webertime

As it turns out Felix and I fished basically right next to eachother and had the same anti-depressant prescribed to us afterwards...

If Felix had the same weather for the pervious 2 weeks that we had up here on Champlain (I think he did) there's a bit more too it. 2 Weeks ago the fish were up and spawning, water was mid to high sixties, we had a full moon. Then the epic rain and COLD nights came through. Then it got really hot and rained some more. The water temps dropped back into the high 40's to mid 50's, the water levels rose about a foot and the moon was gone this weekend. Yesterday we had a tournament, the water was exactly the same as Felix stated, we were fishing an area that sounds just like Felix's. We fished the same area last year on the same date the water was slightly warmer last year and we all pounded them. This year it was a grind and when asked what guys got them on it was "Senko" "Carolina" "Lucky Craft" "Popper" "shakyhead" "Spook" "Crankbait" in other words there was no rhyme or reason to it. It may just be a case of all the weather craziness, first run of spawners had come through and moon phases just screwing up the fish in N. New York/VT/NH and they are starting to settle down after being put through a roller coaster of conditions in the area.

PM me, I'll get you sorted.

Pure is Abu's parent company (Berkley, Stren, Sebile, Spiderwire, Penn, Fenwick, Johnson, and Pflueger as well). Yeah that's a lot of grease in there.

If it's where I think it is, it's very clear (they catch spawners in 25 feet of water there).

It's a MESS... Water temps are 52 (as of yesterday up north) and water is cloudy/muddy. The huge rains in the last 2 weeks had the lake up about a foot and water in some places drop nearly 20 degrees (Mississquoi Bay). Fish are Pre-spawn, Spawn, and Post Spawn, fish are everywhere (not in a good way). We have a tournament Sunday out of Kelly Bay (just north of yours, on Alburgh), lots of guys are having nearly no luck all over the lake. I don't want to be a downer but it should be tough out there this weekend (has been for 2 weeks). Slow and long pause presentations did get the fish that were caught.

Will all the talk around the country on Banning Plastics in fishing (VT now has a proposed bill to ban plastics...) Perhaps the center section is a harder durometer or "less tearable" so lost baits are deminished? Less bass with "senko stomach"?

Seymour?

How heavy is the shellcracker on its own? ~3/8oz?

Spro Popping Frog and the Jackall Boil Trigger. The BT isn't much to look at (tiny mouth/cup) but wow, what a BLOOP it makes, caught some good fish on it.

Use a Fat Ika as your weight or like FnP says get the lead tube.

Google, duct seal transducer well. Painless, simple, durable, and cheap.

Xzone

Fat Ika and Whiskey River Baits Saloon Girl.

It doesn't really make a bigger hole, you can/should lube it with a little smelly jelly or megastrike so it slides easier.

I have an older Cardiff 101 on my Cranking Rod and a 301A on my Swimbait Rod. Both are pretty nice and very workman-like. I think I paid $85 for both together. Deals are out there.

Biffle head is money. I also prefer solid swimbaits like Keitechs on a regular football bc it's got a bit more material to hold on the head better.

Hmmmmm That might work pretty slick with a Biffle-head type jig as long as the line tie were oriented horizonally. hmmmmmmm

Cardiff 300, Abu 5500 C3, Lexa 300, Curado 300, and Abu Toro are all beasts that can handle up to ~4oz.

The only good cabelas reels worth buying are the Grey colored Prodigy and the current prodigy, both are based of Daiwa reels (Advantage and Aggrest) the Tournaments are made by Danco or Silstar I believe. You a righty or lefty?

Chatterbait with a LFT Magic Shad. Tons of "THUMP" Good amount of Flash Moves a significant amount of water Can mix and match the colors to fine tune the bait to the water clarity (or lack of).

Keep them in their original packages and pull as needed. They go into a FTO terminal tackle box for my trips. I periodically go through it and pull bent/rusty/salted hooks and recycle those. I found boxes with moveable dividers would shift enough and hooks would slide over or under the dividers and create a mess. The safety pin idea is pretty sharp though.

Go $10 more and get a new Quantum Accurist CX500/1 on ebay fro $40+/- shipped. The cost of repairing a used reel may make the $30 initial price significantly higher. The Quantum is a great reel for $40. If you have an Accademy Sports nearby, I hear their Metal reel is a nice reel for a similar price when on sale.

Little pieces of wood are called plugs. Hand carved baits were made from plugs of wood back in the day. That's my understanding of where plug came from. Some Shimano reels have meanings to their names... Ultegra a JDM reel, means "Ultimate Integrity".

Thank you TrippyJai for pointing out they definitely aren't the same blank.