rocketball

Yesturday I fished a local lake that apparently had been stocked with smallmoth bass a few yrs ago. Between the hrs of 11am too 4pm I hooked and released over 100 smallies and not one was over 12". So my question is would it be possible to know how old these fish are or does the growth rate vary from lake to lake depending on food source? Also what is the growth rate generally of smallmouth bass? Are we talking 1-2" per year or is that to broad of a question? THis lake is located in New Brunswick Canada where ice out would be late april and things start to freeze over late November. thanks

sounds good guys....i'll be giving that a try this weekend!!

Does anyone soak there soft plastics in scent/fish attractent or is it a waste of time. thanks

I fish a fairly large river that is effected by the tide...not only does the tide effect the flow of the water there is also a large hydro dam about 10 miles up stream that also seems to make the water higher on some days and lower on others. I am just wondering how much these water level and flow changes would effect the smallmouth fishing during any givin day. thanks

i didnt see a forum for electronics so i hope i am posting this in the right section. I recently purchased and installed a Eagle cuda 300 on my kayak and have been doing some online FF research before I get on the water for the first time with the FF. My question may sound pretty elementary but please bare with me. Normally if you find under water structure will you fish this even if your FF shows no fish on or near it? I am just wondering how accoratly a FF will identify a fish around cover. Thanks

Fishing trout up here in eastern Canada is probably as popular as Bass fishing and i have done a lot of it. If you are after brookies go with light gear. An ultr light will make the experience even better and go with a #2 or 3 willowleaf gold inline spinner with a nice worm. Thats what they like in my neck of the woods

that clears everyting up...thanks for that thread!

reelmachanic....that explains a lot thanks. I just checked and on both reels there are 2 washers on the main shaft. Will stacking the line to the back have any advatages or disadvantages over stacking the line towards the front? Or is it better to set it for the type of line you are using which in my case is mono. I guess i could always try it the way it is and then try different settings, but its probably going to be another 4 weeks before we are able to get on the water at this rate.

After reading over my manuals on my new sahara and sedona shimano reels i stumbled acrossed something new. It was setting your winding :-/ so that your line winds onto the spool more to the front or back of the spool. Now I know ;D what those small washers are for in that little plastic bag...but I have no idea :-? what works best for mono line. Also if someone can explain to me why this works...that would be great too. thanks

Just wondering what the main differences are between the 168, 242 and 300. I was going to buy a 168 and hoping to get one at bass pro shops this weekend but i see they only list the 300 on there website. Should I buy the the 300 if i cant get a 168, and what about the 242. Thanks in advance!!

Well at least u guys got some water to go on....everything is still frooze over here and this 15F isnt helping matters

It will be a river....the lakes here are still frooze over pretty good and some of the rivers are just starting to show signs of opening up. Thanks for the info and nice pics!!

Is it possible to catch smallies soon after the ice goes out or are you better off to wait untill the water warms up?

hey thanks for the input everyone...we dont have any BassPro Shops up here where I live in canada. Luckly though I will be in Virginia next weekend and planning to go to one of there shops while down there. Never been to one before so I plan on picking up some new gear. Thanks again!

Are the Bass pro Shops line of rods and reels worth buying. I get out on the water about once a week at the most, and dont consider myself an expert by any means. However I still like a good rod and reel that wont fail me when on the water. So for someone like myself...would they be worth buying? I have always had good luck with shimano and Quantum spinning reels, but bass pro seem to have some descent deals. thanks

I will agree that yes a jon would be better than a kayak. If you have the means to have a traler, and money than u would be better off with the jon IMHO. I however will be fishing from a kayak for my second year. I have a pamlico wilderness systems 120 and i can sit in it all day long and fish. Only time i need to get out is to take a leak. If you get the right model, with the right seat its well worth the extra money. Wilderness systems have some really nice seats, as well as old town in there higher end models. Kayaks have there advantages over larger boats...and vice versa. For example last year me and buddy were on a 2 day fishign trip on a river for smallies....there were some guys on the river doing pre tourny fishing. All 3 guys we were talking to were having bad days as far as the amount of fish they were getting in the boat. We were having a great day, but we were able get our yaks into waters where the fish were, and the larger boats could not get. Good luck with whatever you choose

Thank everyone for the reviews on this unit. I'll be picking one up in the next few weeks once the snow starts to melt

Hello...I fish from a Kayak mainly for smallmouth and I was wanting to get a depth finder. I have been looking at the eagle cuda 168 and was wondering if it would be a great entry level unit. If not what other depth finders whould i consider purchasing? I like the price of the cuda 168 but maybe i would be better off spending a little more money on a better. Please help thanks

So far i have got as far as trying hula grubs around fallen down trees along the shore. I havnt had to try wacky style yet, these 2 plastics rigged texas havnt let me down. I still cant believe how well these GYCB's work!!

When fishing with soft plastics such as senkos and fat ikas etc, should I be using a swivel on my line to help iliminate line twist? If so, would tieing a swivel to my line, then adding another 12" of line that is tied to the hook work best? I will be using berkley xt 10 lb line. nate

So far I have been leaving all of my soft plastic baits in there original packaging, and my tackle bag is getting kind of cluttered. Just wondering how u guys store your plastics? thanks

davicw....i have recently started to target smallmouth bass in my local rivers in my area. I am like you, i have no depthfinder but i do fish from a kayak. So I am like you, i need to look for those signs that i can see to find those smallies. After spending half the summer using crankbaits, jerkbaits, spinnerbaits etc...i found this site and everyone said to try senkos or any other soft plastic made by gary yamamoto. Sense then, thats pretty much all I use. If i find one color isnt working i just switch up. I have found that flipping hula grubs into a tree that is fallen and in the water will work very well. Just rig it texas style so you dont have to worry about hang ups. I have found that the smallmouth in the 2 rivers i fish hold just off of weedbeds, fallen down trees and even trees that are just hanging out over the water. Like everyone else has stated, current brakes are good spots and on those hot sunny days look for the shaded side of the river but dont forget about the cover that is on the sunny side as well. Good luck!!

I recently respolled my spinrod with 8 lb berkley sebsation mono line for fishing my GYCB's mainly senkos and hula grubs. Today while out my line broke off way too much and i was not fishing in heavy cover. Mostly open water with select weed beds. Is it possible that i just got bad line, I had the same line on my rod earlier this summer and it seemed to work great. :-/

fretfishman...thanks for the headsup. Today i went to pick up a pack of fat ikas and restock my senkos and I also brought home some hula grubs and kreatures LOL. Going to have fun tomorrow!!! I hope anyway!

thanks everyone...going to get another few senko colors tomorrow and some fat ikas to try on thursday. I outfished my buddy with the 5" senko the other day and he is out giving them a try right now. Thanks for that great link roadwarrior!