J Francho

Got out on I-bay today. Spent most of the day deep cranking, but did take time to hit some of the assorted laydowns, oil drums, and sunken cars, LOL. Had a funny fish on a jig, with my line draped over a log. Ended up launching the fish over my shoulder on the hookset. Obviously a dink. I ended up with about 25 fish, most were legal size, and four over 3 lbs., the biggest being 3.35. No monsters, though I did catch a nice northern and a drum (sheephead). One weird thing that ticked me off. I'm paddling by a marina, maybe about 50 yards off the deepest slip. There is this pontoon boat idling toward me. I figure they saw me catch a fish, and were going to stop and shoot the bull. As they close in - and there really isn't any reason for them to head my way, unless they wanted to talk, I keep fishing and give the capt. the "nod" and say hi. They guy just stares in my direction, he's not a young guy, maybe in his 50's, so I'm not thinking he's going to start trouble. He gets withing about 6 feet of my yak, turns hard to port, spinning the stern in my direction, which is now about 4 feet from me. I am standing, and figure, what a jerk, and keep fishing. Then he hits the throttle full blast and motors away as fast as his POS 'toon can go. I'm like what is that all about? Whatever, I called the Sheriff, and gave him the last 4 numbers of his reg. Hope he had a nice night. I know what slip he came from, and you can bet I'll be skipping some 1 oz. jigs under his 'toon, LOL. What a Nixon! Other than that, it was a great day. Sky was mostly overcast with breaks of sunlight, wind alternated W to NW or NNW, <15 mph. I didn't get water temps, but they had to be in the mid to upper 70s. Most fish came from well off key ledges in 8 to 12 FOW. A few came on spinnerbait, slow rolled and popped off weeds and drop offs, another nice fish on a t-rig Anaconda, but the lions share came on a LC Slim Shad, Daiwa Peanut, and LC Flat Deep diver.

The only significant difference, mechanically, is that the Sustain uses a worm and pawl to drive the oscillation, whereas the Fuego uses a typical offset cam on the idler gear. The new Fuego is NOT made of Mg, its a "super carbon" material, and saltwater safe. Either would serve you for a lifetime of fishing if well maintained. My personal choice, and I own ALL Daiwa, would be the Sustain. Why? I just like the darn thing, especially the way its put together, after having seen both reels apart.

I kill trout on those trout magnets. My cousins brother actually caught the current PA state record palomino on one also. Nice! Is this your cousin?

There's your answer!

I have two cranking rods, St. Croix Avid AVC70MM and AVCMHM. They cover everything from little PeeWee Warts up to Norman DD22. Both are "moderate" action rods.

I just PM'd roadwarrior about this.... But there is a IGFA rule that may affect the outcome: This will surely have some drama, LOL. Awesome fish!!!! Congrats to the man that caught it.

GYCB Shad Shaped worm, Zoom Fluke, Berkley Gulp! Alive Minnow are a few more.

Congrats! You are now a smallie addict!

They are great on a drop shot rig... Oneida smallie on a DS kutail:

Then you'll have this issue with ANY line you use. The solution is to troll the line behind the boat after it develops.

Improved Allbright or Uni to Uni connection.

Good to see you here.

How about you try it out, and report back?

Ochos seem quite different than Senkos, to me. They fall a little slower, have a different shape and texture, contain scent, and are a well made bait. They do catch fish. Whether they are that much different to the fish, I have no idea.

A Uni to Uni connection is very strong, but loses strength after just a few fish, so retie after a couple. If the braid is much smaller than the leader, then use a Spider Hitch knot to double the braid, and give the leader more to "bite" into. The Improved Allbright doesn't seem to suffer this malady. I don't see any difference in the thickness of the knots, but the Uni connection is longer. As far as casting, I can't tell if one is better through the guides.

I have been using 15# Power Pro on a 1500 size spinning reel for two years now. Works great. I haven't seen ANY of the issues you have listed. One issue I did have is tip wrap. This is easily resolved by using a longer fluoro leader, about 12 feet. I don't really care about diameter claims, but I do want the break strength to be close to the claim. No issues there, either. Here's a fish I caught this spring using that very set up to deliver a drop shot 4" Power Worm into a smallie bed.

Since I had that rod, no. use the spinning gear, or get a medium/xfast rod for weightless Senkos. Thanks, I just bought a 6'6" MXF Compre off of TW last week. I had a Avid 6'8" MXF, but broke it from top eyelet to the next....so it's about a 6'3" MF now. Is 10lb. Izorline good enough? I don't really use much heavier line than that normally. I use 15# Power Pro with 8# CFX fluoro leader on spinning gear.

So did the show. Too glitzy and sensational to me. I hate it when they say the angler was trying to "snag" the big one. Snagging isn't fishing.

Lake Ontario. Its mostly water. See background in picture.

Respool, but use a mono backer....slippage will stop.

If the water is up, then is came from somewhere. Find the creek mouths, and work deep from there. They will be there, but you might have to fish very slow.

I crossed off a few, and added a couple. Nice list Catt! This has to be the toughest price point around. There aren't too many choices here, and I really think you have to be careful with what you get.

You could have just read the freakin' link he posted. The title reads: "Hooked: New Series, Monday 10PM," sort of like (or exactly) what he posted. http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/series/hooked/all/Overview Now go feed your guppies ;D

I prefer the term serendipity. There is a great quote from Wikipedia's article: "luck is probability taken personally." This discussion will go on and on.....no one will be right or win, since it is linked to an individuals beliefs. Its too deep rooted for it to be anything other than what each of us thinks it was. Most of my biggest fish weren't luck. My very 1st big fish probably was, though.

Apparently the first was a singular special, not a series. This looks to be several episodes, making it a new series. And thanks, Brent, for the original heads up.