fishballer06

I have a tournament coming up in late June here in PA (once bass comes back in) and it's on a deep mountain lake. By deep, I am talking that you're 20 feet from shore and you're in 35 feet of water. If you look at the attached map, anything that is white is water deeper than 30 feet, anything in blue is less than 30 feet deep. Most of this lake out in the middle is between 50 and 80 feet deep. The giant flat up north that is all blue is a silt basin and is only a few inches deep, and isn't fishable water. And most of those little tiny fingers that come off are extremely shallow, as in 1 to 3 feet deep. This lake is mostly smallmouth, with a few largemouth in it. I have found a few area's where the transitions aren't quite as steep, and there looks to be some fishable 10-25' of water. Not many spots, but a few. Obviously everyone knows to fish humps and transitions, but on a lake that is literally all humps and transitions, where does one start and decide which humps are holding fish? And more importantly, what should I use to approach fish in these 25-40 foot deep areas? Jigs, spoons, drop shot, shakeyheads? I'd love to be able to throw cranks in those crankable water areas, but given that there will likely be 20+ other boats out there, I probably won't be able to get on those spots the entire time. Or is it best to approach a lake like this to cruise around and look for suspended fish and attack them that way? My boat has two HDS10's on it, so I have good electronics to help me out. I'm curious to see how everyone else would approach this. Thanks guys.

Not the clearest picture, but the one on the left definitely looks like a little minnow of some sort. There appears to be a forked tail, which is why I think it's some sort of minnow. Keep in mind, things can change colors whenever they die.

I live in Cranberry and I am not familiar with Cranberry Lake?

Is the employee discount still in effect? I might have to swing by DSG today after work.

I would take the Avid over the Rage any day of the week. If you really prefer the micro guides, the Avid X is the answer for you.

What crank are you throwing on that setup?

I'm headed up to the southern part of Ontario in the first part of June for a 10 day trip. I'll be around the Smith Falls/Perth area at a few different lakes. I was curious if you guys still have ice up there or not? If not, does anyone know the water temperatures so far? Thanks in advance!

I like to use a 6'10" MH-F Crucial for spinner/chatter baits.

Baby bass and tropical perch look great!

Chartruese rat-l-trap

The St. Croix Avid's are a strong contender in the sub $200 range.

Ordered my first reel ever straight from Japan

65 pound braid is overkill for a carolina rig. 40 pound should do you just fine and it will work great on the reel too.

Ok, so I'm inline with everyone else. Just wanted to double check. Thanks guys.

So I bought a few packs of the Swing Impact Fat's over the winter and I just fished them for the first time over the weekend. I must say I really like these baits so far. However it got me to wondering what other people are throwing these on? I was able to sling these things a "country mile" with the setup below, but I wanted to make sure I'm using the proper equipment. Avid 7' M-F Chronarch 51E YoZuri 12lb VMC 1/4oz. swimbait jig head Swing Impact Fat 4.3"

Whenever the water temperatures are low (as with pre spawn fishing), the action usually heats up with the air/water temperature as well. At 7 AM, the water might only be 52*, but come noon, the water could be up to 57*.

I had a tournament 2 weeks ago and I encountered a good one. Weigh in was at 3. A little after 2, we moved over and fished the bank opposite from the launch. There is also a dock to fish off of right beside the launch, of which there was a few people fishing off of and they could all see us fishing. Come 3, we pulled the boat out and did our weigh in. Once done, we walked down to the dock to release our fish (there's 20 boats in this tournament). There were 4 different people fishing off this dock and they just all dropped their jaws as they saw all these guys throwing these 2-5 pound bass back into the lake. "Is that a bass?! Those are huge!" "Why are you throwing a fish that big back?" "Did you catch that in here? Really? Fish grow that big in here?!" "There's no way you caught that in here." "Did ya'll catch any bluegills?" "Throw it back right over here. I'm going to catch it again and take it home."

Not any more, I bought the very last one.

I bought the Tatula R because it seemed like too nice of a reel to pass up for the $130 that they can be had for online. I must say its a nice reel for the money. I wouldn't say it's absolutely amazing, but it works well for its use. So far, I haven't bought into the whole extra casting distance from the T wing. I've been using mine for squarebills and lipless cranks.

I run a 45" Motor Guide on my Blazer 202. Like others have stated above, measure as recommended above.

I base my color selection solely off the belly color

I own the Saros, and my Dad owns the Supreme, so I have used both. I personally prefer the Saros a good bit more than the Supreme. Both are fine reels, but I just really enjoy the Saros.

If you're in the shallow and you're unsure if there's bluegill in the area, you can always, take a few pieces of bread with you and throw it in the water. More than likely, the bluegill in the area will come up and peck at it.

Nice catch man! The fish look decent too.