gordon

I just got back from fishing in New Hampshire and all I used was 6" Senko type worms and Trick worms. 95% of the time I just rigged the typcal Texas rig on a 4-0 hook but I also had success using a small octopus style hook and nose hooked the worms. I caught over 40 small mouth bass. I can see why people like smallie fishing. They put up a great fight. One thing I've been learning is that I do best with the rig that I know and can feel. That seems more important than the lure itself.

Anyone else been out to Beltzville lately? If so, where did you find them?

Hi Zel. Good to hear from you. Actually I was using the maps that you were kind enough to share with me a year or so ago. I was talking to a couple of guys and they said it was the first time in with the new boat. Wonder if it was your friends son? Robby. That's awesome. I guess I was wrong about the water temp being the problem. Mind sharing where you were finding them?

Well I answered my own question. The water was too cold at about 50 degrees. Beltzeville is pretty tough anyway and we didn't see anything that resembled fish. We had a good father-son outing nonetheless.

Howdy fellow fisher folk! My son and I want to get the boat out and see what's biting. Anyone familiar with Beltzville Lake? I'm wandering what it's like now. Is it too earlier in the season too expect much? Thanks for any tips.

I went to a small lake in New Hampshire for vacation and fished 3-4 hrs a day over an 11 day period. In the entire 11 days I only caught 7 nice bass. The local bait shop said the bite was good and confirmed that what I was using would work. I was fishing primarily senko type worms but between by son and others we tried everything including crawl fish without success. I'm trying to figure out why. There was a lot of heavy rain while we were there and apparently there has been a lot of rain in the area this summer. The water temperature started out at 79 degrees and dropped to about 73 degrees before I left. I tried fishing deep as well as the usual bass structure areas but it never improved. I couldn't even locate fish on the fish finders. Any thoughts on what might cause this type of draught?

We're going to Meredith, NH and staying on Lake Waukewan. We've been going up for a few years now and love the area.

Do any of you clean the guides on your poles? If so, do you use anything special? I'm heading up to NH next week and I'm getting the gear ready for 11 days of fishing!

I'm a relative "newbie" to the art of bass fishing but I've been doing fairly well, working with just a few baits so far. I've been fishing with 5" senko style worms, 5" trick worms and a few other lures on occasion. My best was a bit over 5 lbs I'd say. For those of you that are primarily going after "the" hawg, what types of baits are you using? The first year or so I lost a lot because of my lack of experience and I'd miss the hook set or not sense the bite. This year I've concentrated on watching my line and the feel of the bass and have missed very few due to hook set issues. I'm heading up to NH in a month and I'll be on a quest for "the one"!

Thanks for all of the great ideas. I have a question about wacky/texas rigging. I tried the weedless wacky rig but it seemed like it was harder to set the hook. Does the hook size have a lot to do with it?

What type of hooks do you like for rigging wacky style? Also. Anyone here use the weedless wacky hooks?

Hi JKoch, It looks like we're neighbors. I'm in Stroudsburg. My daughter lives in a local development with a few small ponds. It's convenient for me to take my son out after supper. As much as I prefer going out on the boat, with the cost of gas we've been enjoying bank fishing a bit more.

I've been experimenting with the storms and fronts etc to see what happens as well. A few weeks ago I went out just after a storm when a front was moving in and expecting rain again later. I caught 8 very respectable bass that day. A week later I went out right before a storm and it was a ghost town. 1 good hit. This week it was in the 90's on Sunday with rain expected so I thought I'd give that a try. I caught 12 more nice bass and my son caught 6. BTW I not boasting it's just that that's the most bass I've caught in a short outing to a pond. I'm just a beginner but it's getting better with experience. I'm not sure what the moral of the story is but I'm trying to track my results for the future.

I've been doing pretty well of late fishing the 5" Senko and AB's Trick worm. I generally rig weedless but find wacky rigging to be a lot of fun as well. The problem my son and I have with the wacky rig is that most of the time we loose the worm when you hook one. The question is what colors do most of you find productive for daylight fishing in somewhat murky water?

Thanks for all of the input. I use a #4 Gamakatsu Drop Shot Hook/red. As I mentioned, I tried a few different color 4" senko style sticks. The comment about being hit by Perch or some other pan fish does make sense. A few were probably bass because of the way my line was traveling but that typical tap-tap may have been those pesky little buggers. I guess the only way to get better is to keep fishing and learning! Thanks again guys.

I went out yesterday with my son for about 4 hours. I found a pretty good spot near the wall of a dam and the sonar was showing a lot of fish. I rigged wacky worm, 4" senko/salty stick on a #4 hook. I lost every fish!! I must have reeled in 4-5 and never got any in the boat. I guess I'm just venting since no one can tell me why. I obviously don't know how to set a hook very well. Maybe better next time.

Welcome aboard! I'm a relative "newbie" as well and have enjoyed and learned from the collective wisdom here over the last few months.

Thanks for all of the replies. I like the idea of using a piece of double stick tape to start off with. You're certainly right about the type of knot being somewhat of a none issue if the fish takes it that far out!!

Can some of you share the way you tie the line on the reel when putting new line on? I typically just tie a standard arbor knot, I think that's what it's called. I've wondered if just taping the line end to the spool would be a good idea. I realize it's not a big deal but I'm always interested iin a better way to do things-if there is one!

I bought a Shimano Symetre 2500. The 1st time I put new line on it wound it evening. The next time it wound to the rear of the spool. I checked with Shimano and they said take a washer off to adjust it. I did that and it still winds to the rear. I realize that I could take more washers off but since it was supposedly set at the factory to wind on evenly I shouldn't have to make an adjustment should I? It says in the manual that adding or removing washers is for changing the intitial setting. I'm thinking that if it changed on it's own that it may have some type of shaft defect or something. Anyone else experience this? I'm not concerned since I'm sure Cabelas will exchange it for a new one if it's defective but if it's a normal occurence I won't bother sending it back. Thanks.

Did you all polish the boat afterwards? I've heard that the acid based cleaners work well and easy but etch the aluminum so it's even more suseptible to stains and oxidation unless it's well sealed. I'd like to do my Tracker but it is a lot of work with the cream type polishes. I started with Mothers once but realized by the time I finished it would be time to start over again!

Is the Yoziri less sensitive than other line? I want to try some but of course you wouldn't want to loose sensitivity.

I've been having fairly good success with 5" senkos. I loose almost everyone though when I catch a fish. Anyone have a "best" place with the "best" price to buy them?

I have a 2005 Tracker ProCrappie 175. It's 17' with a Mercury 50 HP and a 74#thrust Minn Kota trolling motor.

Thanks for the replies. I do have some different jerk baits. No LC but a few Rapalas and Mepps products. I picked-up some tubes but they didn't have the hula-grubs. I'll check around though.