A-Jay

Congrats on the excellent catches so far this season. And Great Pictures ! It took me a while to figure it out and I bet you already know it ~ a good dog will make a very special moment magic. Thanks for sharing. A-Jay

"120 fish before lunch" WOW ! That's just obscene. Those "bonus" lakers are gorgeous. I've also wanted to make Canadian pike / laker trip. By the looks of this one you guys had decent weather and a great time. Thank you for sharing Dwight A-Jay

Now that's a MOGAN Bass for sure ! WTG A-Jay

Holy Smokes Dwight ! You did it again ! 600 pike in a week, that's a life time of fish for most of us. I caught two last week and I thought that I was the man - haha. If you were out for 8 hours each day ~ that's a fish every 5 minutes and 36 seconds ! Your guide certainly earned his tip that week. A-Jay

We must both be nerds then ~ with so many lakes in my immediate area, I have found that having a record of dates, times, locations, baits, weather and water temps etc is very helpful . . . A-Jay

This year it's been jigs as I made a vow to fish them more this season. But there is almost always a Chigger Craw hitching a ride on every jig I throw. A-Jay

Good Post - I am going to give this a try. I have faith in that hook and snell. I have fished that rig as a live bait hook with a live eel as bait for striped bass (salt water version). The hook does have a slight turn in to it. I am concerned that it may cause the bait to spin. Not so much on a short flip but on the retrieve of a longer pitch which would not be desirable. We'll see. A-Jay

Big Quantum fan here. Everyone has a favorite and this is mine. I like the quality vs price and I feel confident using them. I've had the rare opportunity to address a warranty issue, Quantum resolved it directly and without incident. I do not have any reels in the Response line, however I do own several others including PT Tour Edition, PT Energy, Accurist, Code and Catalyst. A-Jay

As they come standard on some crankbaits (Rapala's mostly) I have had no issues with them. As for strength, I throwing them on a softer cranking stick and mono so I'm looking for hooking and holding ability and not really strength. They seem to hook and hold as well as any regular style quality hook. I did have a sure set treble do a nice job on my thumb recently . . . A-Jay

New for me this season and very productive has been a Sebile Stick Shad. http://www.***.com/Sebile_Stick_Shadd/descpage-SSTK.html A-Jay

X2 ! And I like the 6'6" model as well. A-Jay

What a Fatty ! WTG A-Jay

Great Bass ! A-Jay

Very nice Deb. And it Is Too Many Miles ~ Way too many. I've have also come to realize another painful truth . . . . . The farther apart we are from loved ones, the faster time flies by. btw, you're much too young to have a son with a son. A-Jay

Excellent ! You can feed and play with my dogs while my wife and I are out fishing. A-Jay

Very nice Catt. As the darkness surrounds us the sense of sight fades and gives way to touch and feel. No doubt a favorite time to be on the water, all alone with the sounds and smells that are never seen. But ever time a BAT flies into my line I lose my MIND ! A-Jay

Nice job and great fish! And I would have stayed a head of that weather myself, looks pretty ominous. . . A-Jay

I checked "other" Currently I'm throwing several brands in different situations, shallow, deep and burning on top. But here's my concern. Many brands do use "quality components". This routinely means a good hook, a study s/s wire frame and a easy spin ball bearing swivel with a good blades(s). Where there seems to be a problem is THE SPLIT RINGS. So many times they are very fine wire which part way to easily. I fish allot at night and fish often times strike at the blades. Well I have a large collection of "Blade-less Baits" I've also had fish jump shake their heads and throw the blades off, often times the swivel goes with it depending on which split ring parts. I've reverted to upgrading all the split rings myself which is a bit labor intensive. The next step is to just buy the components and make my own. There are a few new brands out, like Northstar, that I have yet to try and am planning to do so. I'm hoping for the best. 8-) A-Jay

I do believe that's right - with the Hex - I hear the trout guys go koo-koo- around here on the major brown trout rivers about this time too. And the areas with the sand bottom have been the key for me as well. A-Jay

OK ~ Good Luck A-Jay

WTG ! My wife and I were stationed on the Jersey shore for 13 years - we loved it. The whole time I LIVED for Striped bass fishing ~ nothing like it ! Man I really miss it and yes I'm jealous. Fishing off the jetties at night was my favorite. A-Jay

I started fishing this particular lake last year which is routinely filled with anglers trolling for walleye. I've had some excellent trips catching above average smb. This last season during the first two weeks in June there was a major big fly hatch at sunset and the fish were all over them. I was largely unprepared for this. I did try every top water bait in the boat but the fish were very keyed in on the bug bite and wanted nothing to do with anything I had to offer. I wasn't certain what these fish were, but it was obvious by the size of the swirls and gulps, they were not pan fish. I was frustrated but learning. Well this year, I was ready for them. My wife's uncle who lives down the road a bit, is a big time trout fly fishing river boat guide (and master fly tier). So Uncle Jerry hooked me up with the basics. I have some minimal fly casting experience and was hoping I would be able to deliver the fly far enough from the canoe to get bit while at the same time not piercing an ear. As it turned out, I managed both, so far. So I've been checking the lake each evening at sunset, fly casting tackle at the ready. Last week the bugs started showing up and ever since each sunset I have been treated to some of the wildest, fly reel drag screaming smb action I've ever had. Smallies on a 6-wt fly rod are a Blast ! Of course any way we catch them is great but top water fly casting is something special. Old Brownie is really able to show off his speed, strength and stamina when pinned to a 4 lb tippet. I have been blown away at the number and size of the smb (and walleyes if you can believe that) that are willing to move into fairly skinny water to gorge themselves on these bugs (mayflies I think). The past two nights have been cooler and we've had rain. There has been no hatch to speak of so the fly casting is on hold until this changes. One thing is certain, if this continues to be an annual event, the post spawn season just got a whole lot better. A-Jay

Interesting ~ So when you advance in age and by rule have to wear socks with your sandals, then I guess this is the way to go . . . . . Not for me however. A-Jay

"Poor is the Nation that has no heroes, but beggared is the Nation that has and forgets them." Those we honor this Memorial Day answered their call to duty, and in doing so, they honored us. We owe them our deep and profound gratitude, and we must pass that sense of obligation on to the next generation. Tens of thousands of names are inscribed on war memorials and headstones all across this country and in a number of overseas locations. From a distance, those names may seem indistinguishable. Yet, every husband or wife, mother or father, brother or sister, son or daughter, who visits, will always see his or her loved one's name first. This Memorial Day, we also honor and thank them those who placed so much on the altar of Freedom and for whom the pain of loss remains undiminished. In honor of Memorial Day, the USO, CMT and Zac Brown Band bring you the brand new video 'FREE' ... http://www.cmt.com/videos/zac-brown-band/522070/free.jhtml?id=1640299 Lest we forget. A-Jay

I'm a fan of Columbia's PFG series (Performance Fishing Gear) featuring Omni-Shade technology. Long sleeve and short sleeve shirts as well as pants and shorts ~ perform as advertised. Check it out. A-Jay http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/product/standard-item.jsp;jsessionid=I4PAJLY0XF4PVLAQBBICCOFMCAEFCIWE?_DARGS=/cabelas/en/common/catalog/item-link.jsp_A&_DAV=MainCatcat20166-cat400018&id=0030074902834a&navCount=1&podId=0030074902834&parentId=cat400018&masterpathid=&navAction=push&catalogCode=IA&rid=&parentType=index&indexId=cat601233&hasJS=true