Tokyo Tony

One thing I always do, regardless of the temperature, is keep my cell phone in a little ziplock bag. I decided to do that after I ruined two cell phones on the water, but it's also a good idea for safety reasons. Cell phones aren't too helpful when they're in your pocket and you're in the water, unless they're in the little baggy.

I also replace all my hooks that don't come attached to a split ring. Just cut the hook eye with pliers or wire cutters, attach split ring to hook, attach split ring to screw. Odds are, if the bait doesn't come already with split rings, the hooks are crappy anyway. Plus, I think split rings will reduce the number of fish that throw the bait because there's a little more flexibility when he's jumping around.

When you spend 5 hours last night finalizing the transition in your tacklebox from 3700's to 3701's (and some Falcon's) so you can divide your lures into more specific categories, and also replacing some old trebles and adding feathered trebles to some LC's. When you're looking forward to getting out of work so you can go home and spend another five hours organizing your soft plastics into a more effective system. When you know that before spring you'll probably reorganize your tacklebox 10 more times, but you're ok with that. When the last three nights you've gone to Dick's, Cabela's, then Cabela's again, each night having to go back to the entrance to get a basket because you couldn't hold the things you realized that you needed, and feeling happy as a clam after leaving with a big bag of goodies and an empty wallet (even though there'll be ice on the water soon). Instead of going to your trout honey hole (where you would have caught several good trout) last Sunday you go to your local favorite bass pond with a jig and pig just to try to get a strike or two, get skunked, but still feel pretty good about it cuz you fished well.

If you get a good guide, a guided trip is well worth the cost. Last summer I went down to Florida "for my cousin's wedding", but my brother and I looked at it more as a fishing trip (caught the Peacock bass spawn, went deep-sea fishing, LMB fishing, and backcountry fishing in the Everglades - and still caught the wedding). The highlight of the trip was a guided trip in the Everglades for snook/tarpon/redfish/seatrout. I think it was $500 for the day (plus a $100 discretionary tip), 7 am to 3 or 4 pm, and it was well worth the cost. We caught a bunch of fish of I think 7 or 8 species. But the point is that shelling out the 3-600 bucks a few times a year will be well worth it. I know that my brother and I will NEVER forget that trip, and we talk about it all the time and have some great photos to show for it. I read a fishing story and I remember the author using the phrase "earning memories", which I thought was beautiful. Most memories can be earned, but they can also be bought ;D By the way, the guide's name is Capt. Doug Lillard, and if you're in South Florida (he'll take you anywhere in that area you want to go), look him up. Great guy, and he freakin' knows his stuff and will put you on a bunch of fish.

tin2win - thanks for the info. I didn't know Pachaug had smallies - I've fished there twice and there are some nice LMB and pike (and crappies) in there, but no smallie action. I'll definitely be fishing the CT River a bunch next year though.

This year I caught several LMB and smallies that were close to my PBs on a black/blue Chatterbait, most of them at night time. In my opinion, a black/blue Chatterbait is the best lure for nightfishing in the summer. My brother caught his PB LMB (6 lbs even - pretty decent for CT) this past spring on a white/red Chatterbait. I think the Chatterbait brand is the best of that style of baits, with the Booyah a close second. I've tried the Gambler swimblades and they suck. For trailers I use the ones that come with the Booyahs and the ones that come with the Chatterbaits. I haven't had any problems with these baits falling apart, and I've used them a lot. Last spring when my brother was killing 'em with his white/red Chatterbait, I was still too stubborn to tie one on - they just look so stupid and the action underwater just looked to weird for me to feel comfortable using them, but after a couple of days of getting my arse whooped, I sucked it up and tried them out. I really think that Chatterbaits are amazing baits, but it does take a lot to get past their looks and gain some confidence in them. I have a feeling that anyone who says that Chatterbaits suck haven't given them a good shot. My favorite technique with them is very slow, just above the bottom, ticking them off of structure while giving light twitches and kind of pulsating it. I've also caught fish on these burning them as fast as they would work without popping out of the water.

I use 3700 boxes, but I'm slowly transitioning to the 3701's. Those things ARE true space savers - I can fit almost twice as many of those as 3700's in my soft case deal type thing, and it keeps the lures tangle-free, as luckyinkentucky said. I use a Falcon box for hardbaits when I'm going shore fishing or in a friend's boat, and I also use a Falcon box for my terminal tackle. The higher quality of the Falcon boxes is noticeable, although I'm not a huge fan of the 4-clamp system.

BBVVWWWHHHAATTT?? Never owned a zara huh? Well I guess you're not missing out if you have Sammys, but I didn't think there was anyone who never owned a Zara. I also prefer sammies, but sometimes when my target fish are smaller than usual, I'll tie on a Zara Puppy (after replacing the hooks with Gammys - this is important) and have a blast. And I do have a live Sammy - the thing is amazing, and definitely a big fish bait. Love it.

Bassbum where do you fish for smallies in CT? I live in CT and am always looking for new smallie waters. Thanks.

Rapala makes a smaller-sized rattle trap that is a little larger than the mini Bill Lewis one. They are really beautiful and perfect for smaller-sized bass. I picked a couple up at Cabela's the other day but haven't had a chance to try them out yet. I think the Bill Lewis mini ones are too small.

Hey guys, wondering if you can help...I have an interview soon and I'm gonna be presenting a product to the interviewers as kind of a sales pitch, and I decided what better than to present a senko? Anyway, just wondering if you guys have any, or know where to find any video clips of the senko's underwater action. I've been trying to find videos of the subtle wiggling action underwater when it's sinking (or really any good videos involving senkos for my powerpoint presentation), but haven't had much luck. I'd really appreciate any links or help you all could provide. Thanks! ;D

Thanks Tin - I'll try Amos. I've been meaning to fish there but just haven't gotten around to actually fish it yet.

They're great baits - when the fishing is really tough, or if I have an hour or two after work and I feel like messing around, I'll throw one of the beans on my UL trout rig and just catch a bunch of little fish of all species.

I like using the little GYCB ones (pumpkinseed especially) t-rigged around lily pads. You can work them over the pads then let them sink once you get to the edge. I've had some really good days with this method. I prefer chunks for jig trailers.

The Falcon organizers are the best. I wish they weren't so expensive, but they definitely waste the least amount of space. I'm slowly moving from the standard 3700 boxes to all Falcon-type boxes, but this will take all winter probably. I also need more lures ;D

One thing no one has mentioned is confidence. Personally, I have more confidence with a bait that cost 20 bucks as opposed to a 5 dollar lure. There may not be a valid reason for the increased confidence, but it's confidence nonetheless. On tough days I'll tie on the expensive boys and really believe that I have a better shot at some decent fish. I believe this to be true, but I can't say, and I don't think anyone can say, that it actually is true. What is definitely true is that you will catch more and bigger fish if you're confident than if you are not confident, and if you are more confident with a certain lure, then you will tend to catch more and bigger fish with that lure. So more expensive, higher quality lures may, if not directly, at least indirectly catch you better fish. If fishing more expensive lures doesn't make you more confident, then you may not catch more fish with them. However, I do believe that the higher end lures actually do perform better on average, especially on difficult days (which, come to think of it, is probably why these lures give me confidence...). Plus, I hate tuning lures on the water, so this is yet another advantage. Did I say before I'm not a bait snob? Edit: I'm not a full-fledged bait snob yet, but will probably get to that point soon, especially with the huge rack of LC's at the new Cabela's 15 mins from my house.

I think you guys are being a little tough on the rich guys who get all the expensive stuff (I'm definitely not one of those, for the record). If you have the money, by all means go buy all the most expensive equipment if it makes you happy, even if you're a lousy angler. However, if you're a lousy angler with all the toys, once you start bragging and running your mouth, you lose your right not to be made fun of 8-) Personally, I'm not a bait snob, but am slowly gravitating towards the more expensive baits. I just like how they look, and the quality difference is definitely noticeable in the action and durability.

Any of you CT guys know of any lakes/ponds with decent fall action? I'm looking to go out Sunday, and I'd rather go out for bass than pike, but if you have advice for either I'd appreciate it. I'm just figuring out where I'm gonna go. It's supposed to by windy/rainy Saturday so I'll probably go to the casino, but Sunday looks like a decent forecast.

Been to the Cabela's many times - it's 15 minutes from my house. It's AWESOME. I haven't been able to find something that I need and that they do not have, and I'm not sure that I will.

SPRO frogs are good, but rubber frogs (SIZMIC toads, YUM horny toads, Gambler cane toads, etc) are more versatile and I think more effective in general (and cheaper). If you haven't tried those, do yourself a favor. They're a lot of fun to use and the bite starts earlier in the year and finishes later than you would guess.

I like that discussion JWO - is that from a psych course? Anyway, I get pretty depressed in the winter, just by default (d**n that Melatonin), but mostly because I can't do some of the things I enjoy most in life (fishing - ice fishing does not do it for me at all, golf, just being outside in the warmth). I usually just play a lot of internet poker and go to Foxwood's a bunch. I need to get one of those sun lamps. Anyway, wintertime duldrums almost seem worth it when spring comes around. When it starts getting warmer, I drive around to many different lakes just to see which ones are gonna ice out first, and I even make casts to holes in the soft ice, even though I'm pretty sure I won't get any hits. The pure act of casting a lure and retrieving it is just awesome after a winter indoors. In this respect fishing in the Northeast is a nice change from the South - I would guess that fishermen in the South (much like southern golfers) burn out a lot more easily than northern anglers just because they're doing it all year long. Anyway Other, you can't force your interest in fishing, but I defy you to go out, catch a few nice fish, and not have a helluva time. If you are able to catch fish and not have as much fun as you do while playing video games, stick to the video games. Be happy.

Prozac and a sun lamp

Hey guys, wondering if you could help me out a bit... Two nights ago I decided instead of going for sluggish LMB in my local ponds to fish a little cove off of the CT river for some stripers. I fished from shore. I've never really chased schoolie stripers before, and I really don't know anything about them at all. I couldn't get them to hit my topwaters, so I tied on a 4 inch Storm swimbait and ended up getting three fish, biggest about 6 lbs. Those babies can fight - the 6 lber went on 4 or 5 runs pulling out a good bit of drag ;D (drag was set about 8 pounds, using 15lb PowerPro). Anyway, I went out again last night and got one single hit over 2.5 hours, and caught no fish. The place I'm fishing is the little canal-type thing that leads from the CT River to a cove called Wethersfield Cove, and the fish were caught under a bridge where the streetlights shine down into the water. Is this time of year in CT not very productive for stipers in these types of areas? What types of lures would you recommend? Do colors matter as much for stripers as for LMB? I'm thinking the reason I didn't get any last night is because there just weren't as many fish there as there were two nights ago. It was also significantly colder last night than the night before. What do you think? I'm gettin' desparate here trying to find fish I can catch at night now that it's getting colder. I work during the day during the week so night fishing is my only option until the weekends. I'd love to be able to go out a couple nights a week and have a good shot at catching some schoolies. Any help is much appreciated.

In the future when I'm living in Miami, my flats boat will be "I got a bone" For bonefish, of course. Really mature huh? Yeah I came up with it when I was about 12.

This past year from late spring until early fall I fished a couple hours after work everyday during the week from shore at a bunch of little ponds in my area, and on the weekends I'd either take the canoe and Minn Kota out and travel 30 mins to an hour to better lakes or I'd go out in a friend's boat. A full day on the water was around noon 'til after dark, or dawn to around 2 pm. For a while I was going night fishing for 3 hours or so 3-4 times a week. Now that it's getting chilly, I'm either chasing smallies in NH on the weekends or nightfishing for schoolie stripers along coves on the CT river, from shore. I need to get a boat next spring. But to answer the question, when there's not ice on the water, I probably average 5 times a week, even if it's for an hour or two (I'm young and don't have any real commitments yet...).