Bass Junke

BR was down during my week of fishing. Here is a brief rundown. This is a very late start. My first trip on the water should have been April 25. On April 25 I loaded my car, put my kayak on my roof, backed out of the driveway and when I hit my break pedal at the bottom of the drive my foot went to the floor. No brakes. Parked the car, unloaded, and went back in the house. First skunk of the year. The week before Memorial Day was a vacation week. I fished Saturday, Tuesday, and the next Saturday. Falls Pond in N Attleboro was were I spent that week. Falls pond is sort of 2 ponds. They are separated by a road and are connected by a culvert under the road. The total acreage is 125 and the northern section is probably slightly larger. The southern section is where I fish most of the time. It is stocked with trout, max depth is around 25' visibility is usually around 3-4'. It is not electric only but the speed limit is like 5mph. There is a little bit of everything here. We have lily pads, sunken boulders, a weedy section, steep banks with shoreline cover, and a few docks. I fished here 2 of the days. Water temps were in the mid 60s, fishing was slow with lots of skinny bass. First day I caught 6 bass. All small, one on a Texas rigged Culprit worm the rest on a 1/16th oz hair jig. All 6 fish were caught in 6-8 FOW targeting shoreline cover. Tuesday was kind of the same except I caught more pickerel than bass. I threw buzz baits, swim jigs, football jigs, inline spinners, and a C-rig/Mojo rig. Ended up catching 4 pickerel and one bass. Again one bass on a Texas rigged worm. Pickerel were caught hopping/ swimming a hair jig. Saturday I went to the Northern section. The Northern section is a little deeper, more rocks less weeds, and clarity tends to be 6-8'. This section is not stocked with trout and has more recreational boaters and fishing boats. Speed limit here is 25mph. Saturday was cloudy and calm. The water was glass at 7am and pretty much stayed that way all morning. Water temps were 68. That equated to easy boat management but slow fishing. I'm looking for bigger fish so I start on the few way points I have marked on my sonar. No action there. Fished both islands. Nothing there either. I finished the morning with 2 small bass both caught on a 3/8oz football jig fishing shoreline cover. There were empty beds and skinny bass on both sections, post spawn. Not a great week but it was great just to be back on the water. @Jigfishn10 I was going to head to either Norton or the Charles on Sunday. Norton sounds great. Should be there by 6am. I drive a old red Hundai Elantra. @DogBone_384 I will be sorry to see you go. You were very inspirational to me. On the water pretty much all year long in NE. I have been trying but in the end I am too wimpy.

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I turn 60 this year. I feel great, have no health issues, and still work a full time physical job. I am pretty good at a lot of things but I don't think fishing is one of them. So, while my health is in decline, I feel that I have not hit my fishing zenith yet. Hoping I get there before the big sleep.

I find this funny. I also find reel reviews funny. It is not mysticism. Reels aren't "magic". They are just gears, bushings, washers, springs, and bearings. It is not a mystery it's just maintenance.

I use a few cushions from the couch standing on end and a shirt or a rag if it is a 300m spool. I stick the spool between the cushions and put the rag in front. adjust the cushions for tension the rag keeps the spool from popping out. For bulk spools I just sit the spool on top of the couch almost behind the cushion with the rag in front, this creates enough tension, the rag keeps it in place and bulk spools don't fall over.

Not a lot of love for Floroclear here a Bass Resource. I have used 8, 10, and 12# on bait casters for several years with no issues. I have used 12# on my jig rod for several years without issue. I have straightened a hook with 10#. If you shop by line diameter it is pretty much like all Japanese lines, breaks at basically the advertised pound test. Sunline and Seagar are slightly thinner per pound rating. As well as P Lines C-21 co-polymer. I like Tackle Tours reviews on reels and line. Their reviews have not let me down yet.

Most of my tools are attached to my seat. I have a pair of needle nose on a retractable. Small scissors and stats in a pouch. I have a boomerang to cut braid. A net which I have never used on the back of my seat. fish grip on a leash. I have a large set of pliers, heavy cutters and a long pair of stats in a pouch on my crate. There is a first aid kit and a long coil of rope in my center hatch. A whistle and a blunt tipped rescue knife are attached to my PFD. A backwater assault paddle tucked under my seat. I use my main paddle to get where I want to go and then the assault paddle does most of the work. Re-positioning, maintaining position, and moving from spot to spot.

I love music. Every now and then I consider bringing a small speaker and listen to music quietly. I often think about what @A-Jay said about how sound travels on the water and reconsider. A buddy of mine recently gifted me about 500 audio books. I now split my time between music and audio books. I don't think I could wear head phones on the water, I feel I would miss too much. As far as listening to audio books while I am fishing. I don't think I would pay enough attention to the book for it to be worthwhile.

If I am targeting shoreline cover and the wind is right, then I do a lot of slow drift fishing. If it is breezy/windy then I am anchored. Like @A-Jay said, I am also way more productive when I am stationary.

@Jigfishn10 right, so we'll talk when, July? There is 4 feet of snow in my backyard. Crazy. So you can launch from the restaurant. The launch off of Juniper is like a beach great for launching kayaks. Not sure how it would be for trailers. All sand and not much of a slope. When I first came to Norton I started in the deep water fished near the dam. Across from the dam is a point and a large rock formation. Lilly pads will grow there on both sides of the point. It can be productive. Last few years I have been hanging around the islands. I have fished around the dam. I didn't find it to be sketchy.

Thank you @Jigfishn10 for the kick in the butt. Something had to get me on this thread. This is an awesome thread and the folks on here are very inspiring. Every year I tell myself that I am going to join in on the Eastern Mass fishing reports. I think I am just an anti-social grumpy old man. Meeting up with everyone sounds great. I'd be up for anything in Mass. Norton is a pretty good place to start. Everything @MassYak85 said is spot on. You can pretty much sight fish the whole place. I stand and "paddleboard" around. I fish there about 10 times a year, always see bass boats there. I don't know how they do it. It is scary shallow in the most random spots. I can't launch from the Chinese restaurant. The boat ramp Juniper St off of Reservoir Rd. is the way to go. Open dawn to dusk. I have never seen the ramp actually fill up. I am usually there on a Saturday. I don't catch a lot of fish but I do catch nice fish at Norton.

Purchased a Shimano Aldebaran BFS. Built a BFS rod from a Rainshadow Eternity spinning blank. By far the lightest combo I have ever held.

@GetFishorDieTryin thank you for that video, that is pretty awesome. However I don't agree that a hooks on a drop shot rig always needs to be static. I don't think there are many rules set in stone with regards to bass fishing. Mother nature is fickle. I think we should keep trying new things. Who knows what could happen.

Is that by design? Or does the knot slip?

Does anyone tie a loop knot for a drop shot set up? What knot? Last year someone mentioned using a fly as a drop shot bait. I think it was @Bluebasser86. I have been thinking about this as I have been tying lots bucktail jigs. I don't fly fish but could tie some drop shot flies. Flies are so light I was thinking they might move better on some type of loop. Does anyone tie a dropper loop? https://www.netknots.com/fishing_knots/dropper-loop I started practicing the dropper loop this weekend. A little bit like tying a Palomar. The most difficult part is sinching the knot, it requires a third hand, and adjusting the size of the loop. After about 4 or 5 tries I pretty much had it down, so not that difficult. Like most knots, you practice, and come up with a technique that works. Going to try this out this season.

What about these? https://fishingskirts.com/collections/boss-mini-swim-unpainted

Ordered a Shimano Aldebaran BFS through Amazon (Shimano store). 320.00$ After taxes/duties 340.00$ Japan Tackle has it on sale for 262.00$. I had lots o points, so had to order through Amazon.

I was threading silicone skirt strands through all kinds of plastic baits last year. I have been threading bucktail hair through plastic baits. I have built a fuzzy dice type bait I had success with the worms that were modified. The actual fuzzy dice bait I made, not so much. It is a work in progress.

Whenever money is involved, dishonesty usually isn't too far away. I don't subscribe to this but I do understand. Human nature is real. This makes no sense to me. What did this guy get for the state record? My guess, nothing but recognition. Who would want to be recognized for a lie? How do you live with that?

I fish from a kayak because I live in Massachusetts, bodies of water are small. Boat traffic is light to non-existent and tend not to do 70mph. I fish from a kayak because there is nothing like being on the water first light. No motor noise, nature, serenity. Oh my! If I was to own a boat I would want to be able to prep it for winter storage, the same for a new season, and all maintenance/repairs in between. I don't think I can currently do that.

I'm in Toms camp. I have one spinning rig that is in my regular lineup. I am looking at an Aldebaran BFS to replace. Currently waiting for a sale on blanks before I decide on the rod I am going to build. I fish out of a kayak. Casting rods are 6'8" , 7', and 7'2". My spinning rigs aren't going away, just going to get way less use. I will add to advantages of casting gear. Lighter, more comfortable to hold, more torque when fighting fish.

Correct. The customizable edge boxes do not have any permanent grey walls. The interior thin grey walls are what warped. It didn't really affect anything, box still closes. Elaztech the most durable fragile soft plastic known to man. Can't keep it with other plastic, can't store it in certain materials, can't dip em in JJ Magic. But one piece of plastic will catch a couple hundred fish.

They definitely warp Edge boxes. I had 2 pieces of Elaztech in there, a TRD and a Diezel Minowz. 2 pieces of soft plastic warped the grey permanent walls of the Edge box.

I have red/green lights up front, white lights on the stern, red "interior" lights, 360 light, sonar, volt meter and USB ports. All wiring runs inside the hull. I initially had the 3M clips and tried to do some wire management. I quickly realized that the clips don't really stay stuck, it wasn't really helping with wire management. Meaning it wasn't helping me identify the wires, it wasn't really keeping them organized, and nobody can see in there anyways.

I did all my Curados over the winter. For sanity reasons I wanted to watch someone tear one down. I found several vid on the subject. What is funny is listening to some of the youtubers. They all have their "special" method of removing Japanese screws. I have an idea, just buy some bits specifically made for the screws you are trying to remove. One of the Curado MGL's I worked on had a stripped screw in it. Bought it brand new, at least I thought I did. Maybe one of those guys that likes to break down a reel as soon as he or she buys it, stripped the screw and returned it. Fortunately I was able to back it out with a flat head. I have replaced that screw.