MassYak85

Honestly I find braid backlashes much easier to deal with so I say fish away!

My personal favorite are the zoom trick worm and the roboworm straight tails.

I wouldn't say smarter, just wiser. I don't think they are capable of thinking anything a little dink can't but they have seen countless lures, and have basically mastered their habitat at that point. I think one of the reasons they are harder to catch (besides being less common) is they are very efficient based on their experience. They know what meals are worth it and which aren't.

The way @A-Jayposted above is how to do it. I tried it today and I was pretty impressed. Had two beefy pickerel chomp on one rigged that way and other than the obvious teethmarks it's not worse for wear.

Tight lines everybody, spring is finally here. Went out for a couple hours from shore with a friend. Got two pretty good size pickerel who were being very aggressive. I was using a soft jerkbait worked pretty quick up near the surface and they hammered it. Both were near downed trees. Also got a much more subtle bite on a shakeyhead but missed it on the hookset, not sure what that was. I'll definitely try more from shore this week but it's going to kill me not to be out there with this weather. Enjoy it guys.

Thanks for the advice. My main problem is the Merrimack is very snaggy. Slowing down usually means allowing the bait to get wedged into some rocks or a submerged log. But a squarebill might be the bets bet for deflecting off that kind of stuff.

I'm waiting for the 22nd unfortunately. But I should be able to try from shore this coming week. It's supposed to be very nice the first part of the week. Only issue is the Merrimack is already extremely high before the torrential rain we got today. It will probably be higher than I've ever seen it in the next couple days once all the rain that got dumped on NH washes down. Any body have some good tips for fishing high waters in rivers? Most of the lakes I fish I'm only dealing with a 1 foot rise or drop and not a drastic one either lol.

I'll echo their great customer service. I broke a piece in the left side plate when doing maintenance (a stupid mistake on my part forcing something without understanding how it worked fully) on my LFS so I called them up to get a replacement fully prepared to buy it off them. The lady that answered quickly found the part and told me there would be no charge. 2 days later I get a first class package with not only the part I needed but the entire assembly containing the part.

Aww man that's awesome! I can't imagine what that fight must have been like. I've caught some decent stripers but with bait and much heavier gear. Can't imagine catching a 15lber on the setup I use for jerkbaits. Must have been fun!

Last week stopped by Dicks when me and a couple friend were at the mall. They had a decent amount of stuff on sale so I got a pack of Missile Baby D-Bombs, two packs of 6" roboworms, two packs of 10" curly tailed power worms (a favorite of mine for Carolina rigging), a Cavitron buzzbait, and a Savage Gear Snack Size Bluegill that looked too tasty not to grab for full price. Everything else was about 25% off.

I draw a line. If it's someone I don't know well I would definitely say that's poor etiquette. But if I'm fishing with my dad or a friend and he or I get bit and miss the fish we usually tell the other to give it a try with whatever they have tied on. But in that situation it's more about the companionship so really if either of us are catching fish both of us feel good so it doesn't matter that much if we "steal" each others fish. What we usually do though is if one isn't catching anything and one is we'll leave a prime piece of cover for them to get some exclusive casts at.

Long term forecast looks great. Couple days around 70 next week. It will still be a few weeks until I can get out but by then I would think the water temps will be getting around 50 and hopefully I can catch some nice pre-spawn --> spawn fish before leaving for the summer.

Hopefully. It would be nice to have a size that's around or under and ounce but avoids some of the issues of the 90 size.

I've found that with mono/fluoro there are just some that can't be salvaged. Unlike flimsy braid when mono/fluoro kinks it gets weakened at that spot. With really bad backlashes it will kink the line and now there's a weak spot you really have no choice but to remove. I had a bad one with sniper when I first tried it and I managed to get it out using the usual methods. Later that day I snapped off the line on a hookset about 20 yards from the lure. No doubt in my mind why the line was weak there.

I had one like that last year. Had to cut out some sunline sniper.

Sent you a PM

Yea I'll probably hit up Darren and ask his advice. And the weather is crazy. I remember last year first fish of the year I got a 4 1/2 lber out of A1 in my kayak April 10th. It was warm enough for just a light sweatshirt.

So I have been fishing Massachusetts almost exclusively all my life, but this summer I will be down in the Virginia Beach area for a few months. I was hoping I could get some pointers from some of you that fish the area frequently. I'll be heading down mid May which for MA would be right around the spawn but I assume it's fair to say the fish will be well into post spawn or summer pattern? Some of my biggest questions are what is the main bait fish forage down there? Up here it's primarily bluegill and most of my current lure arsenal reflects that. Are the waters typically clear, stained, murky (obviously it will depend on the body of water but for example usually water up my way is pretty clear)? Are the bass down there Florida strain, Northern strain, a mix? Basically I'm just looking for some tips you might tell someone who has never fished farther south than Connecticut. I will most likely be limited to the bank as well, any critters of the poisonous variety I should be concerned about? Any info at all will be appreciated.

I've had a couple fish get hooked that way when wacky rigging. There seems to be a major vein that runs through the area right between the gills and the gut and it bleeds a lot. I always get them back in the water ASAP and they've all swam off fine but I'm not sure how well they're able to heal from those kind of wounds quick enough to be okay. If it's not looking good and I'm able to, I take them home and eat them.

The only time I use a swivel and leader is for Carolina rigging. I really think you're better off trying to learn the leader knots. It's worth the time.

I like catching big pickerel because they fight good but it's always a slight let down because that first hook set and pull of drag they do I always think I just hooked a 5-6 lb bass.

So much of our fishing equipment has plastic components, at extreme temperatures the properties can be changed, and exposure to UV light can degrade the material. I'll leave rods in my car if I know I'll be fishing the next day. But I don't store them in there long term under any circumstances.

This is basically all I use. For those of you that take off the spool pin, what tool do you use? I know @rippin-lips mentioned the hedgehog studios tool, and I will admit from what I have seen online the design seems like the best out there, but I've also heard of many guys having them break on them.

If anyone has ever dreamed of owning a Diawa Ryoga Shrapnel now's your chance on TW, 350$ off is a hell of a deal. But I certainly won't be buying one lol.

Have any of you guys heard about or seen this bait yet? I saw it as one of the new classic releases on TW. Normally I would say this seems kind of gimmicky and silly but it got me thinking about one of the better fish I caught last year. I was using a wiggle wart and backlashed my reel so it was sitting there on the surface for about 30 seconds before I started to crank it down and as soon (I mean literally half a second) as it began diving WHAM! 5lber inhaled it after, at least I suspect, it was staring at the bait for a good amount of time. So I guess in those kind of situations this could actually be a neat little niche bait. Where you might want to keep the bait making a little commotion on the surface to attract them but then use the diving action to make it seem like it's getting away and have them react. I don't know what are you're guys thoughts? Gimmick or potentially effective?