MassYak85

I have never stripped the hole but I have nearly stripped the head on reels where they put in the screws super tight from the factory for whatever reason and decided to use phillips-only heads instead of the ones that also accept flatheads. Definitely one of my pet-peeves when taking apart reels (second only to putting those springs back in).

I finally got one this year and just did all my reels with it, very easy indeed.

Take a look at KeepinItReelFishing's YouTube channel. The guy (Carl) is from New Jersey and primarily fishes smaller lakes like you see a lot of up in the northeast. He dedicated an entire season to only fishing swimbaits (stuff like Hudds, mattlures etc.) and made some awesome videos documenting his whole process and his results (spoiler alert, he did pretty well). He was one of the reasons I started fishing swimbaits up here in MA. They flat out work but you have to put your time in, and have a solid understanding of bass behavior to be able to target those high percentage areas (something I personally need to get better at for sure). Also while something like a 6 or 8" hudd or deps 175 or swaver 200 might seem big, you will catch plenty of 2-3 lbers on them, do not let the size scare you away. Pick some proven baits (in your case maybe a mattlures soft gill, a 6" or huddgill, and maybe a mini slammer) and dedicate to it. If it's going to just be something to throw for an hour each trip and then go back to fishing senkos then it may not be for you. There's nothing wrong with that but you probably won't see very good results if your goal is to catch bigger fidsh using swimbaits. Whether it's a waste of money is up to you and you alone. What are you looking to do? IMO the biggest mental hurdle is being okay with not catching anything, it's going to happen, you are selectively eliminating the smaller fish population. If a trip out is only worth it if you catch something, even if it means catching an 8" dink on a ned rig, then it might not be for you. But if the reward of maybe your new PB is worth grinding out the bad days in anticipation of the good ones, then go for it. Also, it's not some magic bullet, you aren't going to make fish appear just by throwing a hudd, the fish are still in the same areas they always are, if you know where in your lakes to target, that's the first step.

Do you know which part exactly you need to replace? If it's just the drag stack you should be able to find aftermarket parts rather easily.

Those are killer!

Other than pitching I pretty much always use my other hand to grab the butt of the reel and cast with both hands. I'm not sure if I'm doing exactly what you describe though. The only time I use a "lever" action I guess, is making really low casts, usually skipping something.

I don't EVER look at the line rating on a rod, only lure weight. I don't put 100lb test braid on a ML spinning rod but if my "frog rod" says it's rated up to 40lb line and I want to put 65lb on it...I put 65lb on it. Generally with braid like @roadwarrior said I stick to around 40lb on baitcasters and 20lb on spinning, I'll go up or down a bit depending on what technique(s) the setup is meant for but if I had one spinning and one casting setup that's what I would put on them. 40lb is good for stuff like jigs and t-rigs, not too heavy you can't use crankbaits or smaller stuff, and not too light you couldn't frog or do some light punching.

They are two entirely different techniques, to put pitching under the umbrella of "flipping" would require a new word to be made up to then distinguish actual flipping.

Did someone say Mouse? Because if not you should definitely get Mouse....did I mention Mouse? It's probably my most productive spinnerbait from them besides their black "night time" slow rollers.

x2!!!

I won't be winning any competitions any time soon but I feel very comfortable in the water.

I don't really see the point, because if I am direct tying with braid it's in conditions where I am not concerned about line visibility. Plus I've ever seen my braid go completely white, lighter green sure but never white, so it's never crossed my mind to do it.

I'd personally recommend a Deps 250 drop shot rigged on a 10lb dumbell to smash through the ice

THIS^ Hey @Mr. Aquarium, when you go are you jigging or do you use tipups too? It's weird for me, open water I exclusively use lures, it's just more fun for me. But ice fishing I rarely jig, almost always bait fishing with tipups. I guess there's just something about chasing flags that gets me more excited.

I try and fish 12 months a year here in MA (sometimes local ice conditions don't allow it) but anytime I'm not out I either try and spend time online learning something through videos, organizing tackle, or some other hobby like hiking.

@Janderson45 Oh I'm sure the 40lb fluoro didn't help my bites (might not have hurt it), but I had 2 pickerel chew through 20lb and I didn't feel like messing with that anymore. I think for whatever reason 2pm was just "time to eat" in that area. Usually when I just target bass I do 12 or 20lb leaders, I usually carry some extra and some 40lb and steel just in case there are a lot of toothy critters. Normally I'd deal with the biteoffs when targeting bass with lighters line but being my last day out this season I was fine catching pickerel at that point lol.

Got out on the ice for the last time today. I got out 4 times in total and the previous 3 all I had to show for it was a few dink pickerel. Today I started at about 9:30 and after 5 hours all I had gotten was 1 pickerel and a bite off from a larger pickerel (I apparently misjudged how sharp their teeth are, 20lb fluoro leader were no match). After changing most of the leaders on the tilts to 40lb fluoro to prevent any more biteoffs the bite flipped on like a switch. In total I got 6 bass and 5 pickerel in the final tow hours. The biggest bass was a nice 4lber, and the rest were all 2-3lbs. One of the pickerel was also pretty hefty with a 5 or 6 inch sunfish in it's belly. Overall it was a pretty good ending to my short ice fishing season. I'll be leaving for Virginia Monday, I won't see anymore Massachusetts bass until late June. Good luck everybody, tight lines! Oh, and I guess Pickerel teeth aren't just for show, the big one I got today had the last laugh a chomped down on my finger while I was trying to get the hook out with pliers. d**n things are SHARP. He barely even got me but 3 teeth went in and out with me barely feeling it and I started gushing blood. I'm not sure if those darn things have anti-coagulant in their mouths or what but it didn't stop bleeding for like an hour.

First and foremost I want to learn a lot more, I bought a few of the classic books like spoonplugging, in pursuit of giant bass, and the infisherman series and I need to dedicate to reading all of them at least once and applying what I can to my fishing. Secondly, and hopefully as a result of what I learn, is to break my PB, and accomplish what was my (failed) goal of this year, which is to catch multiple fish over 6 lbs in MA.

Well I don't need new sunglasses but if anyone has been eyeing a pair of costas TW's 24th day seems like it might be the highlight of the whole sale.

Most of the suggested lines will serve you well. CXX, Big Game, Izorline XXX, P-line PF original are all widely used. What I would do for baits is carefully assess your budget. There are always exceptions, but with swimbaits you really do get what you pay for. There are cheaper gems like the savage gear lineup but I've been using swimbaits for a few years and if I could start over I'd pick 3-5 well established baits and just bite the bullet (if it's in your budget). I have so many cheaper baits I don't use or flat out hate because I tried finding the diamonds in the rough. Again, they are out there, but my reluctance to buy things like mattlures hardgills, or slammers, or bullshads because of the price at first kind of came back to bite me, because I am now in a position where I am buying them anyways.

Why don't they allow two strokes on the Q? Those E-tech engines are crazy quiet and very environmentally friendly.

I've got a Marmot rain jacket and rain pants. Neither are insulated as I like to use them both in the summer and the dead of winter as a shell. I just add appropriate layers underneath. As far as life jacket goes I wear it over right now simply because it's too bulky to wear under it. Oh, and boots I just have some old rain boots that are somewhat high so I can stand in the water getting my kayak setup without getting wet. I usually don't use those though until the temps drop into the low 50's.

Only way to know for sure is test some local ponds. Each one is going to be unique to some degree. In central MA there are places with 4-6 inches of fish-able ice, other lakes are still open. Closest to you I've been was in Tewksbury last Thursday visiting friends, and the pond near them was locked up and looked pretty solid. With the recent temperatures I imagine there are safe ponds in that area. Be safe and good luck!

Best of wishes to you. The high during that stretch is supposed to be 15 degrees. Post pics if you make it happen that would be awesome!

I know, I can only the imagine the monsters living "offshore" in Wachussett that will likely never see a hook. The thing I have come to appreciate about living up here though, is if you look at the south, or california, where you have the big fishable reservoirs, is besides little farm ponds, you don't really have a lot of the smaller lakes like we have in between. You might have an amazing fishery, but you might have to drive 1, 2, or 3 hours to get to it depending where you live. Here, I can be on 30 different lakes/ponds in probably 30-40 minutes. It's one of the things I missed living down in Virginia beach. I can't just drive down the road and fish at a whim in my kayak like I can here. Most of my trips were planned hour drives to the larger reservoirs. I always had the option to fish tiny local ponds from shore, or drainage ditches, but it definitely was a different feel.