Walkingboss

I found the secret was turning 40. I've fished with medium quality gear for the most part, but shamed my family into going in on a Calais/Loomis GLX combo for the birthday! ;D Secret is saying you don't want ANYTHING for your 40th, then one week before when their hounding you about it, you grab the Bass Pro Shops catalog and say FINE! This is what I want. What do you have to lose? Btw, as much as I agree with the belief that you don't need to throw the best money can buy to be successful, I've gotta say that my combo is SWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET.

I lived out of my canoe (see picture to left) for a long time. Used to have a nice lund, got divorced......Got a canoe, got married (again), got a Tracker 185. Both the wives and the boats are very different, but I've moved up on both for sure! Anyway, save a few pennies and go get a simple Humminbird Piranha series depth finder at Wal-Mart. I think you can grab one for under $100 for sure. What I did for my canoe was to buy a riding lawn mower battery to power my sonar. The battery is small and doesn't screw-up the balance of the canoe. You could probably power a sonar with those old-school lantern batteries...even smaller (maybe not though because their not 12 volt). I then mounted my transducer to a 1x2 and C-clamped the wood to my canoe behind me. Doesn't really mess with the paddling, but can easily be unclamped to make speed. I think I spent a total of $130 for the whole set-up and it was worth every penny. I learned things about my local ponds that completely changed how I fished them from season to season. I've pulled some great fish from local ponds thanks to what my sonar let me know. I don't use it to find fish, I use it to find their house, local pub, and 'school'. You find those, you'll find fish. If you spend it, they will come.

Are you on the water, or on shore? Spring is tough from shore, as most of your fish aren't up yet. If you are in a boat/canoe, do you have a depth finder? I find that spring bass around here like to relate to 'vertical' structure, like a bluff or STEEP bank. They'll move up or down the water column against these structures depending on conditions, but they'll always be near. Also, secondary points, mid-lake humps/rock piles, and flats between 5-10' (better if deep water is near) are good places to try. The females are FULL of eggs and will be fanning beds within the next few weeks, so if you fish from shore you might just get what you're looking for. If you are in a boat/canoe, get a depth finder if you don't already have one and log onto the NH F&G website to print off a topo-map. There are quite a few (I believe over 200) available for free and they can save you a lot of time looking for those area's I've mentioned. Finally, if you don't own a Clark's Guide to NH fishing, get one. Northern Bass Supply has a bunch. Worth every penny. Good luck.

Thank God for the small pond....Finally went up to my little place and smoked them. I've been on big water all spring and this was my first trip up to bassville. Fished from 3:30 to 7 and stopped counting at 15 fish....probably about 23 or 4 before I stopped because the boss (see: wife) expected me home by 7:30. Didn't bring a scale with me today, but the best fish was easily6 1/2. Another at a solid 5, 3 around 3-4 and the rest peanuts. Chatterbait did the trick today. Couple on senkos and one on a fluke, but when they're hitting the chatterbait like today it's hard to use anything else and a whole lot of fun. Aim, toss, reel, and set the hook....Repeat..... All the big girls had deep water nearby. Peanuts up super shallow. Both big girls were off old laydowns, about halfway down the trunk, in 4-6 feet of water. New laydowns from recent storms didn't have big fish. Old wood, old bass. I'm pretty sure they'll be on the beds within 3 weeks and will probably spawn on the following full moon.

Humble Pie was served in large quantity yesterday at Big Island pond and I think I had the biggest plate. I think there were +/- 40 boats on the water and only about a dozen weighed fish in a two fish tourny. The biggest fish I saw weighed in at 4.5. I didn't hang around for final results as some rain was coming. I haven't had such a crappy day in a looooooooong time. At least I had plenty of company. My wife and I tried EVERYTHING. Jerks, plastics, buddies, jigs, cranks, spinners, chatters, frogs, and poppers. Oh well. I'm going to my special place today, despite the rain. My team partner grabbed 30+ there yesterday, with 6 over 5. Said he lost his P.B. at the boat. Get this: He had the fish lipped, the hook came loose, and when he went to lift her out of the water she shook her head and he lost his grip :'(. I told him he'd better get some 'roids cause if he does that in a tourny, I'll turn him into structure >.

Silver buddies were the key to most all the smallmouth caught, with some spider jigs catching a few lunkers. The largemouth were caught on jigs and x-raps. Largemouth up towards Lee's Mill. Smallmouth hitting hard near marker 13. All fish were deep (smallmouth in 30-50' and largemouth in 15-20', with a few hanging around docks). We were restricted to the extreme NW portion of the lake. We could not go further than 19 mile bay due to ice. By the 12th I would think the smallies would be patrolling flats breaking into deep water and the largemouth should be moving up to 5-10'. You should be able to spit and catch fish by then......it'll be hot.

Just like most of us, I feel I can catch fish w/the best of them....I lived w/o electronics for years and have 3 fish over 10lbs. to my name before I got my first sonar. I'm fairly confident about my understanding of where a bass should be given weather, water temp, and season. I just want more help when my patterns start to fail. I could give two farts about color. When I grew up we only had flashers. The first 'fish finder' I ever had was almost science fiction to me. I've just never been able to sink money into them. I'm at a point in my fishing life where I want to be on par w/my competition. Guess I'll be spending more of my kids college tuition ;D

Had my first real tournament last Sunday on Winnipesaukee, NH. I own a 2004 Tracker PT 185 w/a 75 merc. There were 37 boats entered. I had the the 3rd lowest hp, and at least 35 of the boats were superior to mine. Full-blown, some lightly wrapped w/decals, big motors, and, most importantly in my opinion, TOP NOTCH electronics. My partner and I finished in the top 10 despite my 'inferior' boat and having only fished it for the first time the day before the tourny. I went into this tourny wishing I had a better boat, but came out feeling my boat is just fine (for now anyway). It's my electronics that really need to be stepped-up. I spoke w/ the winners of the tourny, who gave me a tour of their boat. Top-end Skeeter w/a 225 Merc. That's all fine. I can live with not being the fastest or having a casting deck that 2 guys could tee-off on at the same time (again, for now anyway). I can also live w/o the payments. What I'm wondering is.....can I live w/o good electronics? Any advice on electronics? I'd like to keep it under $300, so I know that may limit me. I'll be fishing a lot of big, deep, clear water this tournament trail, all with both smallmouth and largemouth. I just feel that what may keep me from getting into some winnings is less my boat than my electronics......

Things are heating up for sure. Had a whirl-wind weekend, fishing Fri through Monday. Fished Angle as I mentioned before, pre-fished Winni on Sat for my Sun tourny....Winni, of course, for the tourny, and Bow Lake on Monday. Did good on Angle, KILLED them Saturday on Winni (20+ smallies, 7 over 3 lbs, 1 over 4....of course the day BEFORE the tourny), and did good enough for a top 15 (out of 37...final results haven't been posted, but I think we got 11th or 12th) on Sunday. Monday at Bow was very windy, but caught some nice smallies and my wife caught the biggest white perch I've ever seen. Sunday was my first bonafide tournament and was really intimidating. I own a Bass Tracker PT 185 w/a 75 hp Merc. Out of 37 boats entered, I had the 36th best motor....the 33rd best boat....and by far the worst electronics, so I feel my partner and I did pretty good all in all. About half the boats got skunked, hp and sonar aside. We caught 14 for the day and had a healthy 4 (tourny limit) for weigh in, but not enough for cash. If only we could have weighed Saturday's fish!!!! We would have placed 2nd or 3rd. That being said, I will tip my hat first to good fishermen and also to good electronics. This was an open water tourny for the most part. I knew how deep the water was and occasionally marked a fish or two on my screens, but there were guys there who could see their own drop-shots on the screen, let alone the fish....and it made all the difference. I'm not making excuses at all, but I will say that the electronic equipment you use can really help your success. The winning team caught 4 beautiful largemouth in a cold, cold lake. Their lunker was 6-79. They had another over 4 and the other 2 weighed about 2lbs each. All in about 15' of water. They told me they'd have never come across these fish without their electronics. Don't get me wrong, they had a good idea of where to look, but I'm starting a new savings account for my next sonar. Anyway, keep up the fight. Water temps should be consistantly in the mid-50's by next week......GAME ON!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I don't want to start a panic, but there's a big orange ball on fire in the sky. Anybody clue me in on this? What's worse....I broke a sweat today.....in a t-shirt. What's going on? Maybe it's this Spring thing I keep hearing about. Today's Report: My tourny this weekend has gone from Winni, to the Nashua River, to Lake Massabesic, and now, back to Winni, which I understand still has bergs floating around.....Did not have time to go all the way to Winni today and pre-fish, so I slipped into Angle Pond....Happy I did. Caught 16 bass (7 smallie/9 large) and 25 fish total today from 6am to 1pm. The verdict is in...Rapala's X-rap is a GREAT lure. Gold was the color today, far outperforming silver. I caught a couple females whose tails were beat-up. One's tail was half rubbed off. Too early to spawn, but there's some fanning going on already. Most all my fish came in 5-10 feet of water on the outside of shallow flats. Biggest smallmouth was 3lbs. 7oz. and came in 3 feet of water, which surprised me. This weekend should be outstanding everywhere...except rivers.

Oh, the bitter irony of a Bass Pro Shops in Portage.....makes me want to shoot myself. Where was it when I needed it. >

Right on....River Walleye are fun, not the sack of potatoes lake 'eyes are. New Hampshire only has a couple of Walleye spots (Conn. River and 1 or 2 lakes) and the same for Pike. At least there's some great smallmouth fishing here and I can't complain about the largemouth, as I've had 5 over 8 lbs. in the past 3 years and one over 10. Out here that's HUGE.

Hey t bone, check out the Northeast Bass Fishing Forum if you haven't already. There's alot of posts from your area and some good info there. Btw....2 things....first, I used to fish a place called Willow Slough when I was living in Portage and it was really good for largemouth and pike. I have a wedding to go to in July and wondered if you'd heard of it and if it was still decent. Secondly, I went to IU, but it's hard to cheer for their football team, besides, you guys have Charlie Weiss now......Go IRISH!

A carp on a silver buddy? Foul hooked? Regardless, I loved catching big carp when I lived in Indiana. Used to bow-fish for them when they'd be spawning up in the grass. Great for the garden. Silver Buddies rock hard. I've caught bass, crappie, walleye, pike, perch, stripers, wipers, mackarel, and even jigged-up a rainbow through the ice on the ole' buddy. I had some great days on the St. Joe.....still holding up? I slayed the smallies and steelhead there back in the day.

What's cold? If the water temp is below 45, then a Silver Buddy is hard to beat. The Silver Buddy Co. is defunct, but there are several knock offs available. Tailspinners, like Mann's Little George are good too. Van Dam's been raving about one from Strike King. "Slabs" are oval, lead jigging 'spoons' and work great on suspended cold water bass. I've personally only had good luck with them on lakes that hold shad or other open water schooling baitfish like alewifes and smelt. And, of course, jerk baits, hair jigs, tubes, and Carolina rigs can be effective. Just remember.....fish in cold water aren't going to chase much. You'd better be putting whatever you're throwing within easy eatin' distance from your bass of choice.

Anyway, off to Spofford Lake tomorrow for smallies and maybe some Northern Pike. What, was I high? Spofford is still weeks away from ice-out. Derrrr. So what I did was drive another 10 minutes and fished the CT River. I have never fished the CT before. Water was 37 degrees. BRRRRR. Fishing was slow, but at the end of the day when I changed my retrieve with the 'gold' buddy, things picked up. I will say this though....what a beautiful smallmouth river. I was surprised by how deep the main channel was (parts reading 35') and by some of the steep bluffs. I was 15' from the bank in one area, and was in 20' of water. The best area I found though, was North of West Chesterfield. The river does it's normal thing, running 20-30' in the main channel, when out of the blue, a ledge hump appears. This hump was split down the middle. The tops of rock were about 2 feet below the surface, the middle channel between the ledge humps was 15-18', and then dropped back down to 20-30' on the outside of the humps. Water was funneled between the 'peaks' and diverted around them on the sides. BIG back-eddy downstream in 15' of water. BINGO!

I hear ya T-bone....I live in New Hampshire now, but grew up in Portage, IN. Looks like we're sharing the same spring this year. Sometimes we forget what a difference retrieves can make. I was fishing the Connecticut River yesterday morning and was using a 'Gold' Buddy. This river is deep and rather fast moving by Indiana standards, but fishable. The water temp was only 37 degrees and I was yo-yoing and bottom bumping step drops with no success. About an hour before I had to leave I decided to try swimming the lure, rather than bumping it. Needless to say I was late getting home! One question: I.U., P.U., or N.D.? Whose your team?

Evening gents.... Kingston Lake (Great Pond) today was slow most of the day, but I did get 4 largemouth, 2 picks (one very large) and 2 yellow perch (one foul-hooked). Foul-hooked the perch on a silver buddy, everything else on a husky jerk fished along windblown drops. Water temp 42-44, depending. The bite was slow, but let me tell you....when they did hit, they clobbered it. Would've thought the water temp was much warmer the way they pounced. Anyway, off to Spofford Lake tomorrow for smallies and maybe some Northern Pike.

It's a pretty good pond all in all, but I have a friend who lives on it and he gets a key for the gated access. I'm not too sure if there is a good public access or not. Good ice fishing there. It has your normal NH pond fish: LM, YP, ECP, and Kibbie. Thousands of bass, but most between 1 1/2- 3lbs. Relatively shallow, but there is a good sized 'hole' that makes it down to 25'. A great 'numbers' pond.

Gentlemen, I have called this meeting to discuss our mutual problem: It's cold out........We have got to pool our resources to end this as soon as possible. I'm seriously worried about my family's safety. If I don't get some water temps in the 50's soon, one of them is sure to die. Went to Massabesic again today, because I trusted the weatherman. Water temps still under 40 and a pretty chilly NW wind. 5th cast produced a decent smallie (+/- 2 lbs.) and I thought I was off and running. 5 1/2 hours on the lake produced 4 bass, the first cleary the best. C'mon, try and control the jealousy........I left when I realized a sloth could retie quicker than my frozen fingers. Same story.....all fish were DEEP. 30' plus. Charted schools of baitfish in 15-20 feet of water, but no bass to eat them. Everybody's still holding deep. If (not when) we get some better weather, things are going to happen very fast, and the pre-spawn is going to be short.

No, certainly not in NH's public access waters. I finally have a nice boat, but my canoe won't gather much dust. Thanks for the props....

I simply wrap teflon tape around my spool a few times and then put the braid on. Keeps it from spinning just fine. Normally I leave backing on my reels so I'm only spooling 100 yds or so of new line. But with braid I'll do the tape, then a full spool, which I'll transfer to another reel later, reversing so to speak. Braid doesn't wear out until it loses color. This spring I transferred the Power Pro from my Calais to my Stradic and all is well.

Thanks gents, I'll move it on down to the pad area. I like the "Alumaducer" idea but the my financial partner (see: wife) would frown on any more expendatures.....Also, I have a litte Humminbird I plan on mounting on the bow and wanted to mount the transducer on the trolling motor. Will electronic noise and/or weeds fetching up on the transducer make this frustrating?

I have a Lowrance x37 and am having trouble getting depth readings when traveling faster than headway speed. My boat is a Tracker PT185 and the dealer had installed the transducer. I've included some pics for reference. I think the transducer is getting spoiled water from the vee ahead of it. Could simply moving the mounting location to the left, away from the vee improve things? I also realize that electronic 'noise' from the motor could be involved. I really need to have this resolved for safety and performance reasons asap. Please help.

Regarding Canobie Kayak Access: There is parking near the water pumping station on N. Policy Rd. You can easily slide a rowboat, canoe, or kayak in at that location. That's where I park my truck/trailer after launching @ Windham. My fishing partner drives from the ramp to the parking area and I pick 'em up. I LOVE fishing by myself now and then, but cannot at Canobie. Now for the Winter fishing report: I literally had to play ice breaker yesterday morning on Massabesic in order to get to the western lake. Water temp was a teeth-chattering 38-39.5 degrees and all of my fish came in 35-55 feet of water off sharp, fast shelves. Note to self.....Crappie caught in deep, cold water don't like to be horsed up. At one point we had 3or 4 plate-sized crappie floating around the boat like dinner plates, stunned, mouths open. The bass didn't seem to have the same issue and swam right back down (we also slowed bringing them in). I caught one perch in 60 feet of water whose stomach had prolapsed into his mouth. Lucky turtle somewhere..... Anyway, we did much better than I would've thought. Few smallies, a bunch of big crappie, some perch, and I even dredged up a sock! All on silver/gold buddies. Finished up the day on Captain's pond in Salem, catching largemouth and pickerel on husky jerks. Water there was 42-43 degrees.