J Francho

It isn't Spook vs. Sammy in your tackle bag, its on the water. Some days one will outproduce the other. Other days, neither works very well. That's why I have over 30 different topwater baits. Senko summed up the differences pretty well, and his experience on the water mirrors mine. Though one thing I don't get: NONE of my Zara Spooks rattle.

How big are the trout? How big is the water (depth, width, flow)? What type of baits will you use?

I would remove in pairs from opposite sides, but really, most people that I know use these don't do anything at all.

You can simply use pressure to pop them off since they are flexible, or you can use tweezers to pull the red retainer out - its spring loaded. Just don't lose the little plastic parts.

RW, I live in a great spot to be a fisherman. The NY State records are: Brown Trout 33-2 Lake O., Oswego Co. Rainbow Trout 31-3 Lake O., Niagara Co. Coho Salmon 33-7 Lake O., Oswego Co. Chinook Salmon 47-13 Salmon River, Oswego Co. Atlantic Salmon 24-15 Lake O., Wayne Co. All locations are within 90 minutes of my house. Three Fridays ago, I caught an 18 lb. brown floating a tiny ball of Berkley trout dough off a jetty near shore. Last year, my personal best brown was caught on a small spoon cast from shore. It was 22 lbs. Starting at the end of August, we've had many Chinook in the 25+ class from some undisclosed tribs. My best chrome was caught my 1st season of trout fishing three years ago, at 17 lbs. For reference, the fat hen in the last picture was probably about 10 lbs. Many of the records came from open water, and its probably true that the biggest fish stay in the lake, remaining pelagic feeders their entire life and never spawn. But I have seen some truly huge fish in some incredibly small water. Five years ago, I had no inkling that there were fish like this in these little creeks that streak the countryside. I always wondered why there were people fishing them in the middle of winter. I never saw any fish, but as it turns out, the catch and release ethic is in effect for the trout guys as well. But there are also many snaggers too, as I witnessed at a VERY famous trib Saturday. Apparently for some, flyfishing means 20' leaders and a marble sized weight attached about 6" from the hook. I keep DEC on speed dial on my cell, and that is also why some of the backgrounds are blurred. Today's cold snap of sub 30's temps will put an end to that though, LOL. And yes, that is snow in some of those pics. i had 6" of it on my car this morning . Here are a few more by my buddy. Some will recognize him from the pretty smallmouth thread. He's a good trout angler as well. Normally, I'd hide the background here, but the run is over, so no harm in it. Here's an idea of the crazy places we will go to for fish:

Looks like they where caught on salmon roe. Salmon and brown roe and skien. The big dumb Chinook was taken on a Glo Bug. A few came on artificials, but nothing beats drifting eggs this time of year.

That's very true Paul. I find that in late spring and early summer have to "fish through" the more aggressive rockies. I love them too. For three years straight, there was a VERY big female that would set up a bed next to our dock on Port Bay. She might let you catch her, if you were having a slow day. One year she stopped showing up - someone must have caught her. As for strawberry bass, we used that name for crappie. Maybe we were wrong about that? Rockies were "googly eyes, " or, "dammit, another one!" to us, LOL. I still like them.

Thanks man. We had a great time this past weekend. Bass TX was canceled due to weather, so we hit 5 tribs in six counties. Well worth the tank of gas and frozen hands.

Flambeau AZ8 and 4 or 5 rods.

They are not easily adjustable like Shimano and other brands' centrifugal systems. If the pin is in, it is on for brakes. You have to completely remove the pin to turn one off. Terrible design, if you ask me.

Red, that's cod, not rock bass.

....To my trout season Some notable catches so far this fall. My best chrome of the year:

No. You should report this to the utility company responsible for that area.

Rock bass tournaments abound in early spring around here. That's a nice one, but they can get bigger. In fact, the CT state record is 1-3. here in NY, the record is almost 2 lbs. i actually think this record has broken many times, due to simply not knowing it exists. For truly huge goggle eyes, mid May through early June, using 3-4" worms, creatures, and grubs in areas you'd call "marginal" for bass beds. You'll run into quite a few along this size: They are EXCELLENT from the pan. I'm curious as to what led to your assertion that is a hybrid of some sort? Its size? Everything else looks pretty typical for a rocky. Not all have the red goggles on all the time. At any rate, its a notable catch for your personal records.

That is the point, isn't it? They usually pass the plastics no problem. Holding tanks at large TX. usually end up with quite a bit of plastics at the bottom.

I have a Daiwa Sol that I use line down to 6# diameter, and baits down to about 1/4 oz. The reel is important, but so is the rod you choose. Makes no sense to put a light reel and line on a MH rod and expect it to throw a light bait.

Wow, I didn't realize you NE PA guys get hit so quickly. We're a bit insulated by the lake, but once she cools, its over - lake effect madness. A little March bassin' from shore on the lake:

weightless? Yes. You can also nose hook them with a drop shot hook.

SHHHHHHHH! Scroungers suck, they don't work!

I am familiar with Digenetic Trematodes, but those usually manifest as white, pill like cysts beneath the scales in muscle or gill tissue. Neascus (a digenetic trematode) appear as black dots, and is probably similar to what you've seen in catfish. It really is a fascinating life cycle. You are correct in your description of the illness, which rarely is fatal, but in the pictures you see above, is clearly malignant melanoma, and studies have shown that these fish indeed die earlier than anaffected fish from the same region. There has been a ton of recent research about this, and I haven't kept up on it. Perhaps someone currently in the field could add to this. On a side note, all this talk of critters on the skin has me itchy all over.

Never raised nightcrawlers, but these served me well with my bigger fish: http://www.aquarticles.com/articles/management/See_CulturingRedworms.html

IT Consultant.

This is what our typical Lake O. rock rats looks like: Two photos I took of the winning team at the weigh in of a recent club tx.

By far the most damaging, and lucrative virus this year has been "Windows AntiVirus 2009." This thing is a real b**** to remove. Its actually a trojan, but most users click on it, since it looks legit. Just finished another two hour, ten round battle with a tower. Each time I get a new case of it from a customer, its a little bit different. Its ike the darn thing mutates. Luckily, people smarter than I have created batch files that remove most of it, and then whatever AV program they have will scrub the rest. Just takes a looooong time to get it done, and invariable the infected machine is wildly out of date. My favorite line from the customer (usually the woman of the house), "My husband never goes gambling or porn sites." Uhh, yeah right lady ;D

I used Trilene XL on both spinning and casting gear for years, and its excellent line. A couple of years ago, I switched to Suffix Elite, and I feel its just a little better. For the past few months, I've been using 6# P-line CXX X-tra Tough on my M/ML spinning gear, and while not as supple as Trilene or Suffix, its wicked strong. For knots, I use Palomar when convenient, and a Uni when tying bigger baits.