J Francho

This will sound nuts....Sammy. Seriously, I get more smallmouth bites working topwater over very deep water (45-70'). Action can be incredible. But if we're talking deep running lures, tubes, drop shot finesse plastics, jig, shorty spoons all produce well too.

Total fiction....the NOAA never gets the forecast right, LOL.

Smallies love Camels... This northern didn't, though: But this one did: Even gobies like them: Even good old dad gets on the action (look to his left): Spare me the "you gotta quit" posts....I know. ;D

That sounds like a plan for big fish. Its a lot of commitment, though. There will be times you'll want to react to whats going on, though stick with the big fish mentality. One situation is when fish are busting the surface, feeding on bait fish in the middle of the day. Gonna be tough to stick with the jig when that is happening. Tie on a HUGE musky-size top water or jerkbait, and see if there's a monster, waiting in the wings.

Its total nonsense. The bearings in the PT series are pretty decent, but nothing magical, as the hype says.

These freeze up pretty nicely. My wife is still working on the salmon from last fall. I vacuum seal them in individual portions. I actually don't eat trout and salmon - not my thing, but I have a pile of recipes that make for friends and family. brown trout rolled in egg, flour, egg yolk, and crushed macadamia nuts and fried in oil is a favorite. I also smoke a bunch it as well. My 84 year old grandmother goes crazy for smoke cooked steelhead!

I don't use long pauses, they usually only result in northern pike up here, anyway. My longest pauses are no more than 5 seconds. Cover water, look for aggressively feeding fish.

Sorry, forgot about this one, and its one my favorite fishing scenes...

Thanks so much Lee. That is Upper Saranac Lake, leaving from Fish Pond Creek. Here is another view, and if I'm not mistaken is Whiteface Mountain in the background. Without the boat spray, the picture would be a cracker. And a couple taken of me that I like: Photo by Jesse W. Photo by Jesse W. Photo by Roger G.

By far, my best producing hard jerkbait this past spring was a Lucky Craft Flash Minnow 110 in MS Am. Shad.

I'm getting both. If I were to get the flu, it could be very serious.

I've never cared for the mushy, fatty meat on pellet fed stocker trout. I prefer something that's been swimming around in nature, and building up that delicious, lean meat. Chek out the color of the flesh on this brown: Cooks up delicious:

I forgot to mention that I remove all split rings from the line tie. Even the oval style are the source of most foul running baits.

For crankbaits....a snap, specifically a #2, 3 or 4 Duo-Loc snap. No swivel!

Google must be down again...pwn = "perfect own."

Moving fish from body of water to body of water is not legal in many states.

What I posted were two "stockers" though the second one has obviously spent a few years in the big lake feeding upon the alewives. The upper fish probably lives in the creek year round, eating bugs. If you look over my shoulder in the second pic, and read the surface tension, you can tell there is a deep, sweeping trench, about 3-4' deep max, that holds wintering trout. These fish will travel through just inches of water, following the spawning browns, and remaining in deep holes most of the winter. My location is definitely unique, and possibly the best trout fishery in the east.

Define "sissy" fish, < 1 #, < 12", ??? Im beginning to wonder if it is worth the effort. Sissy fish: Stud:

Another article worth checking out: http://www.burniehaney.com/files/Cold_Water_Jerkbaits_LOO_Spring_09_.pdf

I was taught to snell my hooks by my grampa. I sort of forgot about it, until my buddy showed me how effective it was for using a heavy straight shank hook for flipping t-rigs. I now also use it when when fishing a wacky rig. Its so easy, fast, and very secure. If you use a hook with a bend in the eye, its the best for a straight pull on the hookset.

Just poured it on the source of the bleeding. Mountain Dew is the most recommended, but I've had luck with Coke, Pepsi, Diet Pesi, and Diet Wild Cherry Pepsi as well. I bet plain old soda water would work too. We used to use that to briefly anesthetize larger tropical fish and koi that needed medical attention.

That particular song is really not typical TMV....take a listen to some other tracks, like Sarcophogi. Keep in mind, many of their songs are epic, and run over into other tracks, representing larger "pieces." Also, take a look at At the Drive In, which is the origin of TMV and Sparta.

Actually, I was able to stop the bleeding with some cola, and the fish swam away without issue. We were there all day, and we spotted it setting up on the reeds, presumably to rest. The fish looked like it would do fine, which was good - I did not want to take that smelly thing home to eat. Little axe handles caught in spring from cold streams are great eating, but big honking slobs living in the frogwater at the end of summer are disgusting. You just cannot imagine the smell. Even the blood smelled bad. Oh yeah, picked up a set of looooong pliers, and some sevenstrand. Going back tomorrow, LOL.

Site fishing on the graph is definitely for depths greater than 10', usually closer to 20'+. I'm not so hot at it, but I keep trying when the situation presents itself. More often than not, I go over a fish while drifting, and a few moments later get bit. The swimming thing just looks so cool. You can have your little worm or whatever, suspending over a weed clump, just sitting there. then for some reason it takes off, and GALUMP!!!! The strikes with this range from the typical wiggle and added weight from a deep drop shot bite to very violent. I'm also always amazed at how two very different types of fishing can be the same. The other night on Deadliest Catch, Sig was commenting about how the crab were relating to structure, pointing to a depth chart. Pretty cool.