Cory20

"If I were a fish, I'd eat this."

Gremlin makes a split shot called a Bull shot. It's a pinch on bullet weight style split shot and had to made for this type of fishing.

I wonder how they came up with the name?

That is a healthy fish man, I'm with the with the a 1/2 lb of 5 group. The fish in my avatar weighed 5lb 7oz and there is no way it's 21 and 1/2. They just get fat up north.

She's a natural!

I've been really fishing a lot these past few weeks. Here are a few pictures and one of a fish my friend caught. No scale, I guessed 4-4.5...we were pumped either way. Really starting to get hooked on slow rolling a 1/2oz black spinnerbait w/ a #5 colorado and a curly tail grub trailer. No monsters, but a few solid upstate NY fish. My friend and his fish, 6" green pumpkin senko. A Great Blue Heron Rookery and the outlet stream of Round Lake

Nice I picked up two small smallmouths and some rock bass yesterday on the 3.5inch version using the same technique. Anyone have any slower methods or know of any other jointed baits that can be slow rolled? I feel like to get a good S action I have to burn the thing and the fish aren't always chasing

how are you fishing them?

Fished it (watermelon/red) side by side a friend who was throwing bandit 200 cranks. Had it on 15lb berkley trilene flouro and MH F rod, a 1/8oz screw in bullet, and a 5/0 EWG gami. I either let it sink to the bottom and then started a steady retrieve or I counted it down for a few seconds before starting my retrieve. My friend really out fished me that evening. I think it was because the grass hadn't really grown in thickly where we were fishing (offshore humps) and I expect this bait is much better suited to fishing through weeds rather than open water. Just hard to beat a crankbaits wobble. A week and a half later with a lot more weed cover, the bait performed much better. I think it's a less obnoxious spinnerbait when wanting to fish quickly through cover. It open water/weed edge situations, I'm still doing better with crankbaits. Many more comparisons to be done in the future, so far so good.

If you're not seeing bass come up to the surface, don't waste too much time when they might be nailing something deeper in the water column. If I'm throwing a buzzbait and not getting bit, I might switch to a spinnerbait and fish the same areas. Walking bait/ popper - - - soft or hard jerkbait, or crank If I'm seeing fish come up and I'm fairly certain they're bass I throw different stuff until I figure out what action they want. Popping, walking, waking, etc. Then work on size and color. Nothing better than a hot top water bite, except maybe having your slow rolled spinnerbait get crushed at night. Something about seeing all the action or not being able to see any of it. Oh, and frogs/toads in pads and mats edit: I fish jitterbugs at night and it catches. Why no walking baits tied on?

Nice looking baits, can tell there is some thought and care put into them.

My smart charger is acting really strange and I think it's time for a new one. I need one with regular, deep cycle, and AGM/gel settings. Went to Lowes/tractor supply/home depot and the ones they had were 70-80$ with those settings. Schumacher and Vector were the brands, is this just how much they cost or is there a suitable, less expensive alternative online? Is one brand better than the other? I have two AGM batteries that I don't want to mess up. Thanks Cory

My favorite part is when they splash you as you release them, it always makes me smile. When they give a splash and head back to the the depths, it's over, and I'm fired up for the next one.

jeez either my boat is a pig or my engine needs a tune up, or is that just the difference between a 4 and 2 stroke? what year engine do you have?

The water won't short out your battery. It could rust the connection points of your trolling motor wires and battery terminals. This can lead to loss of motor power and faulty charging of the battery. Some water splashing on the battery during use shouldn't be a problem. If you the battery becomes submerged, you probably have a bigger problem to worry about. Wipe the battery down after use and store it in a dry place. Promptly clean off any signs of rust and you should be a ok.

I fish Owner twist locks and love em. Haven't done the math on whether a gami superline + corkscrew keeper is less expensive. For fishing plastics in heavy cover, they can't be beat. Haven't had the eye problems...yet. I think reaction innovations makes a flipping straight hooks with the eye welded shut. The hook is a gami and RI does the welding? Pretty cool.

I fish cranks on norman speed clips and they can be tricky sometimes. On average, a lot less hassle than cutting and retying + the increased action. I hope they work well for you, it's nice to see people still coming up with practical innovations in a tough industry. Who knows, they might be the next "thing" in their genre.

Sounds like things went well. When your crankbait bite dies and you think there are still fish in the area, try a hard or soft jerkbait. I think they're a solid choice for fishing over emergent grasses. They're just too versatile not to throw after an aggressive bite fades. Start with small twitches and longer pauses and work your way to a more aggressive approach. A spinnerbait ticking the tops of the weeds would be another lure I would try before moving in shallow. After those, throw your slow down game. I've been really working on changing up lures and presentations when I find fish with a crankbait and the bite dies, instead of moving to my next "spot", so far so good. Also keep an eye for a second wave of spawning/cruising bass. They don't all spawn at once etc. It sounds like there is ample shade, oxygen, and food in the shallows and a lot of the bass population probably doesn't go far. Especially if there is competition with walleye in deeper waters. I'm assuming this is a clear lake somewhere north? You could target your key dock/pad/transition areas sooner and places that fish holding there might prowl earlier in the day when they might be more active. If you're interested in bigger fish, lose the zara puppy and try and jr. or super. Fish the frog more, skip with larger plastics, pitch and flip jigs or creatures into pockets/irregularities/the likely places. Make longer casts. As said, you seem good on the numbers.

Are they keeping more than the creel limit? Do they keep the small ones, big ones, or every one?

I have a 16 ft older sea nymph and a older (1981) 70 hp 2 stroke. My top speed is 32-33 mph with a 15 inch prop at ~5200 rpms. Don't know if I'm getting the most out of it, I might try a 17 this week. I usually cruise at ~21 mph/3500-4000 rpm, again I don't know if I'm running that well here either. Not exactly your boat or engine, but have to assume that the boats are withing a few 100lbs of each other. Hope this helps

Glad to hear Ballston is going well, I haven't fished there in a while. I fished Saratoga on Friday and decided to stay and do some night fishing. Wow am I glad I did! Good numbers and size, I'm definitely going to do that again. Give it a try on the after the next HOT day if you get a chance. I fished Round Lake las Thursday and put my two friends on fish. Here's my friend's that was our best, if not his PB. I know they like to blur out the back round in CA, so if there are a swarm of boats on "my" spot next time I go I'll know better next time. ;D 20" fish, no scale though, probably 4+? The coontail is THICK and I'd like to see a thicker canopy of lily pads. I'm all about froggin and pitchin into the pads on that lake. However, that evening they were on them on the edges. I'm in town for the next couple of days if you'd like to try an evening, I have a 16' sea nymph. Cory

How they biting over there? I'm in Round Lake for a bit.

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Have you cut one of the "legs" shorter than the other? This and a shorter twitch should get you going.

Don't put anything in there that it doesn't say to or come with in the kit. Something coming lose and plugging the "pee" hole would be bad.