pondhopper

Wow, do i know the feeling! I'm surprised to hear you could get them to take live bait.

I was looking at the rappala on my last visit to Dick's. You know, I'll bet if you cast that thing out there, sunfish will peck at it.

Congrats, I know the feeling. It is fun to aquire confidence in a bait.

In the dark is the only time my uncle would throw one!

Ditto on the in-line spinners -- I prefer Mepps myself -- but they are magnets toward overhanging branches and numerous other snags along small creeks. Weedless jigs work well in those nasty spots and shallow water. Try a topwater or two. The zarra puppy is my favorite; it's impossible not to anticipate a strike when you watch it come down the stream comming at you and darting back and forth.

Gotta, what is the weight of your boat without seats? I don't see that on the site.

LOL, I don't know about casts, but so far this year, I have been hauling them in at 2.158 fish/hour (12"+ fish, and rounded to the nearest .25 hour). "Lies. damned lies, and statistics ..."

I'm never without sticks and crawdudes. White is the only color I have found no use for.

My money would be on #2. It looks as if it may contain a lot of varied structre.

Nothing can risist the original.

Where's the gill photo? This is not the original pic I tried to post, but it is the same type of fish. You guys think the top photo could be a gill/seed hybrid?

Always encourage this fish to strike the bait from the rear. ;D I have a hook-up ratio worst than you and your partner; worst than anybody, I think.

I agree. Besides, I have always been arbor knot challenged.

Excellant post. More! Bring on the five pounder!

Long ago, a partner of mine, after a considerable amout of working at it, managed to land a pumpkinseed on a cigarett butt. 8-)

Emerald Lake, SW Montana Rockies. Full of grayling

Well put! And it really is true.

Top waters can be good early, when the fish first start to stir. I learned this fishing for crappie, using a torpedo body for a popping float!

That Shimano looks great. It is hard to believe what $60 will get you with todays manufacturing techniques. My first reel was a Mitchell 300 original. It was considered a quality reel in its day, but it would be a piece of junk by todays standards. This reel would have been worth hundreds back then. ' course, it doesn't double as an anchor as well. ;D

awesome!

Wrong pic guys, sorry. I was trying to show you a gill with the bluest gills I've ever seen but this isn't him. However, I'm glad you guys are on it, as I am not sure if the fish in the pic is a pumpkinseed or not. I did not even know there were hybrids.

The bass from this pond are good lookers too.

I'm not, X, I'm in central Indiana. Stony Creek is a small ( 40 cubic feet per second) tributary to the west fork of the White River at Noblesville, IN.

I guess my go to pond bait, day in and day out, woud be a senko - wave worm, actually.

I aree with Eddie; sometimes a very erratic retrive will bring them on. You might try fishing them as you would a jig too.