Dooger

Myself I would prefer a warmer climate in the winter where I could fish for bass. And come back to Pennsylvania for the summer and fall. Some of them fishing show hosts, fish Minnesota in the summer and fish Texas waters in the winter.

What I have on the deck usually depends on the water temperature. Berkeley power swimmer 3.3 to 3.8 or a Rapala Mooch minnow Crank bait square bill or Rebel crawfish or a Berkeley slobberKnocker for covering water. Jig of some kind with a trailer or a tube 2.5 or 3.5”

I could be wrong but I don’t think that big bass hang in an area where there is a lot of competition for feed.

I use a clicker/counter for the fish I catch mostly. Anything over 20 is worth a weigh. I don’t worry about bag weights to aweful much. What your doing is commendable…but a lot more work.

I have a friend that fishes the Hellgrammite with great success. He fishes 2 sizes of Hellgrammite. Some nice fish!

The first boat is a Snyder River jet. Specifically designed to run skinny river water. That boat would run in inches of water. 90/65 jet. .195 bottom with 1/2” UHMV. Last year I sold the Synder and got a new Crestliner 1660 Jon boat with a modified V front with a 60/40 tiller jet. I decided that I wasn’t going to run as hard in the skinny water. The Jon will probably run in a foot of water.

The story on that bass ,it was caught on the ramp. I held it up to my rod for a measurement. My son took a picture of it with his phone and it was back in the water. Probably in less than 2 minutes. That was a personal best and there was no way I wasn’t getting a picture of it.

This smallmouth is my personal best. The length was 23.5” I never got a weigh because I had no scales. Anyone have an idea what it might weight. Now I caught this fish on my trout rod on 4lb test and a 3” grub. This was in current took about 10 minutes to get him in.

Think the latest Nasci that is supposed to be improved is $125.00 now. I have owned a few Nasic 2500 and never had problems with them. I fished them on St Croix MoJo rods. But I think St Croix Black bass would be a better rod. As Big Hands said, if you have access…try them on a favorite rod to see how they feel.

yo-zuri 3db crank 1.5 mr burnt orange crawfish, Rebel crawfish big craw, multiple colors of KVD 1.5 square bill. Rapala DT 5 I fish these on my local river.

I have a couple of spinning St Croix MoJo rods that are glass for crank baits, that I use a lot. I have them paired with Pflueger Presidential reels with a 5.41 retrieval. The 2nd rod I got.I pick it up off of market place cheap. The guy had a bait casting reel on the spinning rod. 😜 He said it never casted good at all….wonder why 😄 I’m casting square bills for the most part and getting good distance.

50 degrees for the high today and water temperature 42 degrees. In Central Pa.

Seaguar PeX8. I was advised for bass fishing 18 or 21lb is a good choice. Any lighter and there is chance of it breaking. I’ve been using it since last fall without any problems. Seaguar gold 10lb for leader. Casting distance is awesome!

I was getting St Croix MoJo rods new for about $112. Thought they was a decent rod. I also picked up a few Mojo’s up off of market place reasonable. For spinning I was pairing them with Shimano Nasci reels $99. The baitcasters I was pairing with whatever reel I could find on sale. Currently I have 2 NRX spinning rods paired with Vanford reel and PeX8 line. 2 baitcasters rods….one is Victory the other is a Legend extreme. Tatsu fishing line. Still fish my Mojo’s some. I don’t really care for the new Mojo’s and I thought St Croix Black Bass felt pretty good.

My local river boat ramps are about 10-15 minutes away. The nearest lake is about 45 minutes away. The local river I have about a 10-12 mile stretch I can run.

The local river was froze over since November. Finally there was enough water to clear the ice out, and now we have high winds and high water. we’re getting closer but it’s been a long winter. 🙄

On my spinning reels I was using 8lb invisiX switched to 8lb Tatsu. Tatsu definitely is better line but at about twice the price. Run that all last year without any problems.

I ordered some Pounce should be here tomorrow. Only 10lb. The price was reasonable. I had some Seaguar Gold, That wasn’t to bad.

I had an off season on the river this year. No real dominant lure. 1.Mooch minnow Whacky worm, JuneBug Whopper Plooper caught as many musky on that as I did bass. Berkeley 3.8” swim bait Few fish on a Ned but not as many as I usually do. River was high in the early season which hampered fishing. Then in August the river was a foot below normal. Which hampered me getting to some spots. Running a Jon boat with a 60/40 jet.

I’m going to do some searching with my side scan this year and see what I can find. 2nd part of the plan is do some more finesse fishing…drop shot, Neko. Currently fish a lot of hair jigs on the river along with a whacky rig.

What’s a good color for them? If you don’t mind me asking.

I’m mostly a hair jig guy on my local river. You can jig the them slow, swim them etc. Which brings me to question did anyone ever fish the Slider worm? Back in the day I fished that a lot and caught a fair amount of fish. But it kind of now is a forgotten lure.

Rebel Wee Crayfish. Been fishing them for years.

I fish the West Branch Susquehanna River. This last year. It was probably about a foot below the normal summer pool height. It limit's where you can fish. Some days I will just take an hour and cruise around looking for fish, and take note to hit that spot a few days later. Clear water equals long casts to try to get a strike. I have even went to 6lb Fluorocarbon from 8-10 lb line. Another thing you could do is switch up your fishing hours. Try going out in the evening and fishing top water.

FG knot is a challenge out on the water, but I can tie it at home. I Usually use Alberto or GT knot.