Walkingboss

It is a special spot, but beauty is two-faced. I fished this pond almost exclusively for two years for obvious reasons. I can place every piece of structure on this pond in my mind. It's like the bass have mailboxes. I know where to go Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall. Cold or warm, windy or rainy.....But.....talk about an unrealistic place to judge ones true ability. I got cocky after that banner day and went up to Winni with a friend, telling him that he was about to lose his butt. I ended up paying his bar tab for a week!!!

No sir, that fish is 7 lb.s 8 oz...The second of two 7 lb. plus fish on CONSECUTIVE casts! My wife came unglued because both casts were on spots she was eyeing!! It was July 5th last year and was a good day. The reason I have the fish turned this way is to show how packed the stomach was. No eggs, just a fat, happy girl. This fish did come off the same pond as my NH pb, which was 10 lb.3oz. April 1st, 2004. I took that fish for the wall and I've never forgiven myself. I'll NEVER do it again. I feel awful. I caught her before my digital camera and haven't scanned the photos yet. Sorry about the secrecy of where this pond is, but I'd be swimmin' with the fishes if I coughed it up. It's an 85 acre jewel 15 minutes from my dooryard and took me several near butt-kickings to get onto. The folks who have camps there know what they've got and protect it with a vengence. There are some pigs there for sure. I've caught bass off this pond (twice) that had Horned Pout tails sticking out of their throats. My greatest bass fishing day EVER was here last May. 27 bass, 18 over 3 lbs. and 9 over 5, the biggest that day just over 7. All on Horny Toads and in under 5 hours. It was nuts. If only I could get my boat on it! Canoe only.......

Thanks for the info on Kingston Lake. I agree that Bow would be a good tune-up and it's my favorite smallmouth lake in the state, but the ice reports don't lie. Another week or two. I looked at the Winni live cam from Gilford today and, from the looks of it, there may be no tourny there on the 22nd. Locals say at least 3 more weeks. That's with average temps, which as we all know, isn't happening lately. All that said, I'm going to Massabesic tomorrow morning. My second tourny is there on May 6th. There's still a little ice hanging near Claire's landing, but oh well. Regarding the states' management of its warm water fisheries..........gag.............choke............. Towns want the fish, but not the traffic. Go figure......I've seen better ramps at skateboard parks. You're made to feel like white trash if you don't like trout and God forbid you don't flyfish. The state is doing little to nothing about the infestation of Rock Bass in western NH lakes. Trust an old Indiana boy...you don't want rock bass in your lakes. Long and short: No money in NH gov., except for my property tax. Until this state gets some more revenue, we're all doomed. I'm off to rig-up for the morning......

Oh, btw....I'd still like to know the smallie presence in Kingston....Clark's Guide says mostly largemouth and a buddy says there are very few smallmouth there. I really need to establish some sort of smallmouth pattern before the 22nd. I'll be fishing Winni then, and since it's not open yet, I need water that is somewhat similar. That's why I've been fishing Canobie....Clear/sharp breaks, etc. Any thoughts...

Yeah, enough already...had plans for 2 full days out, then got the flu. It's only 30 degrees out this morning, so I don't know if I'd have gone out anyway. Will go tomorrow for at least 6-7 hours. Canobie or Kingston. It'll be Kingston if I'm alone because of Canobie's ( town of Windham ) launch here, but don't park here B.S. I don't know if I'd get a ticket this time of year, but I don't need the headache.

Kingston Lake is open for those interested. From what I can see the rains did the job. No visible ice from the ramp. I've only fished there twice, even though it's 10 minutes from home. I've heard rumors of smallmouth in the lake, but I've only pulled largemouth. How does it stack up against other water in Rockingham County, i.e. Canobie, Arlington, Big Island, etc.?

At least 3 inch on the tubes. Strike King makes a 4 1/2 incher that I use and Zoom, as well as many companies, make 4 inchers. I rig my tubes with gitzit style weights and ewg hooks. This allows a nice spiral fall and is mostly weedless/rockless. As I was cleaning out my tackle box I thought of something else you may wish to try.....Storm makes some affordable swim baits ranging in size from 2 1/2 inches to huge 6-8 inchers, maybe bigger. I have a bag of firetiger and babybass pattern 4 inch swim baits that I rarely use, but have had luck with and something like that may help you get to the larger fish. It sounds like catching fish at your hole is a slam dunk, so why not tie on some meat for an hour or two. As far as missing the spawn...the bloody tails tell me you weren't behind it, but maybe just ahead of the big girls coming on. The males will fan out a redd, the girls will come in and drop eggs, and then its babysitting time, not much of a call to fan anymore. If your average water temp is 50 on April 1st, which, judging by your photo, seems high for that date this year (unless you're in the Carolina's) I'd guess you were just ahead of the main spawn. Remember though, the big girls spawn first.....It's always a crapshoot.

I just got back from my annual "hope there's no f'ing ice on the pond" trip only to find her still heavy with ice. :'( My canoe is already ticked 'cause I bought a new boat. I told the canoe that we could still hang out now and then, but this ice thing is really stressing my relationship. Most of the big water round here is clear, but our 'special place' remains only a dream for now. At this rate it'll be at least another week. I'll probably hit Canobie again this Friday, since it's close. Any word on Winni and ice? Should be out, but I haven't heard. My first tourny is on the 22nd and I need to get on the big girl a few times before then. Oh, and thanks for the welcomes.......

Getting off the bank would help for sure. Try some BIG tubes. By the looks of it, your pond/lake is in upper new england. The backdrop looks like a place I fish near Lyme, NH. Same deal there with the smallies. Alot, but no pigs. I'd say the biggun's are there, just haven't found them. I have a largemouth pond near me that's about 85 acres and is packed with fish. I pulled one just over 10 lb. and several over 7 in the past 3 years from this little jewel so, if an 85 acre pond can produce largemouth in that class I'm sure your lake/pond can do the same with the browns.

I agree w/the above post. I found the p-line to have more memory than a herd of elephants and the colder it got the stiffer it was. Yo-zuri is better in my view and costs less in bulk.

As much as I love my senko's, I'd go with a green pumpkin tube. As mentioned before, tubes are truly versatile. Swim em', jig em', deadstick em', float em', carolina rig em', heck, you can even rig em' backwards. Just look at this month's BassMaster mag.

I love my Glx's but I own a few All-Star rods too and think they're some of the best for the money.

I put braid on my wife's spinning reels last year and she loved it. Nearly no birdnests all season, used the same line all year (braid is good until the color fades), was not broken off once, and will not let me put mono back on! 50 lb may be overkill. I use 20 lb Power Pro (6 lb dia.) and have lifted full logs off the bottom. Love the stuff, but mono and the hybrids still have their place from time to time.

Braid will give your old reel a bright future....It's come a long way in the last few years. I prefer Power Pro myself, but have also used Stren's version with no complaints. It lasts forever (relatively), doesn't absorb water, doesn't stretch (which can be a bad thing) and saws through weeds like a serial killer. I love it for my topwater frogs, spinnerbaits, and some cranks. I've even fished it on texas rigged senko's and did no worse than my buddy fishing mono. Big jig n pigs through heavy vegitation, really, any application. The lack of stretch can pull hooks out of fish, especially on crankbaits, but rod choice can minimize that, as well as some common sense on the hook set.

Oh...the P-line....I HATED the extra tough....Maybe their other stuff isn't so bad. Not a big fan of flourocarbon yet. Some of the hybrids are ok. Power pro is my braid, Jinkai and Suffix are great on spinning gear, and, I hate to say it, but Trilene XL is hard to beat for mono, just retie and respool often.

Went to 'Canobid' Sunday and water was 41-43 degrees depending where you were. Morning/early afternoon was pretty slow with the high sun and no wind. Things picked-up in the afternoon, but then cooled off late with higher wind and some cold air. Funny thing is I was geared for smallies and missed 1 near the boat, but both fish I did catch were largemouth. All the action was in at least 15 feet of water off ledge drops bottoming in the 25-30 ft. range, with some of the boulder flats being the exception. There's a good one not far from the Wizard statue. Top ranges from 14 to 9 feet and is surrounded by deeper water on two sides. This was my first day on Canobie (non-ice fishing) and I was impressed by the structure. Looks like it could get weedy come summer. I'ts 20 minutes from home and I'll probably hit it until all the ice is out on some bigger water. Bow Lake still had too much this past weekend, but that's where I'll set up shop once it clears. Best smallmouth fishing overall in the state for my money. Decent largemouth too. I also fish Merrymeeting (aka the dead sea) in New Durham and a pond near me that is not to be named for fear of death. Merrymeeting can be a chore because it is crystal clear and the fish are DEEP, but there are some true chunks there. Angle pond in Sandown is great too. I've never pulled truly huge fish, but a steady diet of 2-3lb smallies and equal sized largemouth. HUGE crappie if your into that. I'm not really into Kingston Lake, but I've only fished it in summer and it was full of pleasure boats. Anyway, I'm a newb here and wanted to chime in.

Yeah, I've got a box-full of silver buddies and several Mann's Little Georges'. Around here all you really need in early spring is a buddy, a husky-jerk, and a hair jig, but I want to fish outside my comfort zone more often this year. I used to use a slip-bobber presentation a lot in Minnesota/Wisconsin lakes for big smallies and walleye, but that was with live leeches. I agree that a 4 inch senko may be a good choice and hanging it under the bobber may even give me a chance to grab a few bites of my sandwich, as well as keep my boat away from the fish. Like a lot of guys(and gals), I've been fishing all my life, but this year I'm on my first full club tournament trail. NH only allows 2 fish until July 1st and I'm pretty sure the club doesn't have any special permit, so these early tournys are going to be very interesting. I'm pretty sure I'm going to need at least 9 lbs to get in the money. Thanks for the reply. Any and all are welcome.

Gearing up for my 1st tourny on Winnipesaukee in NH. April 22nd should only be 3 weeks after ice-out and the water should still be in the low 40's. Haven't used the float and fly in years. Was thinking of modifying the approach by using a drop shot below the float with a 3 to 4 inch streamer fly (blue smelt) as the lure. Winni is full of smelt and I wanted to try this on some mid-lake humps. I understand smallies are mainly feeding on minnows/fish this time of year. Any thoughts on my idea?