Davis

Well I'm wrapping up my fishing season here in the next month or so for bass. Starting to pick out some new rods and as you can see in my other post, an UL setup and a regular medium 6'6" setup with a president reel. Already thinking about what line I want to use going into next season. Sometimes I use mutliple lines depending on situations but I try to stick with one brand for bass fishing. This year I have been using Vanish 4lb for my trout fishing with success and I plan on using it again on my UL setup. No real complaints with that. For my bass rigs I have been using 8lb Berkley Trilene and have had no problems with that as well. Even in the lakes/ponds with a lot of junk it them. Question is what other lines do you guys prefer. I want nothing to do with braid. I have been looking at Pline. For a mono I would like something with low vis/low memory/and not stiff. I used some 10lb Berkley XT this year and I couldn't stand the stiffness on it. Could have been bad line but man was it hard to keep tight on my spinning reels. Oh yeah thats right.....I use spinning reels and nothing but spinning reels if this helps.

I use Gamas Gary Yamamoto splitshot/circle hooks. I can only find them on his website but man are they effective. But I only use them for my wacky rigs. For my small trout worms, etc, I use #8 Gama Octopus Circle hooks. The only time I'm not using a circle hook is when I'm t-riggin.

I have some of them. I have the Shad xrap and also the regular xrap in clown, perch, hothead, and glassghost. Usually I don't use them though. Plastics are my thing but I do own them. In short.......I can't help you out because I have only fished them for a couple of casts and caught nothing. Should get out to Lake Erie and test them out because I have a feeling that there going to be big with the smallies.

Okay so I'm wanting to spend some cash on an ultralight setup. I want to put together my own combo. I do not want a 100 dollar rod for this because I'm going to be using this on the side for trout/pan fishing. So I came across this rod at Bass Pro that has received great reviews so far. Its a glass rod. It really interests me. Should I go with the 5 foot or the 5' 6"? Whats the difference when I'm going to be taking it out for perch, trout, and some pans? http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_10151_-1_10001_36946_100002002_100000000_100002000_100-2-2 Then I want to team it up with the Pflueger Trion gx7 ultralight reel http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_10151_-1_10001_58697_100001002_100000000_100001000_100-1-2 Thoughts on this setup? Its not bad from a pricing standpoint and I really want to go with the Pfluegers. My wife is getting me a President for my birthday in which I'm going to spend my money on a St Croix premier. That will be my regular LM and SM bass setup. But I really want to get some UL fishing in next year. Thanks for any advice or thoughts on the glass rod.

wouldnt you get a lot of snags this way? Not unless your throwing them right into the slop. I fish my Senkos Wacky all the time. Unless its in the slop. Than I break out the T-Rig. But fish it wacky (hook through the middle) with a #5 circle hook. The hook basically sets itself in the jaw. This is by far the best setup that I myself have had using Senkos. I use Black with blue flake and the same as you, watermeleon with black flakes.

The weight will come guys believe me. ;D I weighed a whomping 148 lbs when I graduated highschool. I'm now 27 years old and have flucuated between 198-210 for the past four years. Now I can't lose that gut!!! :'(

Thank you for your sacrifice. I think we all take things for granted sometimes. The reason that we can enjoy this great country is because of brave men and women like yourself. Keep your head up high and trust in the Lord.

4 man inflatable raft for me. Does just fine for the places I fish.

Nice looking raft. But for that price I would rather purchase a canoe. I do like the looks of the floor boards on it though.

For me I don't need much to get out on the water since everything around here is a small lake or pond. So I picked up a Coleman Colossus for 60 bucks and it has been great to me this year on the small lakes. I even have taken it rafting down the Cattaraugus Creek with no problems at all. Hit some rocks and it never leaked or popped. I also have rubbed my hook up against it a couple of times with no issues. So in short if your looking for something to just chill out in that does the trick but you don't need to cover a lot of water, than a coleman raft is perfect IMO. For the amount of use that I have put mine through it has been extremely durable and easy to use. Not to mention it blows up in under a minute and deflates in under a minute with the coleman rechargeable pump. I would like a jon boat at some point but right now this does me just fine.

Its definately intimidating. To me at least, partially because I have never fished it. IF I ever get a boat, I may never have a life again because the smallies are just huge up here on the Lake. Everytime I go down to the waterfront, whether in sunset bay or Buffalo, I get jealous of all those people fishing smallies out there. (If anyone has a boat and needs a partner give me a PM) Only 15 minutes away from Sunset and I love fishing for smallmouth.

I have some small teenie mister twister grubs in a pink color. Do you think they will hit them? Or are they like bass and like more darker colors?

They don't really put up much of a fight though do they? When I started reeling him in he really wasn't doing anything. He was actually spinning on the line lol. I had no clue what it was until I got him up on shore. About a half hour later I had a monster pumpkin seed on the line that felt like a bass. I was shocked when I got him to shore and discovered that it wasn't a small brown or largemouth. Man those suckers can fight good for there size.

Thanks for the confirmation on the nightcrawlers. We can't really buy shiners up here with all the new rules going on in our state of NY. Good to know that they are a schooling fish though. That would explain them jumping like crazy in certain spots when it gets towards night time.

I was fishing at one of my local small lakes last night for some left over Brownies. Then I started to notice that fish were jumping all over the place. I couldn't tell if they were trout or small bass. Than I landed a nightcrawler on top of on the places were a nice fish jumped. It ended up being a Perch. About 12". Very cool looking fish and my first one ever since I have never targeted them. Are night crawlers on a split shot rig the best way to go? I have read that they can go as deep as 20 ft. The lake is pretty shallow with 14 foot the deepest spot. Do they like cover? It seems that most that were jumping were in the open water spots where there was no brush. I guess I'm just looking for hints. Because I wanted to keep the one perch but I ran out of worms and I know that one fish isn't going to make a nice dinner. Davis

I was shocked this past weekend when my mother wanted to go fishing with myself and my son. I told her that most of the smallmouth are probably back down into Lake Erie because the Catt Creeks temps are too high and the holes are not that deep. But I said we could probably land some suckers or what not. We ended up just using nightcrawlers with a split shot 12" up. We ended up landing three smallies in a half hour with numerous bites where my mother was missing them. So I guess they still can live in water that is 8 foot deep in some spots when the temps are up in the 70s. I was shocked. I thought they might move back down into Lake Erie. Going to pick up some more crawlers this weekend and give it a whirl up in my favorite holes in the Catt. Nice to know that there still sticking around in August.

http://www.dec.ny.gov/permits/6091.html You are correct. I didn't know there was a residence or non-residence fee. My apologizes. 40 dollars for the year. 25 bucks for seven days. Man thats steep.

A NY license is only 19 dollars. I think its only 12 or 13 for a weeks pass. I live about a half hour from Dunkirk and about 45 minutes from the Harbor in Buffalo. To me it looked like a lot of people were having luck in the harbor in Buffalo about 200 yards outside the marina area. There looks to be an inlet that looks like a silo out there and people were throwing lines out around it. Probably about 12 boats around this area.

If I get skunked than I get skunked. I have been fishing a place with trout and LM as of late. The trout have been teasing me like crazy so if I'm not catching bass than I throw on the 4lb test and 3" berkley trout worms and try for the brownies and brooks. Last night I brought home a nice 12" brook and had a nice meal. But usually I will do or die trying to pull that nice LM out. I know there in this lake but I have yet to track them down. Thats the fun of fishing. Find the fish. Catch the fish. With no fish finder it makes it a lot more interesting to try out the different points on this small 60 acre lake. If I really want a guarentee bass than I will pack up my stuff and head to my dads pond where there all over the place by the brush lines. But I like a challenge. ;D

Wacky all the way if the conditions permit it. Texposed if I have some weed beds that I want to fish. I'm not a fan of the trigged. Have not caught one bass that way. Only a bunch of bites.

That is not true. Our local Hatcheries here in Western NY have Rainbows and brownies along with some brooks. Brownies are actually one of the toughest trout that you can find as far as living in certain water conditions. I actually caught my first trout since I was young (bass fisherman) last night in a small lake that the DEC stocks with Brownies and Brooks. http://www.dec.ny.gov/press/29622.html

Man I wish we had LM like that here in Western NY. Maybe moving to Cali isn't a bad thought after all. That thing is huge. You hit a 18" LM around my parts and thats considered a big boy. But at least we have some nice smallmouth fishing.

Bass you grew up fishing the Catt as well? Or are ya just busting my chops! Maybe its from some of the chemicals that have flowed down from the old glue factory about 10 miles upstream over the years. But being close to the mouth of Erie makes me think that most of the smallies are coming up from the Lake. But Erie isn't the cleanest of Lakes either with Dunkirk being so close.

Another smaller sized smallie but I wanted to give you guys an idea of the beauty of the place that we fish. Bald Eagles are very much present here. A couple nests up the creek a bit. Very pretty place. Another smaller creek smallie (fight like crazy in this creek, if they take you into the rapids hang on) Lots of shale ledges and rocks.

I don't know RW. It has me baffled as well. I have been fishing for 18 + years and have never seen anything like that come out of this creek. I grew up fishing this creek. Like I said it seems like its part of the pattern in a weird way. No rough edges or abrasions. Odd to say the least.