Swest18x

Thanks for all the great information. I have a couple saltwater JDM rods I bought on recommendation from a user here, not for this particular application but I was really pleased with the quality so I know I could find something going that route eventually. In the meantime I just wanted to test out my idea so I went to the local Dicks store looking for a Lamiglas and came across an Okuma SST 9'6 ML Mod Fast rated 1/4 to 1/2. It felt better than the Lamiglas in hand, not sure if it's a steelhead rod or what but for 99 bucks I decided to try it out. So this afternoon I went out, sunny calm clear water, and very first cast with it an 18" smallmouth ate the spybait! That's a trophy fish on this fishery, they max out right about there, how's that for luck? Anyways, I fished a couple hours and apart from being a little heavy I gotta say I'm very pleased with that rod for launching spybaits. It also fought the smallie very well, lots of give in the first third or so to keep her pinned. Kind of reminds me of a longer version of my ALX McSmalls, but the extra two feet keep me off the rocks in deeper water on parallel casts. We'll see how it works out long term, but thanks again.

That makes sense. I suspect Duo intended the same thing because the front of the bait where you tie on is so thick I occasionally bend out snap rings trying to get them on.

What do you guys use? I'm currently throwing a duo 80.

Could someone explain the difference between side drift, drift float spinner, and drift float models of the x11?

Thanks for the responses. Noodlish might be better if I'm throwing spybaits. I know there's a JDM rod out there that's perfect for this application but it's a lot of time sifting through the internet. A jig rod might be too stiff for spybaits but would work ok for paddletails. I'll probably buy a cheaper steelhead rod but if anyone finds an exact salt model 9'6 to ten or so let me know.

So 3/8 spybaits would be about the max weight for me Nine foot minimum, spinning, I have a 7'8 that isn't near along enough.

When I shore fish it's on a canal with rip rap. I had an idea to try something different: I'm looking for a nine or ten foot pole that would work for spybaits, finesse swimbaits so that standing on the rocks I can fish parallel to the bank just off the rocks in slightly deeper water for the full length of the cast. I don't even know where to start looking, I'm guessing this would be a salt water rod?

If water temps are still warm (upper 60s) but you have a cool morning (40s) do you find the air temp negatively impacts the topwater bite?

I got up to Brant Lake for half a day. Thanks for the heads up on the lily pads, but I still managed to run right into a patch in the dark! I got untangled, ran to the north end of the lake before sun up, not much luck there on topwater just a couple dinks. It started to rain, I lost a few tails on my dropshot, finesse swim baits on the way back came up empty too. I was probably fishing too fast, I have a tendency to do that on a new lake. I also should have frogged more but didn't have a good combo with me. After that I went down to Lake Luzerne and had one monster bite on a free rig that got away. Thanks for the help but seems to be a pattern with me, I never catch good fish on vacation!

I'm braid to leader on most everything, love Daiwas, but all of my future reels will be Shimano because of the Twing. My topwater combo is a Daiwa, it casts a mile but I'm sick of keeping the leader at just such a length with mono which ALWAYS interferes with the Twing, even down to 8lb. I tie a blood knot and no I'm not learning another knot. I really don't get how this isn't a complaint with more customers, thanks to original poster for bringing it up. BTW for the above reasons I have a virtually unused zillion HD I'd like to get rid of if anyone is interested.

Thanks, I wasn't sure how strong the current is in the Hudson and one of the locals said there's a lot of jet ski traffic. I'll probably head up to Brant tomorrow early morning, hoping for some topwater action.

d**n this thread makes me glad I'm not a bass...

Also looking at Brant Lake...

Hi, I'm on vacation with my family in the Adirondacks. We're staying at my in laws in Queensbury near Glens Falls. I brought my fishing canoe with me, I don't have time to travel too far but I'm looking at Lake Luzerne. Anyone fish here before? It's close enough and has a decent launch. Schroon Lake would be nice too but it's a bit further than I want to travel. I have a large flat bottom canoe with a 3hp electric motor. Any feedback on this lake or another option would be appreciated.

Well thanks for the input but I didn't go. Wife went out to dinner with a friend and it was 1030 before she got back, would've been midnight or later before I got on the water and the next day was going to be just too rough. But the good thing about fishing is there's always the next trip!

Yea, I like your other advice better. I'm liable to fall asleep finessin'. I've got to make a decision for tonight here in the next few minutes, wish me luck.

One of my fisheries is the Erie Canal. Mile after mile of nothing but rip rap. I'm far from perfecting my technique there so don't have a lot to add, except that in my opinion you have a huge advantage fishing topwater from shore over boat anglers. I do both, but early morning top water I prefer to be on the bank and you'd be surprised how shallow the bass will get. Standing down on the rocks casting parallel to the bank you can cover so many yards of shallow water in a single cast, without spooking the fish, that's always my preferred method.

I count and record my fish to a yearly journal. When I catch a bass, or make a major move or change, or something memorable happens, I send myself a text message. That way everything has a time stamp and later when I'm writing the journal entry, I have a record to fall back on. After my entry I write the time stamps for each catch in the journal as well. This method works well until you drop your phone in the lake (twice now for me 😖). I'm the only person who cares about my journal but I picture someday when I'm gone it might mean quite a bit to one of my kids. It also comes in handy to spot patterns. This is year four of keeping track for me and every bass over 12" is there.

Question: on this lake, during the daylight hours dropshot is the most consistent bait. I've never heard of using a dropshot at night, but if that's what catches them during the day is it worth a try? I'm more a reaction guy myself but if I go out tonight I'm not coming back in with a skunk!

Fishing from a canoe with a motor so I can get around but not so easy to stay put in deeper water. I usually throw a SB105 or a smaller plopper but I do have larger ploppers and buzzbaits that sit around a lot, I can try those in choppy conditions. I'm feeling discouraged because it seems like I should have stumbled into something decent by now. But if I was getting bites I'd be loving it, the atmosphere out in the middle of nowhere listening to God knows what calling in the woods is off the charts.

I agree, just walk away from those type of people. Most normal people even if they had that opinion would keep it to themselves. My wife hooked a fish in the eye the first time she came out with me. That was it for her. There's always going to be casualties but we've all seen fish swimming around ripped up far worse by propeller strikes and pike bites.

About to give up on night fishing here! I live up north in western NY, I've been trying to expand my fishing time and get out of the sun this summer by trying my hand at night fishing. I've got two fisheries one of which is the Erie Canal 5 minutes from my house, nothing but rip rap and 90% smallmouth. The other place I fish is a deep healthy lake with narrow bands of vegetation along the shore, good smallmouth and largemouth there but its clear water that fishes tough enough during the day let alone at night. I've been coming up empty on the canal fishing ploppers and wakebaits, a total of 2 small largemouth and a handful of missed strikes in maybe 15 hours of dark fishing. About what I expected if not what I hoped for, I realize night fishing for smallies is less than ideal but it's close by so I gave it a shot. Then I finally got a chance to go down to my other lake at night last week, had high expectations spent 3 or 4 hours there in darkness, zero bites. It didn't help that a breeze picked up an hour in and took topwater out of play, so I was relegated to spinnerbaits and swim jigs neither of which are confidence baits for me there . Now that lake is 1 hour + from my house and the whole night fishing thing is a big commitment anyways because it wrecks me for the next day, so I'm just about ready to give up on it altogether. The only reason I tried it was it's tough for me to get out during the day with my schedule. I have a chance to overnight fish that lake again tonight without wind, if I come up empty then I'm probably throwing in the towel for good and keeping my sleep. I'd like to hear from anyone who wants to convince me one way or the other.

"As the number swings to a 96 day I am more likely to go fishing. If the calendar is on the downside and heading towards a 14 day, then I am less likely to bother with going fishing in the boat." So the 96 and the 14 refer to % full?

I don't work summers but my wife does and we've got 4 kids ages 8 -13. Everything feels like a micro trip lately, such as fishing while the kids are at Vacation Bible School, and night fishing trips typically cut short by lost lures and mosquitoes. But late November my micro trips often require more elaborate forms of planning. There's a very specific bite here around Thanksgiving time where if you know the right place and and the right technique it's fish every cast virtually non stop during daylight hours for a week or two. These conditions lead to other micro trips such as: "Honey, my mom needs help pulling the turkey out of the oven I'll be back in 30 minutes." Unfortunately one of my most infamous busts came under these conditions when I locked my keys in the trunk putting my gear away to rush back home. I'm not 100% sure but this might have been one of the contributing factors to my wife adding me to the tracking app on our phones.

That's funny I find it the exact opposite but now that I think about it all of my longer rods are spinning and my baitcasters tend to be my shorter rods. I've always thought of the leverage working for me not against me in the fight but in terms of casting a longer baitcaster I can see what you mean. LOL looking at your location and PB maybe on a 9lb largemouth I'd feel differently!