Dwight Hottle

Beauties so far. Here a few of my favorites.

Your new ride is looking pretty sharp!

Got my first chance to fish with an old bass resource guy this week. He is a jerk bait fool for sure. One of the few guys who likes jerk baits as much as I do for prespawn bass. Our first day yielded about 40 smallies with six over five lbs & two over six pounds. We had a great day together & learned a little from each other as well. The second day we started off with light winds & headed back to our spot form the day before. Then the wind picked up & continued to build for the rest of the day. We got about 30 bass on the second day with seven over five lbs including a 5-14 and a 5-15. Each a goby away from 6lbs. It was a slow ride back to the ramp in solid 2-4 footers. Special thanks to Jeff for a couple of great days & teaching me a few new tricks. Mother erie at her best.

Sweet!

Send a pm to Scott, sh fishinsticks, he is a member here & a very good rod builder. Also a PA boy. I'm sure he can help you.

Very nice post John. Cold & rain makes for a tough outing. Better off when it snows.

As a part time florida resident I'm wishing you the best. You never know. It can happen. Yesterday I had a great day & was getting ready to pull the plug after an hour of no action when suddenly there she was.

Great outing. Careful they grow up quick. Teach him how to run the trolling motor & sit back & relax.

My best Rage Tail fish came on a Rage Toad. Weighed 7.5 lbs. Now if Steve could just start making a hard/soft diving jerk bait for smallies! Hint, hint.

That's a nice foursome.

I got out on Erie for the first trip of 2012. Water temps out on the main lake were 43-44 degrees. Off shore wind from the SE switching to the west as the day went on. My first smallie of the year went 4.75. Then I got a 5-1 & 5-3. Caught about a dozen from 11 to 5. Last fish of the day was a brownie with a black spot near her tail. She went 22" long by 17" girth & weighed 6lb-15oz on my digital. Best five fish weighed 26.44lbs. Can't wait to see what this unusual spring has in store for the smallie fishing going forward.

I got out on Erie today for the first time. My first smallie was 4.75. Then I caught a 5-1 & a 5-3. Finished the day with a big girl that had a black spot on her tail. She measured 22.5" long by 17" girth. She weighed between 6.75 & 7.0 on my boga & weighed 6lbs-15 oz on my becknell digital. Pa state record is 8.50 lbs. 6.9375 divided by 8.50 is .816x100 =s 81.6 for the smallie category. Looks like I'm sneaking up on you Shane for the overall.

Very nice bass. Those jigs do work.

The apple doesn't fall far from the tree. He got a pretty good skill set already. Great outing for you both!

Looks like you started where you left off last year. Those brown fish make everyone smile.

Pretty big smile you must have had fun..

Goose, you are the man! Great catch. Better respool that line after the epic fight.

X4 and to add to the fine tuning use gold/brass when cloudy & silver under bright sun.

Yesterday I had a bass try to eat my frog as I lifted it from the water boatside. You never know.

Both st croix & gloomis make travel rods at the upper end.

Just use a good quality scale & forget the calculator.

2012 will probably go down as THE YEAR of big bass & new state records.

Sweet. Quality & quanity.

Yes. Sometimes we have to fail in order to suceed.

Braid for everything with a Maxima mono leader when needed.