Conference wahoo::fishing

    No help on So NH ponds, Pat, but a suggestion or 2 re: rubber worms.
    
    1) Set the hook hard, especially if your rigging them texas style.
    You've gotta work the hook through the worm as well as the fishes
    jaw.
    
    2) I've seen bluegills hit rubber worms "short" and get into a
    tug-of-war with me.  You might try a longer worm to scare off the
    bluegills and other smaller fish.  You might also consider switching
    from rubber worms to a jig and grub setup if you feel you're simply
    missing the bass with the hook.  I've had good luck lately with
    these, the local smallmouths like 'em and hold on just like with
    a rubber worm.
    
    I'm sure the others will have some more suggestions.  
    
    Good luck,
    Steve

    Pat,
    
    Two quick ideas come to mind, both of which Steve touched on. You
    really need a "good" hookset with worms and a lot of the "hits"
    you get on them come from small fish like bluegills or pickrel.
    If you come back with just the tail cut off, you can almost assume
    that it was a pickrel. Bass and other pan fish don't have the teeth
    to cut a worm in half, but small pickrel do.
    
    The other thought I have is your mention of the fish coming off
    at the boat. I'm going to assume that they are jumping off. Bass
    are very acrobatic and certainly that is one of the reasons we like
    to fish them, but that very trait will allow them to "throw" the
    hook if allowed to do their dance when the line is short. They use
    the tension of the line caused by the bend in the rod as a lever
    of sorts and by getting slack in the line by jumping toward the
    tension  they can loosen the hook and spit it out. The most common
    mistake  made by fisherman is holding the rod high when the fish
    comes near the boat. This enables the bass to "clear" the water
    without much trouble. Now if you don't care about boating the prize
    then fine, or you're a tournament fisherman who literally pulls
    the fish across the top of the water into the boat then you need
    not concern yourself with the following. Once the fish is close
    to the boat, say about 15-20ft, then get your rod down into or on
    top of the water and keep the pressure on in a side ways fashion.
    That is, not in a upward direction. This will keep the bass from
    being able to jump since the tension is now horizontal, not vertical.
    Then when the fish is about the length of the rod from the boat,
    get it swimming parallel to the boat and with a sweeping action
    of the rod lift the fish into the boat. This will work with fish
    up to about three pounds. Larger fish will require either a mouth
    grip or a net. If you need any info on those, you'll find some notes
    back in the file that address it.
    
    Hope this helps, tight lines, Ron

    Too small of a hook can cause alot of lost bass while worm fishing.
    I had a bad habit of using 1/0 hooks with worms.  Using a 3 or 4
    makes it much easier for the hook to break thru the worm and set
    properly.  
    
    I have to thank Holeshot Joe and Ron for straightening me out on 
    this one.  BOTH of these guys have seen me using these smaller 
    hooks and suggested that I go to larger ones - I did and it works.
    
    Don Mac    
    

    re:1   Steve how many way's can a worm be rigged?  What I'm doing
    is setting the hook in about 1/2 inch below the head and curling
    the worm down until the hook comes out about an inch down the worms
    body.  It seems to do the trick.  At least I thought it was doing
    what it was meant to do.  Now you really have me curious.  What
    is a jig and grub setup.  The only thing I can think of is a popper
    with a pork rine setup.  if so what color poper do you use?
    
    re:2  Ron you hit it on the nose.  They must be pickrel seein as
    the tail was gone on abuot four worms. Because of my inexperience
    I thought that i was getting hits from bass but missing them somehow.
    Right on about how I was bringing in the bass and losing them at
    the boat.  I'll use your method tonight I hope.
    
    re:3  i'm in the process of getting bigger hooks as I speak.
    
    thanks for all the input.
    
    anyone for a fish fry one day?
    
    pat

    	Even though its been said before, I'll put my $.02 worth in
    to save you some time looking through the whole file. Most hooks,
    even new from the box are not sharp enough. I personally use a large
    hook stone but any number of hook sharpeners on the market are probably
    just as good. I also have a preference to Eagle Claw hooks. I just
    this year had the chance to compare them with cheaper J.T. hooks
    bought at Zyla's. Anybody want some free J.T. hooks. Last but not
    least, I also prefer using a weed guard type hook. This is just
    a 1 or 2 ot (sp? ot or #) hook with a light springy wire that runs
    from the eye to the hooks point. I seem to miss alot less bass with
    these as I don't have to pull the hook through the work as in Texas
    rigged worms.(^work s/b worm). They also are weedless enough to
    throw anywhere you'd throw a Texas rigged worm.
    
    Another_episode_of_As_the_worm_turns
    
    Good luck..............RAYJ

    Pat,
    
    Read notes 69 and 82 for the answers to all the questions you just
    asked.
    
    Tight lines, Ron

    Pat,
    
    In case you don't find all the answers in earlier notes;
    
    I don't know how many ways you can rig a worm but I've seen
    illustrations in magazines or books of a least a half dozen. Texas
    rigging means starting the hook in the "head", pulling the hook
    through as long as the shaft and burying the point in the worm,
    making it "weedless".  I wish I could draw you a picture, I can't
    seem to describe it well.
    
    By jig and grub, I'm refering to a small leadhead jig with a plastic
    grub on it.  You bounce in off the bottom as you retrieve in a
    lift-then-crank retrieve.  A jig with the eye on top as opposed
    to the end keeps the hook pointed up minimizing hangups on the bottom.
    I like this setup because it's smaller than a worm but has the right
    feel to the fish unlike a hard lure.  It's a good choice when you're
    not out for H-A-W-Gs and will be happy catching anything that will
    bite, it's not a bad smallmouth lure either in the larger sizes.
    
    Steve

    I dont' think that there is drawing on a Texas Rigged worm in the
    file, so I'll take a chance and try and draw one here. I know that
    most everyone knows how, but just in case there are any questions
    here goes.
    
                                                       hook-eye|
	worm body V					       V
    		---------------------------------------------
                                    barb >  /               --|O
                ----------------------------\--------------/-
                                             \____________/
					hook ^    
    
    Okay, I know its bad, but what do you expect from a fisherman??
    
    The main idea here is to bury the barb in the body to make it 
    weedless. The worm weight would go on ahead of the hook on the
    line (if you're using one).
    
    The hook is a worm hook that has a ninety degree bend in it to enable
    it to come out of the head of the worm and be below the body.
    Eagleclaw hooks (lazer sharp) are the best I have found. #3 is the
    best all around size. (3.0 on the package, or "three ought")
    
    Hope this helps, tight lines, Ron    

    Thanks for the help and hints.  I'm sure that I'll use all of them
    soon.  Now for my update on last night. Little Is. Pond was pretty
    quiet last night. Until about 8:00. The surface started, breaking not for
    bugs though.  It was the strangest thing I've ever seen.  Bats were
    going after the bugs and bass seemed to be going after the bats.
    Now this is the first time I've ever seen bats near a lake so it
    may be a common occurance but it sure was a site to behold. So in
    my ultimate wisdom I went right to my surface plugs.  Nothing! not
    one strike.  The action stopped 1/2 hour later a quickly as it started.
      Before all this I had used rubber worms with no success.  So I
    switched to my trusty H&H spinner bait.  BANG!!!  1/2 hour later
    I had three bass in excess of three lbs.  What surprised me was the
    fact the surface stuff failed to spark any intrest at all.  
                                                             
 pat
    
       

    Pat, sounds like you had a good night of fishing as well as
    establishing the pattern for bass for that particular night.
    Rubber worms are excellent "all season lures".  Next time you
    go bass fishing, and the fish aren't biting your favorite
    lure, try other techniques.  Bass are strange in that they'll
    smash at a particular lure one night, and then totally ignore
    it the next.
    
    One more tip to add on novice worm-fishing.  What you may want
    to do is when you rig the worm texas style, insert the hook
    (#1/0-3/0) far into the body of the worm so that the point begins
    to protrude out the other side.  This will help eliminate setting
    the hook through all that plastic.  Also, a medium-heavy action
    rod is a "MUST".  A super-sensitive medium action 100% graphite
    rod is the best.  I use a Berkley "Bionix" and I love it.
    
    					Good Fishing,
    
    					Kim Mikrut
    

    This is just what I need. I returned to the sport last summer
    and spent alot of time at local ponds (eastern mass., andover,
    wakefield, ect..) that I had fished as a kid. This year Im planning 
    to travel out to some other place's and catch something worth fishing
    for. I got a few questions on what to use where. I recently visited
    a mill pond in ballardvale, andover, that has a rather rapid stream
    at one end. I fished it once as a kid with my brother but don't
    remember what I was using. I need some suggestions, ie spinners,
    rubber worms, salmon eggs,? How rapid is too rapid? (sorry if thats
    vauge). How about some suggestions on how to use different lures
    and when such as jitter bug's, sputter bugs, hula poppers. I've been
    told to use a jitter bug at night, is this a good suggestion? I
    recently bought the new Zebco quantum reel (ss20) and rhino rod.
    What the pourpose of a bait caster as apossed to my spinning reel.
    Sorry to fire so much at once, I just want to make the most of this
    comming year. Thanks in advance for any and all help.
    
                     
                                                   Jim

    Jim---
    That's the Shawsheen River you're fishing at the Ballardvale Dam in
    Andover. If you catch anything there, please send me e-mail and let me
    know what it was, how big it was, and how healthy it seemed.
    
    I am actively involved in an effort to clean up the Shawsheen River
    (restore it to its value as an aquatic habitat) with one of the main
    goals being the return of Atlantic Salmon within the next 8 years.
    
    The last time Atlantic Salmon were known to run in the Shawsheen River
    (i.e., the last time one was caught there) was more than 40 years ago.
    
    A couple years ago, a chemical plant upstream from the mill pond you
    mentioned fishing had a bad spill in its parking lot. It declared
    bankruptcy instead of cleaning up the spill.
    
    The effort to restore the Shawsheen is just beginning. If you obtain
    any data about the fish in it (by catching some or any other way),
    please send me mail about it.
    
    Thanks.
    
    John H-C
    
    (btw, they'll be stocking the Shawsheen with Rainbows in about three
    weeks...dumb, hungry fish fresh from the farm. Good luck.)
    

>I need some suggestions, ie spinners, rubber worms, salmon eggs,?

 For trout, I often have luck with a spinner and worm combination. Use just
enough weight (split shot) to get the bait down in the water column during a 
normal  drift. Cast upstream and across and retrieve just fast enough to keep
the spinner blade rotating.

>How rapid is too rapid? 

 Brook trout like it fast, even faster than can reasonably be fished with a 
spinner/worm combo. In the fast stuff, I use a regular worm and enough split
shot to let the bait get down in the water column. Cast upstream and keep the
line tight on a dead drift (no action imparted to the worm- simulating a worm
washed into the water and helpless in the current).

>How about some suggestions on how to use different lures
>    and when such as jitter bug's, sputter bugs, hula poppers. 

 These are bass lures. Jitter bugs work well at night or in low light 
conditions. At night, retrieve steadily so the bass can home in on the source
of the commotion on the surface. During the day you can add various twitches
and jerks to augment the built in action. Hula poppers work well when you let
the rings disappear before giving the next twitch.

>I've been
>    told to use a jitter bug at night, is this a good suggestion?

 Yep.

>    What the pourpose of a bait caster as apossed to my spinning reel.

 Better drag, more control when casting big lures. Cons: not as versatile, needs
more weight for accurate casting. Tends to birds-nest. But doesn't impart
line twist.

 The Doctah