jwo1124

OH :-X sorry about that horrible remark earlier. I just saw the New England fishing video and checked your profile. GO PATS!

After seeing the next video, ALL BLACK NORTHFACE GEAR, I know it is. Is that New York accent or what?!?

found this on youtube, didn't know if it was our own Low Budget Hooker Nice music!

Suspending Jerkbait - Fished around cover or shorelines with minimal cover. Spinnerbait - anytime I can Openwater - Rattle Trap (or floating cranks when the trap is too fast or agressive) open water or around cover Slug-Go - anytime I can Probably fished side by side to the spinnerbait Wacky Rigged Worm - open water, around cover, over strucutre, work it on the bottom. I'll probably start off early in the season when things are cool and slow with a suspending jerkbait, slug go and wacky rig. These are slow enough to fit the time of year, plus they all have good action and are fairly finnese techniques(down size and slow the jerkbait) Once these warm up, my go to is probably going to be a spinnerbait. Chart. with chart. blades for sunny days, and chart. with gold or silver for cloudy days. I'll also work the Slugs and wacky when the fish don;t seem to be on the spinnerbait. Once mid summer comes, I'll start using the Rat'L trap more. Keying in on deeper water. I mainly got these from the Mad Fisherman :-? Charlie Moore He is a wacky guy, but he's another Northern Guy, really the only Northern Fisherman on TV; beside the Lindners, eh. Mad Fish mainly throwns the Fleck Spinnerbait and the Lunker City spanky wacky rigged. He also likes the Slug Go. Occaisionally he'll throw a suspending jerkbait or a Rat'L Trap. He mainly just goes around and beats the shoreline; working cover or structure that he sees. Sort of what I do, but mostly from the bank for now. I know this is sort of an amateur way to fish, but being an amateur myself, it seems to fit. I am going to work on more techniques as I go along, but I want to keep it fun while I do it. Plus I'm sort of on a beer budget, meanwhile the Bait Monkey is has champagne taste. So I think by sticking to a few lures and techniques that I know will do the trick for most of my fishing, I'll actually have money in my bank account As I start fishing new waters, and/or fishing more from a boat, I'm sure I'll start to utilize different techniques as need be and start upping my game. But, as of now just being a bank beater, I think these lures will do O.K. I'm also going to add a SPRO frog to that list. I can't wait to work that over weeds or on lily pads.

I found this trick on some guys review for slip bobber stops. He uses a bobber stop above the bullet sinker to hold it in place instead of using tooth picks. Just thought I'd share that little bit of info. Hope it helps somebody.

Using a trailer hook will probably hook you up on more bass. But it will also hook you up more on other things too. So it's a give and take.

Has anyone given these lures a shot. I own a couple packs and have used them a couple times but never really gave them a real chance. I see Charlie Moore fishing them all the time on his shows, and they do have good action. I am thinking about using more soft plastics next year, and I have always loved jerkbaits, so why not use soft plastic jerkbaits right?!? I just wanted to see if any guys have had decent success on them.

Hey other, A lot of the guys had good points, but none of them mentioned this. And I don;t know if this is true, and I'm not trying to call you a sissy or anything becasue this seems to happen to me this time of year. The days are getting very short, not even 12 hours of sunlight anymore. The weather is cold, and death is all around us. The leaves on the trees are dying, vegetation in the ponds and algae is dying. This time of year is when a lot of people get Seasonal Depression. It has to do with the lack of sunlight which makes you tired all the time. When there is not a lot of light, this increases Melatonin production. Melatonin is the sleep hormone. It is produced when there is lack of light, and killed off when light enters the eye. So if you are walking around all day tired, sleepy, uninterested in anything but going back to bed, then this will kill all interests. Thi sis due primarly to the sudden increase in melatonin production. There is a lot less natural light around us now, and a lot more melatonin in us. Are bodies are naturally getting ready for hibranation. Why are you still interested in the video games. Simple. Because by sitting in front of the computer, it is actually killing off the melatonin and waking your @$$ up and easing that seasonal dpression. It does so because the LIGHT(not only sunlight contributes to melatonin) from the computer screen is strong, and you are sitting fairly close to it. (We just went over this is one of my college course.) Now, this may not be the case, I could be so far off its not even funny. But I just wanted to throw that out there so you could understand about whats happening in our bodies right now.I get the same way around this time of year. When I come home from classes all I do is lay in bed an watch tv. I still enjoy fishing though. And I could stand out there in 30 degree weather(and have done it more than a few times) If there was a chance of me hooking into one) But if the weather and changing of the seasons isn;t what it is, just sit and reflect of why this is happening all of a sudden. Why are you losing interest in a passion of your life? I personally can;t live without fishing. ;D It's sick. I'll either be on here, another MAssachusetts fishing forum, cabelas, bass pros,watching Versus or CHarlie Moore or something related to fishing. I'll make cast after cast after csat after cast until I finally get a hit. And then I'll repeat. I LOVE IT!!! But, if you feel as passionate about these games then don;t let anything get in the way of your passion.(and I can fully understand why, as a kid I was obsessed with video games. I owned nintendo, super nintendo, sega, Nintendo 64, dreamcst, playstation 2) Now I rarely play them because I get my stimulation else where. Yep, you guessed. From hauling in a slimey flopping fish. Maybe it's just you're bored of fishing. Like Robby said, make it interesting by setting new goals(Thanks man I'm gonna try that myself) 1. Learn baitcaster. 2. Learn Carolina Rig 3. Catch more bass, bigger bass, all the bass....whoa...see what you did to me Hope to see you on the water, or ice, soon.

SOX IN 6. WIN THE SRIES AT HOME. DRUNKEN BOSTONIANS EVERYWHERE!!!!!

Just had to post this being from Mass. I grew up and live 30 minutes from Boston. I know sweeping the Rockies would be like kicking dirt in their face, but I want to see the Sox win the series at home in Fenway. I hope the game goes 6 games and we win it at home. I want to see all the fans run onto the field like the maniacs they are. BEANTOWN!!!

Seems like we're all real fishaholics I was out today for a couple hours. The water temp got colder. I was fishing from shore at a spot where I have caught lots of trout on powerbait and all my broodstock salmon. I started casting a 1/4 kastmaster hoping to hook up with a rainbow or brown. I think the upper level of the water column is still a little too warm for the salmon. I ended up getting a dink bass that actually pulled nicely against my M power rod. I have caught a few dink bass over the last couple of weeks and these guys are mean lately. When I lipped him to take out the lure, I noticed he was COLD. I could tell just by feeling him that the water temp is getting lower and lower. I think these little guys are schooling up together to chase bait. They'll probably be in winter mode my mid november. No trout though. The sun was high and bright, and we all know fishing is tough in these conditions, especially from shore. Fish head deeper and hold to the bottom.

I have heard great thigns from the guys on this forum about Rapala DT's. They have version that dive to and stay at depths of 4, 6, 10, and 16. Since you said shorelines are around 4-8 ft. The DT 4 and DT 6 will probably work. and Use the DT 16 around the dam. I am a big fan of rapala for my hardbaits. I also like Strike King pro Model cranks. The come in models that go to 2-5 ft, 8 ft, 10-12 ft. and 16 ft. I would suggest these two since I have caught any bass on the Strike King Cranks, and have heard guys caught a lot on DT's, and I have had nothing but good experiences with other Rapala and strike king products. Except I got a husky jerk once that didn;t suspend like it was suppose to. The Strike king cranks have a perch color(firetiger) a chartuese and blue(blue gill) and a few different white colors(white perch). Try em out, they work for me. Strike king is a trusted name in Bass fishing, it sponsers big names like KVD and Shaw Grigsby.

"Twitchin' Rap can be fished virtually anywhere. With its near neutral buoyancy in saltwater, fish strike at or right after the pause. Slow-sinking in freshwater for a struggling, wounded-minnow action. " That quote is taken directly from the Rapala page. The little video they show of it looks great though. It seems like this is intended to be a deeper water jerkbait by the motion and action of the lure. It's like a cross between a sinking minnow and an xrap. Very unique. Might have to get a couple.

I know you shouldn't "over play" your fish. When I think of this I think of a game of cat and mouse. I think excessive play of the fish when it can easily be landed is just going to hurt the fish. But playing a fish for a minute or two like bill dance to tire the fish out somewhat isn't going to hurt it. I feel doing this makes it easier to land and remove the hook since the fish isn;t still spazzing out while you try to safely hold it and take the hooks out. This can also benefit your own safety. If you are trying to remove some treble hooks from a fish and it lashes around and sticks you with those sharp little hooks, you're heading to the ER. So I wouldn;t play with the fish on the end on your line for 5 minutes. But giving the fish a minute to splash around and expend some of that adrenaline and energy is a good idea. Anyone else agree?

I hear you on not having the right rod. I need to get a couple baitcasting combos. Baitcasters allow heavier lures to be cast with less effort. Plus, you don;t have the line cut through your finger trying to cast a 1/2-3/4 lure like with spinning gear.

The Twitchin' Rap is designed for saltwater fishing. If you need to description of the lure on Cabela's it will say "near buoyant in salt water and slow sinking in fresh". I have never really used sinking minnows, I'd much rather just use a crankbait, SO I don't see the point of this lure in freshwater. it will still probably catch fish since Rapala lures are great, but I think it would work better it saltwater since its buoyant, which probably gives the bait better action. Try going with an X-Rap(which you probably already own)

How important is it to work the bottom? I just recently thought about this. I think I'll catch more fish when beating the banks if I hop a jig a long bottom, or employ a carolina rig and use deeper diving cranks to bounce bottom. Any Thoughts? I think my main problem will be working up confidence in these new techniques. I am familiar with cranks and use them a lot more often than I do plastics and jigs. Will it be as obvious to me when I fish strikes my lure on bottom as when it does on a crank or spinner? Or will I need to pay a lot more attention. I have always heard of spitting a lure, which a fish can;t really do to a spinnerbait or crankbait sicne most of the time then smash the thing and they can;t help but me hooked before they could even think about spitting the lure.

I was also right about working that bottom I read somewhere that 80% of the time fish feed close to the bottom. This makes sense. If you are casting from shore and your lure lands in water that is 8-10 feet deep, you'll catch more fish getting your lure down close to the bottom than you would just working the top or middle of the water column. This is unless the water is extremely clear which is almost never the case. I have to put more time into a C-Rig. I think I'll catch a lot more fish since I'll maintain constant contact to where the fish are most likely holding. I just have to work up enough confidence in the rig. I have caught a little rat bass C-Rigging a Powerbait craw, so I guess thats one point to the carolina rig. I think that the bottom contour is the biggest piece of strucutre in any body of water.

I figured this would be a good topic. So, -How often do you fish on an average week? -How far away is "your local fishing hole"? (From your departing location) -How do you fish?(bank beater, jon boat, bass boat) Mysellf, I like to get out once a week for a good 4-5 hours and see what's going on. Usually this is Sunday mornings. I'll wake up around 6 when its still dark, hit dunkin donuts, and get to the water by 7 am the latest. I'll usually fish until noon or one trying a couple ponds within a 1/2 mile of each other. This is because Mon-Fri my bro and I go to college, and between our two class schedule, and one car, its hard to find a solid block of time thats worth driving to the pond to fish. On top of that working on the weekends makes it that much more difficult to find time to hit the water. Plus I am staying with my aunt about 25 minutes away from where I fish. I used to live 10 minutes away. On top of this I try to get out one more time during the week for a solid 2-3 hours. Like today I'll probably fish for a few hours this afternoon/evening before the sunsets.

Same with me. Yesterday was around 70, today its 50. I don;t think such an acute change will make a big difference on water temp in the span of a day. If it stays like this for a few days though, and the nightly lows matched with lower high temps will certainly bring the water temp down. But today shouldn;t be that slow, except for the bright sun which tends to send fish tight to cover/strucutre/bottom. Try a C-rig worked slow, hop a jig, bottom bounce cranks, work vegetation if there still is live stuff where you are, Boat docks, drop offs and points near deep water. Down size your baits, and use natural profiles and colors. Nothing too bright or shiny.

Just to throw this out there, I wasn't trying to get on anyone's case. I'm not a bass activist, I was just pointing out an observation. I'm not really mad about it. I just think if you can avoid doing so you should. And I have seen in many cases wherwe it would be avoided on the pro circuits where it is not. But I will say that I fully understand when you are fishing for hours on end and finnally get a niuce tug on your line, the adrenaline starts rushing, and you're just thinking about getting this bass up as fast as possible. I'm sure it won;t kill the bass, but it'd be nice to try to remember correct handling tips even when we find ourselves alittle excited.

For the northern ponds up here in Massachusetts, 4-5 pounds would be a lunker. In lakes, probably a little bit bigger like 6-7 pounds.

I know that on occasion a fish will fall off the hook into the boat or onto the shore. Thi sis inevitable. I'm talking about when guys purposely do it. I won;t argue that sometimes there is no way around it if the fish decides to flop loose. But don;t do it on purpose to save a few seconds of time.

yeah, I think winter is just going to creep up on us. But thats ok, I'll fish for the stocked trout and salmon for a couple of months until I can ice fish.

since I mainly shore fish, I am forced to be a "spot fisherman", I do however walk around the peremeter of a ponds as much as possible. But sine the ponds i mostly fish are located in an urban area, alot of the shoreline is commercialized. This makes it tough. But when I take my jon boat out, which happens once in a while, I will pick apart the water, but I do use my knowledge to think about where the fish may be and why. It always pays to know what our doing and why. But then agian, sometimes mindless casting and beating the shoreline will pay off.