Yakfish

Awesome fish!

lPa1nl, give me a heads up when you see some open water on Canobie. I started working in Methuen a few weeks back and pass it every day so I'm looking forward to fishing some new waters. Don't worry, I'm strictly C&R

Yikes! Any stitches to go with your tetanus shot? I hope the rest of your year is better.

Yeah, definitely looking like an April start. We got a little over a foot of the white stuff the other day and the Souhegan has frozen back over in my neighborhood. Picked up my license today and now it's back to the waiting game.

That's awesome. Great fish and LOVE the hat!

Hey Vroom, welcome aboard! There's a lot of good fishing here in NH and I can't wait to check out more of our local waters myself. Now if we could just get rid of all this d**n ice! >

Still iced in around here as well. I'm hoping that another week or two of weather like we've had over the past few days will open things up. Jonesin' bad...need a fish...arrrrrghhh!

Nice fish man. Good job.

Watermelon or green pumpkin with red flake. No other colors get half as much attention around here.

Me and a little monkey got some shopping to do.

Nice fish man. Can't wait for spring!

Lots of good info here... http://www.bassresource.com/fish/jigs.html Welcome!

Nice job keeping at it! Slow plastics on jig heads still doing the trick for you? My regular spot has been icing over for a couple of weeks and the last time out I could only hit a few small spots of open water and had just a few bites in about three hours. One perch, one small pickerel and a couple of bites that I couldn't set a hook into but I was just happy to get bit. Looks like I'm done until spring but I'll fish vicariously through you and your ice breaking buddies.

Nice fish, looks like a great spot. The look on your dog's face is priceless.

Funny, a couple of people mentioned that they have a bunch of crank baits but don't use them because they don't want to lose them. I didn't throw my crank baits for a good part of the summer for the same reason but I kept buying more of them :-? Then I started using them and caught fish with them. Yeah, I lost a few but the monkey has to eat right? 2007 will be jigs and c-rigs for me.

Thanks for all of the input guys. I didn't have high expectations going out yesterday but I was optimistic because I felt that I was fishing two baits that SHOULD work and HAVE worked on this particular body of water under similar conditions. I stuck with them even when I wasn't getting any results based on the idea that when nothing is working (which has been the case the last few times out) you should stick with what has worked well in the past, your confidence bait so to speak. I guess my question should have been how long do you stick with a bait that SHOULD work under the given conditions but isn't? I've had some luck tying on a different lure after 10-12 unsucessful casts but it didn't really help me develop any confidence in any given bait. It wasn't until I started putting more time into learning how to fish certain baits that SHOULD work and getting some results with them that I started to build confidence in them. My season is just about done anyway so it's not the time for me to put new approaches into play but I'll continue to soak up all of the knowledge I can between now and spring and head out next year more well rounded angler...hopefully.

Someone touched on this in a post I read yesterday and after a fruitless four hours of beating the banks today I'm curious as to what the consensus is as far as sticking to one type of bait vs. mixing it up until you hit paydirt. Today I fished a jig for nearly two hours (not a confidence bait for me but one I'm determined to learn to fish) then switched to a trusty senko for two more hours of biteless solitude before calling it a day. I'm sure the opinions will differ greatly but I need some different perspectives: are you better off giving up on a bait after half an hour or so if it gets no action or is sticking with it the way to go?

A little monkey just told me that if LBH had anything to do with this bait I should buy a dozen of 'em.

That's great lPa, glad they're still biting for you up there. What did you catch them on? Crankbaits and plastics have done nothing for me the last few times out but I managed to get my first catch on a jig last Monday and it was the first fish I'd caught in two weeks. I haven't spent more than a combined total of 6 hours fishing over the past few weeks and it's been an hour here, 45 minutes there. Fortunately I have a couple of spots that are close by and I can stop for a few casts on my way home from work. Hopefully I'll get a few more short trips in but it looks like I'll be trading the rod for my skis for the next few months.

DT's and jointed shad raps have caught me more fish that any bait other than a senko.

Great fish, what an incredible trip. What did you catch the peacocks and the sharp toothed critters on?

I clipped some line and took rough length and girth in the dark and the calculator says 3.45lbs which beats my measured PB by almost a pound. Not a big fish by many people's standards but it was a heck of a way for me to finish my first year of serious fishing. Now I just can't wait for spring.

I got out of work early today and even though it was 38* and starting to get dark I had to stop for a few casts at a small pond I pass every day. I got skunked the last time out and figured that was how my year would end but on my third cast I got a nice bite and pulled in what I'm sure would be my PB if I had my scale but I only got out of the truck with my rod and whatever was tied on. Turns out it was a black jig with a flappin hog trailer that I've never gotten so much as a bite on so now I've got some confidence in a new bait to boot. Of course I didn't have a camera either but I don't care because that fish made my day.

http://www.jbcoutfitters.com/ I got a couple packs from them a few weeks ago. They're good stuff, I caught three fish on one the first time I fished them. They had a limited supply when I got 'em so act fast.