A-Jay

well shux... Maybe I'll find my pants north of Crawford County one of these fine days? Nice Smallie!!!!!!!!!! DO NOT ~ I repeat ~ DO NOT come up here without yer pants ! A-Jay

misfit1III8 - I would really like to get down your way and get it to a wide open fall bass blitz - However - I am not quite as excited to look fer yer pants - I'm mean - what if we Actually find them I'll keep an eye on the weather ~ let me know when might be good - It will have to be soon I think. A-Jay

Check it out- apparently there are Smallmouth bass, Micropterus dolomieu, were first introduced into California in the Napa River in 1874 from Lake Champlain , New York . Historical records indicate that anglers "fished out" the first plant and the introduction was considered unsuccessful. An introduction a few years later into Crystal Springs Reservoir, a water supply reservoir south of the city of San Francisco , was successful and provided an abundant source of smallmouth bass for additional stockings throughout the state. Most trophy-sized smallmouth bass from California have been caught in northern California waters. The California state record smallmouth bass is 9 lbs 13 oz and was caught from Pardee Reservoir in 2007. here a couple of links too ~ http://www.dfg.ca.gov/fish/Resources/BlackBass/history.asp http://www.californiagameandfish.com/fishing/bass-fishing/CA_0506_02/index.html A-Jay

FYI - Just remember - There are NO SMB in any of the lakes north of Crawford County See - What'd I tell Ya A-Jay

I think I could go either way on the relocation - As an ex- New Englander - I had some fantastic SMB days and nights on more than a few NH lakes ~ Winnipesaukee and Winnisquam to name just two. It's been more years than I'm willing to cop to since I've been over that way but I bet it's still excellent ! A-Jay

It is fun - almost more fun than a man should be allowed to have - legally But No - not Otsego Lake - Most of my better fish are coming from another little local hole I have been floating around this season . . . . . A-Jay

Day time Air temp here in Otsego County (very northern lower penninsula) have been in the mid 50's and the nights are in the lower to mid 30's. But on the sunny less blustery days the SMB have been up on the bars "sunning themselvs" 8-) Water temps on the lakes that turn over are 55-59 and the lakes that don't are already down to the low 50's almost high 40's. Yesterday I nailed this hawg . .more like she nailed me.... Almost 22" and a full 5 pounds - my biggest SMB yet. This has been a great fall. And I love hunting season - even though I do not hunt - but the lakes are DESERTED ! My new favorite Go To Bait has been a 5 inch paddle tail plastic bait on a swimming jig head - weight depends on the water depth. It has been KILLER - on everything - LMB - SMB - Walleye and both of the long Toothy Critters as well . . . . . . This weekend is forecast to be unseasonably warm - Looks like I'll be living in the canoe for a few days . . . . . Sorry the photo isn't the best . . . but you know what it's like trying to get a good shot when you're on a solo trip. It's hard to tell from this shot but this fish (as well as most of the SMB this fall) was a TOAD - really fat and thick and just plain well fed ! A-Jay

Nice fish with even nicer camera work. It's like the best kind of reality show there is ! A-Jay

Thanks ! and BTW, I'm a relocated Masshole myself. So this is good ! A-Jay

" Nothing better then catching them from canoe or shore!" Nice Smallmouth ! And I'm right there with ya on the Canoe catches A-Jay

Log in Thanks A-Jay

My first Fall in God's country has been everything I'd hoped for and more ! Just like clock work - as the leaves started to turn and the nights got cool (more like cold - the SMB fishing has really heated up, and the fish have all been Really FAT ! This hard-pulling 20 inch, 4.5 lb. beauty gave a very good account of herself especially on ultralight tackle. Hope the weather holds up through Thanksgiving . . . . . . A-Jay

Congrats ! Nice Brownie . . . . A-Jay

I hear Ya ! ~ Looks Like this is not a very popular spot But Good News - ~ - I found your Pants and I will be bringing them to your house tomorrow - See ya @ noon A-Jay

Just wondering if anyone has been out on this little lake, what did you think ? Thanks in advance A-Jay

How do you "glue the rattles" I've never heard of this and fish a lot of very clear lakes ~ Please share . . . A-Jay

What do you charge for Big Dogs ? Kodi has been my son Ryan's (pictured below) best bud for years and will always be just a Puppy at heart . . . . . . A-Jay

It was a truely gorgeous warm, flat calm, moon light night and the bugs must have been snoozing- which was nice . . . . . . . Around 3-ish an extremely dense fog rolled in. The moon went bye-bye and so did ALL visibility - I thought it was very cool but my fishing partner called it "Very Spooky" The talley for the night was not quite what we had hoped for but not a wash out either. Before day break we had netted 3 fish with one in the 4 lb. class - all on a black spinnerbait - after daybreak and with sunrise the fog burned off we had a slow steady pick of 1-2 pounders until we split @ 1000. This outing will be repeated again soon after a brief recovery period A-Jay

Heading out for some Night Operations - calm clear night - Big MOON ! Looks Very Promising - A-Jay

Dissappointing . . . . . This weekend was a total Blow-Out ! The wind was Crank'in all day and night - which is a bummer - sometimes I'll get out if it lays out at night - but it seems that it's been windy quite a bit this month - at least on the days I plan to get out - - - - I really hope it lays down at least a little - I REALLY NEED A FIX - And what makes it worse is that on Friday (my last day on the water ) I think I came across a little something that produced some surprise fish - And I haven't been able to get back to it since ! ! ! It's killing me - - - - - Help . . . . . me . . . . . I'm . . . . getting . . . .weaker . . . .need . . . . to . . . . go . . . .fishing . . . . . sorry - I'm a little better now - looks like I'll be able to get out later this afternoon ~ I'm sure I'll be casting into Coffee colored water at best - but sometimes - that's not a bad thing . . Rant over. A-Jay

Something about this just rubs me the wrong way. If this is "The Future of fishing" - I'm thinking we are heading off course. This website presents a list of 10 different "Professors" who came together to "invent" this very "advanced" lure. . . . . Call me old school, but I bet the below list of men and their contributions to the sport of fishing will prove to be a bit better . . . . time will tell. I probably will not pony up the $$ for this one. Lauri Rapala The Finnish inventor of the hand-carved balsa wood minnow that serves as the archetype for all jerkbaits to come. Nick Creme The Texan who invented the plastic worm and revolutionized bass fishing for all time. It is fair to say that all of the radical innovations in modern soft plastic baits ultimately owe their lineage to Creme. Andre Meulnart The French engineer who invented the Mepps Aglia spinner. There are all kinds of great in-line spinners including Blue Fox, Roostertails and the Panther Martin Fred Arbogast The Akron, Ohio inventor of the ubiquitous Jitterbug, as well as the Hula Popper and numerous other classic plugs manufactured under the Arbogast banner. James Heddon Along with sons James and William, this Michigan entrepreneur was likely America's first tackle tycoon. The Zara Spook and Torpedo remain must-have lures for modern fishermen. Fred Young This Tennessee whittler created a bass fishing secret weapon with his hand-carved Big O the grand daddy of all bass crankbaits. Scarce and expensive, early bass pros protected their investment by transporting their Big O's in egg cartons. Stan Sloan There seems to be a lot of uncertainty as to who invented the first safety pin spinnerbait. All of the sudden, spinnerbaits were everywhere. But this Tennessee tackle maker gets credit for his Zorro Aggravator ~ The lure that launched a thousand imitators. A-Jay

You know I have a couple of Rattlin Rapala's - and I haven't give them a fair chance to produce - probably because during the limited time they are wet - there're not taken many fish - but it sounds like the xr-50 might be a bait I'll check out. Thanks A-Jay

I picked up some of these a few of weeks ago. I've been a Rat-L Trap fan for many years. But I've been fishing several baits from XCaliber this season and I'm liking the quality and the catches. And the One Knocker has really surprised me. It's been producing some very decent fish. A couple of times I fished it behind a Rat-L-Trap and it took fish. Is anyone else having success with it ? A-Jay

Thanks - a Strikeking Spinnerbait that is now Very close to retirement ! A-Jay

Check this out - Some of the waters named here should be a good place to start ~ and the fall is always Prime time A-Jay http://www.michigansportsmanmag.com/fishing/bass-fishing/mi_aa072503a/ http://www.michigansportsmanmag.com/fishing/bass-fishing/mi_aa062504a/ http://www.michigansportsmanmag.com/fishing/bass-fishing/MI_0605_01/