Big Phish

I finally cracked this case today actually. There have been a lot of nice size LMBs hangin out by the mouth of this drainage pipe/creek that leads into a pond I fished. I spent an hour or so throwing different baits at them with no luck. This was obviously since they could see me. What I decided to do was use this as an opportunity to study bass behavior. So I just sat on a ledge on the bank and watched them for about an hour. I realized that they were waiting for blue gill to swim near the channel then the larger bass would corner them and attack in the creek. Once in a while a bass would wait actually in the creek in a hole and just wait for the blue gills to come to him. So what I did was tie on a jig and walk as far down the creek as I thought I could cast and just started casting into the pond and working the jig into the creek. And since I'm an awesome F-ing fisherman it worked and I hammered them for an hour or so. So if they aren't biting, watch what they're doing, and adjust what your doing accordingly.

I look great no matter what.

:: Whip Cracks ::

Ha, it happens to the best of us. It happened to me a month ago cause I didn't have the heart to cut my favorite rattle trap off the line.

We've been taking camping trips up here since I was just a little guy. We usually do 2 trips on the river in canoes/kayaks between Lordville and Hankins. Depending on where we are staying maybe we'll do Long Eddy - Callicoon or Hankins - Callicoon or maybe Hancock - Long Eddy. Anyway this year I plan to focus more on fishing and less on drinking, grilling and swimming. I've really only used either live stuff like leeches and helgramites or maybe some red shad powerbaits and the occasional floating rapala. Does anyone on here have any experience in this region of the river? We'll be there from july 10-13th so the water theoretically should be in the high 70s but it has been much colder some years. Also it tends to be very low around then unless they happened to have open the dams.

Agreed, OLE biker, shock top is absolutely terrible.

What you do with CAST really is great. Keep up the good work

I didn't realize you were talking about baitfish when i first read this. I thought you were talking about shad as a gamefish.

I wasn't thinking of any specific reservoir, shad are just typically found in rivers in NJ and i haven't heard of any reservoirs in NJ with shad. As for the baitfish i'm gunna guess herring, but you'd be better off asking a local, but most of the reservoirs up north NJ have herring.

I doubt there are shad in that reservoir, thats probably why you've never seen one.

http://www.state.nj.us/dep/fgw/pdf/lakes/aeroflex.pdf theres that map with a little better resolution. it'll be a lot easier to read after you print it.

Man, thats a pretty deep lake for it's size. Maybe i'll give it a try in the near future. You got any info on what else is in there besides LMBs Zel?

Saturday will be the end of the better part of a week of on and off thunderstorms here in jersey. The water is gunna be really high and really dirty. The murky water i can handle, but what should i do to compensate for the high water?

I know I can find Dogfish Head. They have a restaurant/brewery down the street from me. I'll see if I can find the others. If dogfish has a brewpub down the street from you, how come your not there right now? I'd kill to have a DFH brewpub in my neighborhood. You're one lucky man.

Some good IPA choices would be: Dogfish Head - Their brewery is in DE so i'm sure you can find it in VA. It's also one of the most popular IPAs in the US. I would try the 60 minute IPA and if you like that, then try the 90 minute. Long Trail - A very floral IPA with a strong following in the northeast so i'm sure its distributed further down the coast Stone IPA and Stone Ruination IPA - Cali's most popular brewery which is distributed pretty much throughout the country.

Thanks for backin up the I.P.A. I'm also a huge fan of that airy leafy taste you get from one thats brewed with the right hops. If you haven't had it try Lagunitas Hop Stoopid. Its got those real flowery hop flavor that only a cali craft brewery could perfect.

I never saw that thread, sorry if i'm beating a dead horse.

Anyone whose questioning the changing of beers for seasons has no idea what good beer is (no offense) but go out and pick up some craft brews and you'll see what I'm talking about. Sure any beer can be enjoyed anytime of the year but do you really wanna put back heavy India Pale Ales in the middle of August when you could be drinking a crisp and refreshing Wheat. But when the cold months come those same I.P.A.s will warm you right up. It's like going to a BBQ on the fourth and drinking scotch neat when you could be drinking rum on ice.

You wanna hear a big, dirty joke? An elephant fell down in the mud.

Mine's Long Trail Belgian White. It really is as good as it gets. Toegs Dream Weaver wheat and Victory's Wirlwind would be my honorable mentions. How bout the rest of ya'

There's a thread on here that's praising the *** swim baits. maybe give them a try, they're reasonably priced too.

Well i've been putting off my walleye excursion for a few days now, but i'm gunna make it tonight. I'm gunna hit that reservoir from the shore cause you can't have boats in there after 8. I'm gunna try drifting leeches and mister twisters. i'll let you guys know how it turns out.

avid, that fish lived, he just swallowed the hook, which i was able to remove. Everybody gets a bleeder from time to time. If you really want to see the pic, i'll try and figure out how to get it from my phone to the comp.

Yeah he swallowed it with the point facing up so it didn't stick him right away. i'm sure he didn't make it through the night though.

i never realized swivels eliminate line twists. i've always just thought they were for leaders.