cyclops2

Almost forgot . Smallies have much smaller mouths. They can be odd compared to Largemouths when biting lures. The rubber ones can be bitten on the 1" of the tail only. You fell a steady pull for several minutes . Then nothing of it pulls loose as the fish has had enough. I put a added tail hook when fishing schools. let the hook point be fully exposed to make a solid hook up everytime. A 1 ounce jig head is very goo in a rubber swim bait with a stinger. Enjoy ? Most important !! wear PROTECTIVE eye or sun glasses. Smalles will hold a lure TIGHTLY then let go as they come near the boat. I have been hit a few times in my 83 years. Holding the rod to a side is a good habit. ?

The fish will like your gear just fine. Are you using a boat ? If yes. Do some trolling a t low speed. Smallies are VERY FAST fish for long distances & time. Not like a Largemouth at all. A diving floater is fine for them. Big lakes mean big schools are possible . Fish finder is needed for locating schools of bait & bass. I find 2 types of baitfish & bass. shore or open water types. My first fishing open water were a bust. I thought the floating mass of echo was seaweeds. ? At the ramp I was told I was on the big schools of bait & bass. If you find a big Echo 20 to 40' down ? have a second rod set up to get a shad sinking lure in blue or green color. I use a 1 ounce weight to go down faster a rubber swim fish with or without a tail is fine. 3 to 6" long will work. BUUTT The fish need to be active feeding. Sometimes the fish are satisfied And just travel together until hungry again. It is a different type of fishing Enjoy

The water surface temperature is great at 68 F. They are just tired of paying the price of Catch & Release anymore. Deep water GOBIE time only. I am guessing. They even left a very popular bottom spot were all fish are plump when caught there. Only 8.5' deep & shaded till 10 am. I will go to different places that are reached only by ROWING with oars. The weeds are that thick protecting the fish from boaters. The waters are changing. The good news is no dead fish floating. ...........But Clayton had ANOTHER BASS contest last weekend. The contests sure will destroy the excellent Clayton fishery was rated at # 19 in the country. It is all about MONEY. Nothing else. After they destroy Clayton they have the next place already selected,. Oh well

They are well fed and not going to bite if it does not act or smell correct. Even the suspended groups of all sizes show no interest. thick overcast. Time to use cut up perch & catch a bunch again. ?

i In N J we only have 10% E gas for decades. I have loads of generators, mowers, wackers & cars. I have found that they NEVER have a carb problem. ....... IF I remember to turn off the fuel feed valve & run the engine dry. Some are over 40 years old. The outboard that is in storage IS COMPLETLY drained of fuel. Tank, line and engine.

This year the smalls have been different. There have been only 2 or 3 hed butting attacks. I can feel the hit with no body hooks to snag them. All the fish are only nipping the tail hook and getting hooked in the lower lip. The no hook is just a light tap now. They are biting the wire loop at the end of the lure. Almost like a lure bumping a strand of weed. I was in a different next bay. Lots of bites & lip jobs Bass & perch. I am doing a LOT of trolling. It is more productive to find & hook up. The no hook is a blast at night with a surface floater. ? NEVER delay setting the hook with a lure !!. My 4# does not allow setting a hook in a smallies jaw. At 60' + feet. No hook ups from directly behind & centered in the jaw. The hook is in the lower left side of the jaw almost always.

Latest reply to Dye 99 All of you have convinced me to use / try a Zman TRD & head. Fish get smart about using the same lure too often. Edit My age is REALLY showing. That is a plastic cigar for fish !! No wonder they like them.

I am out of 4 # braid. I really have caught so many that a solid tight line counts as a caught bass. My 1.5" lure in the wind reduces me lipping a lot of them needlessly. I have a set of no hook lures. If I am just practicing getting them to bite. To me getting them to bite is the real challenge now. The 4 # monofilament at 80 to 120' out really gives them a chance to just bite & release. I really have reached that level of enjoyment............ Unless I am fishing for some other seniors who still enjoy the process of receiving 5 legal sized bass or perch for a meal. Then I use the single small treble tail hook. A after sundown in special areas is a sure thing if I fail morning or afternoon on my limit for them. It feels so good to see old fisherman smile at a stringer of 5 fish. ? Mick you are right about them waiting for a lure to fall and swirl as it hits. Very common with schooling fish. I casted a big floater into a medium wind. It went upward 50 feet ? 2 instant swirls as it hit the surface. I watched and smiled.....Enjoyed the misses & forgot to pull the line. Oh Well. ? THe site is merging my replies to save space I guess. So you will not see my replies to each of your posts. Never saw a site do this before.

Totally agree with the clear water in lakes or rivers. I would find a mob of bass in the clear creek water when the Delaware River in western N J was high & muddy. ALL of the different size and types fish would fill the first clean spot out of the main stream. 1 time there was a 4 to 5 foot carp just resting under a fallen down tree.

Believable & logical results were found since I posted. British guy ran a test in clear glass jars. Gas only... 2 stroke mixed at 50 : 1.... 4 stroke mixed. 6 weeks later they show no separation. It agrees with more technical statements by oil companies. Both oil & gasoline come from the same CRUDE stocks in the ground. Bingo They are mixed by Nature. I can remix them confidently. WAHOO I am doing about 70 to 1 ratio for trolling in the 10 gallon tank. My reserve 6 gallon tank has 50 to 1 for high speed running. That way I use up both tanks more often. Only took me 83 years to figure this one out. I run my 5 & 10 gallon tanks dry before winter storage.

8' boat should allow you to swing your rod tip all the way around your bow & stern ends to to keep the line away from a anchor line. Nice thing about your 8' is a super light weight anchor needed to stop a bass. I would drop the anchor from right beside your seat. simple and allows swinging the rod around the anchor rope very quickly. I a pinch. You can also do a fast ? pedaling turn to keep the line from wrapping around the anchor. Enjoy those biggies. ? I use a piece of straight S S shaft with a S S eye bolt welded onto the end. Mine is 2.5 " in diameter& 18 inches long. Bonus is it is almost TOTALLY weedless. But does hold a 16 foot boat & 30 hp motor in a good breeze. A length of S S chain would work also. Might store easier on centerline of boat ?

I seem to be getting a faster build up of black dry stuff on the sparkplugs after4 to 7 hours of trolling at the slowest speed possible. The carburetor plate is closed completely. I have a wide range of mixture screw adjustment.. It takes for ever to warm up a shut down engine after 1/2 hour of being stopped. Any brands of oil burn cleanest ? When trolled a lot ? I am using Marine High Test non Ethanol.

Excellent advice. I am down to Ande 4# New spool last year. I keep it in a clothes drawer away from heat / cold / sunlight. I keep the rod in a dark corner & carry it back & forth to reduce U V rays weakening it. I have put unreal pressure on the big ones to try keeping them out of weeds now 2 ' thick. But I need to cast 75 to 100' floating lures. I can see and or hear the strikes at that distance. But I can NOT SET the hooks with so much Mono laying on the water. They simply SQUEEZE THE HOOK ...TIGHTLY.... then let go after a long battle ? They seem to be the ones I catch & release and Then release the hook when they have PLAYED WITH ME !!!! 2 of you stated the bass boat dumps them in 1 spot. I believe that the last contest put a BUNCH of bass into the bay. ALL but 1 were lightly hooked in the edge of the lower lip.I netted all those. Most had helpers trying to pull the lure from the fish. Greed or helping ? I respect Their intelligence. I Have the tiniest trebles cut down to 1 crushed hook. The locals have taugh the new guys to Throw the lure when there is no pulling at all. Yesterday was back to normal. Struggle first 50' or open mouth when I put the net in the water. I will leave them alone for the next couple of weeks & go to other good places and say hello.

I have to cheat. I can not fool them They FEAR the sound of my engine. Just like all the cormorants do. They are there !! NAAHH NANNY BO BO You got my brother. But you will not get me. Each year I teach them more. Each year they incorporate that learning into their survival genes. ?

They can see the sunlight reflecting off of my lines. The plastic lips of lures. The treble hooks. The split ring in the nose. And a few other things. Oh well

I did forward & side fish finders with hand held transducers 20? years ago. Some deep water fish do move out of the path of a boat. Planner boards are a pain. But do work very well on some fish that move away from noisy boats. Big trout & salmon come to mind. Buy a vacuum sealer machine & plastic to seal up all those fresh fish. Buy a small 12 vdc to 120 vac converter to power the sealer machine ON THE BOAT at sea. That will increase lifespan & reduce any spoilage from starting. A baitwell with Ice in it & a heavy duty trash bag OVER THE ice helps keep fish better all day. Way back in time We gutted at sea. Cut the skin & guts into small 1" to 2 " pieces & dumped them over the same spot at the same time. Talk about a bait ball coming to the boat ? It was legal back then in fresh water also. Why waste the food for the fish ? Enjoy next year. ?

Excellent write up of how diverse the bass can be in big waters. There is a reason why electronics make catching more fish everyday easier.

I watch some of the T V 60 # test line guys set the hook so hard a 8 pound fish pops out of the water and flies right by the referee. DUUUHHH CHEAP frigging hook company !! I gotta set the hooks like a pro more often.

The industry standard 2X and 4X stiffer rated saltwater hooks NEVER BEND !! Do a web search of............... saltwater hooks......... They are still available.

Just caught & released a nice bass with a single # 6 hook on a 4" perch pattern Rapala. So nice to unhook in a net & release. The lure is almost totally weedless. The lure hook has a crushed down barb. The bass can & does unhook itself most times by the time i put the net on the floor. Since the water has cleared up almost totally. The bass & other fish are all being lip hooked. Some can toss the lure if I let the line go slack long enough. 2 bass complained their arms are too short to do it by themselves.

Buy saltwater hooks. They come uncutable & unbendable and rust proof. Or they did 40 years ago.

Found a small school of bass . Caught 6 as fast as I could release them. Then they had enough of my lures. 5 large perch for my neighbor to have lunch with. Good day.

A school / group of smalls will chase baitfish forever . Until they eat enough of them or the baitfish can go thru a long enough and shallow enough stretch that the bass can not pass thru. The creeks can & do have cool pools or stretches of dark shade all day. The Minnows & other small stuff. Eels insects and anything elsethat lives in the safety of SMALL CREEKS ......MIGHT..... have to go downstream in certain water conditions to eat or survive heat or lower oxygen levels etc. My town creek has pairs of smalls spawning over a MILE up the creek in the spring. Higher water more Oxygen warms up very quickly with dark rock all around around in sunlight areas. HUGE male and female pair in a 30 foot pool. They leave after the kids hatch out. Edit...... on rare occasions I have seen a SINGLE bass at a time go long distances up stream for no reason. They are leaned over to get thru the riffles. Did not make sense. So I followed them to a large pool. Bingo They were forming a large group. Not feeding on anything. But that indicated that they were going to chase every thing downstream to a massacre pool or open water in the main river to munch on them.

Does anybody have less hookups when they are just suspended ? Are the fish just resting or sleeping ? Very rarely do I get a active suspender. The lures with eyes catch just as many bass as the ones without eyes. If they are feeding.

Very BAD sight as I came into my docking area yesterday. About 30 to 50 Black Cormorants having a surface meeting. 100' in front of my dock. 2 PM . They are back & unhappy because of low water & no real weed beds. Were not diving for fish as they should be. They have caught & swallowed a 8 to 10" bass. I chased them out. Most looked small or undersized for some reason. Could be this years batch on their first outing.