jaystraw

We were fishing Franklin Piece Lake in Hillsboro when I got her. Here we are: Here is my buddy with his fish almost the exact same size: Also, if you are looking for smallmouth you'll probably do well at the rivers. I did not catch a big smallie there, but I caught about 9 small ones in the Contoocook in Henniker in less that 2 hours. Seemed like it had not been fished all year with how crazy they were going for the senkos.

Yeah...Walmart has them and the Village Discount in Hillsboro has a good selection of them. I think they are out of the small size. You can do any type of retrieve with it. It's got a propeller, so it makes a buzzing noise. It's pretty sweet and has caught me a buch of smallmouth this year. Tonight, no top water action. The senkos were kicking ***, and I caught a nice 3 ounder. I've got a nice pic which I'll post later. My buddy caught a 3 pounder and a 2.6 pounder on a senko I gave him two weeks ago.

the smaller size Heddon torpedo in baby bass has been rocking the topwater for me lately..might give it a try.

LOL t-rig!!!!! ;D

I just caught my first crappie of my life last night, in my first trip in my pond, in my new (well, new to me) canoe! I thought it was a bluegill or a pumpkinseed at first, but when I got it to the boat, it was a 1/2 lb crappie. Not big, but it still made me happie ! It's just nice to know they are in there...only steps from my house.

I think the small black jitterbug with the double hooks would have been your best bet. It's possible a small Heddon Torpedo would also have worked. Both would have been the first two things out of my box in that situation...I think....just never know. It's funny because the bigger black jitterbug was catching a lot of fish for me early in the season..in fact the pic I'm using as my avatar is a 3 pound smallmouth I caught on a black jitterbug a month ago. Now, the baby bass torpedo is doing the exact same thing for me. Or you could have caught a few dragonflys and tossed them on a c-rig

Now that's doing me one better! LOL! I guess the fish are really not that bothered by a hook in their mouth..or at least their hunger overcomes it.

I'm almost always open on the weekends. I've got 2 weekends in a row in September where I'm committed to weddings > The weekend of 9/8 and 9/9/07 I'll be at one, and then the next Saturday I have another one. That one is in Weare, so I'll be open on that Sunday..the 16th I think. Other than that, I'm available as far as I know...As long as someone has room in the boat for me! I have a canoe, but it's only a one person right now.

trick sticks are on my shopping list.

I've only been fishing senkos for about 2 weeks, and I'm "hooked" to use a bad pun. I just got back from midday fishing at a local river. The water level was low, the weather was cloudy and windy, and I've never been able to catch any fish around this one particlar pience of structure that I knew held fish until today. It's an old concrete wall from something (a dam maybe...) in the middle of the river. Today I landed 8 smallies (lost a few more at the bank)a 2-2.5 lb carp and a a few big redfin shiners within 2 hours all on the same stretch of river I was lucky to get one fish on other baits. I also fished it wacky and t-rigged. Both worked well, but when my t-rig bite stopped, I switched over to wacky and the bite started like I had not even been fishing there. Now I have to try *** and save some $$.

I'm pretty new to bass fishing and very new to senko fishing. I just recently had success with some senkos and have been swearing by them ever since. For some reason this annoys one of my friends..which I take full advantage of while fishing with him. Just good natured ribbing, but a lot of it. Well, yesterday I was fishing up in Vermont when this happened to me. We had a pretty slow day when I decided to throw on a senko and see how it went. I started catching fish almost right away, and after a few smallies my buddy (different guy) requested one of my senko's. Mine was pretty beat up, so I tossed a new one on my hook as well I was casting out (5 inch watermelon with black flake senkos, texas rigged )when I felt I had another fish on the line, due to my poor knot tying skills, the fish took my hook and brand new senko. I tied on another hook and senko, and we kept fishing and pulling in fish About an hour later the friend who was also using a senko got another fish on the line. When he pulled it into the boat, it was a decent smallmouth. My friend says to me: "This fish already HAS a senko in his mouth!" I looked over, and it must have been the same fish that took my senko, and it still had the hook and senko in it's mouth! It came up and ate my friends senko while still having one embedded in it's lip and being stuck in it's mouth. Now THAT'S an effective bait!! The only question I have is...are bass really stupid or is it the senko's?

this lure went flying off my rod yesterday and off into the lake with the wind due to a bad knot. We seached for it because it floats, but to no avail. good riddance to bad rubbish is what I say! I'm glad it was a lure I hated.

sounds like nobody is having luck with the minnow rap. I just bought a new XRap in sliver today, and I hope I have better luck!

I think you are correct about getting the weeds that have grown a bunch. I'm just going to have to use it in deep water with a clear bottom. I have the same issues with casting them. Overall it has not caused a problem...yet. You sure can cast them quite a distance due to their weight. They are so heavy it always feels like there is a fish on the line.

I was kinda wondering that same thing! Hinkle...are you talking about the regualr rapala F9? It also has a lip, but it's smaller and lighter that the Minnow Rap and does not dive as deep. It's my favoirte lure! The minnow rap though, looks awesome but does not catch fish for me yet.

I bought the Minnow Rap in silver with the deep diving lip a while ago thinking it would help me catch some of the deeper bass during the summer heat. Well, all I've caught are weeds so far. I try to use it when it's at least 10 feet deep, but I'm not sure that's even enough. It sure seems like it's diving very deep, but I'm not sure how much. Anyone had much success with these? Anyone know how deep it will dive at a normal slow trolling speed? Thanks for any help! If you go to the last post, this thread has a somewhat happy resolution for me

Pretty good fishing for me this past weekend. One day we had one of those "non-stop" fishing days where me and my buddy must have caught over 20 fish a piece from noon to 9pm. We fished so long we almost ran out of battery power and no oars. That would have been fun... The other day me and my buddy went to a private local pond that has been closed to fishing for years, but recently was opened (but no public access). We had to bushwack the boat, batteries and everything else through about 100 yards of densely packed forest and parked the truck in the middle of the woods. Caught about 7 nice smallies, a good sized largemouth and a couple of big pickeral. Caught them all on 4 inch green pumpkin senkos (I finally managed to figure them out wagn!!) or a rapala F9 in silver. Here's the 2lb larry I caught with my last cast: I'm up for going next time you are wagn, and I'm also up for a NH get together anytime.

Thanks for the advice! I'm sure a lot more confident about fishing with senkos....we will see how the *** work out.

Well, I've been fishing plastics this summer with very little success (I'm not sure I was actually fishing them correctly). The best I could do was catch a sunfish on a power craw. I've had excellent luck with Rapalla crankbaits, so I've been fishing them a lot. This weekend I bought Gary Yamamoto's 4 inch green pumpkin with black flake senkos instead of Powerbait or Gulp. I had been practiced my technique, and rigged it texas style and weightless. We were fishing a large smallie pond in NH and nothing was biting anything....I threw on a new senko.... YAHOO!! I've never seen fish go so crazy for one particular bait when NOTHING else was working. I must have caught 5 decent size smallmouth in the matter of a half hour, and it just kept ripping. It got to the point where I actually started pleading with my buddy to "please put on one of my senkos!" When he finally did, he started catching fish. I'm now SOLD on senko! I'm suprised at what a huge differance between plastics there is. I cannot see it, but the fish obviously can! Here is a pic of one of the smaller smallies:

wagn and I went out last night on his nice new boat in Bow and I got skunked, but wagn got a few. One that weighed 2 lb 5 oz, but it sure looked a LOT bigger than that. Spinnerbait was the name of the game yesterday. I tossed out plastics, spinners, crankbaits and topwaters over the course of 4 hours and got nothing but some strikes. wagn had better luck on big spinnerbaits. Slow day overall, but it was a good time! Thanks wagn!!

I wish I was the one that caught it, but I was even happy just to help get it would of the water because it was so big! It also made me start fishing plastics and critters, but no luck so far. I had a great weekend at the Moore Reservoir in Littleton and a smaller pond in Whitefield NH. Caught a lot of bass, and a couple really big perch. Funny thing was, I could not buy a bite on almost any other lure than a yellow Jitterbug all day yesterday.

nice pics wagn!! We went to a little pond in Sutton the other night and my buddy pulled a 5 to 6 lb bass out. The thing was HUGE!!!!!! Caughgt on a Watemellon Zoom worm. I've got a pic around here somewhere. It was 19 inches long and 12 inches around, but we did not have a scale.

I just had this happen a couple weeks ago and have been told by everyone it was a beaver: I was out fishing on the Contoocook River last night in Henniker NH around 8:10pm. I was standing on a large rock fishing the strong current caused by the river getting a bit narrower. I heard a sound so loud just to my right (less than 2 feet away) that I thought the ledge I had been standing on earlier had given way and fallen 5 feet into the water. The ledge was still there, and there was no sign of any other activity. I kept fishing, but I honestly was a bit shaken. About a couple minutes later, another similar large splash occurred about 10 feet upstream from me between two rocks that I had been fishing a minute before. I could not seen anything below the water, and there was no obvious animal that I could see. Now, being a fisherman, I wanted to catch whatever it was (assuming it was a fish), but the two splashes I had heard made me reconsider that option. I was not sure my line would hold whatever could make a sound that big. Either way, I never got a chance. I did not hear another splash until it was almost 50-100 feet upstream. I could clearly hear whatever it was as it splashed down into the water, even at that distance. Scared the hell outta me. Now I've been told 100 times it was a beaver and I feel silly.

Thoseeare some gorgeous baits. They are making ME hungry.

Thanks for the info. It's funny because I'm trying to break my crankbait habit, and have been trying to get into soft plasitcs and jigs. It's not going well for me, even though I hear stories every day about how much fish they catch (as evidenced by your post ) I have a lot of luck with topwaters and crankbaits, but none with plasitics. I have a LOT to learn.