Fallser

I did it years ago. When I had both knees replaced back in 2009, My surgeon said "No ice fishing for you." Nothing complicated for equipment. No ice shack or anything fancy. I hand an old sled from when I was a kid. We packed our gear in a plastic milk crate and a 5 gallon bucket. Tip-ups and a couple of short rods with spinning reels. A hand auger that cut a 6 inch hole in the ice. I sat on the plastic milk crate on top of the sled. My buddy either stood or sat on the bucket. Minnows for the tip-ups. Jigs tipped with meal worms or maggots, sometimes minnows. Warm clothes, insulated boots and gloves. A couple of thermoses of hot coffee. No booze. Had decent years, mostly sunfish, perch and chain pickerel, the occasional bass. The biggest fish I caught over the years was a 30 inch musky

Caught it in a small lake in central Vermont. I was fly fishing for panfish off a small fishing dock the state had put in. It was sitting on the edge of some weeds along the bank. Tied a large nymph on my tippet, cast and retrieved the nymph in front of it and it jumped on it. I knew it wasn't a small pike or musky. Took a couple of pictures, went back to my sister's place and googled it. It was the first and probably the last one I'll ever catch.

I can't remember the last time I ate a largemouth. Probably back in the early-mid 70's when I was in college in NW Tennessee. My buddy and I had access to ponds on farms our professors owned. We didn't have much money and any fish we caught was a bonus meal. Though I did learn that keeping large fish wasn't worth it. They tasted lousy. I still fish with him and a couple of other guys. These days bass aren't on the menu when we fish locally. If we keep anything to eat it will be sunfish, perch, chain pickerel. I've been making a trip up to a lodge in NE Ontario for over 30 years. The guys I fish with have joined me several times. Main target was walleye but we always brought a couple of smallies and pike back along with the walleye. This year two of us went up, and slot walleye (14-17 inches) were hard to come by. The ones we caught were either too small or too big. We couldn't keep the smallmouth off the hook and we each brought back our limit(6 fish each). All between 13-15 inches. The other guy doesn't like fish, so I got both limits. I have no qualms about keeping a few for dinner, in this case. I've been enjoying them for the last two months. I have this view that fresh water fish were born to be fried. I mix fine yellow cornmeal(Goya) and sifted flour. Add bit of salt and pepper. Dip the fillets in egg wash. And drop them into hot oil. I prefer peanut oil. They come out crispy and the coating doesn't absorb the oil.

Another way to distinguish them. Chain Pickerel have a prominent vertical black line under the eye. I've never noticed it in pike, even small ones. Here's a picture of a grass pickerel which is the smallest member of the Esox family, they seldom get over 12 inches in length. You can see the distinct black line under the eye.

Since pike and chain pickerel have come in the thread Canadian Pike South Jersey Chain Pickerel As far as eating go, I like both but as mentioned they're a pain in the butt to clean. Not as good as perch or walleye though.

When I'm not fly fishing, all I use is spinning gear. I do a lot of top water fishing and I've never had that issue. From the looks of your reel, you have too much line on it. The line shouldn't come up to the edge of the spool. Take off about 5 to 10 yards off and see if that eliminates the problem.

I was at work. At the time I worked at DSCP(Defense Supply Center Philadelphia). Usually someone had a radio on in their cubicle. One of my co-workers told me an airliner had crashed into one of the Twin Towers in NYC. My first thought was how the hell did that happen. Several of us were gathered around listening when the other plane crashed into the second tower. That's when we realized it wasn't an accident. Within 15 minutes they announced that the base was closing for safety and security reasons. It took a while to get off the base, by that time the civilian guards at the gates had been replaced by MP's in full body armor and carrying M-16's. I got home in time to watch the first tower fall. I remember trying to explain to my mom who was in the early stages of Alzheimer what was happening. All I could tell her was something bad happen. We were closed the next day. When I went into work on Thursday, concrete barriers created a maze we had to drive through to get to the gate. No smiling guard, four MP's, not smiling, M16's at ready. Every car was being searched. The office was basically chaos, as all the services mobilized. My job was in Subsistence and everybody needed food, ASAP. The only reminder I have is a picture of two USNS supply ships loading out at a pier in Guam, my vendor at the time sent me, hanging on the wall.

This is my "home" creek. I can cast across it in most places I can access. The average size of the smallmouth is 10 inches. The largest I've caught out of it is 17 inches. It was hiding under a large steel plate that had been wedged against a large rock like a lean-to during high water. I also caught a 12 inch smallmouth and a 12 inch largemouth from the same spot that day. I've seen a couple that might be in the 18 to 20 inch range, but they were in spots that were not accessible to most fisherman. I fly fish and I really don't like to dredge deep holes for smallies. The creek is better suited to top water. As already said, the only way you'll find out is to fish them.

I use feathers and buck tail when I'm tying streamers for fly fishing. When I tying jigs I tend to stick to one material either bucktail with a bit of flash, marabou, spinner bait skirt layers or feathers. The combination the buck tail/feather combination works well with streamers, should work well with jigs. This is what one of my streamers looks like This one is 7 inches long. A bit large for a jig. What I would suggest is tie in the buck tail first, then tie in a bit of flash on either side, then tie in the feathers. No more than 4 around the shank.

Just finished tying up flies for my trip to Northeastern Ontario next week. These are some of the boxes. Top water Mop Fly streamers and a couple of Ned flies Crayfish Standard poppers and sliders Soft Hackles

Normally, I tie flies, since I fly fish most of the time. The three guys I fish with like the Mepps style in-line spinners. These are modeled after a beat up Mepps that I brought for $0.25 at a fishing flea market. I used size 4 VMC trebles and size 3 French blades. Decided to use skirt layers rather than hair as the dressing. These I know work since we caught bass, perch and chain pickerel on them back in May. Plan to try them out on Canadian smallmouth next week. I copied the idea from an in-line spinner I picked up at a fishing flea market a couple of years ago. The guy was selling them to use in salt water for stripers. The original is about 10 inches long and weighs 2 oz. The first batch I made up I used an in-line spinner blade, like the original, but I didn't get a lot of action from the blade when I tested them. I think the blade was too small. I re-did them using a clevis and blade. The blades on the smaller ones are size 5 French blades, the hook is a 2/0 streamer hook with a 3 inch grub. The larger one has a size 6 Colorado blade, the hook is a 4/0 streamer hook with a 5 inch grub. I'll see how the smallmouth and pike in Ontario, like them.

Are you talking about Lake Towhee? I've never fished it but it does have bass, chain pickerel and panfish in it. I think they may stock it with trout in the spring. It's part of the Bucks County Park system. I'm not sure what rules apply to non-residents of the county. You should be able to find that information on line.

If I walked into one of the local bait shops and asked for a dozen medium shiners that's what they would dump into the bait bucket. Most likely a common shiner.

When I was in college in NW Tennessee, I ate of lot of largemouth taken from local farm ponds. These days, I wouldn't eat anything I catch around here. When I go to Ontario I'll keep a couple of smallies to bring home. Fish in the 12 to 14 inch range. I find nothing wrong with them. They're excellent eating. I just drop them in beaten eggs or Egg Beaters and dredge them in fine cornmeal and Wondra flour seasoned with a bit of black pepper and sea salt. Fry them in hot peanut or corn oil. Not quite as good as walleye, probably on the same level as pike or maybe a bit better.

Don't worry about it. I've been fly fishing for 27 years and I refuse to use the Latin names some purist like to toss about. If you ask me what's hatching I might say a size 16 grey mayfly. The Isonychia(latin) which is a large dark mayfly that goes by the English/America names of Mahogany Dun, Slate Drake, Dun Variant, Leadwing Coachman. My favorite fly is the Usual. "What are you catching them on?" "The Usual". Drives beginners and purists crazy. Almost as bad as telling them you caught a bunch of trout on a Mop fly.

Nice, flyfisher. How big are they? Around here, particularly in the lakes I fish in South Jersey, it seems the largemouth get really interested in the small sunfish, 2 to 3 inches long in the fall. The small sunfish tend to school up in the shallows, and on a couple of the clear lakes I've seen bass in the 2 to 4 pound range literally lined up in deeper water waiting to take a shot at them. Ever so often one would rush in and blow up a school. I decided to tie some up. The mistake I made, which you didn't, was to tie them in spawning colors which the bass weren't interested in. Those small sunfish are pretty dull looking. There's actually an ongoing discussion on one of the fly fishing boards I frequent about those particular names and the "impression" that they create. I've caught some 20 inch trout on size 20 flies. Makes me a member of the 20-20 club. When I first started fly fishing I focused mainly on trout. One day I forgot my net and hooked a decent trout, about 18 inches. My mind said "they only eat insects, I can lip it to land it" Wrong. I needed a couple of band-aids on my thumb so I could fish the rest of the day, and I made sure I had my net with me when I went out again.

I've been going to a lodge in NE Ontario for almost 30 years. Back in the early 2000's when I was about 80 lbs heavier than I am today I was diagnosed with AFib. I had a couple of attacks but wasn't being treated for it. It's a 14 hour drive, two days driving by myself. I had to unload the car on what was a very hot day at the pick up point, and then once we got settled in my fishing partner and I went out and sat out in the hot sun for a couple hours fishing. I woke up early the next morning with my heart racing and after being stoic till the sun came I woke up Charlie and told him I was having an attack, he got the lodge owner and told him I had to get to a hospital. He called the nearest hospital and they loaded me into the fastest boat at lodge. It's a 19 mile boat ride. The ambulance was waiting when we got to the pick-up point, a place known as Mowatt's Landing. Loaded me into the ambulance, they put me on oxygen and a heart monitor. My pulse was running between 120 and 140 beats per minute. Then it was a 10 mile ride to the hospital. I was conscious the whole time. They took me into the ER, hooked me up to various machines, gave me something to calm me down. As I was lying on the table I looked around and notice this room had over 100 various fishing lures hanging on the walls. I asked one of the doctor's why they were there. It's a big fishing area and most of their ER customers were fishermen who managed to impale hooks in various parts of their bodies. He told the lures were the part of the cost of them removing them. They kept the lures that they removed. I was in the hospital for two days. My pulse rate had dropped by heart wasn't in rhythm, so they shocked it back into rhythm, kept me over that second night to make sure it stayed in rhythm, then released me. The lodge owner picked me up and I went back to the lodge and finished the week out. That was just the beginning of a series of attacks. I eventually was told to lose weight and put on some medicines to keep it under control. Still take two pills a day, plus a blood thinner but it's under control.

Being a homebody, I'll go with PA. Besides the Susquehanna and Juniata, the Delaware, Schuylkill and Lehigh in the eastern part of the state are good smallmouth fisheries and the tributary creeks and streams have smallmouth in them.

Here a couple of Green sunfish I caught out of a local quarry. Coloration is a bit different than the one from Texas.

I posted some up on the Tackle Making forum a couple of months back and got some good advice on the "swim baits". The most frequent suggestion was to make the skirts a bit shorter which I've done with the latest batch. Mine are unweighted. I use either a Gamakatsu Worm hook 011, Daichi 2461 or the Eagle Claw Aberdeen Crappie hook in 3/0, looking at Barlow's catalog the Gamakatsu 474 Swim Jig hook in 3/0 would work to. As far as far as the head goes, wrapping down the chenille and feathers provides a good thread base for the head. If I'm going for RNLP head I add a strip of foam on the top and bottom of the thread base and use Big Fly thread, easier to build up the head. If I'm going for a Spitzer head, I use just use the Big Fly thread. A thick UV resin and a rotating vise help get the bullet shaped head. I make spinner baits for my fishing buddies and I've been tying the Pig Boat on them. It's a nice change of pace to the standard spinner bait body.

PA did have a closed bass season for many years, but they switched to catch and release only during what was the closed season.

No, I was located in Philadelphia at the Defense Supply Center there. I made a couple of trips to Ft. Lee for meetings when I was an Inventory Manager. As an account manager, all the accounts I managed were in WESTPAC.

I wear prescription glasses, but getting polarized prescription glasses is way above what I'm willing to pay. I use what I called, old people sun glasses, Cocoons that fit over my regular glasses. Now that I'm one of them, I fit right in.

Retired. Before that I spent 37 years working for the Defense Logistics agency as an Inventory Manager and Account Manager in Subsistence before retiring in 2017. If you were in the military during that time I probably had a hand in feeding you.

Yep, my conventional gear collects a lot of dust these days, actually it has for several years. I do try to use it a couple of times a year. I'm headed up to the Poconos in NE PA in a couple of weeks. I'll dust a couple off and bring them with me. Our main targets aren't trout, but bass, chain pickerel and panfish. Mostly I fly fish for them. If we can get across the border in late August and get to the lodge in NE Ontario, I'll bring a half dozen conventional rods with me along with the fly rods. Fly rods aren't really made to fish for walleye, and it's a nice break to catch pike and smallmouth on conventional rods but the fishing for me is a 50-50 split between conventional and fly rod.