Cory20

I admire the fact that you go huge or go home.

I know you said you don't fish them weightless and a keel weighted hook sounds like it'd work well for this. I have had some success rigging them weightless on a 4/0 toad hook (Owner twist lock et.) and fishing them in lily pads. Hop or swim it along letting it fall into holes. Just like a buzz toad, but with more bulk and action from the skirt on the fall. Maybe you can adapt this in some way for where you are fishing? Also have had success on a carolina rig at night.

So yeah, definitely some old news here. BUT that will not stop me from counting down the days Undeniably AWESOME

research some rust removal bathes, soak, rinse, dry.

I'd fry them in a pan with butter and garlic.

The order has to be of the same color to get the price break.

Looks like you and Jesse had a good day on Saratoga! I'm back down in MD for the rest of the summer (sigh), but should be back in the are come fall. Round Lake has some keepers for sure, don't let anyone say otherwise.

Upstate is some nice country with some good fish!

Just when you find one you like...

For skirt material I highly recommend www.fishingskirts.com. Good quality, price, and owner. I've found 30 yard spools of 26 gauge copper wire at JoAnne Fabrics. If your local store has it, it should go on sale every once and awhile for ~2$ a spool. It comes in colors too, copper, red, black, green, blue. I think that's it. I use copper and red. Couple wraps, twist, pull tight with plier on the twist, twist it down, cut 3 or 4 twists up, bend down to the side. You'll figure out how tight you can go.

insert: anything related to fishing

x2

Thanks for the input everyone. I'm assuming when you say spinnerbait you're talking about bass style spinnerbaits? Or are you meaning big inline? Brokejaw for some reason I'm thinking I heard pike got into a lake in cali and people were ticked rather than enthused. Probably not near you, cali is kinda big and my memory might be kinda off.

How does a 7'6 Okuma Big Bait MH swimbait rod sound? T-rig that is a beautiful fish and Switzerland doesn't look half bad either. That must have been a blast on the light tackle! Anyone know of any good reading on the subject?

I like your plan. Slow rolling a colorado bladed spinnerbait with a grub trailer has worked well for me this season. You know you're fishing in the right spot when panfish/rock bass start pecking at the grub. Try a c-rig/t-rig on spots that were producing with the spinnerbait/topwater too.

Do you mean use a 3lb. weight if I 12lb. test? BTW, I have 10lb. test (Braid). Yes. 2.5lbs is 25% of 10. You might want to go a little lighter though. Braid has so little stretch that the shock load of a hookset could easily pop the 10 lb test if the drag is too tight.

Can't go wrong with a tube on the lightest jig head you can get away with. I match tube colors to the color of the bottom, seems to work well most of the time.

Nice work, I have one of those that I'll have to try that on.

There's a local lake that is supposed to be a pretty good pike fishery. Any suggestions for an ok rod and reel, along with some basic lures? These fish are awesome! Can't wait to hook up with a bigger one. I had just bought a net 2 days before, I am glad that I did!

Where's the fun in not being able to pull out a snarling mass of treble hooks? Let's say you can fit 5 baits per row. That's 20 baits for the 3700 and 25 for the 3771. For this example we will be able to fit 2 baits in each compartment of the 3700, as it is thicker. This brings are total baits up to 40. Now say you can fit 5 3700 boxes in your bag, compartment whatever. This at a minimum would take ~10". In the same space you could fit 7 3771's. 7x25 = 175 lures 5x40 = 200 lures I have both 3700 and 3771 angled and straight. I think the angle is wasted in the 3700 box because I'm putting more than one lure in a compartment. Using the angles can save enough space that getting them in and out is a pain. I really like the angled 3771 for jerkbaits. There are so many hooks on those that they really need to be separated. I've also have found that the angle dividers fall out a lot easier than the straight ones, but that's probably how I cut them. All in all, I'm not totally convinced the angled dividers were worth the extra money. Just something to think about as you re organize.

I caught this 27" pike today while I was fishing for bass. Hit a Bandit 200 series crank in about 7 ft of water around 3 or 4pm ?? Beats me. Best fighting freshwater fish I've ever caught. Absolutely hammered my crank and went on few spectacular runs. Just when I thought it was over....zzzzzzz she peals some more drag. Probably was only a couple of minutes, but it seemed a lot longer. When taking your own picture with a timer, make sure you smile extra early.

Excellent tutorial, thanks! I bookmarked

Expensive?

Try the Swim Senko, if that's getting clobbered, try something bigger.

I hope someone has it figured out. My area has been getting pounded by thunderstorms for the past 5 days.