BooyahMan

Right on man! Regardless of size, it's ALWAYS nice to have a tug on the end of your line! Awesome fish and awesome location.

It's been slow here but I usually manage at least a fish or two to at least take a swipe, and all the fish have been decently sized too. It's frustrating but at the same time incredibly rewarding. Keep trying! Every trip is an experience in itself, fish or no fish.

Lily pads, trees, myself... In all seriousness, there isn't anything here that would eagerly take a bass lure, or at least in the bodies of water that do support bass in my area. I've had a couple of bullfrogs chomp on a hollow body frog but that's about it. Boring I know.

Sounds like a fantastic day! I'm also glad to hear that the 1 Minus was the lure of choice as I have one tied up right now to one of my go-to rods. I'm hoping I get a day like yours!

Yep. Bring my girlfriend, she catches fish. ...wait. That would make ME a good luck charm.

I am possibly setting too early, yes. I'm also wondering if the fish are actually missing it though. After a blow-up I usually dip the rod tip down (if my rod happens to be up) pick up the slack with a couple turns of the reel handle. If I can feel any resistance I'll set the hook. It worked last year in the fall but of the dozen or so strikes I've gotten so far this year I've only landed one. I should also mention that when I reeled down on the two from the other night, I never felt any resistance as if the frog never even left the surface of the water. Based on my (very) limited experience with frogging, it seems like if the fish had actually sucked it in and I miss on the swing, the frog will be underwater and there will be some water resistance before it comes back to the surface.

This is the first year using frogs in open water, and so far it's making me love frogs even more than I did last year dragging them through lily pads. Had a massive bass that I suspect was in the 4-6lb range make a huge display when it blew up on my frog tonight, but I missed it! Even from far away I could see just how thick the girth was, and it's going to be haunting me until I get another shot at hooking her! Possibly a new PB for sure. Also missed another smaller one right after, and my friend hooked a couple too including one that he somehow foul-hooked just behind the head. He says that he suspects the fish are starting to create beds and thus may not be striking the frogs all that hard or even taking the lure into their mouths...would explain why I've missed the last handful but that's somehow not very comforting haha. The topwater biting is turning on here, but I've been technically skunked the last 3 trips for bass. Thus, the cold streak continues...

Thanks! Hopefully the "come in 3s" rule applies here haha. Technically, I haven't hit rock bottom yet. For all I know I could get skunked every trip for the rest of the season haha. *knock on wood*. As I said, this is the first time that either of us have straightened a hook on a Steelhead. Possibly an old hook or a defective hook. The only fish I've straightened hooks on are Chinooks and Chums. Us West Coasters use much heavier gear than you guys too, if I remember correctly. I could totally see straightening a #12 fairly easily, but for the most part we are using #1 Gamakatsu or Vision hooks and they usually only bend (or snap!) when trying to stop a 25lb+ fish from running downstream. In this particular system 18lbs or more for a Steelhead is rare but not unheard of. However, some of the systems a bit further away from me (Skeena and Thompson come to mind...very well-known rivers for Steelhead) have Steelhead pushing 25+. One of the elderly gentlemen that I work with told me of a Steelhead he hooked into on the Thompson a long time ago that was over 30lbs. Fought it for 20 minutes and his leader finally snapped. You lucky guys in Ontario have such a diverse amount of fisheries and fish. Here it's Salmon/Steelhead/Trout. Anything else is "garbage", or at least that's the general mentality.

This has been a very lousy Steelheading year for my dad and I. We've only been out a couple times as the river has been either blown out on days we are free or I am stuck at home with other priorities. I won't say we've had no luck connecting with a few fish, but so far this season it's been almost comical how we just can't seem to land any. We're not new to catching Steelhead or river fishing either, but this year it's definitely felt like a struggle. Here's a (short) list of the unfortunate events that have happened regarding fish: 1) We were fishing pockets in white-water when he hooked up a good sized fish. As he brought it closer he started to back up, but the rocks gave away underneath and caused him to slip into the river. He had to drop his setup in the river (Sage 2106lb/Islander combo) in order to get himself out of the water, and by the time he had found his rod the fish had shaken the hook. I was about a football field away at the time, and it was terrifying seeing him slip in like that. 2) I came very close to landing my first of the season, a bullet chrome 13lb wild doe. It was lying in about 2 inches of water and ready to be tailed. I bent down to grab it and the hook popped out. I basically consider it landed, but would have really liked to get a photo for my archives. 3) My dad hooked into a very large Steelhead (16-18lb estimate) on his last trip (I wasn't with him this time). He fought it for about 5 minutes before it started to tire and came to the shoreline. The problem was that he was on a 4 foot embankment and had to slowly lower himself down to the water before he could tail it. Just as he was getting himself down to the fish, the line went slack suddenly and the fish slid back into the depths of the river. He thought his leader had snapped, but upon closer inspection it was something much worse: the hook had straightened. In all our years of Steelheading, we rarely break leaders on fish but it does happen. What has never happened to us, however, was a hook straightening out. Talk about heart-breaking. To make matters worse, Bass fishing has officially started here and I find myself having to choose between the green-backs and the chrome-backs. Have you guys ever had a cold streak, when everything just seems to go wrong?

I feel your pain, I got eaten alive the other night by mosquitoes. Didn't think they would come out this early and left the bug spray at home. Should have known better as everything is early this year where I am...

I'm pretty familiar with your new neighbourhood as I am a frequent tourist there. In fact, I took a trip down there today...

^I agree with this. While the majority opinion (summer/fall) would probably draw the most strikes, if a fish wants a topwater it'll take a topwater. For instance, I've already gotten a few blow-ups on a frog up here, and I know someone that was just slaying them on frogs the other night. Granted, I haven't had anything on a Spook yet so...

Thanks guys for all the information. I tested it in the sink and I can get it to float with a thin piece of styrofoam (originally meant to be a float for trout fishing) attached to its belly so it would be upside down. I think I am going to try cutting it open and inserting the foam inside. My main issue is that I don't have a bass rod that will handle a lure this heavy. I can either buy a rod specifically for swimbaits or I might try hollowing out the body to make it lighter. It might end up being both options as I recently picked up a Savage Gear swimbait that is very similar to this one, but comes already rigged. It's a small brand (I believe local) called Lethal Weapon. They are meant for ocean trolling or jigging.

Thanks guys! Today I finally managed the first landed fish on a frog for this year. Not the biggest fish, but that top water strike always gets the heart pumping. Got it on a new rod to boot! On the down side, I somehow managed to lose two frogs today. First (...and second) time I've ever lost a hollow-body to a snag

Went out again tonight and got totally drenched in the rain. Got a couple of dinks on a spinner, and finally hooked up my first fish ever on a crankbait! Was using a Mann's Baby Minus One and it got slammed in about 3 feet of water by a chunky little 2lber. Unfortunately no photos as it came off just before I got him up on the dock. Definitely have much more confidence in the cranks now though and will be using them much more this year.

I recently came across the Matt Lures Dead Twitch Trout (http://www.***.com/Mattlures_Dead_Twitch_Trout/descpage-MLDTT.html) and liked the idea, but I can't afford to spend $60 on a lure. Our lakes are stocked annually with rainbow trout and I was thinking that dead-sticking a rainbow trout swimbait might work wonders for a lunker. I had an idea for an 8" rainbow trout swimbait that we sell at my work. It's this one: It's originally supposed to be for trolling or jigging for rock cod (don't know why a rainbow trout would be in the realm of rock cod...), but I wanted to turn it into something similar to the Matt Lures Dead Twitch Trout; a swimbait that floats upside down. As it is, the swimbait is almost 3.5 ounces and I doubt it floats. How would I go about making this float upside down? In addition, how would I rig this up? It comes unrigged. For those that TL;DR: I have a an 8" swimbait that weighs about 3.5 ounces. How would you make it float upside down and how would you rig it for dead sticking? Thanks for any advice!

Went out to the lake for a couple of hours after my midterm exam, and I'm glad I made the trip. Started off pretty dead as there was no action for the first hour and a half, but about a half hour before it got dark the bass suddenly turned on. My friend got a nice 15 incher on a salmon fry pattern while I nailed three on a spinner. Also got two blow-ups on a hollow-body frog but I guess they aren't keen on amphibians up here yet as instead of crushing it they missed. The bass we landed seemed quite healthy and rather plump. No trophy fish today but it's a start...and a much better start than I had last year. Oh! And I finally figured out how to do the "walk the dog" technique. Looks like I'll get to put the Zara Spook to use this year.

I use 65lb braid for frog fishing and I haven't had any issues. Like others have mentioned, braid has a very thin diameter and even at 65lbs it's still not thick at all. If you are fishing open water then maybe try using a fluorocarbon leader if you're finding the fish are line shy. I used to be an "absolutely no braid; mono all the way" type of guy until I started bass fishing. Now a lot of my reels are being taken over by braid.

This reminds me of another one that bugs me: upside down spinning reels. Apparently it's more intuitive to some people?

I've got one that's similar; on the odd occasion out on the rivers I'll hear people fighting fish on a centerpin with the clicker engaged. Not that there's anything wrong with it really, just bugs me a bit.

Very cool information Mainebass1984! Definitely something to think about the next time there's a big bass on the end of the line.

Haha! Thank you, thank you. I think I need to hire a photographer for those rare moments I need a photo. Getting pics by propping my camera on my small backpack makes for some sore legs afterwards. I wish. Unfortunately I think there's some unintentional photo magic going on in that photo. I'm also a pretty small guy. I believe it was a solid 5, not over 6 honestly.

Beauty fish jsinkic! I too am from Canada, just West Coast I happened to get a pic of my PB as well. No scale but it went 21" long and was quite chunky (wish I was smart enough to get a girth measurement). Seemed like a solid 5lbs.

Interesting. Thanks again; that sort of gives me an idea of when to start looking. Looks like I will be investing in a thermometer for sure. Definitely couldn't agree more; was asking more out of curiosity than anything. I plan to be out there as much as I can and the second I start having success I'll be letting everyone know. Looks like I've got to quit my job then. Although the employee discounts on fishing gear are incredibly tempting. Good thing I'm graduating from post-secondary this semester! Thanks everyone!

Thanks for that really informative post WRB! Looks like I'll just have to invest in a thermometer and hit the lake at every opportunity I can until I start catching them. The lakes here don't have any Crappie, only Pumpkinseeds. Do pumpkinseed follow the same timeline as Crappie? I do have a timeline for when they were spawning last year.