Md

I caught insane amounts of both smallies and largies dropshotting Gulp Alive baits last season, including some over 5 lbs. I also landed two pike over 35 inches on the little three inch minnows. I'm definitely sold on these baits, but I just wish they wouldn't get thrown every time I catch a fish. I've gone through a small container of them in a couple of hours...and at 20 bucks it hurts. To those who have problems with the containers leaking, just dump them in a Tupperware container when you buy them. It's much easier to get the lid off and on and they don't leak.

X2, but I use it with a flouro leader and it works fine in that application.

I also saw Rock Island in that show...but the spot where they caught all those smallies had a clear view of the lake in the background. It looked alot like the Wolfe Island area.

Keep an eye on the PAA circuit to see where it is headed. It's run by the fishermen and has all the big names from both the FLW and BASS. There's only four tourneys this year but it's future is bright if they market it correctly. As a matter of fact, I believe they're at Lake Toho this weekend for the first tourney of the year.

This might have been Kim Stricker---he does the Hook N' Look show and he did do a show on the St.Lawerance last year. It was awesome to see how many fish were on the drop-off they were fishing. If you're not familiar with the show, he is the one that fishes, then scuba dives to see what is truly down there. Thanks, I just checked out his Hook 'n Look page and found out it was Kim and Charlie Hartley( which makes sense since Charlie had just fished the Stren there) on the St. Lawrence. From what I gather it's the 10th episode of '09 on Versus and is focused on gobies and smallies. It's kind of strange that I just read a couple of weeks ago that Kim and his son got in a horrific accident traveling between lakes and are lucky to be alive. I saw accident pictures of his rig and didn't put 2 and 2 together. I'm sure now it was him I saw those days. The fish in my avatar pic came from an area fairly close to where they were fishing.

There were definitely some familiar sights in that show...also I was out there not too long after the Stren last season and saw a Team Chevy/FSN boat along with a camera boat filming for a few days. I didn't get close enough to see who it was but I assume the show will be on Fox Sports sometime here in the future...they were in some great smallmouth water and I didn't want to bother them.

I guess it's just a matter of preference. I throw all different sizes on a 6'6" All Star Rod with a Pflueger baitcaster spooled with 10 or 12 pound Berkley XL and never have any problems, except in tough winds. That's the only time I'll switch to a spinning outfit.

The Berkley Gulp! Alive baits are awesome along with Roboworms.

I just finished watching a show with Zona and Kevin Wirth on my home water where they were fishing suspending jerk baits on spinning gear. I usually only resort to this when the wind is so bad that I can't use my casting gear, but it looked pretty calm where they were fishing. Is there any advantage to using spinning gear in this application? Am I missing something?

I guess they really are a well kept secret...or else no one's talking! :

Here's a couple of pics from my camp during the Stren 1000 Islands. The first is Ikes girlfriend driving his rig after SHE backed it down the ramp and pulled him out.(Gotta find me one like that!) The second the evening meeting before the final day taken from my buddies deck. I must say, all of the FLW people are fine folks!

x2

I'm not a big fan of Ike, but it was a very smart move on his part. I'm sure he knew had a great chance of qualifying for the Cup through the Northern Strens. He was fishing water he was very familiar with against competition not as strong top to bottom as the Elites. Plus, I believe four out of the five Strens that he fished were after the Elite series was already over with. Why not? Anything to qualify for the Cup...that by the way is in Pittsburgh...where he was less than 3/4 of a pound from winning the Classic in '05 over VanDam.

Has anyone here ever thrown a Swing Impact by Keitech? They were the buzz at one of the tourneys I fished last season. I've heard that they work great on a small tungsten jighead. A pro showed them to me at the docks and had me smell one...almost made me gag! Man they sure do stink!!! At that time the only distributor was T/W but they were sold out most of the season. Now I see there's a few other places online to get them. I have some ordered.

I quit counting after losing 7+ X-Raps/Husky Jerks to toothy critters last season. If they were pointers, I would have been too sick to fish. I just can't justify paying that much more money when they are all very similar.

Sorry, I guess my thoughts didn't get written too well. One example is the offshore humps that I like to fish. Some of these humps are just all sand, mud or big slab rock with nothing on them. These can usually be eliminated fairly quickly depending on the size of the hump. The better ones have some sort of cover on them...for either bait(ex. chunk rock) or fish(ex. boulders, weed beds, etc.). I find the better ones have a combination of at least two types of cover. That being said, I'm never just on my trolling motor watching my graph, I'm also throwing a search bait to FEEL if there's anything out of the ordinary on an individual hump. It may be a lone boulder, an individual weed bed, a shell bed...etc. These can be the "sweet spots". I like a C-rig to get a good feel of what's going on down there as well as watch my graph. On the shallower humps, I'll sometimes use a crankbait to feel around as well as watch my graph because I can cover water faster. If it seems to have all the right ingredients to hold fish but I haven't caught much off of it after using my confidence baits, I'll check back a few times throughout the day as the fish may move on and off these structures to feed.

In the past few years I've been on a bunch of different boats both as a co-angler and in partner tourneys in the Northeast, where two footers are the norm. Let me say first that the driver has a lot to do with how a boat rides and handles. I've been out there with some guys that have gotten me soaked when it was calm and bluebird. That being said, from my experiences, Nitros don't do so well in the rough waters up here. Besides a bone jarring ride (can you say ouch?) they have a hollow slapping sound on each wave they hit. It's kind of scary. If I was buying a boat in that price range I'd go with a Stratos. They are a great bang for their buck...great ride and very solid. If you are willing to spend a little more I prefer a Skeeter ride over Ranger in like boats. Just my opinion though.

I normally first try to find anything similar to my home lake/river that I am comfortable fishing and try what normally works for me in that situation. Then I expand from there. The key is to be comfortable and have confidence in what your doing/throwing. If that's not working, take a look around and check out what the locals and other boats are doing. Are they fishing shallow or deep? Slow or fast? You should be able to get a clue from them if what your doing isn't working.

I agree with Baron. My GPS has become really revolutionized my structure fishing. I use it to find the structure, then I use my finder to pinpoint the sweet spots on the structure. Before I would look at my maps and idle around trying to find the structure but it was like trying to find a needle in a hay stack on some of the huge bodies of water I fish. (St. Lawrence, Ontario, etc.) Now I can pull right up on the structure, troll around and figure out if its worth fishing in a matter of minutes. I can also run from spot to spot without trying to line up this island with that buoy or this house with that dock...etc. What a time saver...more fishing and less trying to find! One word for all that fish these bodies of water...Gobies!!!

1. Edwin Evers 2. Greg Hackney 3. Todd Faircloth Evers always gets overlooked but that cat is one of the most versatile on the tour...and he's finished well at the Red River in the past. Hackney is due. Faircloth is on fire. But I'm really pulling for Dave Wolak as he is a fellow NEPAer!!!

I fish all over in NY... often at the St. Lawrence River and the lakes around Jefferson County. I get out on Ontario once and a while too. I've never fished those Adirondack lakes or the Mohawk but look forward to checking them out. So many spots so little time!

It's hard to beat a jerk bait any time of the year for size and numbers...but when it gets super tough you have to go with the drop shot.

The rumor is FLW on Versus next year....if so maybe better coverage and production.

I'm all for making the angler net his own fish. Speaking from experience, it's a lot of pressure to net a fish that may cost a pro $25,000...or worse $100,000! The co-angler has a right to fish too...and if the pro has a fish hooked, he's on fish. Let the guy keep fishing. He paid to fish too. I've been on both ends of this and would never let a co net my fish...I don't know how good his netting skills are and if I lose a fish I want no one to blame except myself. No excuses.

Just a few of my better ones from upstate New York in '08....not the Great Lakes! All are 5+ with the biggest being just under 6 on my Berkley scale. I have a bunch more but they are "self portraits" and very poor quality.