BARON49_Northern NY

St. Lawrence River/Lake Ontario region. Crawfish seem to get the attention of both Largemouths and Smallmouths. If I could only pick one bait it would be a jig the imitates craws.

Good to know there are plenty of others out there that go nuts over froggin'. I will have my Toads and Frogs ready to go by the middle of Feb and wash the winter off them in Lake Toho.

Most used plastics get put in the trash with the execption of soft swimbaits and maybe a beaver that had the head torn after one of two bites. A little drop of Mend-It and they are back as good as new.

I have had excellent success using the rage chunk as a jig trailer and the buzzfrog has produced very well too.

Rolo, Yes, I gave up on the St. Johns River. I headed down to the Kissimmee Chain of lakes a actually was able to catch a few fish. Have really enjoyed the central Florida area and all the lakes. Got spoiled with fishing the hydrilla but when I got there last year all the hydrilla in the southern and middle section of Toho was gone. Just wanted to see how effective they were again this year so I have some idea as to where to start this year.

Read where they sprayed both Toho and Kissimme around mid-Dec/2009. Anyone know how much of the hydrilla has been effected by the spraying?

This is an umbrella rig, we use them for trolling for Stripers. Bluefish will knock the hell out of them too.

This is the correct version. I remember buying creme worms and running a sprout hook thru the egg sag back in the early 70's. Read about this rig in one of the Hunting and Fishing magazines back then as the hot new way to catch bass.

Bottom line is if you are fishing waters with a lot of Pickeral, Northern Pike, and Muskys losing a $70 lure to a bite off is not a good thing.

Books have been written about each of these baits and for every opinion there are many with opposing thoughts. Weight the information given and find what works for you. In the situation you have described a Rattle trap fishing quickly over the top of the weeds might be the first thing to try to see if there are any aggressive fish. Try a variety of retrieves to see what they want. Burn it straight back, yo yo it, and a stop and go retrieve all can produce fish. Try ticking the top of the weeds and rip the bait if you hang a weed. Hard to say what might trigger a strike. Try the spinner bait the same way with a variety of retrieves. Buzz it or wake it near the surface for active fish. Use a slower retrieve and try to tick the top of the weeds with the occasional stop or twitch of the rod. I like using a crankbait to probe the deeper edges of weedbeds. Sometime the fish are hanging along the weedline edges. Look for small points along the weedline and run the crankbait as close as possible. Also work the deeper end of the point where it falls off into deeper water. Might be a hog or a school of fish holding on the breakline where the weeds end and the deeper water begins.

Zoom's Fat Albert twin tails are a good trailer for 3/16 to 5/16 plain ball jigs, football or dressed jigs and can be cast on baitcasting with little or no trouble. If you go to really light 1/32 to 1/8 jigs it is easier to cast and control them with spinning tackle.

Zoom's Mag II (8.5 inch) worms are a favorite of mine for catching big fish most anywhere. While texas rigging them has produced the most fish you can Carolina rig them as well. I find these worms are a good medium between the smaller 6 -7 inch ribbon tails and the huge 10'' worms. Smaller fish will still eat them, but the larger profile seems to appeal to better then average fish. Best colors have been Green Pumpkin, Watermelon, Red Bug, and Junebug. Use as light a weight as the situation calls for. A 4/0 Gamakatsu offset hook works well and does not tear up the worms as quickly.

Not much more to add other then when trolling you MUST know how deep a lure is going to run based on the speed, lure size, line size, etc. There is a good guide available called Precision Trolling that has hundreds of lures listed in guide form to show how deep a particular lure will run using all the above.

You may want to give a jig a try. My personal favorites are BooYah jigs 1/4 and 1/2 oz in black/blue and green pumpkin. Add a trailer like a Paca craw in the same or opposite colors. These are big fish baits.

Gander Mountain carries the Owner Beast hooks.