einscodek

That would be a state record at 11+ lbs

Good fish. I dont know how u guys avoid losing some fish in those narrow vessels.. I know I do when I'm in my canoe

My problem is lining the fish up whilst Im in the boat with very little room and then trying to get the right camera angle on it.. I think I need one of these with a 90 degree edge board like the one I see Maine uses that'll make things easier to measure in a boat..

5" jig includes the trailer.. was using a rodent trailer 20" fish was caught on a worm thrown to where I had just had a frog blowup.. doesnt always work but works alot more than people think!

The fish have to eat even more in the summer so when fishermen cant catch them, its not that they arent there or arent eating. ie.. this morning I ran into a bank fisherman both of us hadn't caught anything yet.. I had fished for bout 30 mins with no hits and noticed nothing was being hit in the shallows or edges. He made a comment that they're deep and come back in the fall. Moving along the bank 30 minutes later I found them buried in the mats and started pulling them out the biggest being 20". If you'd listened to the guy, you'd have packed it in for summer. Fact is, after Spring, summer and fall is when you need to really spend some time in locating them and figuring them out on a trip-by-trip conditions basis.. if you dont work on figuring out what is going on.. yes getting skunked in summer is a very real possibility.. but this is true in fall as well. I think fishermen get spoiled by the easier fishing in Spring

Yer both great fishermen. I'd agree both species will strike similar lures. Interesting though that Tom indicates the finnickiness of FSLMB. I'd be interested in other differences between the two in behavior..

Hopatcong is northern right? I'd think your area away from the urban gangs of fishermen would house some big fish.. no? Or maybe the bass are being held in check by pike and musky?

Ok I'll start it off then.. Maine, I did throw the jig as you instructed and caught an 8" bass today lol.. my jig was 5"+ Ok maybe I need to work on my jig skills but I went back to my bread and butter spinnerbaits, plastics, and frogs later on and started to land decent fish. Biggest is this 20" 4.5lb I will enter for this month. Caught some big ones the other day on my canoe but I just cant take pics on my boat I am by myself.. so its bank fishing pics til I figure out how to take measured canoe pics. 20" LMB:

I agree and there is only one time in the season where I throw a squarebill over a spinner and that is early spring where theres no weeds and my squarebill can run amok everywhere.. thats when I throw that squarebill and it gives me better hookups w/ the trebles.. and even then I will still throw spinners

Well I guess fishing is representative of the world.. there are guys who care about conservation and others who dont give a d**n.. We really cant control what others do nor think but each in our own can do the right thing for humanity as a whole which is to conserve where and when we can. I like to think most of us here are conservationalists.. if everyone who caught a fish kept it and ate it.. pretty soon noone will be catching fish..

Central.. around my area I have Spruce Run, Round Valley, Budd Lake, and Hopatcong not too far away so I am in NJ heaven! Not to mention countless smaller bodies of water which have big bass, pike, pickeral, some hybrids

I have the 7'6" one.. its my general purpose rod I use it for spinnerbaits, worms, plastics, pitchin' IM6, good backbone, light, tough as nails and CHEAP! How can you beat that? I absolutely love Aird rods

I went to Dicks yesterday and they still had a Shimano Crucial Crankbait rod after all discounts something like $80 which is a steal. I wasnt in the market for a crankbait rod else it'd be bought!

Ya I'm not lookin forward to fall and those massive cold fronts.. those are the only conditions I say nay to when fishin!

I sold my Spro Dean Rojas popper frog cause it was being outfished by my Koppers. No idea why it was but glad its workin out for ya..

Which other frogs are you comparing the Spro to?

When I see bass cruising around sunfish like buddie buddies I know its time to look elsewhere..esp summer afternoons.. I'm gonna spook that fish rather than catch it.

I catch most of my big summertime bass in and along the weeds but I know they aint all of them cause I catch them all in the flats in the Spring I like catchin them in the weeds but I know some of them are back deeper in summer but what I have not been able to do is coax the deeper big uns to bite in the summer Will try deep jigs .. something thats missing in my repetoir

I actually pitch my plastics to shallow cover and often even mat holes with great success. I'll be trying to go after the deep beasts then on the jig.. likely a rodent trailer.. see what damage I can do draggin & hoppin' in 20'+ Thanks guys!

I use bladed jigs alot and I fish them in a way similar to how most guys fish swimjigs from what I'm readin' but hearing how everyone seems to think jigs catch the biggest fish.. I'm gonna give it a shot My question to the JIG experts here is.. do most of your BIG fish come off jigs pitched and flipped into and along shallow weeds OR dragged/hopped off bottom in deeper water

Its just PR for a suspending jerkbait if you want a great jerkbait that works and you want to pay alot of money.. no more than $30 will get you a megabass 110 SP

One of these days I'm movin to Florida

I use those on crappies and occaisionally a big bass comes to spoil the party

ya know aside of the side debates and what ifs.. on average.. YES

Do you know how to work those things? Would you know where to work those things? Gotta start with the basics.. spinnerbaits in sparse hydrilla.. frogs on top of lillies, mats, hydrilla.. rattlers along weed edges or open water