Newbie Needs Mentor for China Lake, Maine

[Eddystone]

I'm a 64 year old guy who has been away from fishing for many years, but now I'm getting back in, for real...

 

Despite all of the reading I've been doing on the web, I need to ask some basic questions (as basic as hook sizes) of a mentor. My basic issue is that all of my prior fishing has been in small streams where the big fish were rather small stocked trout. The places I intend to fish this year have fish that would have seemed like monsters where I fished as a youth!

 

I just bought a Daiwa Revro 2500h reel and Ugly Stick Pro spinning rod 6'6" medium. I have some Berkley Vanish 10# fluorocarbon line that I'm on the fence about loading.

 

I'm looking forward to fishing at a cottage I just reserved on China Lake in Maine at the end of July. The date was determined by a family reunion being held up there. I live in southeastern Pennsylvania near Philadelphia and will probably be fishing around there and possibly in southern NJ prior to the trip to Maine.

 

Any volunteers?   ;-)

[Angry John]

Basic knowledge on fishing i will help, area information i got nothing.  Step one get a different line.

[Eddystone]

1 hour ago, Angry John said:

Basic knowledge on fishing i will help, area information i got nothing.  Step one get a different line.

Thanks, John. I PM'd you.

[Aldo]

I live and fish in Maine, but haven't been on China Lake.  Generally speaking, by the end of July, waters have warmed to the point where the fish are mostly hanging out in deeper water.  Being a fly flinger, I'm 100% focused on river fishing by July 1 for that reason.  However, stillwater fish can be caught in shallow water / near shore at night and before dawn; focus on areas where there is some structure near deep water and especially reefs and points that drop off quickly.

 

If you want to talk river smallmouths, which I find more active and easier to access than lake fish throughout the warmer summer months, let me know.