D4u2s0t

I do lots of panfish and trout as well as bass and other fish. So I use spinning gear alot as well. I just started using a baitcaster last year, and if the conditions allow I'll exclusively use the baitcaster for bass now and anything bigger than panfish. I run down to the lake about 3-5 times a week, and when I don't have the time to get out on the boat, I can't reach the good spots with spinning gear. Plus I have no problem muscling fish out of thick heavy weeds, or when I snag a log, it's not a problem to get it out. With spinning gear it would probably mean alot of lost baits, which happened last year. I must have gone through no exaggeration about 75 hooks on spinning gear, and just as many baits. Baitcaster, i'm yet to lose one. For me it's just preference, what the conditions call for, what i'm fishing for, etc. I'm not one of the guys that would knock someone for what they fish with.

I haven't fished for carp in probably 20 years (guessing I was about 7 or 8) but I used to catch them on a balled up piece of white bread (not the whole piece, just a little ball) and corn.

I had a feeling this was all a big over-reaction... you should really give more than a few days before calling someone out on the forums.

beat me to it. Who says you have to do anything different at all? 8-)

I was out by the dam today, and the eggs where everywhere. The males were fertilizing, and it was pretty cool to see! I've never watched the fish do this, it was amazing. Water was boiling everywhere, my lake is pretty clear and at some points the perch where in schools as far as you can see. They did their thing for about an hour after I got there, then they all left at the same time. Good stuff.

Make sure the bait is not falling off or starting to fall off from the cast... smooth casting is key, don't whip the rod at all. Also try not to leave any slack in the line, that will help you feel the strikes.

after reading what I posted, I wanted to make sure you know I wasn't trying to take anything away from your catch... getting your personal best fish is always an amazing accomplishment, and a great feeling, regardless of how it compares to other fish. I was just letting you know that it is small for a striper, which get to be pretty huge. I wasn't trying to rain on your parade at all, and hope you didn't take it that way 8-)

a striper that length SHOULD be somewhere between 4-5 pounds... but that 10 dollar scale will take out the guesswork. that's not a big striper by any means, it's on the small side, so keep going out there and get that big one! but like rw said you'll def. need some good sized line especially on a spinning rig.

Daniel, that's a trophy crappie for sure!

that's a bogus story that's been going around a while...

My fishing outings vary from just a few casts, to all day depending on weather, conditions, and what else I have going on. Sometimes i'll sneak in "1 or 2" casts on the way to the store, sometimes i'll hit the lake 3 or 4 times for an hour each, it's all different.

There are millions of people who live in huts with no electricity, running water, bathroom, etc. but you're hanging out online on a fishing forum... sure, it's a sliding scale, but don't be so quick to judge. What's hanging out here got to do with it ? Just saying, we all have luxuries that not everyone has. Just because someone decided to build a big expensive hotel, which i'm sure will have plenty of customers, what does that have to do with starving people in the world? To some people, 800-35,000 a night for a hotel room is not that expensive... On the flip side, there's people in the world that would kill for the 35 dollars a month you pay for internet. (or whatever it is) Just because people are starving somewhere in the world, doesn't make it wrong for someone that's not starving to spend the money they have any way they choose.... just like we choose to spend our money on "wasteful" things such as internet, shopping, eating out, fishing supplies, etc.

2 1/2 pounds is a great crappie. Did you weigh it? in terms of crappie, 2 1/2 - 3 pounds like saying "I caught a bass between 4 and 12 pounds" lol. but if it was that weight, it was a great catch, and def. one to get pics of next time you get it!

there was really a foot of ice on the highland lakes as of the 4th? I was by hopatcong this passed weekend and it was half unfrozen and recall passing the boonton res and it was open water. Are guys really that high up in the mountains? can't compare us to boonton lol. I had snow on the ground until 2 weeks ago, and the ice cleared up about a week 1/2 ago. We're at the very top of the mountain. We had about 7 feet of snow this winter.

This hotel does look pretty sweet though...

There are millions of people who live in huts with no electricity, running water, bathroom, etc. but you're hanging out online on a fishing forum... sure, it's a sliding scale, but don't be so quick to judge.

media blows things WAYYYY out of proportion, and people that can't think buy into it... bare feet in shoes = stinky feet... baby powder?? Believe me, if that was drugs, she would be licking her shoes.

love the rooster, have caught the same on any color.

i'd say about 4 lbs. can NEVER tell from a picture though without some measurements... when do we find out what it is?

here's what it comes down to... nobody really knows why certain colors work at certain times... just because a fish sees something, most certainly does not mean it will bite. watch a pro tournament, does every pro use the same color in the same area? absolutely not. So that tells us, one of 2 things. 1) Color doesn't matter 2) If the top elite pros in the world can't figure out when and why to use certain colors, the average angler shouldn't even bother attempting. Focus more on your presentation.

did you google, perhaps "zoom baits" by chance?

Perfect time for walleye, because with those water temps they're getting ready to spawn.

A bunch of people, myself included, got involved. As far as I know, it went flawlessly.

traps are very versatile, so you need to figure out what it is the fish want. You can do a standard retrieve at various depths, reel it in slow, burn it, yo-yo, do a standard retrieve with pauses and/or twitches. Try bouncing it off of cover, that's something that makes alot of noise and gives the fish something to hone in on. You can rip it through weeds... the list goes on. It's hard to do something with the bait that "won't" work, so try a bunch of different techniques, take note of what works and what doesn't given the conditions, and go forward based on what you see.

check the faq's, there's pretty much everything you could ever want to know about the senko all in one place.