Arcs&sparks

Last year at this time my buddy and I went fishing in his 10 foot Jon boat, we used a boat dolly we made to wheel the boat down a trail to access a pond. We did well and had a great time. We got back to my place after dark and he set his rods down in a safe spot next to his truck so we could unload the dolly and my gear out of the back. We hung out in the garage for little while after. So he goes to leave and I heard a noticeable crunching noise but thought it was just loose rocks in the gravel driveway.. He came back a couple mins later with a concerned look.. he just ran over his rods........... We gathered the remains and laid them out on the work bench. It wasn't just the rods. The tire went directly over all four rods AND REELS, all new to that season. Nice combos too. No survivors... We had em laid out on the operating table looking for salvageable parts almost in tears.. All junk. So, we've all lost nice lures in a tree or broke a rod tip. But anyone dump all there tackle into the water or kick their rods overboard? What's the worst dumb mistake you or your buddy made while fishing?

I rarely fish for more than 6 hours so it's usually just a cold breakfast sandwich and a PBR pounder. But while up at Rangeley lake salmon fishing with my girlfriend, she packed us salmon salad sandwiches w/cheese and spinach from the fish we caught the day before. That would have to be my favorite one time lunch.

My girlfriend is the excuse maker. She loves fishing but doesn't really try to learn or improve. While bass fishing I'll tell her what baits to use or what rod etc.. But she's always dead set on using white gulp worms cause she caught a 3lber 3 years ago, or a Kelly worm because someone who isn't me told her it works good. She'll watch me out-fish her 6:1 but would rather tie on something completely different than use what I'm using.. But the excuses are always the weather or the gear, or a bad spot... Somehow she out fishes me with trout sometimes though lol.

All I know is that is illegal to tag fish here in maine, but I'm sure you know your rules. I am interested in this topic though, they just drained a small mill pond/river in my area this weekend to do a repair. It's where I caught my PB this spring. Virtually nobody fishes it.. Because it's a flooded stream, there's a channel of course. it drained down in about a day and filled back up the next day after the repair. It was only about a foot low at the bridge upstream where we would carry in, but 6' low at the dam. Probably only about 4' to 6' of water left in the small channel.. but I was very curious of any effects this would cause? There wouldn't be an oxygen problem I would assume because of the inflow of water, my place is probably all set I would think because of the short time period, but what are the concerns you know of?

No prob, don't get me wrong, there are big fish in wadleigh too, maybe this is time of year to fish for em? I've actually heard from 4 or more people of a supposed 11lber being caught at the bridge..... Bout 8 years or so ago...(I'd like to see a pic). My PB there is 4.5lb. Let me know if you make your way down, I can give you some info.

I haven't fished the reservoir, I know it's mostly a deep gorge. I'm sure there's some good coves though. My buddy's got a place on wadleigh, I've fished it quite a bit mostly in the spring and a few times on ice. I've had days where we catch 30 fish in a few hours but mostly small ones with only a couple over 3lb. I've heard since they closed the boat ramp years ago that the lack of pressure resulted in stunted fish? I don't know if there's science to that or not. You can carry in at the bridge seperating wadleigh from Roberts. I'll PM you about a couple more spots

Thank you, all info is appreciated. we do have a Cabelas here, but besides their Cabelas brand rod selection, they basically only have (limited selection) SC triumph and premiers, and Loomis E6x, and a only a couple rods from other manufacturers. So without being able to even see a rod before you buy, it's nice to hear from other fisherman on what they use.

Nice! Yeah very similar, but the grass flats we were fishing were around 3' to 4' deep. Do you use a bass boat or carry in?

A buddy and I boated 25 today, no giants but all quality chubby fish 2-4lb besides only a couple dinks. We haven't been out in over a month cause of work and other things, so it was a good day! They weren't picky, they took pretty much anything even exploding right at the boat on 4 occasions. We caught em on lipless cranks, spinnerbaits, senkos, bladed jigs, and I got one on a 6" perch swimbait.

I decided to just go with seperate rods. I ended up finding another used DD CBR on eBay. I'm Keeping my eye out for a used loomis 904SWBR but I'll just go with an new okuma GS or Dobyns fury if nothin pops up. At this point I basically got all winter Thanks but I already have a heavier swimbait rod.

Correction to WRBs post, lead line changes color every ten yards, and generally comes in 10 colors per spool, 300'. I personally prefer downriggers for trolling any lower than 40' down. Like previously stated, with leadcore, you really need to upsize your tackle but to not only hold 300ft of heavy leadcore, but your rod needs to not be overloaded by dragging that much line. With downriggers you can use much lighter tackle, with MUCH less line out. I don't know about lake George, but I did a quick search for Vermonts state records fish (trout and salmon) just for reference and they are less than or similar with my home in maine. I could be wrong, but you'll be lucky to get landlocked salmon over 6lb and lake trout over 10lb, so don't use crazy oversized tackle to drag in 3lbers. I use 6wt fly rods with sinking line and long leaders after ice out for salmon, and (just what I use) 7' MH spinning rods with 4000 size reels with 30 or 40lb braid with long mono leaders on down riggers for lake trout. I'm not an expert but it works. Dodgers and sewn on shiners mostly. Using too heavy of tackle can result in missed fish and dragging small ones for a mile until you wanna reel in 300' of line to check your bait.

I was trout fishing a large pool I found, and couldn't quite get my fly to the bottom of the cascade, so I tied on a huge inline spinner to to a 7' medium fast that I had with me. First cast perfect shot, felt the bite and set it like it was a LM on a senko......whoops. All I got a was a large trout eyeball.... Would've been the best fish of the trip too

Thanks guys! @Jbmaine, Lyman area. I do a lot of my bass fishing in the Mousam river watershed.. Estes, old falls, etc.. trout/salmon fish Little Ossipee, Sebago, Moosehead, Rangely etc..

Hi, I am Taylor from southern Maine. 27yo electrician. I've always fished but got really hooked about 5 years ago. I do a lot of trout and salmon fishing in the colder months and bass fishing during the warmer months. I love to learn, so I thought i would join instead of just browsing. At at some point I'll contribute to the forums by showing my custom small aluminum fishing boat build (w/trailer and custom dolly) for those of you guys just starting out or those who like the small limited access ponds/lakes. I suppose as a "noob" I'll do my PB pic lol...weight unknown.... The scale was on the dash in the truck of course.

Thank you all for your help. Sounds like I should just get a lighter swimbait rod and if if I want to chuck some deep divers I'll just use that. J franco, informative answer. Out of curiosity, What are the rough specs of the two rods you referred to? I was leaning toward a Dobyns fury 795sb anyways as cheaper option but I was bummed to see a full foam grip pictured on Dobyns website last night, as I was shopping on American legacy previously and it specified a split cork/foam grip for the same model. Superficial I know but can someone verify that? I suppose like WRB said I could call the company. Thanks!

I actually have browsed those dobyns rods and have been seriously considering the fury. The reviews seem good. I'm glad you mentioned the champion because I forgot that the champion sb had deep divers as a listed technique. This is throwing me a curve ball since the dobyns swimbait rods are listed as fast action. As compared to the DD crankbait rod I referred to in my original post is moderate action... Ive been very confused shopping for these type of rods, hence starting this thread. I will check out the Irods, I haven't browsed around them yet.. Thanks! Thanks rippin-lips. That rod is also on my radar. Looks like I may have to get used to EVA lol.

I prefer to spend under $200 for a rod but I'm open to other ranges. I have a handful of pre owned/mint loomis rods that I love, all of which were $150 or under besides one NRX. So It's hard to stomache anything over $200.. What did you have in mind?

Thank you for the input.

Hi guys, I've been searching for an answer to this question for few days now, and most of the questions I have searched for on Google regarding bass fishing have been answered by this forum, but I couldn't find much on this topic, earlier this year I found a smokin deal on a loomis SWBR 956c/conquest 401 combo that I've really enjoyed using. But I'm in the market for an in-betweener, like 1oz to 3oz. I recently was watching a rod on eBay that I unfortunately was too busy to bid on that was a loomis deep diving crankbait rod 7'11 1/2oz-3 1/2oz, that I thought would be a good cranking rod and swimbait rod. But I'm still somewhat of a novice and would like some input, because since the missed cheap opportunity I've been considering this rod (new) for days.. Plus I have a 301 conquest that needs a home....