Davis

When you race your wife home on your lunch break so that you can intercept "packages" out of the mailbox so the wife doesn't know that you have multiple orders coming in that week. Your it.........

Yep in a 3/8 size double willow has been my biggest spinnerbait producer.

I hear ya. It's pretty much my brook trout/panfish combo but who knows what will decide to clamp on. So my drag is set pretty darn loose.

Same.

Wohhh! I didn't know that some people thought of feeding a loop through the hook's eye to start the Palomar. Try that with a size 2 drop shot hook. ;D Anyway, Davis, did you mention what line you were using. It has been my experience that when using the Improved Clinch knot, it can slip with braid. I use the palomar and IC knot probably 99% of the time. I have never lost a fish due to knot failure. I am sure a little practice with the IC knot will solve that. I use the IC over the palomar when tying things like minnow baits and crankbaits. Making a loop with the palomar to accomodate (and waste) line isn't practical for me in those cases so I use the IC knot or the Trilene knot if I feel like it. Good advice was given about when the fish pull the drag. Barring them heading for heavy cover, there should not be a need to horse a fish taking drag. Sorry about the loss but there is always next time. Actually lol I'm able to get a loop through a #8 octopus hook. Pretty good at it lol but threading one line at a time in makes so much more sense. Thanks RW lol. I have been using nothign but Fluoro and Mono. I don't use braid.

I have had zero success so far at night. The bite has been hot for me about two-three hours before dark. When the sun starts to set, you know that last half hour....the bite has then shut down for me.

I have never seen smallies so brown either. It was weird. I was thinking about transferring them over to the other side but decided against it. No telling what that could do. But man were they busting up the bream in that small stream.

I was up fishing my favorite small lake with a man-made earth dam on one end. Flows out into a very very small stream. I'm talking two foot deep max and only a couple of inches at most points. Either I couldn't locate the bass (biggest possiblity) or they were not biting. So I walked down off the earth dam to the other side where it empties out into this small stream. Grabbed my ultralight setup to catch some big pumpkinseeds and bluegills. When I walked down to the concrete slab that carries the water through.....there was some big swirls everywhere in only six inches of water. So I tossed my little berkley trout worm in there and bam something started taking drag lol. I was like......that is one big pumpkin seed. Come to find out......it was a 8 inch smallie. SHOCKED I was. There are no smallies according to the DEC in this small pond/lake. NONE. They were very very brown probably from being in such a shallow type of water. Really don't know where they came from. Long ways to transfer them from another body of water that holds them. But I stayed there for another 15 minutes and pulled another three of them out of there. All 8 inches. Made my night even though they were small. Fighting them in less than a foot of water and on 4lb test line with an UL rod was pretty sweet. Those fish were the last thing on my mind that I thought I would catch down there. Have no clue where they came from.

OMG I just got the mental on how to do it ha ha ha ha. Yeah I think I will go your route.............Why I never thought of that before is unreal to me. Yes I am an idiot. ;D Wow.......

I'll try it out. I can usually get the loop in the first time I try. I'm one of those people that have to have something in front of me to get the visual. Kind of like a keyboard. I can type fast as all heck but you ask me where one of the letters is and I can't tell ya. Ask me to tell you how to tie a palomar and I can't do it. Have to have it in front of me.

I use a ton of extra line. Been brought up tying my knots with the loop through the eye though RW. Never failed me so why change my style?

They do on Erie but I don't hear many people doing it on the smaller lakes and ponds. I know I haven't tried it as of yet but I did get the "wiggle rig" and some drop shot weights from BPS. Going to try it on the smallies in the spring.

Thankfully my wife was gone on her day off today. I was able to sneak home on lunch break and intercept my * order. Also had time to put it away into my stash. There is no evidence left.

See other threads around here calling out fellow fishermen in there areas. So how many fellow WNYers do we have around here. What places do you guys like to fish? These are my main places: New Albion Lake Cattaraugus Creek Flavia some local ponds

I used to be a big offset hook guy. But I have noticed when going for bigger bass that the EWG is a must. Especially with thicker baits. The bait can slide down more and easier IMO which results in more room for the a good hookset. So I have been using 2/0 EWG Gammys for my small flukes and 4/0 Owner Wide Gap Plus for Ikas and Senkos. Been noticing a lot more fish on the end of my line because of it. IMO my hooksets have been better since switching. For my thinner worms however I will still use my offset hooks in a 3/0 size.

The main place that I fish is either turning or turned already. I see no signs of life up on top. Bluegill, etc, are no where to be seen but I do feel them nibbling down below around 14-16 foot. Same with my dads pond. Everything is being caught deeper right now. Not sure if that means the place is turning or not. New to this myself. I'm also going to fish until the snow starts to fly. I have had days where there has been no takers but still picking up some nice 15" + bass. So it's not over yet. ;D

Being from the Great Lakes region I have never really thought about Tuna and there size. I always thought they were walleye sized. Guess I learn something every day. Wow.

Some really great advice that I read here regarding the palomar knot is to put the end of the line through the eye and then put it back through the eye to create your loop. This way you don't have to force the folded line through a small eye. I never used the palomar before that because I hated trying to get the loop started. After reading that simple piece of advice the palomar is MUCH easier now. Good call on the knot. That is the only way I can ever tie a palomar. I have never gotten the loop to go through. Also, if you are using fluoro, pushing the loop through the eye could cause it to kink and weaken. Wayne It could but it never has for me. Going to stick with what works. ;D I always wet it down before putting the loop through. Seems to help.

Some really great advice that I read here regarding the palomar knot is to put the end of the line through the eye and then put it back through the eye to create your loop. This way you don't have to force the folded line through a small eye. I never used the palomar before that because I hated trying to get the loop started. After reading that simple piece of advice the palomar is MUCH easier now. Lol after last night I'm hesitant on trying to try it any other way lol. I think you can understand why. Usually I have no trouble starting the loop through. It just didn't look easy this time so I tried something different. The thing that ticks me off is that after I lost that fish, I tried to tie my palomar on another jighead and it went through just fine.

Last night I lost a big boy and caught two other LMB on a weedless football jighead 1/4 ounce. Had a GYCB Watermelon Red Flake Hula double tail grub on the jighead. Just dragging it over the rocks. Maybe try that? Because like you I had no luck about a week ago when a cold front passed in. I'm in Western NY. But the Fat IKA bite did heat up a bit as well earlier this week.

My drag is set properly and thankfully because the fish did pull it smoothly . Thanks for answering my question RW. That is what I wanted to know. Next time I will just let em take me for a ride. There was no brush so he could have gone where he wanted without getting me into trouble. Sorry Johnny don't agree with a super tight drag. Mine is set just right.....I just never had a fish take it out SO FAST like this one did. Yes I think the palomar is a better knot than the clinch but that is just in my experience obviously. I have never had a fish break off of my Palomar knot so I trust it and my tying it 100%. Why I tried to tie a cilinch when the Palomar has been my bread and butter is beyond me. Fate I guess. I'm not saying that the improved clinch knot is a bad knot......but me not having experience of tying one up cost me this time. Next time I will go back to my Palomar, even if it is hard to get it the loop through the eye. Not going to make the same mistake twice.

Question: I want to learn from this experience as much as possible. Never have I had a fish pull drag like that before. Not even a smallie. Usually I can horse them in with no problem. But this guy had it screaming away from me. Did I make a mistake in reeling in while he was taking out drag away from me? Should I just let him run? The knot was going to break anyway I'm assuming but can I further the risk of breaking off (never have on my palomar tie) with horsing him in while he is taking drag?

Yep.....why the heck I decided to use a knot that I have never tied before? Only the Good Lord knows.......... From now on I'm sticking with my Palomar Knot. Never had a breakoff with that knot yet.

Been thinking about it all last night and all this morning. I even had a quick dream about it. We don't get that many HUGE bass up here in NY. I know without a doubt this guy was a big 'un. Not too many times I'm going to get a fish like that on.......and I screw it up. Life goes on. At least my wife and kid still love me ha ha ha. ;D

Yeah but I doubt he is going to be hitting anything anytime soon with that setup in his jaw. IMO unless I get lucky I doubt I will be able to find that sucker again.