DogBone_384

I'm gonna take a ride tomorrow and see if there's any open water. Planning on starting in Plymouth and working north.... I'm betting we've been set back at least a week ?

I own a pile of xx25 and a small handful of xx30 Pfluegers. The 25s are on my L, ML, and 'light' M rods. I use the 30s on my M and ML spinners. I suppose it comes down to preference and subjective 'feel'.

I have a Diawa Pixy68 on a 6'10" *** ML/F. It tosses Neds a mile. I'm pretty sure any quality (and/or tuned) reel on a ML castine rod with some whip to it would work just as well.

That looks a lot like what happens to exposures during a cold winter structure fire .... That's why you add ham AND bacon to it ...

I'm at work. The chains are ready for the trucks. The FD doesn't close. BUT, we have milk and bread ...

Glad I could help. Just be mindful of how high your rods will stick out above you when you're riding. I'm in Massachusetts and the single track around here is in the woods.

You gonna take the Nitro out Tuesday? If so, I'll meet you.....

I like it. I fish one reservoir that's fenced in and hang my bag on it. The rod holders work well when I change baits. I also ride my MTB and fish in a local state park. I break my 2 piece rods down and shortened a couple rod gloves to accept them. It works great. As far as is being bad to tear down & set up rods, I'd say it's fine, or else they wouldn't make multi-piece rods.

I'm retiring a Spider Wire fishing pack. It's 5 years old and still in great condition less a little hitch in the front panel's zipper. It holds a ton of tackle, has two rod holders and a well thought out layout. I don't believe it's USA made, but it's well built.

The Tackle Monkey forced me to go to Bass Pro to get some new trebles for some older lures so on the way back I drove by some of my local spots. I'm happy to say Ponkie and Blue Hills Res. are OPEN. St. Moritz had just a skim coat on it. When Mother Nature cooperates again, I'm gonna see if I can snag me some early season bass from Ponkie.

Rent a boat at the Quabbin. It's cheap: http://www.mass.gov/eea/agencies/dcr/water-res-protection/watershed-mgmt/quabbin-reservoir-fishing-guide.html#2013BoatRentalInformation

I'm just tossing my double skunk to cold water temps and a front moving out and a big swing in temperature in such a short time. I don't mind driving a lot for good fishing ... besides, my Tundra gets great mileage.

Fishing Rhino and I got down to Devol somewhere around 8:30-9:00. It was cold, windy, and raining a little. Water temps hovered in the high 30's. After making a lap around the place, Tom bagged a nice LMB, probably in the 1 pound range. Tom caught it on his 'regular' fish catcher. I threw a couple different colored Shadow Raps, a Mepps spinner, chartreuse/white chatterbait, white/clear Zoom Fluke, a couple square bills (one that's a known good here), and a GY Hula Grub on a 1/8 oz Keitech jig head and couldn't buy a bite. We left around 1:00, but I wasn't going home skunked, so I drove to Hedges, thinking I could repeat my success there. I started on the nort hshore with a Halloween Shadow Rap deep and a Hula Grub. Neither produced so I changed to a darker Shadow Rap deep and brown/yellow hair jig. Struck out here too so out came a Silver Buddy blade bait that's supposed to work so well. I tried as many different retrieves with both the jig and Buddy that thought would catch something, but to no avail. I worked the whole perimeter (6-12'), the two humps I found last week, and a chunk of the middle where it's 18-20' deep and got DOUBLE SKUNKED. Water temps were 44.x upon arrival and 43.x at 5:30 when I left. Today seemed to be one of those weather days that kept fish quiet no matter what was thrown at them.

Drove around some local holes while doing errands and kicking tires for a new truck. Surprisingly, Ponkapog is still locked up !?!?!?!. Sunset Lake, Houghton's, and Blue Hills Reservoir are open. I'm planning on getting out with Fishing Rhino tomorrow to a yet-to-be-determined location.

I've done well the three times I've been out this year, fishing Hedges Pond in Plymouth, MA. Smallies are cooperating with suspending jerk baits in 46.x - 47.x waters. My closest pond was still locked up two weeks ago. Haven't been there since.

I have trollies on both sides of my Lure 11.5 and one on my Ascend 128T. Both sides is better.

Thanks Tom. Hope you had a great holiday. I'm not working Tues & Wed this week (as yet) and have already had some success with Smallies in Plymouth. Big question is: Did you tow your boat down and get some southern bass? Fishing season is here and will only get better. I used a scupper hole mount for my Lure 11.5's transducer and customized my Ascend 128T with a plumbing flange. Both work great. Here's how I installed it on my Ascend:

I have a 20 on my UL rod. I like it, does the job.

Excellent. Wednesday looks like a good day to test it.

Spring is almost here in MA. It's 16 degrees and windy. Water temps last week in Plymouth were in 46.x - 47.x.

I caught my first '17 smallies last week in Plymouth, MA. They liked suspending jerk baits a lot. Water temps were 46.x - 47.x for the most part. Don't fret too much. Your Season is near!

My best performing spinning reel is a Pflueger Patriarch XT and 'OTHER' casting reel, with a Shimano Core right behind. The 'OTHER' casting reel is only a couple years old so only time will tell if it stays #1.

A+

X2 I have them on all my baitcasters and have never had an issue. I crank the drag to minimum when storing my reels.

Go get 'em Derek! We're planning a group trip out to Quabbin as close to opening day as possible. Wish you were still here to join us. Enjoy the 80 degree weather! I spoke to a guy working the perimeter of Hedges the other day who said he got 7 smallies with a gold spinner while there, one being 3 pounds. You can work the entire pond with waders. It's a kettle, so hitting 8-10' depths is doable from shore. I found two humps within shore casting range, one on the south side before the inlet and another by the west side.