Will Wetline

Thank you very much for taking the time to post and share. I haven't felt the urge to modify any of my molds yet but certainly do appreciate this information about how to go about it if the urge arises. It's clear from your photos that you're a fine craftsman.

Thanks for the good words, wngan9447. I'll be looking for your report!

Crestliner2008 is one of the best out there for finding and catching smallies on Q in the summertime. I have only been fishing Quabbin for 20 years and my season runs from April when Q opens until early July when the great majority of SMB go deep and you need sonar. Think it's a good idea for newcomers to carry the Quabbin Reservation Guide Map from the below link until you're familiar with this big water. http://www.necartographics.com/cgi-bin/store/commerce.cgi?product=maps&cart_id=281380_2853 wngan9447, I'm sending you a PM with more detail. Enjoy the Q!

I'll second flyfisher's recommendation of Skip Morris' "Fly Tying Made Clear and Simple."

What a great float trip!

That's a fine bass, Mitch. May I suggest a swivel about 12" above your hook to avoid line twist?

This bait can be frustrating to learn to work properly. There are three elements of the retrieve that must be coordinated to make the bait walk: Rod tip should be angled close to the water; there must be slack in the line; the speed at which you reel must be aligned with the slack. Experiment and practice because it's a great classic bait to have in your arsenal. Here's a true fish story starring a Super Spook Jr.: http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/122073-sploosh/

I was seriously jonesing for a smallmouth. Usually I'm done the first week of July because I can't find these fish in the vastness of Quabbin's open water where the majority roam until next spring. Too, I find the heat and humidity oppressive and don't want to be out there broiling all day. That said, let's start on the Big Bass Breakline at 7:00, July 13. This is an uncommonly steep drop off sand flats and can produce smallmouth perhaps at any time of year. It's the spot in which I have the most confidence this day, and to fish it, I've got Carolina rigging on my mind. The game plan was to work back and forth and drag a variety of soft plastics through the sand grass covered bottom, deep. But first let's try out a bait I had acquired during a short spending spree last March. ( I now regularly attend meetings of Bait Buyers Anonymous to help me keep these urges in check.) I tied a Super Spook Jr. on a 6 1/2' medium power, fast action casting rod with 10 lb. copolymer. Length of cast is far enough and the Spook goes swish, swish, swish when I get the several aspects of the retrieve coordinated. I thought it likely this early in the day to intercept a fish cruising the line between the sand and the weeds. Here's one now, a modest-sized smallie with a good appetite. Good to get the skunk off at 7:10. Fifteen minutes later another decent fish busts the Spook but . . . Would someone explain to me how a bass can charge up through the water column, whip the surface into froth yet avoid six honed hooks? Time to dredge the depths. I reposition several times in this area which has produced for me for twenty years. Tried softbaits of different lengths, shapes and colors - even pink. Action? Nada. Not even a tap from a dink. Nothing on a T-rigged hula grub! Wacky Senko ignored!! My confidence has diminished significantly. Then, at about 11:00, a boat sets up about 150 yards away from me. It appears to be anchored more than a cast length away from the sand, over a dark, "nothing" bottom. Their rods appeared to be stationary. Were they fishing live bait? They certainly weren't throwing reaction baits. It wasn't long before they were whooping it up, the net in the water again and again. Friends in another boat pulled up about 1/2 hour into this frenzy and I heard a report of "Smallmouth. 3 1/2 - 4 lbs." Really? There? At this time of year? Yup. It was looking bleak and raining lightly. The smallmouth slayers fired up their craft and headed, at speed, toward Gate 43. I thought I'd putt-putt over to the area they were fishing and make a coupla casts. Positioned well off the flats as they were, I stopped the outboard and thought that conditions were good for a drift. Picked up the Spook rod and figured at least I'd stay amused by watching the bait work. Swish, swish, swish . . . Sploosh! This smallmouth came out of maybe 15' of 78.8º water. Not long after the photo op the clouds parted, the sun came out and it got breezy. That was enough of a change, apparently, to shut down any remaining big smallies in the neighborhood. I did drift outside edges around other areas of this extensive flat but the topwater bite was over. There was one just-legal, extra-feisty smallie that ate the Spook on the Bass Magnet but that was it on top. I expected more from the Magnet so I reworked the area with a 5" wacky rigged Senko with a slow reel-and-twitch retrieve, keeping it off the slimy bottom. Moving down to the Bald Head Ridge, I caught a couple of dinks on the Senko and, on my last last cast, landed a 1 1/2 lber. that must have followed the wiggling wonder right back to the boat. Reviewing this day I have to chuckle: I was certain that I'd find fish deep and could coax them to bite with a slow, steady retrieve. Turned out that all the fish came from 0' - 5' and the best on a hardbait that behaved like a squirrel in traffic. It pays to be observant and to change presentation accordingly. And it probably helps to be a little bit crazy too.

Fascinating video, well narrated. Thank you.

Well done, young bassmaster.

Good fish, guys!

I've got great faith in GYCB baits so I bought a pack of Kreatures this season. Not surprisingly, they produced smallmouth for me, T-rigged. Am thinking that the GYCB 5" Hula Grub will do the same thing at a lesser price.

It's clear that you guys know a thing or two about bass fishing!

Years ago I used to fish Slug Gos on a rig I called "Carolina Lite" : 6lb. copolymer line, an 1/8 oz. bullet sinker, a 2' leader and a 3" Slug Go. The smallies ate this with relish. Last season, looking at this little, old, plastic bait I thought it would work as well as today's more expensive, "hip" dropshopt baits. I think it does. A dab of Megastrike doesn't hurt either.

Even though many rely on a single O ring, I have never tried it due to what is admittedly a mindset that the hook in line with the body of the bait may interfere with a hookset. I had been using shrink tubing and that's certainly an improvement over just the hook through the worm, but the edge of the tubing will eventually cut the worm. The Wacky Saddle kit, available from TW, is the best accessory out there for this rigging and reasonably priced especially considering it's a new gizmatic in the marketplace. There are even extra ring/saddles available.

This year I made four trips on this big, beautiful reservoir in central Massachusetts which I posted during April and May, and three in June which are outlined below. The photo above illustrates Quabbin at her best for bass fishermen - you want some wind to ruffle this clear water - but I also go under adverse conditions some of the time. This was the 8th of June and I expected, along with Eric to find fish through with the spawn but still hanging out relatively shallow which, re Quabbin, means 10' - 20'. The hot bait this trip was a hula/spider grub T-rigged or on a jighead. I put a wacky rigged Senko into play as well. On the 20th I got out with my friend Jason who's mainly a hunter. We started with T-rigged soft plastics but got no response. Believing there to be fish in the area, we changed up to wacky rigged Senkos. My last trip of the month, June 22, brought seven smallies to the net, all on Senkos. Only two pics because I won't keep these fish out of the 70º water while I fiddle with camera adjustments. During June in the past I'd start the day with topwater. Disappointingly, this season was too windy and I threw them very little. Go-to baits for any time of my season here have been hula grubs and tubes. This year they produced a few. A few came to cranks and spinnerbaits in May. But the real star bait for me this June has been, as I've said, the Senko. I really don't intend to become a one trick bassmaster, but they just plain work. The majority of smallies are in their summer homes now and that, in Quabbin, is deep water which I lack the tools to investigate. I may on a breezy cool day get out and fish a steep drop I know and if I catch a fish . . . well, I'll get back to ya., WW

Big trout, hey!

6+

I ordered direct to get the pork trailers I wanted to complement the hair jigs I had tied up. http://www.unclejosh.com/C/PorkStrips/420 I went with pork more out of a sense of nostalgia than necessity; today's plastics work fine in cold water. My first bass this season, a 4 1/2 lb. LM, took a GYCB Hula Grub in 42º water. The same day I interested a 3+ lb. SM on a white bucktail jig with an Uncle Josh spinning strip. Take your pick.

Big smallies! A fine catch.

A few suggestions, Felix: - Keep the rod tip high with tension on the line at all times so the weight won't settle into the rocks. This has worked surprisingly well for me in the same conditions. It even seems that a light (1/8 - 3/16 oz.) cylindrical ds weight gets hung less than say, a tube with a 1/8 oz. internal jig head. Remember to keep a high stick and keep the bait moving slowly. The fish will like this. Also, as ClackerBuzz says, try a weightless Senko. Don't let it settle for long - they get hung too. A twitch and pause retrieve while reeling slowly will get the fish's attention.

Wow. Talk about being in the right place at the right time and knowing what to do when there . . .

I've been doing very well with smallies using a weightless, wacky rigged 4" Slim Senko on 8 lb. Sensation or fluoro. Matter of fact, when I'm not getting bit on any other presentation, this is what I throw.

Great outing, gentlemen.

Good piece of writing. Very good of you to set up the kid. That's an act of generosity he'll remember for the rest of his life.