George Ward

Where I had the most strikes was right in the middle of a sloppy mess of lily pads. For that, it would need to be weedless. Where I lost it to the toothy fish - and that was the second strike in minutes - there were no surface weeds. There were tons of weeds, but they were all submerged so that would have worked there. Maybe I'll get a few and have some rigged with the trebble hook and some right without it.

I was thinking that perhaps size was the problem. That's why I tried the trailer hook, thinking it might compensate for that. I have read that this now comes in a 4 inch variety and I'm thinking when I replace the one I lost, I'll do so with the 4 inch ones.

On one pole I'm using mono - just cheap stuff spooled at Bass Pro because it's my first bait caster and I expected to have to cut line out until I got used to it. The other pole is using some Pline fluorocarbon coated. Both 12 lb test. I'm thinking I might end up putting braid on my bait caster.

I just put up my first post and the gentleman suggested I should put a post up here to introduce myself. So... here I am! I'm from a small town in New Hampshire that's on the Connecticut River. I do nearly all of my fishing from a boat - usually mine. My boat is a 14' aluminum with a 15 HP two stroke outboard. Most of the fishing I do tends to be for a variety of bass as well as the toothy guys (pickerel and pike). I've been fishing off and on most of my life. I got more addicted to it in around 2009 or so. From then until last year, I mostly just guessed my way through it and had tons of fun doing it. Last year and this year, I've spent a great deal of time researching and trying to be a more skilled fisherman though I still have a long way to go. The bodies of water around where I live that I love to fish are: Mascoma Lake, Crescent Lake, Connecticut River out of Springfield, VT and again out of Bellows Falls, VT, and Lake Sunapee. Though I also like to fish some waters in Vermont (I carry a Vermont non-resident and a NH resident fishing license as my fishing buddy lives in Vermont and I live in New Hampshire) - such as Lake Morey in Fairly, VT.

The lake I went to the first two times there are no norhtern pikes. However, there are pickerel. Both of the bites I had today - both the one I missed and the one that cut my line - may very well have been pikes. In fact, I'm fairly sure they were. Now, when I first used it and got bites, I got excited and tried setting the hook immediately. Then I tried giving them a solid second or so. Then, I gave them a solid two or three seconds. All to no avail. I was wondering if perhaps I should use some scent on it to make it taste/smell better so they hold on longer? Or perhaps I should be using line with less stretch so the hook set is more solid? Or maybe I just did a poor job of getting the hook in the right place? I'm pretty sure it was a 5/0 EWG hook which seems to be what everyone is suggesting.

Hi there. I tried out a pop shadz 5". I thought the idea seemed pretty great so I was eager to try it out. I got probably 6 or 8 strikes on it within the first hour but couldn't land a single one. It was rigged texas style. I went out the following weekend and had exactly the same luck - lots of strikes, nothing landed. It became a bit of an obsession. I re-rigged it texas style with a trailer hook. It took me a few tries to get that right where it didn't seem to screw up the action. Well, today I was out and got another strike and missed it. Then I got a strike and lost it - I think it with a northern pike - it was a nice clean cut. So... what am I doing wrong? I seemed to get lots of strikes, but struggle to land a fish with it. I've scoured the 'net and am struggling to find others with this same problem. I think that's partially because it's not a heavily used lure, and partially because others don't seem to be having the same problem I am. Any help anyone can provide would be greatly appreciated! To add a bit more info if it helps, I've primarily fished this in the weeds. When I have not been in the weeds, I have not gotten the strikes. In the weeds, I seem to get great strikes. Also, I'm located in New Hampshire if that's relevant at all.