Janderson45

I haven't ever ordered from him, but from what I've seen Trey Harpel does some pretty slick work for custom hard bait painting.

You signed up just to drop this comment? Unless he's applying for a record who really cares if the bass is 8.5 or 10lbs?? Congrats on the fish to the original poster, must have been an awesome experience!

There's been two drownings (falls thru ice) in my immediate area already this season (Mansfield, Brockton), and a few more close calls where fire/rescue had to respond. Be careful out there everyone, glad to hear you and your buddy made it out ok Brian. i haven't bothered trying with the ice this year and at this point I'm not even going to, we're almost in March and I think we're probably not too far away from open water for the spring! Fingers crossed...

Mine are 6'6 thru 7'2 at the moment, I have had them hit branches before, but I've been able to combat that issue by paying closer attention around low limbs, bridges etc. and also by adding the zooka tube holders and angling my rods backwards a certain degree. As far as actually fishing with them I've never had any issues or complaints- I do typically fish while standing up out in my kayak though. Planning on adding a 7'4 rod to the lineup this year... I don't really for see any issues the extra 2" of length will make. For what it's worth I also don't fish too many rivers, so tight quarters and low hanging limbs is admittedly less of an issue for me than it could be for others.

Palomar or San Diego jam knot for me. Used to be strictly a Palomar, but once I realized how easy the jam knot is to tie and how well it works with braid I've used that quite a bit too. Just whichever I feel like tying at the time to be honest, no rhyme or reason. I asked a similar question about the loop knot and walking frogs last year.. I've found my frogs don't walk as easy as everyone else says, but I think it's a combination of factors unrelated to the knot used. I'm far from an expert at walking any bait (just don't have a ton of practice) and I think by design some frogs walk better/easier than others. I fish a lot of livetarget frogs which from what I understand are somewhere in the middle as far as "ease of walking" goes in relation to hollow bodies frogs. I have found that cutting about 1" off the "legs" can help and I've also cut one leg shorter than the other on some frogs, not sure if that truly makes a difference in the ability to walk the frog, but I've read it does! I like the idea of being able to walk frogs back to the boat to potentially illicit a strike, especially in open water, but to be honest I don't find myself truly walking a frog very often, and it's still one of my top producing baits over the past few years.

Just a thought- you said in your response that "most fish aren't average" and "most fish will be below average" which is terribly contradictory. While I can understand your argument that a fish from a pond could be stunted or malnourished, this doesn't necessarily have to be the case. The Massachusetts state record large mouth of over 15lbs came from a pond that's somewhere around 300 acres. All that said, I do agree with your weight estimate of the pictured fish, I would guess 7.5#. Awesome fish!

I believe dogbone has the Lure 11.5, he'll probably be around to give you his opinion on it before too long! You fish out a WS ride 115 if I remember correctly? I fish a ride 115 as well, not looking to add another kayak to my arsenal at the moment, but if I was itd be a 13' or 14' model, I like the Jackson Kayak Big Rig from what I've seen of it. Quite a few yak anglers around here, hope to meet up and fish with some of you this season.

Standing was crucial to me as well, I ended up with a WS ride 115x. I stand in it very easily whenever I desire, even paddle around standing up. Never flipped it, not sure I really could even if I wanted to.

Ended up booking a pike/walleye outting with Corey at the end of May, along with a trout/salmon charter on Ontario for the same weekend. Thanks for pointing me in his direction! Hopefully it'll be a good weekend (memorial day weekend)

Ok, thanks for the info everyone. It makes me a lot more likely to take advantage of the deal if I can get any rod/reel brands I want.

Plus it's the first BPS reel with an 8.1:1 gear ratio I believe... Attractive price point, I might give it a shot.

Me as well... I have a question on this though, is the rod/reel trade in coupon just for the rods/reels "tagged" in the catalogue or store? Noticed that in the flyer they tagged all the BPS and offshore angler rods/reels.. But not the other name brands they carry.. Looking to possibly take advantage of the deal this year but I'm not sure if I will if it only applies to BPS branded rods/reels. I'd probably pick up a pro qualifier or signature series baitcaster but only if that's the only option they give you.

I've only fished it once last spring, but from what I understand Largemouths are the dominant species on that body of water. I didn't fish any jigs that day, I fished spinnerbaits, suspending jerkbait and flukes/paddle tail swimbaits with success that day. There were a TON of alewives in a few large schools I noticed that day, so I tried to match my presentation towards them, caught 4 LMB all around the points that seperate the two sides of the lake, that's where all the alewives I found were hanging out too. Probably not much help to you-but that's my experience on mashpee/wakeby .. The forage there was definitely a bit different than the bodies of water I typically fish in mass. Good luck!

I'm about to place an order for some siebert outdoors jigs, never tried them but like the looks of them and prices.. Think I'm getting 4 of each style: Fogy bladed jig Grid iron brush jig football jig I'm on a mission to try and throw more jigs this year too, especially flipping them around the abundance of brush in a lot of the lakes/ponds I fish. I'll let you guys know when I get them and how I like them! They've got some great prices on tungsten bullet weights I think I'm going to pick up too.

Hey everyone- I'm planning a trip with my father in the coming months and we're looking into fishing Lake Ontario on the New York side, likely out of the Oswego area. I've done some google searches and have come across some charters that do salmon/trout/bass depending on the time of year and client preferences.. But I was kind of assuming someone on here might have some more insider info. Basically looking to make a trip to Lake Ontario for 2 or 3 days and have a few good days of fishing out there. I am quite interested in the trout/salmon fishery in the area but I also like the idea of bass and pike. For a couple of guys with no experience in the area, what is the best way to go about planning this trip? Cost effective? What's the best time of year to go? I realize that's heavily depended on what type of fishing you're looking to do obviously... Initially I was looking into April/May as I figured the cold water fishing would be best shortly after ice-out, but after doing some research it appears that's not necessarily the case.. Ideally id love to do some fishing that wasn't trolling.. But if that really is the best way to land good fish early in the season I'm still open to it.. I just prefer to be more involved in the fish catching process than watching a guide rig up an 8' trolling rod, taking a taxi ride around the lake and then horsing the fish in when a rod goes down.. We wont be bringing a boat, so any fishing we do will have to be off a rented boat or charter boat. Ideally I'd like to have two different days targeting two different species, not sure of the best way to go about this. Interesting in fishing for any of the following: chinook, coho, brown trout, lake trout, northern pike, muskellunge and smallmouth bass. Anyone have any thoughts? What's the best way to fish this beast? I'm open to anything really just looking to have a good time with pops and catch some cool fish. any help is appreciated!

Sounds like we might have dodged a major bullet with the storm coming this weekend, I guess we'll have to wait and see... just a few more months until it thaws out again . I've got the itch already, haven't been out since early November I don't think.. Just placed a nice tackle warehouse order... some new stuff to try, some good deals, and some old standbys. Also got an order in the works from ACK that should help me improve my kayak fishing experience for the spring. Maybe I'll try to take some pictures or get a video up in a few months once I've done some more work on it. Hope everyone is well, looking forward to the spring!

Gonna go hunt for some smallies or pike tomorrow, haven't decided which but the forecast looks good! Highs in the 60s with chance of light rain showers and very little wind. I'll report back with where I end up and how it goes...

I'm fishing the Quabbin reservoir this weekend before it closes. Looking for trout/salmon/smallmouth bass. Haven't decided whether I'll be hitting the east side or the west side of it yet, it'll depend on what species I decide I want to target the most. There's lots of good little trout ponds around the Plymouth area and down towards the Cape. Peter's pond in sandwich comes to mind if you've got a boat, or Little pond and Lout pond in plymouth if you're looking to target some trout from shore. As mike Said Wachusett is also a good bet

anyone got any recent/relevant water temps? I was out on Sabattia in Taunton couldn't have been more than 2 weeks ago, and mid day water temps in the shallows (less than 5 feet) were as high as 83 degrees still. In fairness it was during the middle of that nice unseasonably warm stretch we had.. Temps in the deeper (15-25 feet) areas were about 78 degrees. I'm assuming the water has probably cooled off significantly in the past few weeks. All of this rain we're going to be getting is sure to shake things up too... Anyone noticing a difference in the bass' behavior?? More likely to chase and catching them shallower potentially? Falling water temperatures and rising water levels has got me thinking the fish should be good and stirred up. I'm guessing there's still a lot of good fishing to be had, just going to have to dress a bit warmer.

I have no idea if it'll be my "favorite" or not as I haven't fished with it yet, but I just ordered the St Croix Rage spinning rod in 6'8 MXF. Have read some "so-so" reviews if you will about the rage series, but I'm a St. Croix junky and the deal they are running in their bargain room right now has the rage rods for 89.00 with free shipping and a free hat... Hard to beat that deal if you ask me, that's 61.00 less than the rod was retailing for a month ago. I think they've phased out the rage series as the new Avid X looks like it'll take it's place as an SCIII blank with micro guides, whilst eliminating some of the complaints about the reel seat, grips, and specific guides used on the rage series... for that 89.00 price tag however, I kind of felt like I couldn't go wrong spending it on a SCIII blank. Hopefully this rod will suit me for quite a few finesse techniques that are currently lacking in my rod line-up.

I'm starting to get into it a bit more, I want to start getting into it a lot more. Currently I'm fishing it on a 7' MF inshore spinning rod (fishes like a MH freshwater rod), typically using 1/2 oz tungsten weights with about a 12-18" leader. I've only really fished worms and lizards on it thus far, with the majority of my catches (haven't caught a ton on it to be honest) coming on 4" or 7" strike king elaztech worms. I believe it's because elaztech floats a lot better than most plastics, so it gets the bait off the bottom a little bit extra and perhaps gives it a bit more action. I'm looking to buy a bit more dedicated of a set-up for it soon, as I really like how much information the heavy tungsten weight can transmit back to you. Great for fishing deeper off shore structure or cover, and has become one of my go to rigs when fishing this type of water, as I haven't gotten into drop shotting or deep cranking much at all. There are of course other options for fishing deep structure, jigs, shakey head, spinnerbaits, texas rigs, but I think the carolina rig is typically a bit more efficient than the majority of these offerings. I really like the "carolina keepers" too as they allow you to quickly rig up and more importantly adjust the leader length based on what you find the fish are after that particular day. Also, I'd recommend using a offset round bend hook, not an EWG that it seems everyone loves to fish these days.

I fish Rhode Island quite frequently actually, one of my fishing buddies lives down in the Narragansett/ Charlestown area. I've posted a few reports of my trips to Wordens pond in Wakefield in the "eastern MA fishing reports" thread as I'm from eastern MA and do the majority of my fishing there. I have also fished watchaug numerous times this summer, that one is in Burlingame state park which is in Charlestown. Indian lake in Narragansett is also a nice little fishery, both watchaug and Indian have largemouth and smallmouth, Wordens doesn't have smallmouth but it does yield an occasional very nice northern pike. Barbers pond is another nice little manageable fishery in that same area of the state more or less (Rhode Island is small enough that anything is within reach) Have also fished Tucker's pond in Wakefield with decent results. Let me know if you want any more info on any of these places, just thought I'd let you know most of the places I hit when I'm in the area. As others have stated there's also very good saltwater fishing in southern RI especially around reefs in the watch hill area and off of block island. If you don't own a boat surf casting is also very productive in many areas.

As far as the canal goes, best advice anyone can give you there is get a bicycle and rig it up to hold some tackle and some pvc rod holders. Ride up and down the canal looking for blitzing fish, and when you find them target them with top waters. Early morning right before and after sunrise is usually best. I've also found it's better this time of year when current is flowing from buzzards bay to cape cod bay. Not the only way to catch fish there, but the only way I've had any sort of sustained success throughout the years. I usually call it a day around 10AM. Good luck!

anyone have some recent water temps up that way? I'm down in Mass but will be fishing central Maine all weekend. Wondering how warm the water's gotten up there... I realize this is a southern NH thread but figure southern NH shouldn't be too much warmer than central Maine? Maybe I'm wrong though

Just what I was thinking. I've kept many different types of cichlids in aquariums over the years and have noticed this behavior before, definitely a sign of aggression in my aquarium fish.. and smallmouth bass are in the cichlid family I believe. Large mouth bass on the other hand, are related more closely to groupers if I recall correctly, which would make me think they would not display this same behavior. Very cool observation none the less.