jbmaine

Generally speaking, the waters I fish seem to respond better to different shapes than colors. I fish four lakes within minutes of each other, and I've found on one lake tubes are king, ned rigs don't get bit. Next lake over it's just the opposite. I've used a lot of soft plastics over the years, but never had the experience of "this color catches them all the time, this color, not so much."

It's funny you should post this. The lake where this took place just closed their ramp for a couple of weeks to rebuild the ramp. A friend of mine who works for the state told me so many people these days power load their boats ( all kind of boats) that the ground between the concrete piers of the ramp got washed away, and the piers shifted. They are replacing the entire ramp because it got so bad.

That's a kind offer. I appreciate it. Only problem is, with all the big bass you've caught in your lake, I'd come down to try out the rod, and stay, and stay, and stay. My wife would miss me.?

Those are totally awesome new England lunkers! Bet that's a day you'll remember for a long time.

Same here, It's great for picking up all the shallows.

Thanks for the replies everyone. I wrote this in kind of a humorous slant because that's the way we took it. We are retired, so can fish whenever we want. Their buzzing around didn't bother us, it was kind of fun to watch. That part of the lake is fairly small, maybe 200+ acres, so for them to go from point A to point B,C,D etc. at full bore took them maybe 10 seconds. And even then what they did didn't make much sense. They would fish maybe 10 or 20 yards of shore line, then zip to another shore line and do the same thing. We had maybe 200 yards of water all around us so they had plenty of room to give us space, yet they didn't. I am no expert when it comes to fishing, however I have fished this particular lake off and on since I was a little kid ( 60+ years now) and usually have it dialed in, so had they slowed down going past us, and engaged us in conversation, and not ran WOT thru no wake zones, etc.,I would have been happy to tell them the weather had changed in the last day or so, and the bass had moved from the shallows on the shore line to the submerged weeds we were fishing. I certainly no not think they represent the vast majority of tourney fisherman, but their actions do cast a less than favorable light when it comes to tourneys on these small lakes. I think the funniest part is in their zipping along, getting from point A to point,B,C,D, etc. they must have barreled over a section of submerged weed line 4 or 5 times, and after they finally departed to parts unkown, we fished that section and caught one of the biggest LM we've ever caught in that lake. Jim

Thanks, I really appreciate it.

morning sky up in Maine

I did not write this to offend, sorry if I did. I wrote this to try to put a humorous spin on what more and more people seem to be complaining about. Rude, inconsiderate and sometimes dangerous people on the water. In this case it was a Nitro with a 200HP motor, it could have been any watercraft of any size or shape. They could have been practicing for a tourney or not, it doesn't matter. It doesn't give them the right to act like they did. Here in Maine it is a violation to go faster than headway speed within 200 ft. of shore, go faster than headway speed in a no wake zone, and go faster than necessary to pass this close to a slow moving, or stationary water craft ( our boat). They did all of these things repeatedly. If I had my phone on me that day I would have dropped a dime on them. If F&G was on scene they would have paid a hefty fine. Jim

A few days ago we were out on the lake fishing. As we only fish during the week the lake is usually more quiet . That day we had the lake to ourselves, except for a couple of guys in a Nitro with a 200 hp. something or other on the back. I knew there was a tourney coming up that weekend so I guess they were practicing. I couldn't help but feel sorry for these two poor guys. The lake is not that big so it was easy to watch them thru out the day. They must have had motor trouble because it seemed to be stuck in WOT. They were zipping along at full bore everywhere, close to shore, thru no wake zones, close to us, you name it. Also they seemed confused, like they couldn't figure out what to do. They would zip here, cast, cast, cast, then zip there cast, cast, cast, over and over and over, like mosquitos buzzing around. I felt so sorry for them, the whiplash and wind burn must have been horrible for them. Meanwhile my wife and I were on a long submerged weed line. I had set the TM to slowly move us thru it and we were catching fish after fish. I am actually grateful to them. Catching all these fish is tiring, and if it wasn't for the big waves they generated running past us 25ft. away at WOT, we might have fallen asleep. Later on we were putting by the marina and I saw them tanking up their boat, and heard them complaining how bad the fishing was. Those poor guys. I hope after gassing up that big boat, they had enough money left to fix their motor so it wasn't stuck in WOT, and hopefully enough left over for some meds to handle their whiplash, wind burn and frustration. Meanwhile, my wife and I caught plenty of fish, and had a wonderful day. Jim

Vent away, You're not alone. We also have seen more bad behavior on the water this year. Let's hope this is a trend that does NOT continue.

Thanks everyone, I'll probably bite the bullet and order one, but it bugs me that what everyone says is such a popular rod is not carried in stock. There are times I am less than pleased with the world we live in today.

For years I only had three rods, Two shimano Compre's and a Shimano Crucial all spinning ( that's all I do ) all full grips . Both the Compre's are 6' 6" med. one F one XF . The Crucial is 6' 8" med XF. I use the Crucial for weightless and light weighted plastics, and really love it for these applications. The Compre's I used for everything else. This year I got a new boat and could add two more rods, I got a Loomis E6X 7" heavy ( for cheap money ) for heavy baits, jigs etc. up to one oz. and a real cheap Cabelas 7"mh split grip for throwing up to 3/4 oz. What I found is I like 6'6"-6'8" better than 7' and full grips better than split grips. So I decided to keep the E6X and replace the Cabelas rod with another 6'6" med. rod. After many questions and input from members here I set my sights on a St. Croix Avid 6'6" med. fast with full grips. Here's where the aspirin comes in. I have the KTP, Dicks, BPS, and Cabelas within an hour from here and no one carries or has this rod. I can order one but hate to spend the $$$ without seeing it in person, so I look to see what else is out there in stock. I keep looking at what else I might like, but wonder how they compare to the Avid. At this point I stall out, get a headache and go find the aspirin. Are you guys comfortable buying rods sight unseen? At this point I'm thinking of waiting until Spring and starting my search over again.

The stories that grate could tell!?

Congratulations on your first spinnerbait bass!!!!! That one went 5.3 and yes it came from southern Maine. I really pleased with it because it came from a lake that has had real problems the last few years. I know the bass were starting to come back, but never thought any big ones were in it at this point. I wrote more about it in the fishing report section " Think my wife is psychic" Jim

I took out a good friend ( and fellow member here) to a lake he couldn't reach with his yak. Before hand a sent him a list of what, and how much he should bring. The day we went out I let him have first crack at all the likely spots ( I could fish them anytime, him, not so much). When we had lunch he asked before cracking open a beer ( he also brought water in case I said no, I didn't). We got along great and it was a wonderful trip. I suspect the person taking you out just wants you to have a good time also. Just respect him and respect his stuff and you should be fine.

Believe me you're not. Friend of mine saw that last fish ( caught it yesterday) and complained he never caught anything on a spinnerbait. Matter of fact he's stopping by after work today to borrow a couple of spinnerbaits and heading out tomorrow. SHORT STRIKES-- add a trailer hook

I've caught many,many bass on spinnerbaits. This year up in Maine I've found if you have a submerged weedy bottom and an overcast day the spinnerbait bite is on. I just use a steady retrieve, fast enough to keep it over the weeds, and don't use a trailer. Here's a couple of my spinnerbait bass.

I would just use what you like, are comfortable, using. There are no absolute rules in spinning VS baitcasting.

Chartreuse spinnerbait did it again!

That whole end of the lake is one big weed bottom flat 4-6 ft deep. He/she hit it 5 ft from the boat. Up here overcast days have been the key to the fish hitting. Sunny days not so much.

Hi all, My wife and I were out today fishing a lake we have a long history with. It used to be our favorite lake and an excellent bass fishery. However some years ago there was a water quality issue and the fishing pretty much died. We have fished it every so often for years just to see if there were any signs of life, and this fall we have actually been catching some healthy smaller LM. Today started out as usual with a couple of healthy looking dinks being caught. I told my wife this was a good sign and she said " there has got to be some big fish in here to make all these little fish, doesn't there?" I said "if there was any big fish left in here they would be few and far between." We then started to fish a large weedy bottom flat about 5 ft. deep. I set the TM to slowly cruise along this area and started fan casting a spinner bait. I had done this exact same thing last week and caught several one pounders out of this area, so was hoping for a repeat. However, I got a nice surprise when I hooked a nice 2.6 LM, and surprised again when I hooked a nice 1.15 LM. Both times my wife said " I told you there had to be big fish in here!" Then something amazing happened. Today was overcast and the water looked black, but I could see the shine from my spinnerbait blades, and as I was watching it come to the boat a shadow came out of the weeds, took the spinnerbait and went under the boat. My rod was doubled over, the line was heading toward the TM and I'm doing every thing I can to take control of this situation. It finally comes out, turns sideways and I had a holy c**p moment. It took two tries to get it in the net, and when I managed to boat it my wife gave me a smug look and said " I told you there was some big fish in here" It certainly isn't a record holder, nor the biggest bass we've ever caught, but from Maine, and from THIS lake, I'm going to say it's pretty darn good. Here's a few pics, should be easy to tell which one got me going. O and by the way, on the way home I told my wife to keep repeating " we're going to win the lottery"

Thanks everyone. Maybe I'm paranoid . I just don't want to spend the $$$$$$$$$$$$ on a high end rod, then hold my breath every time I use it.

So, this is fun ( not really ) Some years ago my mom started to show signs of Alzheimer's. Before it got too bad she agreed to let my wife and I be her POA ( power of attorney ) in all matters financial and health related. We had our Lawyer do all the paperwork and mom and we signed it. Fast forward to today and mom's situation is about as bad as Alzheimer's can be. For the most part my wife and I have navigated all her financial issues with out much stress, However Mom has a small life insurance policy. We get statements every so often. Some weeks ago we got a statement and saw they had her middle initial wrong. Previous statements listed it correctly. I called to have it corrected. I was told my POA was not valid. I said it's been valid up until now, what's the problem? I was told I would get a letter from their legal dept. A few days later I did. It said the POA was missing needed information. I looked at our copy and it showed that everything they said was missing was there. I called again stating what I found, and was told their legal dept. would review it again. A few days after that I got another letter from them in which they said they were sorry, they had made a mistake and the POA was fine and that they accepted it. So I called to have her middle initial corrected and asked for a copy of value, beneficiary, everything they have, to make sure it's all correct. I was told I would be mailed copies of everything. Well today I get another letter from them. It says they cannot complete my request because my POA is not valid in regard's to insurance matters. I call again and ask how can I get a letter from an insurance company accepting my POA in regard's to her life insurance policy, and then turn around and send me another letter saying the POA was invalid in regard's to pertaining to insurance matters, when insurance is all they do! By this time my BP is thru the roof, and I'm trying my best to be civil, but when I was told the best they can do is refer it to their legal dept. again for further review, I lost it. I told them if they did not formally accept my POA in regards' to all matters, and send me everything I asked for within ten days I was putting this in the hands of my lawyer and asking for compensation for all legal fee's and for my time and trouble. then I hung up the phone. Sorry for the long post, had to vent. OK, rant over, to heck with it, I'm going fishing tomorrow Jim

I handle my gear with all normal care. As I said ( knock on wood ) to date I've never broken a rod. My concern is, with a higher end rod, would I have to be even more careful with it. I wouldn't abuse it, but I wouldn't baby it either.