MassBass

I used to use these primarily for surf casting. I had an 8' 6'' Ugly Stick E-lite 2 piece for quite a while. It was a good rod but kind of heavy. Eventually the screw to secure the reel seat stripped.

It's known as "The Carrot". Reportedly it is often seen but elusive to catch.

Throw a spinner for steelhead.

This is what I was trying to get at with suggesting working in pauses. It is not so much the pause, but the sudden start up after the pause that triggers the strike.

I think making your retrieve more erratic with pauses, and sometimes long pauses, will give the fish a chance to get interested and react like how they do after splashdown. However splashdown is a unique part of the presentation and if you are getting bites with that, might as well embrace it.

Is your float fishing for cats always live bait, or can you use dead or chunk bait?

Common carp get big in the Connecticut, 40lbs or more, that is big game.

The far reaches of the Charles River basin, sometime near Halloween.

I'm looking for a casting reel that can cast lures as light as a 1/4 oz, and have an audible bait clicker, with a drag and hardware that can stand up to tackle busters like carp and stripers. A quick search on Amazon showed me this kastking reel as highly rated. I am sure it would be good for cats, but I am wary of expecting casting distance with light lures on round reels. Will this reel cast a cast a 1/4 oz spinner or blade bait? These baits are light but they are compact and I throw them fine on low profile casting reels with brake and magnet/pins adjusted. If there is another reel worth considering please discuss.

I like white perch, very gamey and they are a decent eat. I'll have to double check my log, but I didn't get any white perch in the Charles this year. Last year I caught scores of them. Consider the state pin is 15 inches.

Went out Saturday and got a decent LM on a glide bait, and some yellow perch. I am going to keep checking the weather and going out when I can. Next outing I may try for catfish.

I remember this, and yes it was kind of ugly. I thought they should have modeled the sport after the MLB season. Of course not so many games, but the timeline; it starts in the spring, goes through the summer, ramps up, cuts (playoffs) and then you have the Classic in the fall.

LPO sells a good titanium wire leader.

I would argue that Esox, and especially the pickerel family, are the definition of ambush predators. They are streamlimed and powerful, but they are built for quick bursts of speed. In some lakes where there is a healthy pickerel population, you can see the juveniles lurking in the shallow grass. They just sit there perfectly still, waiting for an ambush opportunity. Their metabolic rate dosen't allow them to chase for sustained time, for example a huge musky can tire quickly and become very stressed.

Im a chain pickerel die hard, glide baits and soft jerkbaits I will suggest, along with the baits already mentioned. Big pickerel that have been pressured and are wise are very difficult to catch, live shiner through the ice tends to be the most productive way.

I think 1 oz is good. Bank sinker or pyramid sinker depending on current. On a slider above a swivel, so the fish can take line without feeling the weight.

I would say in a weedy natural lake, the best time is spring, when the pads are just starting to come up and are still red and underwater...run a black/chart. Crankbait through that stuff. If you arent using electronics and want to fish weedlines, you need multiple (like a box or two) of crankbaits of varying depths. You are going to pull in a lot of grass, bit thats ok, dont let it scare you from crankin the weeds for largemouth. Summer is good for that. If you can find baitfish in the fall, throw a lipless around.

Made these for clear water conditions. Black lures catch fish, no exception with the spinner.

I have been taking trips to maine since 2019, the open water fishing is very abundant, but ice fishing is cold and bleak. I know guys do it and have success, but it is not easy. The local knowledge probably goes further in ice fishing. Some bass, some cold skunks to. I have seen some real misery out there. Anyways my point is if you live in Maine year round, maybe take up skiing.

Ok, if you must, but isnt this thread about the fall?

We could have slightly different definitions of finesse, but it seems in smallmouth bass fishing at large, it has become finesse first, ask questions later. The smallmouth, especially in current, is very excitable and curious, easily triggered, and I think reaction/search baits can really bring out the smallmouths' inner savagery. I would include topwater with reaction baits, even in clear water, popper, walkbait, whopper plopper. Buzzbait also but more for less clear water or dark.

So are you not supposed to twist the frame wire, just crimp it and put a bead or sleave over it? The spinnerbait was acting strange in the water, maybe it is because of the blade swivel having a hard time.

Its just that to catch river smallies, I find rarely is finesse required. Lake smallies are different and I will always have a tube or fluke jig rigged. In a river spinners and or spinnerbaits are good, but I usually try to go to a topwater for a big bite.

Any thoughts on this spinnerbait? I have always tinkered with and customized spinnerbaits, but this is the first I have made, from a pre made frame.

Must have hatched in the Hudson?