Wild Bill [NY]

..{Standing}: Hi, My name is Wild Bill. I have a problem. I am a frog-aholic. I need help. I mean serious help. Not with frogging; mental help. I got FROGGY FEVER !!!! I cannot frog enough.....{LOL} I HATE Winter !!! ;D ;D Come on warm weather !!! Anyone suffer the same ??

Bird dog, Thank you for your service to our great country !! Welcome Home !!

Are there any guys here from the northeast that fish Candlewood Lake located near Danbury, CT ?

Welcome from a guy that grew up in NJ, and now lives on Long Island NY. I fish NJ every year, mostly in the nothern end. I am new to this site, as well.

If you have never seen what happens when a bassboat hits a floating but semi-submerged log or unmarked shoal, [or gator, or bale of floating hay, etc] while tooling down the lake on pad, or never seen a bass boat hit a wake and flip, then you may wonder the need for liability insurance, but trust me dudes, it happens often , and more than any of us would like to think about, because IT AIN'T PRETTY or cheap when it does. And yup, it even happens to pros and guys that KNOW lakes real well. I had a buddy who was a licensed guide on Table Rock in MO., and he was just puttering along , heading to a spot to fish, going through heavy morning fog doing about four MPH, and in the distance, he hears a boat running on pad, but because of the fog, never ever saw it until it was crossing the top of his HULL. That boat crushed Tim's Nitro in half, and forcibly ejected the other boater, who stupidly had NO PFD ON, but not before the other boater hit his trolling motor, gashing his head. Tim swam [he was wearing a PFD, thank God] and grabbed the now unconscious other guy, and pulled him back to his floating bow section of his broken boat, and put the guy up on his front deck . Tim's cell phone was now soaked and now not working, so he wrapped the guy's bleeding head with his tee to stop the bleeding the best he could, and stayed that way until the fog lifted and other boaters saw the wreckage, and then rescued them both. The other guy lived, and admitted he was running on pad by FREAKING GPS !!!!!!!!!!!!! Another buddy, running through Cochran's Pass on the Big O in FLA , keeping it up on pad to keep the boat up in the shallow water, hit an estimated 14 foot gator, ripping thier lower unit right OFF of a 250 , totally loosing any ability then to control his boat in any manner, and they spun out of control into the reeds, with the non getting ejected [but only bruised]. They sat there for HOURS, waiting for another boat to be able pull them out to open waters, with gators grunting all around them. Another buddy, down on Kentucky Lake, hit a floating, yet submerged, log as they say way, way wrong [is the really a GOOD way to hit a log ?{LOL}], sending him also out of control, and him and his boat went UP ONTO LAND, hurting Billy really bad, and also totally the boat. Good thing there was nobody sitting at the picnic table he crushed on that point, or somebody just fishing there. Dudes, I can tell you countless TRUE stories like these that have happened to buddies of mine all across the country, and these are all real experienced boaters and some are guides on these lakes. There are a ton of boaters out there, and stuff happens all the time. You NEED liability insurance for when stuff like that happens !!! Heck, nobody PLANS on having an accident; BUT they sure as all heck occur, and more often than you'd ever think.

I can tell you for FACT that most lakes here in NJ and NY ,either privately owned or parks, REQUIRE both the event organanizer to have HUGE liability insurance, as well as all boaters participating in it . I personally check for proof of Liability Insurance cards before any boat launches at my events, and for very good reason.

LM: 8.00 pounds, weighed on three digital scales. Bright sunny day, mid-day, in mid-May. Pitched a 6 inch wacky-rigged Senko to a dock in about 8 feet of water, located in Discovery Bay in the California Delta, using 14 test Coploymer. It was about 80 degrees that day. In a boat. ................................................. LM: 7.94 , weighed on two digital scales. Cool windy day,with bright sun, about 45 degrees air temp. Dragging a t-rigged weightless 5-inch Senko in the rim canal of Lake Okeechobee, at the northern end of the lake. In a boat. End of January, nasty three day cold front; third day of it. .......................................... LM: 7.76 pounds , weighed on two digitals. Bright sunny day, about 80 degrees air temp,; mid-day. Pitching a 6 inch t-rigged lizard to a tree in about 7 feet of water in Lake Fork, Texas. In Kelly Jordan's boat. Was in an early May. ........................................... LM: 7.40 pounds weighed on a digital. Bright sunny day, about 70 degrees air temp. In Septemeber. Caught on a ballhead jighead with a two inch Niny Craw, on 8 pound copolymer. Caught in a man-made reservoir in Northern NJ that does not allow boating. Wading in waders. ................................................. LM: 7.20 pounds. Bright sunny day, late afternoon; approx 80 air temp. On a 4th of July weekend. Chatreuse spinnerbait in about 4 feet of water. Caught in a man-made 2 acre pond in a Long Island, NY State Park near my home. Bank-fishing. .......................................... LM: 7.15 pounds Bright sunny afternoon in about 65 degree water, 75 air temp. Caught from about 12 feet of water, on Table Rock Lake in mid-April. In a boat. ............................ I have not gotten any fish mounted yet; waiting for the ten pounder for that, and it would be a fiberglass replica. Free the fighter; give somebody else a chance to enjoy her, and give her the chance to breed again from that good gene pool.

I have caught numerous ten-pounders at night, but I always awaken from those dreams before I can get to see what lure I was using. Har, Har, Har !! Seriously though, all of my REALLY big fish have come on bright sunny days, mid-day or close to it. I have caught seven-plus pounders from five different states, and an 8-pounder from California waters.

The Black Dog Baits 'Lunker Punker" posted by Grizz was originally a wooden bait, and is marketed by two guys in California, Grant and Jeremy. The wood ones come in 6 and 9 inch versions. Last year, they introduced plastic injection-molded ones, again in two sizes. These are far lighter in weight than thier wood counterparts. Tremedous baits, and yeah, awesome paint jobs. While I have never used them for Smallies [yet], I have done well with them for LMs. The reason I have not tried them for Smallies is almost all the waters that I fish for Smallies also have Northern Pike, and I hate like all hell to see my $50 wooden one get bit off. They have tremendous walking ability, and move a lot of water each time you move them, creating quite a topwater disturbance if worked aggressively. The wooden ones weigh a few ounces, so a beefy rod is needed for the wood ones. I 'believe' they brought out the plastic ones so guys could use them with heavy rods they already own without having to buy a dedicated swimbait rod. I hope to be able to buy some of the plastic ones this year, as they are much cheaper [selling for $20 bucks]. ................................. Now, with that said, I do best myself on topwaters Smallies by using a fast steady action. Baits like Super Spooks, Super Spook Jrs, Chug Bugs, and BIG Jitterbugs have been my standouts, and each year for about the last 20 plus-years, I have caught my annual best Smallies doing that. The Jitterbugs get used primarily from dusk until dawn, but the other three get thrown all day, even under bright skies. I feel it is the fast steady twitching of those three baits that trigger the violent attacks that I get on them. I work the Chug Bug like many would work a Spook, walking the dog with it in a series of fast twitches. Hope this heps you all..

My grandafther used to own a very large tudor-style house on east 77th in KC that occupied a whole end of a block, and he also owned a lake-front home on Lake Lottawanna, out past Lee's Summit. I cut my bassing teeth in the summer of 1960 at the lake, fishing then with my now long deceased Grandfather and Dad. We lived in NJ at the time, and it would take us two full days to drive there each way each summer to go see him, as this was before there were interstate highways like there are today. Lots of golden memories from back then... Welcome to the site !!

Add Lake Hopatcong, Aeroflex, Monksville, and Waywayanda also to the list .

Welcome to the site. I fish the Delta often, despite living in NY. My personal best came from under a dock in Disco Bay, weighing an even 8.00 pounds.

Funny stuff, John... You blacked out my eyes, blacked out froggy's eyes, and blurred the print on my tee in your photo. Couldn't you have fixed my hair at least? Or hidden my wedding ring or cocktail cup ? Har, har, har !!!!

Thanks for the welcome, guys. Well, two guys that have responded have known me on the 'net', and I have actually met JFrancho at a fun-fishing event I host every year in upstate NY in the Adirondacks. A Snagger? LMBO !!!

Yes, for the Muskie-sized Jitterbug I use a heavier rod, heavy line, and trick out the hooks, switching them to heavy-wire Owners. They have rewarded me with good sized LMs, SMs, and Northern Pike , so far. Primarily, I use them at dusk or darker, and prefer them in the color Black.

I have been fortunate enough to have fished the California Delta with Dee Thomas, who is a master of the flipping technique, and is recognized as one of the originators of it. I have fished twice with him so far on two different trips to California. On Lake Fork Texas, on two different trips down to there, I was able to fish Fork with Kelly Jordan, and had two awesome days of fishing with him, as well. Both are tremendously knowledagle Bass anglers, and I learned much for both of them, despite having fished bass since 1960 myself. Each of them was very willing to share many of thier secret tips with me.

Let me preface this that I am a certifiable frogaholic: I use the Zoom Horny Toads, and I rig them on a HEAVY-WIRE 4/0 EWG style of hook. To me, you're usually fishing these on open lanes between weeds, or over the tops of sub-emergent weeds, so often fish will attack, then turn and dive, trying to ball you up in the weeds, so you need a heavy-wire hook [that will not bend], a braided line [preferably for this technique], and a stout rod with good backbone to haul them up and out of the slop before they bury themselves up in the weed. This is NO time for light line and finesse rods, IMHO.

I am truly amazed at the number of guys that have posted that they do not get hits on a Jitterbug. Are you guys leaving them in your tacklebox, because they DO NOT CATCH anything there except for dust. I have been fishing them since 1960, and I SWEAR by them at night, especialy the 5/8 size in BLACK [but not only that color]. I also use the MUSKY-sized ones, as well, when trophy hunting at night. I actually tie them on for fishing novices when I take them out on my ranger in the evenings, and have given many of them the fish of their lifetime by doing so. It is one of the easiest bass fishing lures to use, in my opinion. Yup, swap out the factory hooks for a much better catch rate !!

Hello, I'd like to give you all an introduction to myself so that guys that don't know me, soon will. I am 55, married, father of one adult/married woman, and a self-employed home repair contractor. I have been actively chasing Bass since 1960 with artificial lures almost exclusively. I run a Ranger bassboat, and have a canoe, a rowboat, and waders for smaller waters. I am an avid Bass angler, and a certifiable topwater Junkie, with an extremely serious affliction of "Froggy Fever". Based on Long Island NY, but travel all over the tri-state area every year, and have fished countless reknown bass waters all over the USA, including the Cal-Delta, Lake Fork, Table Rock, Kerr Reservoir, Beaver Lake [in ARK] , 1000 Islands, and Toho, Big O and the St Johns River in Florida, just to name a few waters. I am very active on many fishing website forums, and have made many fishing buddies throughout the USA by doing so. My writings have been published twice in a fishing magazine, and have an artificial lure named after me sold nationwide by a major fishing lure manufacturer, but will not name either here so as not to violate rules about promoting such. I also am a moderator on another fishing website, which I THINK is a sponsor here, but again, I will not name it, so as to NOT get myself banned here. I look forward to learning more from you all, and sharing my fishing experiences here likewise, as well as meeting and fishing with many here. Sincerely, Wild Bill