J Francho

Paul, did you see the Fishing Geeks broke their own record again? http://www.fishinggeeks.net/

There are tandem kayaks, but for fishing, it would be easier from a jon of a canoe.

I let anyone that fishes with me try my gear out, even n00bs.

I don't doubt that a fish of that size was registered. The picture is not of that fish. No way.

I mostly throw only REALLY BIG stuff at night, and don't have a spinning rod that would handle them. Get a Daiwa reel. I have no issue with setting the Mag-Z brakes to 10. The spool stops at just about the end of the cast with the proper spool tension. As others have said, you learn to time it out after a while anyway.

Here's a 26-14 fish. I call bologna on the picture being the record pike. BTW, do you have a link to the story?

Huge congrats to the angler, but I don't think that's the record fish. I've seen pics of mid 20's, and they are WAY bigger than the fish pictured. For reference, here's one that was a bit over 12 lbs. that I caught this past Sunday:

I guess I look at "finesse tactic" as something different - a way to fish, not a specific bait. That said, dead sticking and the "grip," where I simply squeeze the rod to impart a tiny bit of action are probably the two most deadly tactics. Works with any jig or soft plastic.

Although I recently had a field day on a northern pike topwater bite, fall is a great time for BIG bucktail spinners and BIG jerkbaits.

This has to be at least the 3rd time its been posted here. The video has gone viral!!! Seriously, they say, "Wear your kill switch, it will save your life." I say, don't drive like a freakin' moron.

I use a 5.8:1 reel with no issues. For years, I had sub 5:1 ratio reels, and fished buzzbaits.

http://zoombait.com/worms/finesse/fish-doctor/

Those ladies followed us all over the place, LOL. I picked up a spool of 30 lb. sevenstrand today....I'm going back well prepared

This is how my father used to make them for us when we were kids. "Polack Crab Legs" is what he called them (my dad is 100% Polish), just pick the meat off the bones, and dip it in butter. While these guys came from relatively cool creek water, I would not want to eat them after a long summer of algae blooms in the bay. They stink to high heaven, an I can imagine the flesh is pretty nasty as well. In spring, when the water is just warming up after their spawn seems to be the best time for eating pike. Also, these guys live in what i call the "City Dump," not a place I'd eat fish from, LOL: "Nice bass, where'd you catch it?" "You know that stump field by the west shore? he was set up on a bed right next to a rusty 55 gal. oil drum and a tire." ;D

That's pretty standard, based on recommendations for viewing digital images. Older displays are probably set much lower. For contrast, my wide screen 15" laptop is set to 1900x1200, and the pics take up about 1/2 the screen. For me, real estate is more important than big fonts. I can't barely read anyway, LOL. You are welcome to view all my fishing images here: http://plan-b.smugmug.com/Family/Fishing-Journal/1995135_vdSnJ. You should be able to select your preferred size.

It depends on the boat. Some are better than others. On my OK PBG, its about 100 times easier than standing in a small semi-V boat, since its designed for standing. See my post in "Other Species" for some fish fighting action from the yak.

Your resolution is set way too low. They view fine on my monitor, which is set to 1280x1024.

What started as a recon mission Saturday, for salmon, ended up being an awesome day for northerns. I noticed that salmonoids were rolling and jumping on the north end of "The City Dump" at the outlet to Lake Ontario. So I decided to check out the City Dump creek to see if any were in the creek. I didn't find any salmon, but i did fond some bass and some toothy guys, so I called googly up to see if wanted to hit the creek in the morning. Well it was a ridiculous day of pike fishing! We found fish stacked at the upstream side on deep cuts and trenches. You sould cast the bait downstream past them, and they'd follow up the cut, or cast upstream and run the bait right into their wheelhouse. Spooks, Spinnerbaits, Chatterbaits, Ratt'l Traps, and crankbaits all caught fish. Here's the spooky part: none of had ANY leaders. In fact, the largest fish of the day was caught on a tiny Luck Craft crankbait on 8# P-Line CXX, LOL. Here's the pics: First fish of the day - right in front of the kayak shop, putting on a topwater show for the morning shoppers! That wretched has my $15 lucky craft!!!! Don't break now - so close! OK, you want to run some more.... Gimme back my Terminator, you German Shepherd with fins! Googly landing a nice, nearly 7 lb. fish. Got 'em! It took all day, but Roger's wife got a real nice one. I wonder if all those rec. yakkers know what lurks below them? Best fish of the day: 12 lbs, 37". Caught on a tiny LC Crankbait, spooled with 8# CXX! This last pic is proof of concept: you can stand on a OK Big Yak

You guys are seriously griping about the name "thug," when you can go buy a Sweet Beaver in Dirty Sanchez or Penetration? :

10" Berkley Power Worm and 5/0 Owner Offset Worm Hook.

I use 8 and 10# CXX.

Perry was right a lot of the time because his methods ruled out what was wrong. I see many anglers, like you, taking this further to figuring why what is right and what is wrong. I know many will say, there's no wrong if you're catching fish, but I honestly do not believe that. There is something deeper to the truly successful angler. Nice work.

Thanks Dan. Credit for photo #2 and #3 goes to Roger G.

Got a gull in the face with a Sammy tonight. No gulls in sight, made my cast, looked away for a split second, and the sucker grabbed the bait! What a mess, felt bad for the stupid bird. I was able to remove the hook, after clipping the barb off, and he flew away just fine.

Some of the locals, and Paul Roberts will get the reference, LOL.... Roger and I (is that a movie?) decided to set out for a half day kayak fishing trip on a lake Paul (not Paul Roberts, BR member Blue Daksi) showed me back in spring, and one that Roger hadn't fished in years. We know there are big fish in this deep, clear lake, but we had no idea it would be so tough. We were greeted with a beautiful morning scene. Nice butt shot of me prepping the PBG. Roger's new Redfish is in the foreground. Four days of clear blue skies following a cold front, and coinciding with a full moon told me that fish have been feeding heavily at night, and probably hiding deep. Drop shot worms was the ordinance of the day. How deep you ask? Try largemouth at 35'+!!! I only managed two small fish on a drop shot Roboworm in Aaron's Magic. I was very disappointed, since my last time to this lake produced two fish over 6 lbs. Those fish were both from lay downs, and although I knew no fish would be holding in the wood, we checked anyway. A rat largemouth from 35' of water on a drop shot. We pretty much covered most of the shoreline of this lake, which is basically a deep trench. I spent quite a bit of time at big ledge off shore from a creek mouth, since this is a main structural feature and the only place I marked any kind of life. Lost of machine gun hits, presumably gills and sunnies too small to be hooked. I must have blown through two bags of Roboworms, LOL. The two rat largemouths were a small achievement that offered a little bit of satisfaction, but I really hoped for something notable. I eventually gave up to meet Roger who was working some minor shoreline debris, when he waves me over. I paddle over and he holds a nice fish, nicest of the day anyway. So much for my theory of wood not holding fish! Roger always sticks a decent fish on every trip, and I was glad he got his skunk off before having to leave. Catching it on a jig while working wood is even better - my favorite way to catch fish. Roger shows off a nice bass caught on a jig, working some wood debris on the shoreline. All in all, it was a good day. Roger and I both got to try out the new Werner paddle he bought for his wife - I've got to get one, man that is a nice paddle! We also spent quite a bit of time exploring and graphing the lake. I dropped several way points of places I want to return to a little later in the fall. Maybe Blue Daksi can link up with us next time, and reveal his "secret" spots! Thanks Roger for another fun day on the water!