hawgwalker

With deep divers you can adjust the running depth by the length of your cast and the angle of your rod tip during your retrieve. A long cast and low rod tip will get you maximum depth a short cast an a high tip will make the bait run shallower. My go to bait lately has been a dd14. This one covers 4-11 feet well for me. I use the dd22 for 10 plus feet and have one of each ready

nice work

plus it is much better to be fishing for 3s 4s and 5s rather than 1 1/2s especially on lakes with smallies

My last day on the water in 2008 was December 29th and there were icebergs floating on the lake and the water temp was 36-39. Temperature does not keep me off the water but wind that time of year sure will. Something about a stiff breeze blowing across 30 and 40 degree water. I wish I had ALgore with me a couple of weeks ago in July when the high never reached the fore casted 56 degrees and we froze our butts off in a cold wet drizzle.We could have talked of the mile of ice that a mere 10, 000 years ago covered my lake and the arctic wasteland that would be Maine but for a warming trend :

In my experience smallmouth are not the dominant bass in most of central Maine except for several of the Belgrades and smallies are scattered with bait. If you fish deep weeds and structure this time of year you will catch both species though weeds and structure seem more important to the largemouth. If you must have smallies look for a big flat with sand and sparse weed for smallies and watch for bird activity, loons and gulls, to point out baitfish puddling on top. In the summer they seem to hunt in packs of 2-6 fish working together on bait (alewifes or perch) When you hook a summer smallie always have your partner cast to where the fish was first hooked as quickly as possible for a possible double. If you are on a lake with water reeds, dragon flies and nymphs are like crack to smallies and you will often find big smallies shallow amongst the reeds grazing on insects and the crayfish and baitfish that also thrive there IMO smallies are not anymore line shy than largemouth but it is important to have the right line for the bait as the line diameter effects the action of the bait. 20lb line OR 6 lb is going to look like ROPE in the water to a fish. 20lb line will impart negative cues with some baits not others.

You picked a good lake for your vacation, you've got a real shot at catching a PB largemouth smally or pike on Messolonski. I believe there are trout and salmon as well but they will be deep and tough to catch unless you plan for early and late trolling hours

I use 6lb yo zuri on all my spinning rods but having said that I would put 15-20lb yo zuri on your 6'6 St Croix and use spinnerbaits, football jigs, c rigs and even a spook for smallies and you will be ready to chuck jigs and frogs or whatever for largemouth. You make some sacrifices with one rod but that 6'6" St Croix is about as do it all as your going to get

http://www.boat-ed.com/nh/index.htm

Watermelon zoom lizard six or eight inch, zoom centipede, 4'' venom tube watermelon copper flake

Having trouble getting out of the sixties here in Maine. Forgot what the sun looks like

Pretty much gives the scoop here: http://sports.espn.go.com/outdoors/bassmaster/federation/news/story?page=b_fed_nation_start_a_club Been a long long time for me

Fish don't go out in the rain they might get wet ;D Buzzbaits are often great in the rain

We were working our way toward the check in boat at kentucky lake when I hooked this monster "largemouth" ;D It was exiting for a little while. They call them horn pout up here and rarely get over a couple of lbs.

A friend of mine was in a horrific crash in his race car and part of his physical therapy took up fly fishing. The docs were impressed with his progress and he gained a sport that he loved till his death. The last time I fished with the 75 year old we fished from dawn till dark in a cold drizzle. The man was a machine with a flyrod but no match for the cancer that took him

I Have never used the letter s parking. As I recall you can see it from the road. I think there is signs but I would definitely scout it out ahead and not rely on what I have said. There is some short term dock space to leave your boat while you mess with the trailer and some parking, again depending on time of day and day of week. I am not sure if you can park all day or if there is a time limit. If that doesn't work; West Alton Marine down the road from there located just outside of the bay itself. It has a nice launch and parking for $20

Everything you need is at NBS

The parking at back bay in Wolfboro is very tricky and the tickets are expensive > So you will need to get there very early and even then there may not be room as there is a lot of cars parked overnight that live on the Winni Islands. The launch in Alton is about a 1/2 mile from where you will need to park your trailer on the letter S road. There is another free launch at the Libby Museum that will dump you into winter harbor. It is on 109 and parking is behind the Museum and very limited, again very early to fill up. If that is full you can continue on and use the Lees Mills launch which has good parking and a great part of the lake for a smaller boat. There are numerous pay launches around the lake at the marinas. Expect to pay $20 I am a cheap SOB so I have listed the free stuff for you. Lake Wentworth is right there in Wolfboro and I have heard that can be very good too. I do not know about the access but do Know that USA Bassn held there regional there last year so must be fairly good.

We are headed for Kentucky Lake on Friday and I went online to buy a license. No problem for the Kentucky license but the Tn license they are going to mail at some point. My partner who is Mr organized ordered his 3 weeks ago but still hasn't received his hard copy. I ordered mine anyway knowing it would not come in time. Is our printed confirmations going to be enough should we be checked. Every other state that I have visited has you print your online license Thanks

A tube smack dab in the middle of a bed

We had our state STQ on Big Lake and Long a number of years ago. A lot of fun. The flowage reportedly at the time had better quality. I didn't have a chance. They are all right there near Princeton Lakes are treacherous. The only advice I can give is forget that you are fishing for smallmouth and look for the horniest Largemouth looking water that you can find, stumps Lily pads cabbage and water reeds will hold the best smallies.

The first tournament of the year was always at ice out on Great East but that stopped due to permitting issues with NH. I have to say that I have a good 40 hours on that lake w/o a fish. I have learned some since then 8-). It used to take big weight to win......mostly largemouth from the back bays. A lot of good lookin water and a decent launch as I recall. It has been 20 years

No expert but I had good luck fishing this area in September. I would think it a good post spawn location. Fox Ferry point and spoils.

Here is a swim bait smallie from the other day.

I am hoping they're all post spawn when we are down the last week in May

It is a pretty easy lake to fish; I usually start at the point as it dog legs to the left. That shoreline has some deep wood and good docks. The whole lake is fishable though. We caught some nice brookies at the outlet the other night fishing for bass. It is too busy for me in the summer but can be awesome at night. Arrowhead, Sokokis, Hancock Pond, Little Sebago and Mousam are some others to try that are not too far