MassYak85

I use Pline PF original in 20 and 25lb for swinbaits. 20 for what you're doing. Its not as strong as big game but the line management is night and day better. Some of the best handling line I've found period besides braid. And its fairly cheap so I can respool often if I'm fishing a lot.

Quinsig actually. It can be hectic on nice days with all the pleasure boaters but it gets slept on by a lot of people I feel because of that.

That's sick @Mr. Aquarium! What kind of shark is it? Me my dad hit the 'ol stomping grounds in Worcester on Saturday. Kind of a slow day but one of the better swimbait days I've had. Had a Psycho Gill tied on all day and got rewarded with a 5.11 and a few smaller fish. Swimbait fishing is exciting cause every hit you get the thought of "is this gonna be that 8lber?!" crosses your mind but the gear almost isn't even fair to the fish lol. I snagged an 867 during that crazy sale a while back and it's a dream to fish these bigger baits but wow does it just manhandle fish haha.

I've been hearing on other pages and forums people have been having a hell of a time trying to register boats since COVID started. Good luck hopefully you have a better time.

@DogBone_384 Congrats on the new rig that's awesome!

I haven't been down there too much with Covid going on. I'm technically not supposed to with VT's current rules but I did manage to make the trip a couple weeks ago. Got into a pretty good finesse jig bite on the Waltham section of the Charles one day. Got a 4lber and some other pretty decent fish. They were finicky but the pattern was there to be had. I had to put my target casting skills to the test because they were tight to cover. I had a light black jig with a finesse trim and double tail grub. The fall on it was real slow. But we were able to work our way up the river and pretty much call our shots.

That kind of stuff and watching underwater video really makes you wonder. The bass can spit it before you even react but at the same time they can precisely bite right behind the hook on a jig and not fully swallow it for a while. You almost have to gauge how they're physically biting it on a give day and react accordingly.

I don't intentionally pause but if I think I felt a bite I reel down until I feel weight then swing on them. It's all in a pretty fluid sequence, maybe 2 seconds max.

I've had to ditch my kayak on shore before because I couldn't make it back to the ramp in time. Thunderstorms can pop up quick this time of year and it's good to have a weather radar app.

I'd guess like others that you might be burning the line a bit when tying it. 15lb is strong stuff but it's still light enough that a slightly weakened area will break on a strong hookset.

Yup, I thought this was a new version of the Fuego CT. My bad. I have a couple reels with T-wings I still run braid to leader but lately I just started buying Fuegos if I know I'm running braid to leader cause it lets me run the knot into the reel if needed. I had too many issues with the knot hanging up on the T-wng when being reeled back into the reel. Casting wasn't much of an issue but the narrow channel when retrieving line I was having the knot catch if I was running anything heavier than 12lb leader.

The Fuego CT's have become my workhorse reels. They get the job done, are fairly easy to work on, and don't break the bank. Nice to see some upgrades to it. I just hope they keep the price of the 100 in that same range as the CT. If they want $179 for adding some cheap handle and levelwind bearings and some accent colors I'll just buy some of the current CT's on Ebay for cheap when the new ones drop. I am glad they kept the T-wing off the new 100 though. That's honestly the main reason I buy them since I am mainly a braid to leader guy.

Light or very excessive heat are the real enemies of line. Keeping it in a cool basement in a box shouldn't do much. I wouldn't TRUST 30 year old line but that doesn't mean it's bad.

Thanks for the responses guys. Usually I am using 4 or 5 inch grubs, smaller keitechs, or flukes on my spinnerbaits. Those look pretty decent, too bad the color selection is so limited.

Can we talk about how few spinnerbaits on the market have decent trailer keepers? For years I fished a spinnerbait with no trailer at all, but now I find myself using them more and more. But when I do the keeper on most of mine, if there is even one at all, might hold the trailer for one fish before the bait starts slipping back. Is there a reason for this? Are trailers just not all that popular or is it just more difficult to mold a head around the keepers and companies don't feel it's worth the effort? To me the ideal keeper would be something like the Jackhammer chatterbait has with two opposite facing wires. I've come across a few spinnerbaits with a single wire and I've only heard of one (Jackal MegaloDoooN) with a double wire keeper. And if you use a spinnerbait you feel does have a decent keeper I'd love to hear about it lol.

Those smaller easy shiners have become a favorite of mine. When I NEEEED to catch something they never seem to fail and are a great multi-species bait. Plus they're a nice "finesse" option when they don't want all the action of a fat impact.

I think this can work both ways too. There's certain lures I could grind out a whole day with and not get a bite but still have confidence in. But at the same time there are those days where I'm looking for "THE" lure the fish want, switching between tons of stuff that ultimately doesn't work and leaves me wondering if I would have done better just grinding it out with a handful of confidence baits looking for the right spot or waiting for a "bite window" to open up. So much of this sport is a mental thing IMO.

One of the ponds I have in mind the weedline dropping off corresponds to the edge of an old channel very well. So the depth change and weed line are one in the same in the summer. Problem is the channel is only about 20 feet wide. Difficult to locate under the ice but clear as day in the summer. I'm looking for a way to mark the location of the edge on my phone so in the winter I can easily trace it with a string of tilts.

I'm thinking ahead to winter now that we're getting most of our weed growth filled in. There's a few ponds with channels near me that are only 20 feet wide or so. They're very obvious now that the weed lines have established themselves and I was thinking it would be good to mark the edges for winter when I'm ice fishing. Do any of you recommend an app capable of saving GPS points? Given the small area I'm not sure if the hardware in a phone is really accurate enough to do this?

Slightly different but I've been bit off by a pickerel, and a few minutes later I catch it on a different lure, reel the thing in and pull both lures out of it's mouth. It sure was hungry! I've also snagged someone else's line that had broken off while I was dragging a jig. To my surprise there was a small bullhead still kicking and alive on the other end.

Agreed, they're not quuuite as soft as a senko, but they have that little shimmy on the fall and that's really all that matter to me. The fish seem to like them so I'll stick with the cheaper alternative.

Did some social fishtancing (I will not apologize for the pun) with my Dad on webster today. We got an early start but given what I've heard about crowded ramps this year I was surprised we were the first ones on the water at 5:30am. It was very foggy and cloudy to start. Water temps were hovering a couple degrees either side of 70. I assumed most of the fish were post-spawn by this time and looking to feed up on the bluegill so we started shallow. I immediately started nailing fish left and right on a bluegill flavor spinnerbait. The pickerel were going ballistic too. I quickly had 8 bass and by mid morning the sun started coming out and the bite got a little tougher. We tried a few other areas and techniques but almost all my fish came on that one spinnerbait, with a couple more on a sixth sense mid depth crank. I was hoping to get some smallies on a tube or jig but it didn't work out today. Lost a small one on the crank. I ended with about a dozen bass but my dad all but struck out unfortunately. Usually he's the one killing it on spinnerbaits but whether it was the color, blades, or trailer of mine it was THE bait they wanted for whatever reason. The bluegill massacre was in full force for sure. Many of the fish I caught were right around bluegill beds. Tons of dead ones floating around too (does anyone know if these are ones killed by bass defending their own nests, or ones that somehow die while spawning?) but we saw two VERY healthy smallmouth (both probably pushing 3lbs) that were floating dead...they both died by choking on large bluegill. I've heard of it happening and always knew eating them was a small risk for bass but I'd never seen it in person before.

There are certain lures I won't fish from the bank, this being one of them.

Nice fish @Dunks N Dinks! It's always nice when you get on the water with that "oooh they're biting" feeling. Even better when you put a game plan together that pays off. How big did that girl go?

I agree with the above if you have the ceiling space. Some heavy duty dowels, a couple short pieces of 2x4 with hole for the dowel and some screws are all you need. Made much better if you use rod socks otherwise the guides will bump the dowels as you take them down or put them up. I don't have too many rods so I ended up using some PVC instead but with a lot of rods the PVC will sag.