A-Jay

Berkley Powerbait Beast. A-Jay

Hey Thanks Jeff - Looks Like I've been upgraded to "Human" status. It's a Good Day. A-Jay

Thanks for the support shimmy. And I hear you about burning out, I'll keep it in mind. Sometimes I am a victim of my own enthusiasm. So I'll try to go for quality and perhaps not so much quantity. Even though is early in the game, one of my many initial impressions is that there will have to be a decent amount of "putting in the time" with this venture. Sort of the nature of the beast. A-Jay

Have you ever spent a few days on the water in less than idea conditions lets say. Then you take a day off to take care of business and the day turns out to be perfect weather wise. So you're looking up at the sky, bumming out and kicking yourself all day for not going. Yea, well that's me today . . . . . . . . A-Jay

Rain fore casted here for the weekend. My property is in need of some TLC, so I'm on it. Might get out again on Sunday. A-Jay

Oh The Humanity . . . . A-Jay

< < < < < < < < < < < 10-11 She Clobbered a 1 oz spinnerbait - Custom job. A-Jay

**** Trip Log **** Fished 7am – 6pm - Air temp low 60’s – Water Temp 53-57 - Winds NW 10 -15 Water is very clear. It was a nice quiet, calm morning and I like it that way. I was able to anchor up on one of the spots I planned on fishing yesterday. I got on it first thing. It’s a drop in front of a creek which connects two of the lakes. With the wind blowing from the north for 3 days, there’s a nice current dumping into the second lake and down the drop. I parked my butt there in 38 ft till noon. There was a bit of a flurry right off the bat; a small green one and then a mid-sized brown one. Both ate a Black Jelly worm. That was it. Even though I’m fishing painfully slow, the morning went by surprisingly quick. And right on cue, the wind came on around 11:30. I hauled up the mushrooms and went on a little recon mission looking for what might be a good place to start in the morning. I marked a few spots off main lake points that might be worth investigating as the summer comes on. But until the post spawn, I’m sticking with the areas associated with the reproduction process. I could really use a new electronic unit. The old Hummingbird Sonar/GPS combo is not really suited for this venture. What was that ? . . . I think I hear a Dragonfly . . . . . . . . . I’m back on the water in the morning. A-Jay

Thank you very much for the input gentlemen. I do appreciate it. Looks like the hurricane has subsided a bit. I'm out the door A-Jay

**** Trip Log **** Fished 7am – 7pm - Air temp low 60’s – Water Temp 52-55 Winds NNW 15 -20 and Gusty :c( Water Carity - Very Clear, Could see the bottom in 18 - 20ft. Well my first trip was a bit Brutal. The wind was really not cooperating at all. Normally I’m a big fan of a good stiff breeze but this was a little much. I learned a few things right away. Stitching with 10lb braid in the wind is a *****. Precision anchoring (with 2 anchors) in 20 knot winds in a canoe is also a *****. Pike will eat a Stitched worm, and a Stitched stick bait, and just about anything else. OK I guess I already knew that one. So I had a basic plan which included a few spots where I wanted to set up. I knew the wind was going to make it tough and once on the water I had to modify my plan. Essentially I had to fish areas that were sheltered from the wind at least a little. In the book, Mr. Bill talks about fishing only one or two spots a day. I think I know why he did that besides wanting to wait for the fish to turn on; setting up and then hauling in the 2 anchors gets old rather quickly. I fished 3 “spots” today. They were all similar; a drop just outside a spawning area/cove where the depth goes quickly from 25 ft. down to 35-40ft. I anchored 3 ways on each spot. I sat shallow and worked up the drop. I sat deep and worked down the drop. And I sat parallel to the drop and worked along the drop. This turned out to be the one that got me bit. In the somewhat calmer water, it was much easier to first, perform the stitching action without the line blowing all over the place and two, actually maintain some contact with the bait. A single split shot was just too light today. I ended up re-rigging a few times and settled on a pegged 1/16 oz. lead bullet weight. 6 inch Jelly worms and 5 inch Stick baits got bit. No Giants but a few bantam weight bass both brown and green variety made an appearance along with half a dozen 2-4lb pike. Surprisingly I did not get bit off today. All the bites came near the top end of the drop closer to 25 ft. than 30 ft. According to the author, catching this size bass in an area means it’s time to look elsewhere. I was just trying to stay out of the gusty winds. Also, I haven’t been that happy to catch 2 lb. bass in a long time. Over all, this first trip was better than I expected in that I actually caught a few fish. I will admit however, that it was all I could do to keep from pitching a jig and craw at the deep water docks all day. With the high sun and blue skys, there are almost always a few decent fish to be had. I’m back on the water in the morning. With a forecast for less wind, I’m hoping to get on the spots I could not fish today. A-Jay

And you should be Proud ~ But when you first set the hook, you we thinking . . . . Replica ~ Go Ahead, Admit it . . . . A-Jay

Hey Elwood, we're putting the band back together . . . . . . . Down on Lake Baccarac. The Scrounga Club ~ They are just not right. A-Jay

A Word About Tackle ~ As his Stiching Rig of choice, Mr. Murphy preferred a 7 ½ foot, two piece Fiberglass rod (which was custom made to his specs) and a light duty salt water spinning reel. He describes how the glass rod helps fight the fish much in the same way a modern day angler would a crankbait rod. The slightly larger reel is desirable for its spool width which aids in casting distance and helps manage the monofilament line he used. The act of stitching the worm in itself can cause loops and tangles in the line and the author noted that this reel size did not contribute to that. Though I would tend to agree with this philosophy, my tackle choices will be different, for a couple of reasons. First, I don’t own any glass spinners so I’m going to try to make my graphite sticks work. Second, I’m a fan of braid and a mono leader so I’ll be going that route. His choices and preferences for fishing other techniques (jigs, cranks and spinnerbaits) are more along the lines of conventional/current thinking. My choices here are what I normally use for these baits, however where, when and how I fish them will be different from what I’ve done in the past (or ever). My stitching rigs start with a Fenwick Elite Tech Smallmouth spinning rod; a 7’4” medium and a 6’9” medium both rated for 6-12 line. The reel for both rods is a Pfleuger Supreme 9235XT Spinning reel. Both reels are loaded with 10lb Sufix 832 Braid in Moss Green. I’m using 2 different brand leader lines; Berkley Big Game in both clear and green & Maxima Ultragreen in 10lb test. I’m planning on using a longer leader length than I usually do (around 15 ft. or so). The thinking here is that this might provide a little stretch and hopefully compensate for the stiffer / faster action rods during a spirited brawl with my intended target. The plan is to sit off my spots a good distance and make a long cast. So I could see myself building these rigs with an even longer leader which may turn out to be better. I’ve been using these rigs for 2 seasons now for various techniques and am comfortable and confident that they will be more than adequate for this application. Time will tell. I’m putting the finishing touches on the boat, trailer and tackle today and plan on seeing the sunrise from the lake tomorrow morning. So the Journey begins . . . . . . . A-Jay

"Do You Scratch Your New Crankbaits ?" Only if they are very Itchy and they ask nicely . . . . . . Sorry I couldn't help myself A-Jay

No he'd never do anything like that - would he ? This is all just in fun . . . . mostly. A-Jay

Nice work in the Granite State ~ A-Jay

I haven't gotten out yet. Looking to be on the water this week buy this crazy weather is not making it easy. Sun, snow, rain, wind, rain, sun, sun, rain, snow, wind, rain - make up your mind already . . . . . . . A-Jay

During the pre spawn and right through the post spawn, I'll be looking for and fishing deep staging spots ( I hope). Water temp will be whatever they will be - I'll just be stitching my *** off all day. A-Jay

Good retention there J. Yea the glod hook thing is interesting - Bill was pretty adamant that the gold was a big fish magnet. I might have to save that one for when a Hail Mary is needed. A-Jay

No man should ever remove another mans trophy from the live well and silently release it while the other said man is on the bow relieving himself; especially when no picture has been taken yet of said fish . . . . A-Jay

Welcome to BR ~ ! Looking forward to hearing from you. Do you think you could post up a couple of photos of the Lakes you fish and the Bass you've caught ? I'd love to see them. A-Jay

Me Too ! A-Jay

Jigs and Swimjigs are a couple of my Go To baits when I'm actually targeting Pike. These baits fish effectively through the very waters the pike routinely inhabit. Some type of wire leader does come in handy. A-Jay

Selecting the Lake ~ I am very fortunate in that I am literally surrounded by lakes. Most have a pretty decent population of bass. But in order to truly get the most out of these techniques, and to follow the guidelines in the book, I’ve chosen to fish one body of water all season. It’s the lake that I caught my MI pb in. It’s actually 3 lakes connected by a 2 short creeks. These waters are designated and stocked with rainbow trout so there’s plenty of quality bass food available. They’re all deep (over 80 ft) and very clear and clean. There is also some real submarine size pike that I’m routinely abused by. I see no reason why that should change. Most fish caught are healthy and very fat. The place gets minimal trout fishing pressure and even less anglers seeking bass, just the way I like it. I’ve been fishing here for 5 years including quite a bit of night ops. I know the mid to shallow depths well, however I will have to spend some time right off the bat looking for the types of deep water spots described in the book. Should be fun and I’m really looking forward to it. A-Jay