RichF

I grew up in that area and spent most of my time fishing all those small lakes in that area. They're all beautiful and full of fish.

The Bay gets crazy in the summer and I avoid it like the plague. There are plenty of big bays nearby that hold tons of fish. Lake of the Isles is across the bridge on Welsley Island. Tons of largemouth and pike in there (frog heaven if you're into that). There is a launch fee but it's only like $6. Chippewa Bay is a few miles northeast of Alex Bay. Really good fishing in there and you'll be able to get away from the big boats cruising the main river. There are always largemouth in there but in late June you'll still find smallmouth cruising. There may even be fish spawning still. I'm not a big proponent of pulling fish of nests but the bass season will be open the 3rd Saturday in June so that's your choice (I just highly encourage catch and release!). You can catch fish on just about anything that time of year. Jerkbaits, lipless cranks, and spinnerbaits are all good choices for moving baits. Guys up there (well anywhere) go nuts for the wacky rig senko too. Typical smallmouth techniques...drop shotting and dragging tubes are clutch as well. You guys will have a great time. Best fishing in the country!

My father and I fished a team tournament there a couple years back. It's one of the most beautiful lakes I've ever been to. It was our first time fishing there but we did pretty good with a third place finish. We launched at the upper Saranac. Tried finding submergent grass but had little luck. We did find some pads (that didn't produce much) and some reeds. If you look at google maps, the state ramp is near the Sarnac country club at the very north end of the lake. We got a couple decent largemouth and small pike in the adjacent bay to the east of the ramp. We followed the east shore there south and picked up some nice smallmouth (in the 2-2.5 lb range) along the bank. I recall there being some wood along the rocky bank with some fairly steep drops close to shore. Our best fish came out of Square Bay. I remember there being a huge boulder/small island/shoal deal way back there that held both largemouth and smallmouth. We caught fish on a bunch of baits: jig n pigs, spooks, shakey heads, tubes, and spinnerbaits. I've never been on the Middle or Lower Saranac but I hear there's better largemouth habitat (more grass). I'd love to get back up there some day, unfortunately I just relocated to Northern VA so it may be a while. Anyway, hope this helps a little and hope you guys have a blast!

I have better luck fishing a hollow body frog in pads slowly. Making the frog walk in place without any forward movement is key for me. I do that over openings in the pads. The majority of my bites come when the frog is still. I also have pretty good luck with swimjigs and paddletail swimbaits in pads. Def an awesome pic too!

The most difficult aspect about it, for me, is accepting the fact that competitive fishing isn't like other competitive sports. What I mean by that is the angler with the most skill/talent doesn't always win a competition. Traditional athletes can spend endless hours practicing, fine tune their skills, to become dominant over the competition (Wayne Gretzky, Michael Jordan, Peyton Manning, etc.). Anglers can only do that to a certain extent as luck often plays a major role in our sport. You can be the best and most accurate caster; flip, skip, and pitch better than the rest of the field, or fish any and all techniques with ease and confidence but still get beat by a competitor who stumbles across a random school of 4 pounders 30 minutes before weigh-in. Certainly the nature of our sport but a tough pill to swallow regardless. What's most exciting to me about fishing is that it never gets old. Obviously watching or feeling a fish strike, the ensuing fight, and landing of a bass (or any other species) are all exciting to us anglers, more exciting than most things in life. What makes our sport special is that there are always new things to try. Always new things to discover on the water. Every angler learns something new almost every time they hit the water. That's something I feel no other sport has.

I've used the rod wraps and the bps version as well. They feel great but I've had a few take small chunks out of cork handles before when I've removed them. Probably won't have any issues with eva though.

I have a 7'3 H Villain micro gen 1 and the thing is a broomstick. Nice looking rod and pretty clean build for an Abu but if you're looking for a true medium action rod, the villain (gen 1 anyway) may not be a great choice unless you go lighter like the others are saying.

I've never won a boat myself but just about every guy I've talked to that has, decided to sell. Prize boats (especially the Opens' Co-Angler boats) are usually pretty bare bones and not much use to a serious tournament angler. I've been told that if you're serious about getting a bass boat and competing at a high level like the Opens, you should opt for all the upgrades (power poles, 36v trolling system, good electronics, etc.). If I'm not mistaken, you may also be able to upgrade at the dealer your boat certificate is for. I'm not sure if that's correct but worth a shot. Congrats on your win man, that's an awesome accomplishment and good luck with the boat!

I completely agree that its entertaining and fun to see how the anglers react when they hear so and so is catching them. However, I think you would still see guys react the same way if they were told they are in 4th place with xxlbs and the 3rd place competitor has xxlbs (without mentioning names). I think that would eliminate the temptation of wanting to run over to the same area the guy in 1st is fishing. As far as the skill thing goes...I just like seeing guys with better fishing skills do better in competition. I think it's awesome to see a guy like Andy Montgomery, who is insanely talented at skipping a jig (a very advanced technique in my opinion), do his thing and win. It's not exciting (for me) to see a guy throwing a senko along the shore, cast a spinnerbait in open water, or drop shot straight down in front of his boat and catch a bass (big or small). There aren't many anglers that can do what Andy does with that jig. That's plain skill and that's what I'd like to see more of from MLF.

I just moved to the DC metro area a couple months ago and am looking for similar info as well. If I find anything I'll let you know Dave!

MLF is a neat idea and pretty entertaining. I can't get over a few things though... The real time catch update is a terrible idea. It just promotes spot stealing by guys who don't find fish. The cumulative weight deal is kinda lame too. What does catching 20, 1 pounders prove? Any one of those guys can stumble across a school of 12 inchers, catch a bunch, win, and it would be blind luck not skill. This "even playing field" format (no prior info, no practice, etc.) is such a great idea because the viewers could actually see who has the most skill at actually catching bass. Unfortunately, counting every 12 incher doesn't reflect that in my eyes. Just count the five biggest like any other tournament and only let the anglers know what place they're in, not who catches what, and MLF would be exponentially better.

I just started using gamma copoly. Its great stuff. Soft and supple like mono, very limp. I use a palomar knot with every line and it works great for me. Copoly is most like mono.

Thanks guys! All bass were caught here in northern NY. There are some incredible places to fish out here!

Three different trips to three different lakes got me these fish. The terrible pic was a 7lb 7oz brute (fishing alone). The other LM was 7lbs 1oz and the smallie was 5lbs 7oz. All fish released!

Fish man! My dad and I have been fishing tournaments out of a tracker pro team 170 with a 50hp for the last 4 years now. It feels that much more satisfying when you win with the small boat.

So if you have a trout stamp and you hook a trout and it dies (if you release it), is that better than not have a stamp, hooking a trout, releasing it, and having it die? I don't like his reasoning.

I think he was warranted in questioning you but there was absolutely no need for threats. I understand they are doing their jobs and I appreciate that. If you're not keeping the fish though, I don't see any harm.

I had a similar run in here in NY. During the fall and early spring, steelhead and browns run up the tribs from lake ontario. My dad and I catch them on bass tackle and cranks. I've had game wardens tell me you can't catch trout on cranks and that we were intentionally trying to catch the walleye that come up with the trout. The fact is, any lure can catch just about any fish and the fact that this warden told me you can't catch trout on cranks proves they aren't all that knowledgeable. Unless you have fish in your possession that are out of season, I don't see any reason you should get a ticket or even the threat of a ticket.

We need to start a vigilante group for this kind of crap!! Who's with me?

I saw the same thing today. They were definitely bass. Got close enough to see the entire fish. We just had some hard rain yesterday. The river isn't high here in NY and its maybe in the mid to high 50s. I figured these fish were doing something in regards to spawning. Seems early to me but I've never seen bass do anything like this.

That's awesome man. Keep it up!

Thanks for the replies guys. I'm sure it's the ground. All of the other trailers have separate ground wires coming from the tail lights. The little trailer doesn't. Looks like I'll have to pick some up.

I just started using it this year and am pretty satisfied. Good strength and very limp.

The lights on my 12ft aluminum boat trailer won't work when I hook them up to my jeep liberty. They work when hooked up to my dad's ford ranger. The lights on our other 2 boat trailers work fine as well when hooked up to both vehicles. I have a uhaul hitch and wiring. Has anyone else had this kind of problem? I think it might be the ground wire but I'm not sure.

Just another piece of expensive junk. Vandam is great but he says this gizmo helped him catch fish on smith mountain last year by imitating the sound of dying baitfish, which turned on the bass. If I'm not mistaken, a lot of his fish were smallmouths sitting on beds that he caught on a shakey head worm. To me, this makes no sense. It's just another piece of crap thats "revolutionizing" the sport. Here's an idea...learn how to fish people! Don't rely on stupid electronics to "bring the fish to you."