Attila

A darker largie from the Kawartha region up here in Ontario...water is still pretty warm for this time of year and fish are relating to summer cover and still hitting topwaters. Attila

A very fun smalljaw that hit a SD Jr.....

Was a fun morning to be out and about....caught quite a few with this being about the average size. Rock flats were the ticket early in the day with fish sitting in less than 4ft of water.

As a shore fisherman, there's always some spot that isn't getting pounded by the wind. That said, I like fishing in the wind as it stirs up the water clarity and I find it turns on the bite a fair amount. Matter of fact, the best day I had came fishing a windswept shoreline with a jerkbait; think I managed 4 fish over 4lbs that day all landed on spinning gear which makes casting a lot easier on a windy day.

If I had a choice I'd use the 6'8" medium heavy 1/4-3/4 oz, extra fast, graphite option; the one I'm currently using is a 6'6" graphite medium action rod as I fish mostly open water topwater baits including walk the dog style baits and poppers as well for smallmouth. As to line, I've gone with straight braid for walk the dog baits and use a 4ft fluro leader for poppers and haven't broken a fish off yet. I like straight braid with topwater reaction baits as the fish aren't usually line shy when striking a moving walking bait. Cheers, enjoy whatever you end up getting!

Hi everyone, here's the situation I find myself in. I'm going to be the owner of a 6'6" M action Daiwa S baitcasting rod that I'm going to be using for the following lure types; square bills, crankbaits, and spinnerbaits. None of the lures will be heavier than 3/8oz. I'll be fishing around docks with rock and weed with the occasional tree limb thrown in for good measure. The water is generally clear with visibility of a couple of feet. I already have my favourites when it comes to braided, flurocarbon, and mono line so am not looking for specific brands to fish with. Rather, I'm wondering on which lines combinations would work and how you would spool the baitcaster appropriately. Would it be better to use braid as backing and then use fluro with some line conditioner or should I be running mono on a braid backing? Before the debate over floating and sinking line comes into play, I want to let everyone know that the fluro brand that I use floats well as I've used it as a leader for floating jerkbaits without any issue. Appreciate any feedback anyone can provide.

A couple of months ago I made the decision to change my fishing rods and reels to Daiwa after using Fenwick rods and Abu Garcia reels for years. I was gifted with a Tatula 100HSL 7.3:1 baitcaster for Christmas and have since paired it with a 6'6" MXF Lexa rod which comes with a very short butt section, a real plus when it comes to helping my lures walk the dog. The combo has become my dedicated topwater setup and lets me throw large baits a pretty hefty distance which is great for water coverage. I love jerkbait fishing and have also purchased a Tatula 7' MF spinning rod and matched it with an Exceler 2000SH spinning reel. Up until yesterday I didn't have a chance to use it but they were on a jerk bait pattern yesterday big time and the rod and reel proved their mettle, easily handling fish up to just under 5lbs. The drag system is smooth and the rod had plenty of backbone to drive those hooks home. My next purchases are going to include a Procyon 2500SH which is going to replace the Exceler 2000SH on the above combo. I'm also going to pick up the Tatula 7'1" MLXF spinning rod and am going to pair it with the Exceler 2000SH to throw lighter lures with, such as inline spinners and smaller jerkbaits and crankbaits up to 5/16oz. My final combo will be a Daiwa S 6'6" w/ a glass tip which I'm going to match with a Tatula CT 6.3:1 to throw both light crankbaits and spinnerbaits on. I'm excited about the products and quite happy with the changes I've made in my gear and can't wait to see how the next purchases perform when I get a chance to use them.

The jerk bait bite was ON yesterday!! The area had large rocks extending out into a weedbed with a gradual drop off along the way. If I was a largemouth, I told myself, I’d want to live there. With the wind gusting up to 25km/h, a topwater just wasn’t an option. I figured a jerk bait would be the way to go, and I wasn’t disappointed. My first cast produced a largemouth of about 2lbs, and subsequent casts produced fish all the way up to about 3lbs. I purchased a new spinning combo before the trip which I wanted to break in, and these fish were just the ticket for the Daiwa Tatula 7' medium action jerk bait rod and Exceler 2000 reel. I had it spooled with 20lbs Power Pro Super 8 Slick in timber brown with about a 4ft long 8lbs test Seaguar InvisX flurocarbon leader all connected with a uni to uni knot. The bait of choice was a Rapala Shadow Rap Shad in yellow perch. The largest fish of the day, pictured below, came in at about 4 ¾ pounds; it hit like a freight train and ran that leader all over the rocks but it didn’t damage it at all. I’ve really grown to like InvisX over the last couple of years, and this fish just further reinforced that I made the right call. Sorry for the image quality, but I was shaking like a leaf from excitement and there wasn’t much light available at that time due to the clouds that had poured in.

And he does it again...lol

It was a fun one for sure; was going to go out today but I was just too tired after being at an air show yesterday. Next weekend though I plan to hit a couple of spots.

After Christmas and Easter, this is my favourite day. I didn't get much sleep last night, and found myself awake at 2:00AM after only about 4 hours of sleep; it's amazing what a bit of adrenaline can do to a person... The Kawartha Lakes chain is located in central southern Ontario and is home to a decent population of bass which sees a lot of both tournament and weekend warrior action given its close proximity to Toronto. With its mid June opener for bass, the spawn is protected and thus ensures that future generations will be able to grow in this fertile watershed. I went to Sturgeon Lake like I do every opener, arriving at my first spot around 5:15AM. Was lucky enough get a few on a Skitter Pop in a frog pattern but nothing of any real size. I did manage to raise one on a bone w/ a chartreuse head patterned Storm Rattlin' Chug Bug but it just wouldn't commit. The Chug Bug also coaxed a few other fish into hitting at some docks but nothing of any size. I drove back through Bobcaygeon with the intent on fishing the faster water in the centre of town but the water was so low I didn't bother getting my gear out of the car. I then continued along the south shore of Sturgeon, stopping at a couple of spots and successfully caught a few more fish on the Chug Bug and Skitter Pop. While it was fun catching numbers of fish, I really wanted to get something over 2lbs so I decided to put on a lure that worked well for me in the past; a Heddon Pop'n Image in the Gizzard Shad colour. I managed to raise a few more fish and had the giant I was looking for follow the lure into about 6" of water but once again it just wouldn't commit to the bait. All in all was a fun day to be out and about and I'm looking forward to next weekend when I get the chance to fish at Presqu'ile Provincial Park in the Bay of Quinte area and take in the Quinte International Air Show as well. Attached is a picture of the average sized fish I managed to catch today. In total I caught 17 bass but with no real size to them. Hope that everyone else made the most of their day!

Actually up here it does matter. We have a very short growing season and it takes a long time for a bass to get up to trophy size, being in the 6lbs class through this chain of lakes. Many bass are still on beds up here, and we're half way through the year. Yes, we still hook the occasional bass. I've fished panfish, pike, and walleye so far this year and can count on 1 hand the number of bass that I've caught as incidentals. When I catch one I tend to leave that area and focus my efforts elsewhere, especially if I'm fishing shallow as I have been. So we fish, we just tend to leave the bass alone and concentrate on other species that are available. It's a different type of game up here...

Ya, the shallows have bass everywhere now and so I'm just holding out for a week. Was thinking of looking for some mid range water crappies out of the shallows but they're still in shallow too...sigh.

Ya, no; I stand by the laws here in the province where I fish. I grew up fishing these waters and, while I could have gone to Lake Erie and to our northern Ontario waters to catch some...this area is home to me where I've created and caught many memories. It's more than just a series of lakes to me... Ya, I used to do the cottage thing but I'm on my own nowadays as dad can't fish as much. For me, I leave at 3am and hit the water just before sunrise...magical times. Tell me about it amigo! I was looking at older pictures of openers thinking it'd help but nope...lol

Normally I've got a lot of patience. It's something I learned a lot about through fishing over my 42 years of being on this earth. At this time of year, though, with bass season just under 2 weeks away in my favourite district, the Kawartha's in Ontario, Canada, I'm more restless than a kid on Christmas morning! I've watched every bass fishing show I could, made sure my hooks are sharp, that my tackle is organized, and that my knots are as good as they're going to be. I've been out fishing for panfish, walleye, and pike....but...I can't wait to see a smallie come out from under a dock and destroy a topwater in a week and a half!! How do YOU quell the nerves before season opens...?

I've caught a couple of crankbaits, but I love tying on UL lures from Rapala; they seem to all do a number on any panfish.

Saweet fish!

He didn't just win...he owned the place! That was epic!

I hope that you don't mind, I'm going to repost a comment I made about the UL that I use from another sub forum. For the last year I've used a 7'6" Daiwa Presso matched with an Abu Garcia Cardinal STX5. I run 10lbs Power Pro w/ a 4lbs Seaguar InvisX leader and have made incidental catches of walleye up to 4lbs, bass up to 3lbs, and a 10lbs musky on it. The rod handled flawlessly and was very sensitive to the changes in structure that my lures were running over. I've been using light gear for a lot of years since an injury to the tendons in my hand, including running ML and light action rods for smallmouth while presenting lighter lures up to 1/4 oz in size and the Presso is the most sensitive rod I've had the pleasure of using so far. I used it for 2 applications this past weekend; one throwing a small xrap and the other being slip float fishing some soft plastics for some pan fish and it worked well for both of these applications. Perhaps the most important thing to consider in UL fishing is a real with a smooth drag that can handle the strain of a larger fish which you may come into contact with during your fishing exploits. A longer rod, such as a 7'6", will also place less strain on the line that you use which makes fighting bigger fish easier when matched with a reel with a good drag system. Sorry for going deeper than just the rod...I love UL fishing and can't seem to stop talking about it.

Nice! Love seeing big bluegills!

For the last year I've used a 7'6" Daiwa Presso matched with an Abu Garcia Cardinal STX5. I run 10lbs Power Pro w/ a 4lbs Seaguar InvisX leader and have made incidental catches of walleye up to 4lbs, bass up to 3lbs, and a 10lbs musky on it. The rod handled flawlessly and was very sensitive to the changes in structure that my lures were running over. I've been using light gear for a lot of years since an injury to the tendons in my hand, including running ML and light action rods for smallmouth while presenting lighter lures up to 1/4 oz in size and the Presso is the most sensitive rod I've had the pleasure of using so far. I used it for 2 applications this past weekend; one throwing a small xrap and the other being slip float fishing some soft plastics for some pan fish and it worked well for both of these applications. Perhaps the most important thing to consider in UL fishing is a real with a smooth drag that can handle the strain of a larger fish which you may come into contact with during your fishing exploits. A longer rod, such as a 7'6", will also place less strain on the line that you use which makes fighting bigger fish easier when matched with a reel with a good drag system. Sorry for going deeper than just the rod...I love UL fishing and can't seem to stop talking about it.

I've only been using fluorocarbon for the last year and I've always connected it to braid via the double uni knot and used a clinch knot from the fluoro to the lure. I've never lost any fish and landed smallmouth up to 5lbs using those knots and feel pretty comfortable tying them so I'll continue to use them for the forseeable future.

Nice fish!

Couldn't agree more with you Ratherbfishing, especially in cold water where plastics just don't have the same action as they would in warmer water. I used marabou on Friday and did well while others who used plastics caught some but not the same number and definitely not the same size.

Went our for some panfish yesterday and caught quite a few decent perch and crappie. Ticket was a marabou jig as the water was still quite chilly.