Tokyo Tony

....this is an area in the Farmington I fished often throughout the winter...

First of all, sorry I have to post one at a time, but I can't get on photobucket from work. I just got some pictures developed at Wal-Mart and figured I'd post some for you to enjoy First one is a nice trout I caught on the Farmington River

By cold I mean 42 degrees, and darker than chocolate milk. More like poop. Below is a picture - unfortunately it did not come out very well. I need to find my digital camera - I've been using crappy disposables all winter. P.S. Went out to a larger, clearer lake yesterday with my brother and I caught 4 fish on a white X-Rap - pickerel, crappie, yellow perch (filled with eggs), and a LMB, in that order . My brother caught 4 LMB's (because he tied on my only clown color X-Rap which is by far the best color there this time of year ).

So basically, if I read this thread right, you can use pretty much anything - I think that is the case, depending on the conditions ;D I will say, the few times I've fished for river smallies, that minnow baits worked head and shoulders better than plastics. I've had a couple days where we'd go through stretches below rapids that literally every cast you'd get bit with any kind of jerkbait, but couldn't sniff a strike on a plastic worm or grub. Sometimes they're just looking to eat some sushi ;D Amen Josey Wales, I LOVE SMALLIES TOO!!!

Lol, so that's why some are darker than others - they spend more time sunbathing 8-) Personally, I've never seen a smallie that wouldn't at least acknowledge my bait or follow it for a bit. I'm sure you can get them to eat if you use the right presentation.

Another option is to use a gripper/scale like a Boga Grip. I have a budget Boga-style scale with a gripper, and the thing is an absolute godsend. I do a lot of smallie fishing with jerkbaits and other treble lures, and especially with the smaller fish, I just reach down with the gripper and grab that lip (takes some practice). It prevents me from getting hooked, and it's actually also easier on the fish. LMB I usually just lip, but smaller-sized feisty smallies with mouths full of Gammies are just not healthy on the hands

Nice fish, and sorry 'bout the wasps. I'm allergic also, so I hope to avoid them this year. Can't wait 'til we can wear short-sleeved shirts and walk on green grass again! For now I guess we're stuck with mud, sticks, dead plants, and muddy water :-/ When was that pic taken?

Haven't bowled in a while, but when I was in college my buddies and I would go to this bowling alley that was attached to a strip club, Hard Bodyz. We'd bowl, then go to the club. Pretty interesting combination ;D The locker room attendant at my golf course once bowled a 299, which is hilarious if you know his personality ;D

Any of you guys try that Coca-Cola/coffee mix? That was horrendous, and I haven't seen them around in a while now. No surprise. This energy drink/food stuff is getting ridiculous. I was in Wal-Mart last night and there was this spray stuff that you're supposed to spray under your tongue and it gives you "energy". What happened to getting sleep and if you can't do that, have a good old-fashioned cup of coffee?

You mean Flomax?

Yeah, I give up on that pond for now. Tried it again yesterday with no luck. Threw a jig all over the place and worked it slowly for about an hour, then tried a senko also. You guys ever get the feeling that there just aren't any fish in the places you're casting, or even in the whole pond? That's how I felt. They've gotta be there somewhere, but I'm thinking they're relating to "deep" (8-10 ft deep) structure that I just don't know about. I'll post a couple pics tonight of this pond - it's a pretty ugly scene :-/ Today after work I'm gonna try a bigger lake that isn't muddied up so much. Got the waders packed in the trunk and ready to go

Lol, I especially like the "How did the forest birds and squirrels feel as the logger cut down the trees?" I hate all this "feel" crap...tell me what happened already, not how you "feel" about it!

Thanks guys. Yeah, it's pretty much a textbook really tough situation, but I'm gonna give it another shot anyway because I can, and this will be the first time fishing for bass after work since early fall '07. Yeah Tin, the jigs had rattles. Jewell Eakin's jig, black/blue, 3/8 oz with YUM chunk trailer, blue w/ blue flake, two rattles attached. Pretty much my favorite jig ever. RW - I would agree, but I'd rather go out there and pitch a jig around for an hour and a half even if I don't catch anything, than drink beers, which is basically what I've been doing all winter :

Gents, I'm wondering if you guys have some suggestions for me. First of all, I'm really psyched about setting the clocks forward because now I can fish every day after work (I get out at 5:30), and let me tell you, that makes my life much better - I have something to look forward to at the end of the day, other than my programs ;D Anyway, the ice on my favorite ponds to fish during the week just cleared, and after tons of rain we've gotten, the water is very very muddy (< 1' visibility). Threw a few casts there yesterday with no luck, water temp is in the low 40's. The deepest parts are about 10 feet, and there are a couple muddy flats, and plenty of shoreline with brushpiles and laydowns. What type of approach would you take to this situation? I started out with jigs flipping around the deeper shoreline cover and casting out to the dropoffs from the flats, with no luck. Threw jerkbaits around, also chatterbaits, and finally tried a 5" white senko, no luck. Any suggestions? Thanks 8-)

Great fish Brokejaw! That must have been a fun fight

Nice fish there, congrats ;D What'd you trick her with?

Tastes like pea****. I wouldn't eat them - they're too good looking and sporty. If you're gonna eat a freshwater fish in S. FL make it a tilapia. Supposedly they're delicious, and they're also a nuisance fish.

Cool catch there - living up to your name too

Golf was my favorite thing to do - played college ball too (although our team was not very good compared to southern teams). Once I graduated college, I started focusing more on fishing, and now fishing has totally taken golf's place. Just cancelled my golf course membership this winter because it's not worth paying that money when I played maybe 20 rounds all last year. This year I might just play a handfull of team tournaments, but I think for now I'm pretty much done 8-) Lol, I was just remembering, in the past I only looked forward to spring because the golf course would open. That hasn't occurred to me once this year - all I care about is ice-out and water temp ;D

Nice fish I've never tried white Senkos before...maybe I'll get a few.

Lol, "fired line" and "powerless pro" How about Suck-fix? By the way, I use Power Pro and will experiment with Suffix this year.

My FI doesn't make any humming noise, only normal reel-related sounds. If it sounds harmful to the reel, I'd return it. Otherwise, if it just sounds like a normal sound, I wouldn't worry about it. Down the road if it fails due to being defective, Shimano will stand by their product.

Yes, they're worth it. They've become one of my go-to baits, especially for nightfishing. Many different retrieves work, but my most productive to date is slow-rolling it along the bottom and ticking any structure/cover and pulsating it. Sometimes when a fish hits it, you'll just feel the vibrations stop. Othertimes, they just nail it.

When I first started fishing jigs frequently I had the mindset that anything that would strike a jig would be huge. I got a strike, set the hook into what I thought had to be a monster, and it was about the size of your fish there. It flew out of the water and hit me right in the fruit basket ;D Nice story there bassman ;D

Just had a vivid fishing dream last night, probably as a result of this thread ;D Thanks for starting it, because it was an awesome dream... I was fishing at a small unnamed pond that my brother and I call "Huge Pond" because it is home to huge bass. The water was very muddy, a dark orange/red color (we've gotten a lot of rain lately - in real life). I was fishing a senko with a spinning setup from shore. My brother was there, as well as a friend of mine and his nephew (I sometimes go fishing with the two of them). The other three were catching nice bass every cast, and I had only gotten one. I cast my senko out, got an immediate hit, set the hook, and as I was reeling it I said, "Ohh boy, this is a nice one!" As it got to shore, I saw that it was HUGE - about a 10 lber (sorry guys, I didn't get a weigth on her ) I lipped her, and somehow my lure had changed to a white/chartreuse/red spinnerbait. The main hook and the trailer hook were deep in the roof of her mouth, but I got them out just fine - I do remember in great detail the whole process of getting the hooks out. I turn around for some pictures and all of a sudden my grandmother is there (she introduced me to fishing) with the camera, but she's holding it diagonally. I remember being frustrated because the pictures were gonna be crappy, and that's the last I remember. Usually I don't remember dreams in that much detail, but right when I woke up, I went over all the details again so I could retain them and post them on this thread ;D Biggest bass of '08 so far!