JG233

Yeah, Webster was tough yesterday. I caught 2 in a full day of fishing: a good sized and aggressive Tiger Trout early and then a huge Pickerel that probably went about 4 lbs. I made the standard move of thinking I had a big SMB bass on until I got the Pickerel close to the boat. Oh Pickerel, what a trickster you are. I'm hoping to get out again sometime this week.

Tom turns 80! I'll be around for about a month beginning in mid April. Hope to see some folks.

I'll take the kayak salute. I learned my lesson this year too and finally got a few leashes for my gear. The tipping point was losing a brand new pair of stainless steel pliers to the drink after owning them for less than twenty-four hours. It was completely demoralizing.

Indeed, and post pics of the new PB's if you've got them!

I'd love to try one of the Kistler's. I'm down to 3 essential setups now, but I caught most of my fish by going finesse during all my recent trips. I'm not sure what else I might want to pick up since my opportunities to fish are limited for the next few years. I'm mainly picking up kayak gear and tackle.

No worries, next summer! I got out a bunch though and had a great time fishing. I even started making out a gear list of baits and stuff I need for next year. HA!

I'm on a plane back overseas in a few days, but I got one more fishing trip in this week. I ended up having a huge numbers day. I caught about a dozen pickerel in the first two hours, then nothing for two hours, and finally finished up the last couple hours of the day catching about a dozen bass. Fun day, but nothing of any real size. The biggest bass went probably 3 lbs or so. After, I packed up all my gear for storage with family and got my kayak put away...unit next year!

Grats on the new truck! I've been back and bass fishing for the last few weeks and every time out has been pretty good. I'm looking forward to getting out this week too.

Got out for a few hours today on Bantam Lake in CT. I've never visited it before, but it has a good rep for Pike, SMB, and LMB. I landed a 3lb SMB within the first hour near a weedy point. Then I spent the next few hours paddling around, getting nothing. A pike or pickerel bit me off, but other than that--nothing. I found lots of green weed beds. Water temp peaked at 68. It was a good day. Worth it for the one SMB.

I fished a shallow pond from 7:30 to 3:30 yesterday. The water temp peaked at around 66. I caught around a dozen fish in total, mostly LMB with some small pickerel mixed in. Most of the bass were 2-3 lbs, and healthy with lots of fight in them. I did catch one outstanding fish while working a particularly productive stretch of water that's rocky and weedy. I tossed out a natural colored wacky worm and repositioned the kayak a bit. So the worm had time to soak. When I picked the rod back up and gave it a probing lift, there was some weight there. I reeled down and set the hook and the weight didn't move much; it took a moment before I realized there was a fish on. The bass refused to surface and I worried about getting stuck in the weeds. When it did come up I had to knock down one jump right near the kayak. The photo (like solo ones often are) doesn't really show the size, which was 4+ lbs. Great day fishing, although it was windier than expected.

I fished a 250 acre pond with very clear water yesterday. I've done well here before, both in size and numbers. I started at 10:30 and wrapped things up at 4:30. I spent a couple hours fishing humps in the middle of the lake. I caught all my fish, four small LMB in total, there. After, I tried fishing rocks and docks closer to shore in an effort to locate some bigger fish, but had no luck. It was a busy day on the water. Lots of boat and paddle traffic. The water temp was 70-72. Not the best fishing day, but it was beautiful out.

Hey @DogBone_384, I was hoping to be back in New England now, but I'm waiting on a vaccination before flying back to the states. Hoping to get some fall fishing in with you this year. Take care! & and maybe take the yak out to Sawdy. You should crush them there right now.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you!

Post up a picture! The people want to see.

Greetings from Germany! No New England bass fishing for me this year, which is a huge bummer. All my gear and my kayak are safely stored waiting for a trip back to visit next June, fishing will commence then. Hope everyone is well.

It was obviously a case where my judgement was off because of circumstances. Anyway, feeling a little more positive today. Thank you all for the words.

So I've been having kind of a hard time recently. All of it's due to Covid-19. It has pretty much ruined all my coming plans for the next few months, all of which were huge and life changing. I was supposed to finish my PhD program, marry my fiancee, and move overseas; all of that is a total mess right now. And to top it off, I've been in total isolation for seven days. That's the very short version of what I've got going on right now. All of this led me to at least one conclusion: I need to go fishing for the first time this year. Today was the first day the weather looked promising. I spent a few hours yesterday getting everything prepped. I strapped up the kayak to the roof and loaded the car last night. The weather today was supposed to be beautiful. It was seventy degrees all day, that prediction stayed true. However, the wind was only supposed to be about 10 mph. It was very gusty this morning when I woke up. I figured I'd wait a few hours for it to calm down and be less windy. At 11 AM I decided it was time to leave the house. The sky was beautiful and it was warm out, but it still seemed pretty windy. I fished a small local lake that I've never fished before. When I got there, the waves looked to be huge. But I figured what the hell, it'll be fine. I've had my kayak for 4 years and never had an issue, and I've fished large lakes in it before. The place I fished today is a long and skinny 65 acres. I left the launch with the wind blowing me all over the place. My anchor wouldn't keep me anywhere. The fishing was a little frustrating, but still fun. I caught my first bass of the year a few hours in. A little later, in the middle of the lake, I went to pull up my anchor and it seemed to be stuck. I leaned over the side of the kayak to try and get a better grip on the rope when a huge gust picked up, and a wave totally capsized me. I'm a strong swimmer and I had my life vest on (like always). I flipped the yak back over and grabbed most of my gear. I spent a lot of time trying to find my baitcaster combo, but it was lost to the lake. I then had to kayak into the wind from the far end of the lake back to the launch. That took some time and I did it without stopping. What a totally miserable experience. I just checked, and wind gusts today were over 50 mph. All my gear is downstairs drying out. I had to take all my tackle out to dry too. The main thing I lost is my $300+ baitcaster combo. I'm feeling pretty demoralized. I went fishing to try and cheer up a little but it made things even worse. Everyone who owns a kayak told me I'd flip it at some point. Well, it finally happened to me. I know it could've been worse. I usually have a sense of humor about these things, but not today. When I began to paddle out from the launch, I thought to myself: "this is a probably a bad idea." It was.

I had one today. Worst day I've ever had on the water. Funny timing with this post. I'm about to write mine up now. Stay tuned.

haha - yup! that's why I'm asking...

Yeah, so I'm planning on using: invisx 8lb to sufux 832 10lb for finesse fishing on two spinning reels, using an alberto knot.

There's a lot of info on here on about this subject. I spent a ton of time yesterday searching the topic and reading back through old threads. I really just have one question at this time: which line should have the larger diameter, the main line or the lead line? Thanks!

I rarely whiff on a hookset while fishing the Seibert Fogy chatterbait. They're also very affordable.

A-Jay should get a discount for all the people that end up booking as a consequence of watching his videos over the past few years. Someday...

Well, I didn't catch anything of size, but I did pretty well with numbers. There was a lot of action on that main lake point @WRB identified. I wouldn't have spent as much time fishing that location on my own, but I think there's a ton of potential there. I didn't have any luck on the flat near that point, it seemed pretty barren. I'll try it again another day. I think we're kind of still in summer mode here. The water temp peaked at 75. I really need learn more about breaking down maps before I head out to new water. I might post another one or two in the next few weeks to try and get more help with a game plan. Thanks again!

Wow - I've got the bass all stars on this thread. Thank you all. I'll report back tomorrow. @WRB - I see where you mean on the west side of the lake - near the channel right? Across from the point, are you talking about where it goes from 15ft to 3ft? And then near the 24ft mark?