Tokyo Tony

I often fish coves off of the main river for Pike and sometimes stripers, but to fish the main river I'm gonna need a boat bigger than a canoe :

Thanks for the replies guys That one day I went out, the river was just about unfishable. The water was racing through there and there was just an incredible amount of debris in the water with <8" visibility. If it's like that again I'm not gonna waste my time, especially fishing from shore when the spots I can fish are pretty limited. RobbyZ - that's a very good point though about muddy water. The larger smarter fish should be more catchable. Fishing a spinner on that day was pretty much out of the question though because of the debris, but I wish I had some worms with me.

Perfect Hookset - I LOVE Beseck Lake! There are some fine fish in there, and I absolutely love fishing the multitude of docks on that pond (it really sucks when the water's low though). Fall 2006, maybe early November, my brother actually caught a little pike in there, about 4 pounds. I had no idea that lake had them, but they're in there. Beseck is full of bass in the 3-5 pound class (really good for a small lake in CT). Love it. Tin - I'd love to see them throw a bunch of pike into Wyassup. I've only fished one other lake in my life that has so many dinks.

You WILL catch more and bigger bass if you read the forums and articles and apply the knowledge ;D

I brought my golden out in the canoe once, and he was great. I'll try to find the pictures. It's just a bit too much of a hassle to take him out though. I do take him shorefishing quite a bit, for smallies in NH and for trout in CT. It took a while to train him not to chase my lures, but now he stays by my side instead of jumping in. I'll never forget I was fishing Moodus Reservoir in CT, and there was a guy in a pontoon boat driving around at about 35 mph. His dog was right up front with his front paws on the front seat, head up high, wind ripping through his fur. I'm not sure I've ever seen a happier pooch ;D

I checked smallie because it's the hardest-fighting freshwater fish I've caught that was also on the list. I'd love to catch a sturgeon someday, but I have to say, of all the freshwater species I've caught, Peacock bass fight the hardest, even harder than smallmouth.

Catt, I'm so sorry. I'm not religious, but I will pray for you and those involved. It's just beyond explanation how these things can happen.

Annoying? Absolutely. But I bet all you guys will remember the website now, along with almost everyone else who saw the commercial. Although a lot of people won't go there regularly, I bet a lot of people will, all thanks to that commercial. Seems pretty smart to me

I think you ("you" being anyone who cares about "posses") need to unbunch your panties. You ask about a brand or two, someone suggests something else, and you get all worked up? Who cares? Just disregard the suggestion.

When I was younger, all I used was Ande mono. Anyone still use the stuff? I know they're still in business... Just curious, that's all

This is what I use.

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/pod/standard-pod-wrapped.jsp?_DARGS=/cabelas/en/common/catalog/pod-link.jsp_A&_DAV=MainCatcat20166-cat20388&rid=&indexId=cat20388&navAction=push&masterpathid=&navCount=1&parentType=index&parentId=cat20388&id=0042758

You guys are crazy I don't know if it's a quirk, but anytime I catch a good fish, I get a strong urge to kiss it. I'm able to resist most of the time unless she's really beatiful or a real fatty. That should be my screen name: Kissin' Fatties 8-) I've actually kissed a couple smallies when I was fishing by myself and there were other people (strangers) around. I don't think they understood what was going on.

Ahh, memories. This was the first thread I started when I joined. I didn't post this just to reminisce, but to add some insight I've gained over the winter... I've been trout fishing every weekend this winter in a stream in CT, and in some areas, it's catch and release only, so you have to bend the barbs down to fish in those areas. I have learned that with single hook lures, barb/no barb makes no noticeable difference for trout. However, most of the trout I catch do not jump. I think going barbless for feisty smallies will result in more lost fish. As for treble hook lures, when I pinch the barbs, I have noticed beyond any doubt that I've lost more trout without the barbs, and they don't even jump. That means that you will lose more smallies if you bend the barbs on treble lures, and I'd be willing to bet big $ on that. Lastly, removing barbless hooks from fish is exponentially easier and quicker than removing a barbed hook, and it definitely harms the fish less, especially trout. Smallies are more resilient than trout, so I really don't think removing a barbed hook will damage a bass noticeably less, unless the fish is hooked in a tough spot. $0.03

We've had tons of precipitation in central CT this winter. All of the rivers are swollen and the ponds/lakes are at or above full pool. Great success!

Pelicans, seagulls, and the occasional gator/croc, not in CT of course

Good thread One thing I'd like to mention that has nothing to do with the effectiveness of a very sensitive rod for certain techniques is the pleasure of fighting a fish on a very lightweight, sensitive rod. There's nothing like fighting a fish on a high-quality rod (and I haven't even tried the upper-upper end ones) - you can feel every little shake of its head and you can almost visualize exactly how the fish is reacting. Love it ;D

Lol that's funny ;D

The ponds and smaller lakes around here are almost totally open thanks to the ridiculous amount of rain we've gotten lately. I'm gonna try to catch a few Larry's this weekend ;D

I haven't thought about this in a while until the thread that was going the other day asking for people to share a fishing story or memory. This isn't exactly a fishing story, but I figured some of you guys would find it interesting. I was in 6th grade at the time, 11 years old, living in Miami, FL, right across the street from a marina. That's around the time I became really addicted to fishing. My brother and I had a 15' Skanoe (canoe with a flat back) with a 5 hp Nissan mounted on the back, and our best friends had a jonboat with a 9.9 Merc. We used to take our rigs out early in the morning, fish topwaters and other lures for jacks and cudas, and if we were lucky, we'd hook into the occasional tarpon or snook. Then after the bite died, we'd catch a ton of mangrove snapper on dead shrimp and take them home for dinner. It was a pretty awesome time in my life. If we weren't fishing, we were working on a fort we were building in a clearing in the mangroves. This was just a couple years after Hurricane Andrew, so there was still tons and tons of driftwood along the shorelines and lodged in the mangroves. That's what we used to build our fort. Anyway, one day after we were done fishing, we were looking for some good driftwood to add onto the fort, and I saw this package lying in the seaweed up on shore, wrapped tightly in duct tape. On the outside was written "25" in green marker. My friend and I had no idea what it was, and frankly, we were worried that it may contain a dismembered body or some other messed-up thing that a 6th-grader would think of. My buddy and I each grabbed a side and managed to bring it out into the sunlight. I took out my filet knife and made a slit in the side of the box, and as I retracted the knife, I noticed that it was covered in pure white powder. We then knew it was a whole bunch of drugs. I remember we were all pretty scared after the find, and my brother was already sitting in the canoe begging us to leave. We stashed the box back where it was originally and left. When we got home, we alerted the Coast Guard, and my buddy went out to the spot in the coast guard boat to show them where it was. A week or so later, they contacted us and explained that the box contained 25 kilos of 100% pure cocaine, with a street value of $1.875 million. It was almost definitely dumped off of a barge probably as they were being approached by the Coast Guard. Crazy. When I think of it now, I'm actually really glad I found it when I was a little kid, because I'm not sure that I'd call the Coast Guard this time. I probably would, but you never know... Just wanted to share that with you guys

I have several, and they were killer on the smallies last year. My favorite application for them is when I know smallies (or largies for that matter) are in an area but are either too deep to commit to shallow jerkbait, or aren't active enough to swim up 10 feet to hit a shallow jerkbait. In that case I'll change from a normal X-Rap or LC Pointer to an X-Shad, and fish it the same way - just like a jerkbait. You can also use them as a crankbait, but I tend to stay away from heavy cover with these lures because they suspend. My favorite color for smallies is white with a hot pink back :-*

That's what she.... ahh, too easy That shiner is gigantic by the way 8-)

I have a ton of amazing memories from when I was younger, but most recently, the one that comes to mind... Late last summer I was spending the weekend in New Hampshire just to hang out and do some float tube smallmouth fishing on my favorite little pond. This pond has crystal-clear water (20'+ visibility), and you can see way down to the bottom where there are huge car-sized boulders mixed with gravel, grass, and sand, and there are two corners of the pond that are stumpfields with grassy bottoms and really weedy shorelines and laydowns. Perfect smallmouth habitat 8-) It was a bluebird sky day, and the fishing was pretty hot all day (40-50 fish, nothing big). As the day was winding down, I was kicking around in one of the two grassy corners where the LMB like to hang out, just lazily throwing topwaters and plastics when it hit me. The sun was setting, the leaves were just starting to turn orange and yellow, and the only ripples on the lake were from my float tube. All I could hear were birds, and there was not another person in site, or on the lake. Then the beauty of it all hit me - I just stopped fishing, looked around, and just felt so content to be where I was. It's tough to explain - you just really have to feel it. Combine with that setting the fact that the pond is loaded with smallies and LMB who are more than willing to attack any offering, and you have heaven on earth. Anyway, I think back to that day a lot, and others like it, and it's really tough for me to love that setting so much, but be stuck in a frozen tundra for 4 months out of the year. On the other hand though, it makes it so much sweeter when I'm actually able to be in that setting. Can't WAIT to get back out there in my float tube ;D

Favorite night snacks: cheese doodles (NOT Cheetos brand - those suck), popcorn, beef jerkey, leftover Hooters wings (cold), cold pepperoni pizza, and fruit if I feel like being healthy (rarely) Fishing snacks: water, gatorade, powerade, chips, cheese doodles, Chex mix, combos, deli meat sandwiches, and others

Went out yesterday with a buddy of mine to show him some of my trout streams, and after all the rain we've had, the water was up 2-2.5 feet and it was really muddy with tons of debris. Every cast we were getting leaves on our lures, and it was really frustrating. We didn't get a single hit in about 3 hours. We tried going several miles upstream near the beginning of the river, and although the water was much clearer, we still got skunked. Am I better off just waiting until the water lowers and clears up, or is are there specific techniques/areas to focus on when we've gotten tons of rain? Thanks gents