CRFisher

A friend of mine used to hook small bluegill on a worm than use the bluegill for pike. Worked quite well. You can use a bobber or try to weight it down with a weight (depending on size). He would occassionally get bass fry as well on the worm and they'd work for pike too.

Between the softness of senkos and the action I'd probably try to attach a rattle above the hook if anything so you don't effect the action or the durability. Maybe tape one on just above the hook?

Anyone with a quick, cheap homemade concoction? Garlic or otherwise. I can think of ways to get things to smell like powerbait, but I don't want to go there. Also, if the scent is merely suspended in oil, in theory it should eventually seperate as it comes off the lure and (being a non-oil)be able to be smelled by the fish.

Mean Zara Puppies? You can get them at BassPro or Cabelas on line.

Do they (Storm) make the Hurricane Live Wire Shad? They look just like the Storms, bought a cheap pack at KMart on clearance, fish OK. I've heard dip boiling the Storms help the action. I left the Hurricanes in my car for a few days in the 90 degree heat and they have softened up and have OK action. One bite thus far but I've only really fished them for about 15 minutes. I only got them because they cast a mile and fishing from shore I can reach some places I can't reach with better baits, also not worried to lose them.

Got a few topwater. (zara puppy and jitterbug have worked, nothing on frogs) A lot of big misses on a spook but no real luck. It's been slow in general in my neck of the woods, but about the same luck top water as with plastics or cranks. Had some luck with a jig last week, Manns baby minus has been working. Little luck with Tiki sticks, just picked some up. Bumped into a guy who was doing well with them as well. Bumped into someone else who was doing great with a small black and white spoon, a Len Thompsons, probably 1/8 oz. I saw about 5 or 6 hits in the 10 minutes I was talking with him. No luck at all lately on flukes or spinners which were great in the spring. Rapala's have been ignored lately as well.

Is that a Pike or a Pickerel? Looked like a pike to me but I haven't seen much of either in 20 years.

Looks like there is no shore fishing allowed at night. So never mind my second question.

I'm in. A few quick thoughts though. For us non-boaters, any thoughts on what we should bring if someone is kind enough to cart our read ends around for the night? I figured gas money is a given, but besides that wasn't sure if we should bring anything else besides our gear. (flashlights, etc.) What's the shore fishign access there like? I figured worst case scenario maybe some of us that are boatless could fish from shore? A digital camera and a "approved' scale might make up for the lack of a livewell. Just thoughts.

They recently stocked my local river (Charles River, Ma) with American Shad. A few quick questions if anyone has an idea. 1) Best bet of lures to catch larger shad that will also catch bass? I'd prefer to catch bass but if the bite is slow I'd like to fish something that might catch either. 2) What impact will the stocking have on Bass? The Charles naturally had trout, shad, salmon and pickerel but were stocked with bass, carp and pike once pollution wiped out the trout, salmon and shad in the 1800's. I'm thinking it's just more smaller fish for the bass to eat but shad can eventually get quite big. 3) Am I correct that over time this should improve the Stiper fishing every Spring as the stiper move into freshwaters? I've always heard that they "follow" the herring, I'm assumign herring and shad would only improve this.

Not sure how much I trust the state to tell me these things, but they do have a best bet for bass page on the mass wildlife site. http://www.mass.gov/dfwele/dfw/dfwbass.htm I personally mostly fish the Charles River since I grew up a block away and now live 5 minutes away. I've been meaning to get out and try the Wachusett Reservoir, but haven't made it out there yet. (It's a haul from Watertown)

I believe Striper are a ocean fish that will swim into freshwater rivers. I believe any landlocked stripers were stocked in lakes and able to survive. They aren't a natural occurence. If you're in Mass I knwo the Stripers run every spring following shad and herring into the rivers. Unfortunately, I heard the striper run in the Charles this spring was the worst in years. I'm not sure of any freshwater lakes in Mass with Stripers, but belive you can get them in the Spring close to the ocean in the major rivers.

I assumed most people tossed ruined plastics in the trash, same with line. Typically I'll tear off any pieces from plastics I might be able to use as a trailer, throw those in my tackle bag and pocket the rest until I get home or find a barrell.

'What if we all stopped throwing our used plastics in the water and took them home and threw out them in the trash?" - I assumed that's what we were all doing. " I don't think I lose enough plastic baits off of my hook in a season to hurt any body of water if I fished every day for the rest of my life. " - Guess you're not fishing Senkos - D'oh! I don't want to get that started again!

Depending on the date I'm interested, however I'm boatless (and some would say clueless) so I'd need to tag along as ballast with someone.

I know diddly about running a bait shop but I can say - location, location, location. If you did start one you'll never be able to compete on price with the big boys so you'll need to be in a good location for live bait and last minute purchases selling what people left at home or in the other tackle box, etc.. I'd probably look into worm farming, tackle making, and reel repair as well to help your bottom line, offerings. If you could "grow/make" your own bait and tackle you would in theory cut out the middle man. I'd also suggest looking for PT work in one so you can see what works, what doesn't, and how much you like it before starting your own. Here's Cabela's recent quarterly numbers, bottom line they make less than 3% of sales as profits, http://biz.yahoo.com/e/080805/cab10-q.html Not really comparable but gives you an idea on what profit margins are in retail business.

watermelon green i think (i tossed the original bag) got me my personal best.

Hit the Charles a bit the last few days. Only came up with 3 or 4, first ever on a jig, booyah baby jig with a twin grub trailer. Saw something interesting though, bumped into guys who were fished regularly and they were doing quite well with a small black and white spoon, I saw three or four hookups in the 10 minutes I was talking to them. I had hit the same area with the jig, a rapala, tubes, a senko and fluke with nothing only a half hour before. Anyone try small spoons for largemouth?

Thanks for the suggestions. I tend to have fishing ADD so I switch often but I've been trying to spend a day fishing one or two types of baits to get a good feel for them. Fished heavily as a kid so I had plenty of ideas when I got back in but no tackle. I figured if someone had a "go to" that I was missing I should add it. I've stayed away from deep cranks because i mostly fish rivers from shore. Depths can't be much more than 10' in the deepest areas I can reach.

Don't want to get into Brand A vs Brand B too much but was wondering if there's anything I'm missing in the arsenal. I'm trying to build up decent tackle options without going broke and just got back into the game so started in April from scracth I currently have: Hardbaits: X-Rap, Husky Jerk, rapala minnow and rapala knockoffs RattleTrap Manns Baby minus Zara Spook and puppy Jitterbug Heddon Torpedo Multiple Spinnerbaits, some buzzbaits Multiple inline spinners Spoons - Daredevle (red) kastmaster (blue and silver) and a few others Jigs - fantasy football jig, booyah bitsy jig Plastic: Powerworms Senkos Trick worm 4 inch tubes buzzfrogs craws Single and twin tail grubs Flukes Top water frog (like a Spro) some basspro lizards Any key lure types that I'm missing?

I just got back into fishing after a long time off. The articles on this site are a good place to start, especially if your not sure of terminology or fishing methods. I'd go with Senko's or other stickbaits, texas or wacky rigged weightless. A good size grub, double or twirl tailed on a jighead. Flukes or Bass Assassin shads fished with or without weight. Some type of worm (I like zoom trick worms and powerworms thus far). Can't go wrong with those four to start.

You want to buzz them across the water, they're a top water, and not supposed to imitate a frog. The legs kick up a commotion, fish them like a buzzbait or maybe a Heddon torpedo.

I just rotate the bags they came in. I add the cheap stuff in with the more expensive scented stuff. Figure the cheap plastic might pick up some of that awful powerworm smell. I think I tend to own a wee bit less plastic than you're average person here though.

Sorry about that.

Tungsten ($$$) steel, tin or brass weights with Gulp or similar types should be OK. My guess is that once a state bans it (a big if) you'll see a gigantic amount of biodegradable types of "plastics" come out. Maybe they'll go back to being "rubber" worms.