J Francho

Its works with Diet Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Coke Classic, and a few other soda pops I enjoy.

When you can spell considered correctly. And yes, guides are pros, and some don't fish tournaments, and certainly not to derive their primary income.

Spawn. Pick your quarry. Bubba shot plastics, jigs, t-rig creatures with huge pegged weights,and Senkos.

Easter thread, first post from almost three years ago...LMAO

I thought about that too, but I wanted to make it as simple as possible for the people. I guess that wouldn't be too much to ask that everyone had a camera, but it may be hard trying to take photos of fish in a kayak... There's already a standard in place, and for big time cash and prizes. Do a google for kayak bass fishing, and check it out. As far as resources for tournaments, this is where you have to do some legwork. Acquiring sponsors should be no problem, if you look in the right places. Kayak fishing is in explosion mode right now, and many companies are looking to get in. I bet you could get a place to supply standardized rulers easy. Money for digicams is probably out there as well.

That's a great idea. A big old nightcrawler or soft shell crawfish on a bait hook should do the trick. I like the fly rod idea too. If the pond is that tiny, at least make it interesting.

Paul, so much for my "if I catch a record, its going on ice" theory....I totally forgot that the NYS record is 1-15. This guy was easily over 2. I'm a little upset at myself, but I'll be making a copy of the records list... AJ, rocky tournaments are a long standing tradition up here, from the days when there was no catch and release season. Since before '06 it was illegal to even target fish before the end of June, holding a rock bass tournament bent the rules a bit. Having a few stud rockies in your livewell indicated your target species, and you'd invariably run into many, many of the pre spawn/no spawn bass maruding the shallows. Shimmy, Great Lakes fishing offers so many opportunities for different species. I can hit swampy, wooded, weed choked water, or great expanses of open water, all from the same launch. The bonus is, even though the bays are in spawn mode now, the big lake will be a few more weeks, just the beds are a bit deeper.

6/0 Gamakatsu Octopus hook, Gamakatsu #02416, or 5/0 Owner Mosquito hook. Either one, snelled. You can add a bait holder mad from shrink tube, Videos Here

Nice catch J........what's a googly? Thanks. Local name for a Rock Bass: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_bass Rocky Balboa, googly, google eye, goggle eye, red eye, are few others. b.Lee, its relaxing, in its own way. Sometimes frustrating in that you can't get away from your gear. Just another tool to get to the fish for me.

Not the way I read it. It ain't no deal as far as I'm concerned. Nope, nice reels, cheap sunglasses. I was actually needling Dan. with complications. Another: will I be able to write off the full value of the reel purchase if the reel is for business use? Or will I have to deduct the value of the glasses from that write off? And what brand of braid should I use on the reel? C'mon Dan, you have the answers. ;D

This one really blows my mind.....someone is trying to kill you, and you want to ponder whether they deserve to die for that? Tell you what, I'm actually against capital punishment, but this is a freaking no brainer, LMAO.

That's a bunch of nonsense.

Thanks Dwight, Kent, ETX. I think I may have tossed a state record googly back. NYS record rock bass is 1-15. This fish was close, if not bigger. Oh well, LOL.

J you can also just shoot to wing someone. You can also shoot to just to scare people. Both stupid. Seriously dude, you need education. If you draw, then your intent is to kill. That's what guns do.

Does shipping and sales tax count toward the minimum price?

To do otherwise up here is against the law until the third Saturday in June. As far as "destruction to wildlife" I'd say grow up, or find another hobby that doesn't involve hooks.

You sure they're smallmouth? Doesn't sound like smallmouth habitat at all. I'd throw a jig, however.

Beginners or amateurs? Amateurs, and I mean those with some fishing experience, usually think they know more than they do. They get to a plateau in their ability, and quit learning. I know I've been there at times.

This line always cracks me up. Why ELSE would you shoot? I mean, that is the point of a gun. :

LC Sammy 115.

Digital cameras, standardized ruler, and AMI calculator.

I haven't been putting up reports of every trip out, mainly because although the fishing has been great the past few weeks, I haven't really figured out the big girls. Big time numbers for May, well over 300 largemouth, over 50 smallies, many drum, brown trout, and steelhead. The rock bass have moved up as well. Here is a report from Sunday. Earlier in the week, fish were still on main points, but active shallow to mid depths. By the weekend, they'd moved to spawning flats. Oddly, no weeds yet. Funny bit on Port Bay this weekend. I launch at dawn, and a few minutes later, I see bass boats file in from the big lake. Bass season hasn't opened yet, so I'm wondering who would be running from another bay - would be less gas to simply launch at the bay you want to fish. So, I run into one of the boats, and they tell me they're having a rock bass tournament out of Sodus. Makes sense. They were actually laughing that it will be a good day for bassin', and might be difficult to catch a big googly. Next cast, the guy on the front of the boat bangs a huge smallie that launches and shakes off. We're all laughing about it, and he says sorry for catching my fish. About two seconds later, I get a big hit on a jig pitched to the back pylon of a dock. Despite the strike, fish felt smaller. Yep, not a bass, a googly that would go every bit of 16"!!!! I tell the guys I caught their fish, so we're even. We all laughed, but I did feel bad about that one. Fish was probably worth over grand to them, and a minor nuisance to me. I put Rocky Balboa right back on its pylon, and told the guys to try for it again in a while. I have no idea if they got it or not. I went back in the afternoon, and found only a male guarding a fresh bed where they lost the big smallie. He was easy pickings, a nice 2.5 lb. fish. I spotted many large fish, but often had to fish through the rats to get to them. I'd pitch a bait near my target, and five scrubs would come flying in out of nowhere to be the first to hit my bait. I used this opportunity to use some baits I hadn't had success on and to see what those rats would actually eat. They really wanted bigger...the bigger I went, the more aggressive these pre spawn/no spawn fish got. Funny seeing a 16" rat with a 9" swimbait hanging out of its mouth, LOL. Two fish had my attention for over an hour each. Both were largemouth, 6 lbs. easy, maybe over 7. Could not entice them. I didn't see as many smallies, but they were there. This fish took about 20 minutes to convert into a biter, unusual for a smallie on a bed. Biggest fish of the day, a little shy of 4 lbs. A very nice lake smallie for the area, though a little beat up. Note the black spot.

Snaps and swivels, just never together.

Both lakes, look shallow, right now.

Uni or Palomar.