Will Wetline

What a beautiful brown!

I will second what cadman said about safety. Wear protective clothing; be wide awake; do not get distracted. It's a good hobby but dangerous if you're careless.

The behavior of a hard jerkbait can make the difference between a bunch of bass and a dry net. Specifically, I'm thinking back to the '90s when I used to throw a Bomber Suspending Pro Long A (which is still a great value for $4.99). This bait at that time came with #6 trebles which worked but looked small to me in relation to the body. The bait rose slowly with them as well. I decided to experiment and put #4s on one of these. The bait sank slowly and the smallies slammed it. Out of curiosity, I tried a stock Suspending A and watched, grinning, as bass after bass followed right up to the boat but wouldn't take. One other thing to keep in mind: flotation varies with water temperature.

6.0 lb smallmouth. 4" Slim Senko, color 297, wacky rigged

Is this the video you're referring to?

Mark, I was going to suggest lure making if you had the time and the $$. Since I don't ice fish anymore, that's how I keep busy when the water in western Mass gets hard. You're already doing what I expect we all do off-season: analyze the previous season, study, plan for the next. The twins will keep you busy for sure. I don't know how it is that my twin brother never got the fishing gene while I did. Maybe both of yours will be bassmasters. Congrats!

Both fine fish. I love smallies, but when you do get a steelhead I think you'll agree that they are the toughest, craziest fish in fresh water.

Good pics of healthy looking smallmouth! It's gotta be satisfying after determining "the normal stuff isn't working" to figure out what was working.

I have always been surprised that being a cigarette smoker has not made a difference when handling soft plastic baits. I have fished quite a bit with non smokers and have not detected a difference in hook ups. I don't apply a masking scent to the bait. Don't for a second think that I'm advocating smoking, by the way!

I'm not being critical of a good idea but rather refining it: Go to a shop that sells fly tying supplies and buy a spool of lead wire used for weighting flies. You can also use this for keel weighting hooks. You can buy this from www.barlowstackle.com and other online component suppliers as well. http://www.barlowstackle.com/Soft-Lead-Wire-for-Flies-P1318C167.aspx

Good for you for freeing that fish. OTOH, it was certainly worth going in for!

SLO_ROLL et al, hope you don't mind me showin' off these two again from this season. The first weighed 5.8 lbs. and was caught the end of April. The second was 6.0 lbs. and a big surprise on my June 9th outing. Both came from Massachusetts waters.

6 lb. smallmouth throughout New England

Beauties.

My buddy was fishing a T- rigged Yamamoto Hula Grub last year, swung hard on a fish and missed it. The bass ripped off both tails - only the body and skirt were left. While he was loudly expressing his unhappiness about this situation, I said, "Hey - get that bait back out there!" He did and and landed a 3 lb. smallie. There's a lesson here.

I like all of 'em, and the second one in particular.

I eyeball both bait and hook and decide what "looks right." Be mindful that you want some amount of gap available when you nose hook the particular bait. I also check my drag to make sure it's on the light side when using say, a size 6 light wire hook such as a Spinshot. Take your time, too, when playing the fish - this is a finesse technique and requires patience when you got that bruiser on the line.

When the fishing's slow I often have a running monolog with the fish: "How about this bait? No? Perhaps a different retrieve? Perhaps color #194 rather than #297? Hmmm?" My fishing partner may ask me how the psychotherapy is going.

Good fish! Was the video taken with a GoPro camera?

Yup. The Uncle Josh product - which is still available - was the "pig" on the hook of the jig. The jig used 4 - 5 decades ago was very likely skirted with bucktail, not rubber or silicone. Bass fishing presentations have changed but the bass's behavior hasn't; I'm sure the good ol' jig and pig is as effective now as ever.

This is my last cast. One more. This is my last last cast. One more last cast. No kidding now . . . This is it. This is my last cast.

Well done!

The chemically sharpened hooks I don't mess with. I will touch up a 4/0 spinnerbait hook, some stock trebles and jig hooks.

I'm noting that this is my 60th post and figure it's about time I got around to introducing myself! I had already been chasing fish for 10 years when, in 1972, I made my first professional overrun on a casting reel for black bass. I've lived and fished just west of the Connecticut River since '81 and I thank Crestliner 2008 for telling me about this fine forum last year. All things digital are relatively new to me: the Mac desktop I'm hunting-and-pecking away at arrived in 2010 and a Canon PowerShot D10 a year later. I'm still learning to use these great tools/toys and especially enjoy photography when there are 2 cameras involved! (Click on pics to enlarge.) In the mid '90s a fishing buddy introduced me to the big, clear water of Quabbin Reservoir, one of the finest smallmouth bass fisheries in New England. The Quabbin was particularly generous to me this year giving up a pre-spawn 5.8 lber and the 6.0 you see in my avatar pic. In the winter you'll find me at the bench: On any given day I may be walking the dog, burning a tandem spin, jiggling a dropshot bait . . . but y'know, if the fish don't want to play, I'm still happy to be a (sometimes) bassmaster in this environment. And I'm happy to be a contributing member of the BassResource community.

This is "old school" because the Cotton Cordell Big O goes back to the '70s. In the 1/4 oz. size the smallies still like it just fine when they're cruising shallow water. Tackle used is 7' medium action rod, spinning, 8 lb. mono. Keep a tight grip on the rod when you retrieve this oldie but goodie!