Dwight Hottle

My fishing buddy hooked one in the talon back in March while fishing shiners on Toho. She put up a fierce fight until we could get her/him unhooked at boat side. Came in talons first with wings flapping. When you see the talons up close & personal they are pretty impressive.

That sounds right. Lake trout grow up north slowly gaining between one & one & a half pounds per year.

Your right the winter season is probably the best time to fish it. The pressure is off & the smallie population might be easier to locate.

@TnRiver46 Yes the week we were there it was low 90's and were off the water at lunch time.

Don't feel bad. DH went to DH 3 years ago in mid May and it was a major disappointment. We caught about a dozen smallies up to 4lbs the first day fishing with a guide using live bait. Subsequent days were on our own & only caught largemouth using artificials. The locals we talked to fish mostly at night come late May. Beautiful waters but not my choice for trophy smallmouth.

Last week on Erie Rob & I were fishing the same bait. After netting a double we were comparing bait action boat side. I always use a snap attached to the split ring on this particular bait. Rob had attached his snap to the line tie bypassing the split ring. Two light taps of my rod caused the bait to veer off 90 degrees to the left then 90 degrees to the right for a whole 180 movement. When Rob tried two light taps his bait was not nearly as animated only moving a little left & right. When he reattached the snap to the split ring it mimicked mine. When in doubt to use the split ring or not you need to try it both ways to determine which gives the best action. If the bait comes with a split ring I attach to it with a snap. If it comes without a ring I attach to the line tie. I’m assuming they know best from testing if they want a split ring or not.

Welcome. Your going to like it here.

Congratulations to her & mom & dad. Definitely a proud moment.

I saw a black & white photo of the 101 lb laker netted commercially up on Lake Athabaskan Canada. It had the same shape with the girth almost equal to the length. The conjecture was it was a non spawning fish spending all its energy feeding. A 40 lb lake trout is achievable on the right waters but not common. A 50lb laker is a true trophy by any standards.

All I can say is wow. Very impressive accomplishment. https://www.outdoorlife.com/fishing/world-record-lake-trout/

@keagbassr your fish always look well fed & stocky.

Ethics have nothing to do with it. Satisfy your curiosity and learn from it.

@Fat Ika I use the 33lb or 60lb .

Try these. Straight end to thread at a different angle. https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Owner_Hyper_Welded_Quick_Snaps_6pk/descpage-OHQS.html

@katmandew look at the JDM shimano reels they offer the PG which is 5.5 ratio.

Early season smallies up north always has me shaking my head knowing Mother Nature can mix it up with the best. Nice catch.

d**n I hope they left you some mustard. I know that feeling about losing a good one on the jump. I lost two biggies that pulled lose at the boat last week. Both heart breakers. Glad you made back ok.

@king fisher job well done. Two thumbs up.

I always use snaps only no swivel. In most cases I attach it to the split ring. I use 30-60 lb rated welded hyper wire. Never had a failure. The leader breaks off or the drag slips before the snap is compromised.

Very impressive no matter what your age & they were all on top water early in the season.

That performance is making it look a lot better. Twenty teams over 30 lbs is pretty impressive.

Ain't going to happen. I hate sheephead and would never hold one for a picture.

Day five of our final day of the trip. Two bad days followed by two good days left us hoping for a third good day. Robert had two PB’s his first 6lb smallie and a super bonus 12lb brown trout. My bonus fish consisted of two out of season walleye and an enormous sheepshead or fresh water drum. The smallie bite was off because of a wind shift to the NE bringing colder water back into play slowing the bite. We did pick at the smallies all day. Water temps for the trip went from 48-52. Water clarity improved daily. Like the previous day jerk baits ruled. We caught them in 18-22 fow & also in 10-16 fow. Hot baits were the smithwick rogue deep diver & the lucky craft pointer 128.

We were using suspending deep divers in lucky craft, smithwick & rapala. By using 10 lb braid with a mono leader you can get the baits down to 15-18 fow. They will come up a long way when you have good visibility in the water column.

Most blade baits are silver or gold in color but there are some painted ones. I use several different brands but they are all highly similar except for hardware meaning hooks & split rings. The brands that don’t use split rings I avoid otherwise I have to add the rings so I can change out hooks as needed. Gold works better in dirty water & silver in clean water.