jaystraw

Jeez, I'm not too far from there at all. Can you bring the canoe right to the lake or does it have to be carried in from the parking lot? Sounds sweet either way. If I have some free time this weekend I would love to hit it, and then head over to the Connecticut River to do some Pike fishing!

First of all, I live in NH and I need to know where this lake is to be able to help you out. I've been doing pretty well with spinnerbaits, senko's and floating rapallas for my smallies lately, but I've been fishing from the canoe.

Nope never fished it... I got out this morning for a couple hours. Even though it was VERY windy, I did OK for the amount of fishing I got in. Caught a nice 2 pound smallie on a senko in pretty shallow water under a tree. I also caught 3, 2+ pound pickeral on a Daiwa crankbait. I wish they were all smallies, but I'll take any action on such a cold and windy morning.

I'm from NH, but.... I wish I could help you out, but the fish are confusing the heck out of me right now. It almost seems like they are in their summer patterns due to the warm water. All the bigger fish I've caught lately (besides pickeral) have been in pretty deep water. I saw smallies cruising flats last week on Thursday, and caught a bunch...I have not seen them since. Also, my senkos are not working as well, and my Rapalla silver F-11 and F-9 seem to be working better again for smallies. Seems like they are keying in on baitfish.

I like that line of reasoning quite a bit. Not to mention it makes me feel A LOT better about losing a fish at the boat.

Nope..I did not have that good a day. Caught about 5, 2-3 pound pickeral and a 2 lb smallie trolling a rapalla on my way back to launch. Happy to catch fish, but I wish they were all bass!

same thing here in NH. I had an awesome day of smallie fishing on Thursday, but then I could barely buy a bite for the rest of Friday, and the weekend. It's been 50's at night, between 60-80 during the day...very strange.

I had essentially the same problem Friday, yesterday and today. On friday my buddy and I went to a pond that does not get fished much at all. I caught a dink off the launch waiting for my friend. He caught one about 20 feet after we launched. We did not catch another fish in 1.5 hours until I caught a 2 pound larry trolling a Rapala on the way back to the launch. Caught one smaller LM (1lb or so) at Milton 3 Ponds yesterday in an entire day of fishing(9am-4pm). My buddy caught about 5 small bass (all under a pound) and a couple small pickeral. We also covered the entire accessable water to no real luck. The fish we caught were on Rapalla's left to sit as topwater baits with a twitch every now and then. I tried plastics to barely any bites.... Today I only caught 1 big pickeral and 2 decent smallmouth in a few hours of fishing from 9am-1pm. I caught the pickeral and one smaller smallie using my buddy's Rapalla topwater technique. I caught the other bigger smallmouth on a senko. Tough weekend!

I caught those at Gould Pond in Hillsboro. Gotta love smallmouth ponds!! I think they are a bit more active than the Larry's right now for some reason, but it depends on the day (see my report from 10/2)

I was having trouble with the smallies swallowing everything yesterday. The first one tried to swallow my rocket shad!! So, I pinched the barb on my 3,0 hook. The very next cast I hooked into a monster which got off just by the boat. I have no doubt it was becasue I pinched the hook. I'm not complaining, but I switched back to a regular hook and did not lose another fish.

Awesome fishiong yesterday in the canoe. Caught about 10 smallies and 3 big pickeral. All the smallies except 2 were over 1.5 pounds, and 4 were over 2 pounds. Great day! HEre is a cell phone pic of one ofthe the 2.75 pound smallie I caught:

I had been doing really well with 4' green pumpkin with black flake senko's, and the chartruse rocket shad, but the yesterday-NOTHING worked for bass, but the pickeral were still kind of eating my senko's. Finally, I tried out a green pumpkim creature bait and a 3 pounder slammed it. After that, I could not buy another bite, so I went home. I hope tomorrow is better!

Went out this afteroon in the canoe. No luck at all except 2 big pickeral on senkos, and then I caught a 2.5 pound larry under this overhanging birch tree on a creature bait (first time ever). When I looked at it, I noticed it had a black mark on it's bottom lip, and a depression. Also the upper lip is all torn up I got a pic and here it is. You can see the black spot under my thumb: When I happened to look a this pic next to one I took of a big larry from last week from the same pond, I noticed it might be the same fish. Notice the black mark on the bottom lip, but not as pronounced. What makes me sad is how skinny the fish is today compared to last week. It was released quickly the first time I caught it, but it looks rough. I wonder if it is the same fish, and why it's so beat up?

Yep, wagn caught the monster of the day. The fish were not super active, but we did OK. When the fish are not even really biting that well on senko's, you know it's an inactive day!! Here's the pic of me with my smaller fish:

My chartruse rocket shad has been catching a lot of fish lately. Also t-rigged 4 inch green pumpkin and black senkos. Wacky rigged also. Topwater has been OK with the Heddon Torpedo in baby bass.

Would it be easier to dehook a fish who has been gut hooked with a barb-less hook?

Nice fish wagn!!!!!

I had another windy but successful afternoon in the canoe. Caught a nice sized Larry...about 3.5 pounds. Here's the picture: Also caught about 4 nice 2 pound smallies. Here is a pic of one of them: And I caught about 4 really big pickeral. Every one of them tried to bite me while trying to dehook them. Darn pickeal!

Here is an update..poisoned fish dying off by the thousands: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/09/26/MNISSD6A3.DTL&feed=rss.news

wagn and I had a nice, but tough day of fishing. Went to Pleasent Pond in Francestown and only caught a few fish. Better than getting skunked, but an extremely slow day of fishing. Caught this smallmouth just off the shore off a rocky point, as were all the fish we caught:

I love the Torpedo. My buddy gave me one of his old ones, and I immediately caught a smallmouth on it, and then another, and another, and so on. It's been one of the best producing lures for me in the late summer. I use all listed above until I find the one they are looking for. I always cast out and let it sit for at least 10 seconds. I usually start with just a straight retrieve. If they are missing it, I'll slow it down, and/or pause during the retrieve. It seems that the smallmouth just love it.

I'd have to say that in my limited experience, I think it's much more likely a pickeral than a pike or a musky. small ones have less distint chain markings, and could indeed look like stripes. Pikes have bean shaped spots, so it's not a pike. If the ranger said it's a pickeral, he would know best.

Green pumpkin with black flake senko is my all time favorite. my buddy swears by the Yum senko knockoff green pumpkin with colored flakes, but it looks more like a cinnimon color to me.

I use a really beat up canoe to do my fishing on my local lake..occasional bailing and only one seat. I have no motor and am paddling by myself. I picked it up off craigslist for $40 (they wanted 200) , and just down the street from my house. Good luck!

I'm not sure if I read this in this thread or not, but I was having the same problem. Today a lightbulb went on about something so simple: "Keep your rod tip up". I was smallmouth fishing today, and they jump a lot at this place (even for smallmouth). I had been playing the fish and trying to keep them closer to the water. Today, I just let them jump, but kept the rod tip pointing up and tension on the line at all times. As long as that hook-set is good and you are keeping that rod tip up, I think it's the key. I reeled in while they jumped to keep the line tight, but not too tight. Great day of fishing because of it. Thank you whoever wrote that!!