Goggle Eyes

Hey so i just wanted to follow up with a recap of our adventure to Lake Bemar, ON. First of all thanks for the heads up on gear and tackle it made a big difference The weather did not cooperate in general Spring was late so we were probably a little early for the best bite. The fish we ate still had eggs in them so it appeared to be pre spawn, my guess is in two weeks or so that place may be on fire. It was hot there Tues last week, then by Fri it was windy, wet high of 50 so we did our best to find them which we did every day but the bite was slower. We did make it to Quetico which is very close to the cabin, we caught fish, beautiful place but again the wind was high so we had to get off the water after an hour or two. Looking forward to spending a lot of time there next year really really pretty place. On the way up we stopped at St Croix in Park Falls, WI I replaced a broken 7' Mojo MF casting rod with a Premier 7' MF spinning rod, I had a Fuego reel this is what i used 75% of the time. I had a 10 lb flouro leader on braid with a 1/4 oz or 1/8 oz Owner ball head jig and a 5" Lunker Grub in Smoke Hologram. They were all over this color, I went thru a bag of 5" and switched over to 3" on a ML rod. I used a swim jig with a 5" Smoke grub trailer but the Smoke Lunker Grub was my bait of choice almost all week. They also bit on Watermelo Red Flake in 5" but that was basically all i threw. Others had a lot of luck with various other paddle tails, bladed jig, swim jigs, jerk bait. A few on top water but unfortunately that was not productive. Our big smallie was 3 lb 11 oz, we also had a 3lb 9 oz and that big Northern which was approx 30". I actually landed that one on a 3" Smoke grub on a Dobyns 7" ML spinning rod that was a blast! The other 3 guys were just "guestimating" the size of the fish they were catching, they said 4s and 5s but no scales, so i was skeptical. We landed a lot of walleye i have a new appreciation for walleye fishing, there all about the same size as shown. Great trip all around hopefully we can time it right next year

Lake Bemar, close to Atikokan

I think we will stop by the St Croix factory out let. The Mojo bass M F 7'1" really fills a nice gap in my arsenal for 4-5" swim baits and senkos this is what ive been using it most for. Then i have a 7' Dobyns ML spinning rig for 3" swimbaits, Kalins, etc.

What kind of leader is preferable

Got it! I mean im basically bringing everything in case

Ok the trip is coming so stoked, the advice here is invaluable. I added a Mojo 7' MF with a Tatula right now running 10 lb flouro this will probably be my workhorse. I''ll use this and the 7' M Premier, 7' ML spinning and then I'll still bring the (2) MHs. I'm set up with 3-4" Keitechs 3-4" Rage swimmers 4-5" Senkos 3/8 oz chartreuse spinner baits DT10s, rat'l traps, lipless cranks etc swim jigs Pee Wee finesse jigs various top water plugs, poppers, buzz baits What am i best served throwing with my 7' ML spinning set up? Its a Dobyns Fury

What are the appropriate sizes of under spin for 3" - 4.5" Easy Shiners?

Ive used your jigs several times great products well done

excellent replies as usual

I just bought a bunch of Easy Shiners I am ready to go with Neds, Senkos, crankers. I really want to get some practice in on 3-4.5" shiners i will throw them on a 7' med bait caster set up i like.

Resurrecting a post here, ive been using Owner ball head jigs what else are you using for Easy Shiners

single curly tail 3" jig on a darter head or finesse jig

Certainly will. We dont go till June but im all set up, resupplied Ned rigs, Owner finesse football heads, Yamamoto Hula Grubs, single tail grubs and darter heads. I will have plenty of pics for you

I was just skimming thru this thread, lots of good experience in here. Im still a GYCB Hula Grub guy typically 5" although i may switch to 4" on a stream. I will either T Rig it on a 2.0 or 3.0 EWG hook with a 1/4" weight lately. I just bought some Owner finesse ewg ball jigs im anxious to try these

Excellent input as always, now im just counting down the days