mod479

Stradic Ci4 is a great reel for the money, I love both of mine. 2500/4000 -Smooth, light, awesome drag system! -Ugly color combo, and a paint job you dont wanna let touch the ground is my only complaints...if you wanna call those legitimate complaints... Since you are okay with ~300 price tag, dont forget about the Sustain FG. I would have it over my stradics in most situations, but only becuase its not as gaudy, the retrieve is smoother, and feels more refined at the end of the day. Both reels have a cool maitenence port for quick servicing too, which will prolong the life if you keep them oiled up every month or so. If it lasts, it'll get passed down someday...here is my little river rig: Dobyns Champ. 703 SF Sustain FG 2500 Platinum Promix 6#.

Your shimano will work fine with all kinds of line...not just power pro. Stay away from fluorocarbon with topwater baits. -10lb test / 2lb diameter power pro in green if you want braid. Monofilament will also work well for topwater since it floats. -Sufix Elite 6-8 lb test in green or clear. This stuff is a very supple and smooth handling line. I prefer copoly for just about everything however, and I'd suggest: -Yo-Zuri hybrid in smoke purple or camo green. 4-6lb test.

Sorry to hear that, it can be a tough lake. Glad you ended up finding some fish somewhere.

Alright, first off where have you tried? Have you seen any fish yet? Were any surfacing? I can tell you, I fished last night and the smallies just were not very active at all...it could be weather, we had high pressure move into NY over the day yesterday. ( I have a really advanced weather station at my disposal at work). I tried topwater last night, the fish just werent very into it...they would swipe at it once when it initially hit the water, then nothing...working the bait at any speed produced nothing. So you're not alone. This is my advice...the pressure may have them closely related to cover out deeper. Give them a day or 2, they will get more active as things stabilize. As I watch my barometer, the pressure is falling, but very slowly. When the barometer falls, fish feed....usually. One thing I suggest you do is find some rock piles...Its tough to find structure and cover without electronics, but it can be done...this would be a perfect day to put on your polarized glasses and go scouting! Find some humps, or piles and target them this evening or tomorrow morning. Try to find stuff out deeper, dont focus on the banks. Also, have you tried any tubes? Drag them on the bottom, using slow horizontal sweeps with your rod. Slow down your presentation, and if you think youre going slow enough, slow down more. Also, dont be afraid to put them right into cover, you may lose a couple, but thats part of the game. Try all your colors, tubes will almost always get attention from smallies. Another suggestion would be some small white/yellow/firetiger color inline spinners...this will target fish that may be suspended, and they will hit them sometimes when nothing else seems to produce. If all else fails, go get a dozen minnows and craws, and fish them on the bottom on a split shot rig...No shame in using livebait unless you're fishing tourneys. Dont give up, the fish are there...that lake has some nice smallies. I was frustrated last night on the river as well, then I switched gears when topwater fell flat, and fished some flukes...ended the night with 3 keeper walleyes. Sometimes smallies just dont wanna cooperate on a given night...its the nature of the beast! Good luck, and feel free to pick my brain if you'd like to know anything else.

Yo Zuri Hybrid or Suffix Pro-Mix copoly I've had goodluck with both, very supple and easy to handle on spinning gear, but also quite strong for 4# test.

I also suggest trying tubes....2.75" - 3.5" size in green pumpkin, watermelon, smoke, and/or black. Start out dragging them on the bottom (with the current) utilizing slow horizontal sweeps of your rod. If that doesnt produce, try snapping the tube off the bottom and then letting it sprial back down, also when it comes in contact with weeds or moss, rip it out of there hard and sometimes they will absolutely crush it.

In nature, a meal is never guarunteed for a bass, so by oppurtunisitic, I mean it will instinctively eat anytime an easy meal presents itself, for the sake of saving energy the fish may need later on...and continue to do so until there's no easy targets left to scarf up. I'm no expert on bass biology, but I'd probably feed him a 3-4 worms/crayfish a day, or throw in a few dozen feeder goldfish in the pond every week. Back to the heat...smallies dont like warm/hot water...might wanna run a hose in there for a hour or so every hot day to keep him cool and the water oxygenated.

Fishing a lake or river? Regardless....you cant go wrong throwing the following: tube jigs, curly tail grubs, weightless texas rigged senko, wacky rigged senko, flukes, topwaters of all types.

Bass are oppurtunistic feeders, so by nature he will eat until you run out of worms! I feel ya on the heatwave friend, I have been suited up in tyvek all morning for work...I hate the stuff, but its better then getting covered in PCBs.

On a less serious note, if you wanna mess with them...beat them at their own game. Go get some cut bait and show em how its done...they wont like that.

We got these types up north too...so annoying to share a spot with someone you'd like to kick in the teeth isn't it? Making fun of $100+ combos? Jealousy is one stinky cologne...

I use the gulp crayfish spray on alot of my soft plastics, it might not attract them...but it might mask some human scents.

The braid spinning on your spool is an easy fix. Leave about 50 feet of monfilament on your reel, and attach your new braid with a double uni knot.

Like the previous posters have said, spool up with some braid. I like power pro in green for fishing weeds/pads. Even 20lb braid will have a smaller diameter than your 10# mono. It will saw those lily pads up as you apply pressure, and that is what you need to do...get them out of those pads as quick as possible. Otherwise they'll just bury themselves in there deeper.

^^ This. I was also gonna suggest 3" or 4" senkos/dingers texas rigged with no weight, just let them drift naturally and watch your line closely. The river I fish is very shallow and snaggy, so I tend to texas rig more often than wacky style. I've taken some nice fish on all black, green pumpkin, and watermelon candy colors...more often then not, the smallies wont hesitate to hit the 5" ones either, just experiment with color and size until you figure out what they want.

Oh, staying on topic...I got into smallies before I can really remember...my grandfather used to take me to the river daily when I was a young guy, he was an expert on the St.Lawrence, and taught me alot...(I wish I could remember more, he always had a backup plan to find them) but it wasn't until I hooked into one over 3lbs that I got the the bronzeback bug for life! It was the toughest fish I had ever battled at that young age, and they are still pound for pound the hardest fighting fish in freshwater...in my opinion anyhow.

I'm trying flukes for the first time this year, if you dont mind me asking, got any tips? I've caught bass flipping them into cover on a texas rig, but I hear they are most deadly with no weight, or a lightly weighted EGW hook. I guess my question is, how do you like to fish them, and how to you work them?

I'm from Northern NY, and by North I mean Canadian border North. None of my friends fish, but everybody up here that does fishes for food, no one can appreciate the creature on the end of their line it seems. They just end up head first into a bucket, which is somewhat depressing at times...although I keep a few walleyes a year for people I know will be eating them. Already this year some young guys were using baby bass as bait for musky...which was the breaking point for me, I called the DEC and they all got tickets. I dont really feel bad, as I told them that it was illegal and not sporting the first time I witnessed it. They told me to F off. The 2nd time, I had my cousin (DEC officer) come down in plain clothes and bust them all. Havent seen them since. Then you've got the amish up here too. They will keep ANYTHING. I mean anything (carp, shiners, chubs, gobies, rock bass....4 lb smallies :/ ) I fish among these types of people daily, some guys talk a lot of smack when I let every smallie go.... anyone else ever get hated on for releasing bass??

Try a Rapala Skitter Prop. It's a propellor type bait, ~3.5" long. For colors: Green Frog which has a white underside, or Firetiger which has an orange underside. They only come in one size, but they work on the smaller rivers up here in the North. Twitch it slow, or rip it with some force, they dive and leave a nice bubble trail. Change the hooks out when you get it though, from my experience the stock VMC hooks are lower quality, and dull very quickly. Throw some mustad ultra points on it, or some gammies and you're good to go.

If you've thrown everything as you say, then I'd say your question should be "where are the smallmouths in the month of June?" Find the fish, then worry about catching them! Read over some past topics on this forum for ideas to fill your tackle boxes...chances are someone will reply after me saying one of the following baits.... "Grubs" "Lucky craft pointers" "X-Rap" "Husky Jerk" "Carolina rig a lizard" "Texas rig a Senko" "Wacky rig a Senko" "Reaper" "Goby imitation X,Y, and Z" "Fat Ika" "Manns Stingray" "Mepps inline spinner" "OG rapala floater" "Rapala countdown" "Fluke" "Tube" "Roboworm" "Erie Darter" "Sammie" "ZARA spook" "Pop-R" "Crawfish colored Crankbait" "Swimbait" "Football Jig" Now, if you go out and throw all of those baits and dont get a hit....refer to the first sentence of this post. But since ya asked... * in June, I like fishing tubes. TUBES TUBES TUBES.

Justin, Thank you, caught around ~15 fish over 16" that weekend...five or six over 18, a few over 19, and two over 20". It was one of the best days I've had up there in over 10 years. All fish were caught on roboworms of assorted colors, and then released. CI4's are indeed the bomb, it's paired up to a 7'2" cumara M/XF, it's a great dropshot setup. 6lb seaguar inviz-x flouro for line. (Good stuff) Just ordered a Sustain FG 3000. Hoping it is of similar fit and finish. Cant wait to get my grubby paws on it and hook it up to my new Dobyns 703 for some shakeyhead/tube action. Okay, enough rambling...I'd suggest setting your trip up as late in June as possible...that way you can get in some topwater action in the morning, then transition to bottom presentations as the day goes on, and the smallies move deeper. If you've got anymore questions, dont hesitate to ask me. I will reply as soon as I can. Good luck, and now some more memorial day weekend smallie porn... Fish from above, right before release. The next day, the other 20' fish. Same 20" smallie next to the dropshot setup Different fish, 18ish... Another one, nice colors One more fish, no stripes on this one... Good luck out there, let us know how it goes! Matt

That 5lb fish...what's up with its face? Is that a tumor taking over???

Not a problem, I'm working on getting my NYS guiding license, so I should be able to give a little advice right?? Just a little info, FYI...went and fished Star Lake which is maybe 40 miles from Saranac the entire memorial day weekend. ~75% of the smallies are still on the beds, eggs are still attached to the rocks... meaning by next weekend they will likely still be there protecting the little ones as they begin to hatch. So, you may want to postpone your trip a couple weeks as you said, or you could do as I did...and go out in search of females. ^^My best from over the weekend.... They're out there. Good luck!

My mistake, wasn't sure you which part of Saranac you were fishing. Saginaw and FC bay are in upper Saranac. Lower Saranac can be tricky, and I dont have as much experience down there. Let me take a look at some maps and I will give you some ideas. Remember, up in the Adirondacks, the water is still cold! Everything is a month behind up there, the smallies are just finishing up spawning, and the males are on the beds. By the time you get on the water, they may very well still be on their beds, or they could be transitioning to summer locations. Bed fishing can be frustratingly difficult, I'd suggest leaving those fish alone, and concentrating deeper in search of those bigger females. Then again, sometimes these male fish can be extremely aggressive and will hit anything in proximity to their bed. Look into dropshotting, it requires patience, but it is killer on these lakes. Many times, I find the fish have never seen these types of presentations and will not hesitate to hit a variety of baits. Get yourself some VMC spinshot hooks (size 2 or 4), they simplify the rig, and I've had good luck with them when I didnt feel like tying a palomar knot to a traditional DS hook. You can get yourself some live minnows and use those on this rig as well if you aren't having luck with artificials. Checked the maps of Lower Saranac, I'd give Boot Bay and its surrounding islands a shot. Also check out Loon Bay. Fish the sister islands, they look good. Pick up some senkos/dingers. They are simple do nothing baits, wacky rig them (hook them in the middle) cast them out, let it sink to the bottom. Watch your line for anything abnormal. Colors: Black/blue flake, Pearl, Green pumpkin/black flake, Watermelon/red flake, and my own personal favorite, smoke/silver flake. Get yourself some square bill crankbaits in browns/white/pumpkinseed SF patterns, and throw those around the islands, you'll lose some, but thats part of the game. Sorry for the long post... good luck out there, Let me know if you've got any other questions, I'll be up fishing up in the ADKs as well!

I've fished saranac a few times, first off Ill tell you I've had good luck in both Saginaw and Fish Creek Bay. Get to Saginaw early and use your topwaters. Poppers are good. Pick yourself up a propeller type bait as well. Something like a Rapala Skitterprop. Cant go wrong with tubes. bring some new colors along with you, and throw them often. You might want to think about some 3 or 4 inch grubs, like a G. Yamamoto single tail in a watermelon/red flake or cinnamon/black flake color. Fish them on a 1/4 jighead. Good luck, let us know how it goes.