webertime

Toads and Shad I do not use a keel weighted hook, but I do like to use the thicker gauge (Gammy Superline) hooks on those, it's still sort of a keel but doesn't take them under as fast. Shad I use in the thicker stuff/over surface vegitation. Think of the Burp, Burp, drag over junk, Blurp (repeat) it's a little less intense (like a mouse/bug/bird scrambling over the veg to get out/to safety) and seems to work very well for me up here. I throw Toads next to cover in more open water since it's more subtle to begin with. I love to go sloooooooow with them, which is another reason for no Keel weight. I love Texas rigging Roosters, Monkeys and Craws up here but haven't really given them a fair shot with Keel weighted hooks, seems to me that a Keel weight would have the potential to pick up more grass than a T-Rig in the thick stuff.

Harriman has some nice Smallmouths in it and a horrifying nude beach... Camp at Molly Stark State Park, it's just down the road and a really cool spot to stay. St. Catherine is a cool body of water with some great Largemouth as well as some nice coldwater fishing. http://www.vtwaterquality.org/lakes/docs/depthcharts/lp_stcatherine.pdf I'd probably do St. Catherine if it were me.

LM are moving up to spawn and are in some pretty dense cover due to the flooding. Smallies are still moving around in packs, my buddy got 14 nice ones yesterday on Jerkbaits in Mallets Bay. The water is REALLY murky as well. I'm heading out Friday to prefish a tournament out of North Hero and will let you know what I find.

In one of my favorite pond's I kill every one. This kid that lived on it goes Catfishing (Carp/Channels/Bowfin/Gar) at night and for reasons that confounded me, for a few years now, brings home Bowfin and throws them in the pond. His logic was that HE felt the pond had too many Perch and that they needed to be reduced. I pointed out that this pond is roughly 70 acres and has had 2 northerns over 13lbs taken, 3 dozen 5+lb Largemouths, a few 16" crappie, before he started throwing them in there and has more Pickerel than water in it, there are plenty of preditors without Bowfin. The Pumpkinseeds are small and the Perch are actually fairly nice (7-14") but there aren't a lot of them, a school of 7 is big from what I've seen. So this idiot threw in a dozens of Bowfin including one that is about 40"... I informed him that it was illegal to do and he said he didn't care. I told him that I work as an investigator for the State, he looked funny but tried to play it off. I told him my brother in-law is a very high ranking State Trooper and that one of my good friends is a very well respected Warden and that I know his address and should probably not continue to stock the Bowfin in there since they'll just out compete the fish already in there. I told him of several people that are complaining about the Bowfin and how the fishing in the pond has declined over the last couple years (residents that live on the pond). I told the local bait shop about him and found out that he did it to another pond (Monkton Pond, 150 acres) and that the fishing was suffering because the Bowfin were eating all the Perch and young Pike in that pond and the big Northerns are all gone due to catching and the young are being eaten, and out competed by the Bowfin. Last I heard was the kid's landlord caught wind and refused to re-up his lease and that his name was well known to the Wardens around the area now. They can really really screw up small bodies of water since nothing eats them and they eat everything/anything.

This bait does very much the same thing as that Lateral Perch (I have both) and also gets used as a frog and can even be used on a Carolina Rig (Pure Agave color looks like a Smelt/Shad/Alewife). Swimbait Hook or Pegged Texas Rigged it fishes like a Lateral Perch. Weightless Texas Rigged and you have your frog/dying sunfish on the surface. http://stores.whiskeyriverbaits.com/-strse-SALOON-GIRL/Categories.bok

Literally a few grams difference. Not enough that a decision should be based on. C-stick is lighter fwiw. My kistler mag with a citica e is a lot lighter than my vertias 705 with a curado 51e.

I have a 7'6" Heavy Carrot Stick (LTX) and a 7' MH Veritas (I've also owned 6'7" Med Crankin' and 6'9" MH Spinning LTX's). The Carrot Stick is a nicer rod in my opinion. I've fished them with Revos, Citicas,and Curados, and they both feel really nice and balanced with those reels. The Carrot is just so darn sensitive and for me has been bomber. The guides on the Veritas are nicer. The reel seat on the C-stick is nicer (BY FAR). The current C-Stick grips are larger than my older ones so that may be a wash, I have BIG hands and the Veritas is comfy as is. I had to use Roadbike Handlebar Tape to build up my C-Sticks (adds nearly no weight). I also have a BPS Extreme and Nitro, a Kistler Magnesium, and Lamiglas Excels(SICK), so if I were to rank my favorites of all my rods I'd go with C-stick followed very closely by the Excels, then the Veritas. Again this is just my opinion.

With Honey Tips... Awesome.

Any and All times.

I just got a 51E for $133.90 shipped.

Rage Toads and Shad and Mend-it are matches made in Heaven. I am reasonably sure I have ~100 hits/strikes/hooksets/fish landed on a pack to Rage Shad and I do 90% of my fishing in a pond that is more Pickerel than water...

Go catch a bunch of dink Perch. Cut the Tail off (DO NOT cut the Meat, just the fin). Then Hook then through the base of the tail area. Hang on... My buddy calls them "Fish Pigeons", you never see baby ones and they are really annoying.

My pond is very similar to yours, the baits we have the best luck with are Senkos, Fat Ikas, Jigs, and 6"+/- Swimbaits. What part of the country are you from? Are you fishing from a boat?

wire tie style. Have you seen plastic Hand (riot) cuffs? Just like those except TINY.

I do just as above and and put a small bandaid over the blister to coushen and absorb any gunk, then a wrap or 2 of Duct Tape to keep it clean, and allows the surface to stay smooth. Grey (not sure about Gorilla) Duct Tape's glue has anti microbial properties and is commonly carried by hikers, x-terra athletes, etc. for blisters. Good luck on the tournament!

So how many ways can a day get messed up. Caught the baby's cold... Side plate comes off Revo... Backlashes on reels I've fished with all year without a problem... Camera got a bath... I lost $30+ in jigs... (tie on, flip pull through weeds, "plink!", repeat until I saw red) Started out in the rain and finished in scorching sun (I was soggy with a sunburn)... Every fingertip has puncture wounds from constantly hooking myself Had a blast! 15 (2-4 lbs). Jerkbaits, Dropshot and Hair jigs. Water on Champ was in the 50's (52-58). Sidenote (non-Champlain) Large and Smallmouths are spawning in the ponds/lakes around Champlain. One "Lake" was 63 at 4pm.

Will do! In the morning we're hitting a great LM lake where they are already bedding up!

Last week my buddy got 63 on the first day and 48 on the second, several 4 & 5lber's. All on humps/reefs from Mallet's Bay up into the Lamoille River. I'm going to be heading out tomorrow afternoon for some!

You're right got the Triumph mixed up in there.

I've got a 7' MH (706) model Veritas and I've used it with a Citica and a Revo S (7.8-8.6oz) and it is a VERY nice feeling rod with these reels. I've played with the MOJO and to me it feels like a really nice rod, from 15 years ago... If I were considering a MOJO, I'd look at the Premiere as well, more blanks to select from, made in the same factory.

I thought the KVD was a Quantum Code with 3 more bearings. For that sort of $$$ a Pro Qualifier hands down.

I saw an interesting fact on our local news last night about Champlain. I guess Friday or Yesterday it hit 103.5', an all time record. Back in May of 1993 it was at 101.38'. That year with a dry May (2 inches below normal precip.) it took 27 days to for the lake to drop 3'. So by the time you come up the Spawn should just be getting started but the spawning areas should be a bit different as we'll still be at about 100' (2-4' higher than normal). The water is 47-50 right now according to a buddy of mine that went out yesterday (20 smallies, 3 @ 4+lbs). So not a super concrete answer, but things are pretty messed up right now.

Got my 706 Veritas yesterday. Ordered Sunday AM at 8:40am and had it in my hands last night after my club meeting. It's all in one piece, all the guides are good to go!. Not that I would order again based on what I have read (I knew beforehand that they often advertise stuff they don't have so it takes awhile to get it, but I wasn't in too big of a hurry anyway.) But in this case they came through Aces. Side note... The Veritas feels really nice for a $100 ($63) rod, especially with a Revo on it!

Dwight is to Smallies what Derek Jeter is to good looking women...

Toche!