spots, and you also have the option of going in the river or staying in the small boat harbor if the weather is bad.

St Croix Legend Tournament 7' med. power/fast action "teaser" rod w/ a TD Fuego spooled up with Trilene 100% 12lb fluorocarbon, in moderate cover like banging them against a seawall or dock post's, through moderate grass etc.... If I need to really crash them through thick laydowns, or over top over heavy weeds, I bump up to my St Avid 7' MH/fast, with a TD Tierra and 15lb Trilene fluoro. I have never been a big fan of "cranking" rods when squarebills and cover mix.

I use the crawbugs and baby crawbugs as jig trailers on finesse jigs.......I have probably caught more bass on crawbug tipped jigs over tha last 5 years than any other lure...........including senkos. BTW the Lake Fork Craw is almost identical to a crawbug but bigger, if you need that

Unpainted tungsten sinkers are a little shiney IMO, at least when new, and the don't "dull" as much over time like lead does. I go with black just to combat this. It's probably more a "me" thing than a fish thing. I also have greens,reds and browns, but have seen no differance when using black, so black is all I buy now.

I have been out a couple times now with my Kistler Mag. Ts's and have been pleasently surprised with them. Much better than the Fenwick HMX's I replaced, and better than the Mojo's I have. I would say they are just a touch below my Avid's, but not much, and for the $$ are a nice rod.

Suspending jerkbaits, lipless crankbaits, tight wiggling/flat bodied crankbaits, drop shot rigs w/ finesse type plastics like a robo worm, or a gulp minnow, and or a jig. Thats what I usually have tied on in 40 degree water. I know other guys that like big spinnerbaits for slow rolling, jigging spoons, silver buddy, and they do well with those too.

K.I.S.S. white, black, and clear.

I had (key word is HAD) the 7'6" Legend Tournament rod even though it was rated as a MH it fished like a H or more powerfull rod. I rid myself of that rod for one reason, balance was terrible, in fact the worse of any rod I have ever owned, even with bigger reels on it like Citica 201D's and Quantum Accurist Pt's, both 9.5- 10 oz. reels, it took a lot of weight to balance it and I just was never comfortable with it.

I had a few R2S frogs............they sunk worse than any other I have ever had.

Smallmouth, big or small , seem to explode on any and every topwater bait I have caught them on. Largemouth.........it seems most of the time (not always) that the big explosive bites are smaller fish. The subtle slurp and bait disappearing usually is a bigger one. Big or small they do seem to blast hollow body frogs pretty violently.

green pumpkin

1/0 EWG Gamakatsu.

Husky Jerks in cold water, with a long pause. X-raps in warmer water when I am really ripping the bait.

Never heard of them....are they new or something? Has anyone won anything on them? :

IMHO waste of time and money. I can't think of one single advantage to them, you still have to tie 3 knots, and the sinker can't slide up the line which is a key aspect of a real c-rig.

Thanks all for the warm welcome. ww2farmer - never fished Silver Lake (but I love the Drive-In!!)...are there any HP restrictions there? Nope, it gets crazy there on a summer weekend, but the fish don't mind. Silver is actually my home lake and I can be found there 2-3 nights a week after work, and at least 1 day on the weekend from pre dawn till 2 or so.

For dragging on the bottom I use the SK Goby with a tube head, for drop shotting I use the Zoom Fluke tail goby. When I am drop shotting worms or other small baits I usually use a Gamakatsu #1 drop shot hook, buit since these goby's have bigger heads I bump up to a 1/0 DS hook, if I am in weeds I use a 2/0 EWG work hook on the ds, and rig the bait weedless.

Any time smallmouth are my target with a SB, or in a darker stained water with little to no sunlight. I also like a "semi" painted blade in extreamly clear water. I paint just one side of the blade to reduce the flash, seems to work for me pretty well.

I tried those goby sleds last year, for some reason they hang up way more than a regular tube head, and the cost too much to be losing 1/2 a dozen or more a day on Erie. A regular tube head works just fine, or on a drop shot rig.

I also use a 6'6" rod for jerk-baits, I also recommend a 6'6" Medium power,Fast action St Croix. I personally use a Legend Tournament, but I also have that same taper in the Mojo series and it's a good jerk-bait rod too, and much less $$.

Welcome. What part of the state?

Welcome neighbor, there are a few of us WNYer's here. I am a Conesus/ Honeoye/Silver Lake regular.

Green Pumpkin

New York has more good smallmouth water than I can name. Out here in my neck of the woods (WNY) you obviously have Erie and the upper+lower Niagra rivers, Chautauqua Lake, and the western Finger lakes. The finger lakes are tough number wise, alot of here today gone tommorrow , but quality wise they fish are up there. Usually takes 18-20lbs of either (LM or SM) to win in the better lakes, and thats when the bite is tough, more like 20-24lbs when it's on.

I lost 1/2 of a 2 piece rod many years ago, fish on, rod came apart, line broke, other half flew into water never to be seen again. 2 combos have been dropped in but recovered. Cell phones, at least 3, sunglasses............too many to count, and once I even kicked my plano 3700 box full of terminal tackle over the side.