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

Thats excellent information we catch 20" smb here near me and i tend to use heavier stuff. Are you familiar with this lake in particular?

Ok interesting, would you use copolymer on my Medium spinning rig as well as the MH casting rod if copolymer is good for top water as well as some other presentations? That gives me versatility which is key

I have a trip being planned for Lake Bemar ONT next Summer and i am going to re string my rigs with this trip in mind. Typically we do guided fishing trips locally and the guide will suppy the gear but of course i will also be able to use my rigs locally if i go solo. Here are my rods and some basic information Casting: Temple Fork 7' Heavy TFGPSC7061 (what presentation would you use this for, top water or bigger jigs) St Croix Avid 7' MH (flouro, what lb?jigs, bigger spinners) Cabelas 7' XML MH (flouro, what lb? T Rig, jigs, bigger spinners) St Croix Triumph 6'6" MH (top water, what line??) St Croix Premier 7' M (crankbait, light jigs, small spinners, finesse worms? what line?) Cabelas IM7 Tourney Trail 6'6" M (what would you use this for, small cranks, finesse, what line?) Spinning: Pflueger President reel, currently with a 6' President rod but im looking for a 7' M rod (what lures, what line would you use this for?) Basically top water is a little confusing for me typically i use flouro Seagur, Yo Zuri on everything but on this upcoming Ontario trip we may do a lot of topwater. I know mono would be ideal so i need at least one setup if not two, one larger one small. In the past I havent had much luck setting the hook using M or ML rods for topwater. The reels i will be using are: (3) Accurists 6.3:1 (1) Quantum PT Tour (typically with the Avid rod) 7.0:1 Pflueger spinning I plan on purchasing one more reel most likely Quantum Smoke I know this may be difficult to answer but you get my drift, any input would be awesome

Much appreciated!!!!

Im planning a trip with my kid to KY Lake in Oct ideally do you guys have any recent experiences with guides down there? Thanks in advance

Yeah I imagine my goto will be a football jig with Paca Craw, I want to use the Steel Shade Blade bait down there, that will be a first. I know others have a lot of sucess. Cranks are also a standard for me, the Bandit 8'-12' Craw and Shad colors did awesome in April last year (had to wait for the flood waters to recede).

Looks like the water temperature will be in the mid 50s, bass perhaps in pre spawn mode. Am i correct in thinking fish will be holding deeper near spawing areas or is it warm enough to look shallower all day? My plan is jerkbaits, crankbaits, A-rig, Senkos and maybe Paca Craws, any thoughts or input will be greatly appreciated, hard to find time to hit KY so when I do i want to make the most out of it. Thanks!

We put in at Kenlake ramp, the water was stained but it wasnt real bad. Barkley was a lot muddier though.

Thanks, I lost a few other nice ones. In a week or more I bet the bite will be "on".

Yep, we covered a lot of water looking for fish, just made the catch more satisfying.