Phauren

I personally cut my craws down a little bit shorter but its personal preference. I have had good luck with that color scheme on Northwood lake and Lucas Pond in Northwood

Swains Lake in Barrington has some really big bass as well.

I am convinced there is a state record in Bow Lake. When I was a young lad we were all swimming off the dam and there was a massive bass stuck in the dam boards that had been picked a bit by birds. Someone weighed it at just under 10 and it was missing quite a bit of meat.

You know where old bluff church is? When you go down behind it and walk about 1/4th of a mile up the river where the deep part is only about maybe 20 feet across, its all rocky right there. I meet an old timer that says he used to catch them on flies out there(he was catching bait fish the day we were fishing). I know that you can find them by the dam in spring lake(off vass road)

Oh I have no doubt that this area has good bass but Bragg is crazy over fished right now, all of the wardens I have talked to agree that people are catching less lunkers then ever before. I was hoping for places outside of bragg but you really gotta know people to get into some good farm ponds. I need to get a john boat this spring so I can hit up the back of rhodes pond. I have pretty good things about Harris but never anything about Jordan, is it worth a trip out?

All I am going to say is the rail road tracks on the lamprey in new market.

Ill be honest with you, I like bass fishing other parts of the country(living in north carolina right now) but I happen to have a honey hole out in NH that will outfish(in terms of quantity of 1-4lb bass) any body of water I have ever been on. I find myself yearning for it when things are slow then I hook into a big ol southern bass and I forget about it while I try to find the next one. Plus no one around here likes to fish during the winter because its *too cold* but im outside in shorts and sweatshirt just begging to go. I have a thing about fishing alone

They would put a BPS in new hampshire after I leave.

I don't live in New Hampshire anymore but if you get a chance try and get in good with someone who lives on Nippo Lake(the actual lake) over in Barrington. Its a private access(the 2 roads leading to it are private) but the state owns one corner of it and the only time I ever saw a warden out there he told me that if you take the snowmobile trail the state maintains you can fish or drag a yak out there and fish on the lake. Luckily my grandparents owned a house out there. Its almost criminally under fished. You see 2 maybe 3 people fish any given weekend and its all bored rich people from mass. It has some good rocky points for some of the best smallies I ever saw and a couple of giant weed patches with some of the biggest bucket mouths I ever saw north of VA. I caught a NH personal best 7 pounder right off our dock. Lots of large pickerel and even a couple of trout(rumors of some salmon from stocking years ago but we trolled the deepest parts all summer and only caught a couple of trout). One thing I must warn anyone about is the fact that it has 2 of the biggest snapping turtles I ever saw in my life in it. I had a 3 pounder tied to my yak(dinner) and it litterally dragged me 30 feet when it bit into the fish. Anyways I highly recommend trying to get out there.

Every lake is over fished. I have been fishing a couple of old farm ponds I got permission for but they are getting kinda boring.

I cut my teeth on smallies growing up in New Hampshire and resigned myself to only catching them on trips back home. Imagine my surprise when I hooked into one fishing part of the cape fear river by wade, nc. Was a decent size(3 and half pounds) and the guy I was fishing with had actually never seen a smallie before.

I like my Oakley polarized combat sun glasses from my tour in Iraq. Seems like silly but they even saved my eye, was fishing a small creek one day and hooked into something way bigger then a bass and the hook snapped about halfway on the shank and I took a 1/4th oz tungsten to the eye. I got lucky but I will never ever fish without my combat glasses again.

Moved back to the Bragg area and wow talk about a ghost town for bass fishing. I tried talking to a couple of old timers and some members of a local bass club and no luck(the bass club members were not the friendliest bunch). Anyone have any luck fishing this area or am I stuck having to drive decent distances to fish?