Conference wahoo::fishing

Ask Coonass Bob....he's got a deadly technique that'll just "blow" your 
socks off!!

-HSJ-

    one technique that's supposed to be helpful in a situation like
    that is to retrieve the crankbaits quickly, then when you have a
    follow, stop crankin, often the bass will run right into the bait,
    and bite instinctively... can't say that I've tried this, but it  
    is a popular method...                                            
    
    don mac
                                                                      

    WHY DON'T YOU TRY USING A LARGE LEAD HEAD JIG WITH EITHER A GRUB
    OR A PLASTIC WORM ON IT. ITS NOT YOUR USUAL WAY OF GETTING BASS
    BUT THE WAY YOU ARE TALKING YOU HAVE TO FIND SOME WAY TO COAX THESE
    FISH INTO HITTING. SOMETIMES THE JIGGING ACTION CAN CAUSE THESE
    FISH TO HIT INSTINCTIVELY EVEN IF THEY ARE NOT HUNGRY.
                                              
                                              JUST AN IDEA
                                               SCOTT
    
    
    

    Another way that has worked in the past, is to use a short arm spinner
    bait. Just toss it in and let it "helicopter" down. This is a very
    effective (and quiet) way to get to deep schooled fish.
    
    Tight lines, RR

    Bass, especially smallmouths, will come to the surface for a twitched
    Rebel type lure if you can locate them in fairly clear water. 
                                             
    
    				good luck
    
    					Jim

    ans there's always the figure 8 pattern at the boat, that's popular
    with muskie fisherman...........

    If you see the fish, they probably already saw you. Maybe you could
    move the boat away from the hole, and cast over to it. I would try
    a few more things also.
    
    Try a real fast and flashy spinnerbait. Bend the arm up some, this
    will add alot of vibration to the lure. Maybe it will exite them.
    
    Try a jig or worm on the bottom (so they cant see you)
    
    Maybe a "crank it, stop it retrieve"
    
    Maybe drag a net behind you.
    
    Maybe take more beer.
    
    Maybe lie about how many fish you catch.
                                            
    
    
    			BUCKETMOUTH
    

    re .2	I did stop crankin and waited and the fish waited. At
    		that point I was getting ready to grab an oar and smack'em
    		on top of the head.
    
    re .3	We tried jigs in every color under the rainbow. They
    		did account for two smallies.
    
    re.4	Didnt try them, I dont remember what happend but while
    		we were out there I changed the skirts on two spinner
    		baits but never used them. Have to give that a shot
    		next time.
    
    re .5	They wouldnt come up to the surface for topwaters, I
    		think it might have been too hot. No problem following
    		somthing up though. 
    
    re.6	Didnt do any figure eights but we were twiching them
    		back and forth, and side to side.
    
    re .1	If I'm right your talkin dynamite, Anyone know of any
    		reputable dynamite stores? I think I'll try that next.
    
    
    Thanks for all the good info.. If ya come up with any other idea's
    keep'um comin. 
    
    Thanks 
    Rich

    What size jig were you using?  Last sunday I fished a MASS BASS
    FEDERATION tournament on the conn river.  We usually us a big jig
    + pig for the smallies.  Well nothing would hit.  I switch to a
    1/16 oz crappie marabu jig with a 101 pork.   It was so small I
    had to flip it to cast.  We ended the day in 4th place and in the
    money. It was so small every small mouth I saw or did not see would
    hit it! 
    
    Just to give you an idea how small the hook was,
    I lost fish because the fine wire hook would bend or break,
    
    bassin Bob
    
    

    re.7	Ya, we moved the boat to the side, closer to shore,
    		futher away form shore. Did do worms and jigs, Have to
    		try crankin and stopin more often than we did. I like
    		the idea of the net. The MDC Police dont like them 
    		brews. I think I will lie next time, Lets see, oh
    		it was at least a 10 pounder but I let go. 


                Thanks
    		Rich

    re .9	We did try the large Jig + Pig, but we didnt have any
    		those little ones. I have wondered in the past what
    		those little fella's were for. 
    
    Thanks
    Rich

    Another thought is: The smallies may be in this area because of
    bait fish. They may be feeding on them "ONLY". The bass will check
    your lure and relize it its not what they are feeding on. Search
    for that bait fish. Take a minnow trap or a net, to catch them.
    Try to match the size and color. It sounds too deep for them to
    be feeding on craw-fish. 
    
    Oh yea: maybe they arnt hungry...............................
    
    
    			BUCKETMOUTH down-south

    
    
    Stay home Rich and if that don't work throw all your gear overboard
    and say the hell with it.
    
    
                                           The Keg (with legs)

re:The Keg, It wouldnt have bothered me having such a poor day except for
    the fact they dont let you bring the cooler with my best fishing
    partner Mr Bud. I think ill give this place one more shot, then
    its back to the old stompin grounds with a cold one in hand.
    
    Rich 

    Since no one else mentioned it, I'll throw in that the small month
    in the Quabin do seem to favor Shinners. If you back hook them and
    present them two to three above the "school", you should do better.
    
    If the wind is up, try mouth hooking the Shinner drift over the
    spot. Trolling on an electric (very slow) will also get results.
    
    One spot due West of Mount L (middle of the passage) have been a
    reliable spot ( 10-20 feet ) for me over the last three years.
    
    Jerry
    

    re. 12	I think your right, they wernt hungry. I didnt see much
    		in the way of baitfish on the chart recorder. By the
    		way, how deep do crawfish go? I was using a deep diving
    		crawfish at one point. 
    
    re .15	I hate to admit it, we had a dozen shiners just in case.
    		The case was we got one fish on them and we were fishing
    		them deep.            
    
    Rich

    I have caught bass in 40 feet of water on a pig+jig.
    so Thier maybe crawfish that deep.
    bassin Bob
    

    	If you've thrown everything in your tackle box with no real
    success then it's time to get a bigger tackle box with more stuff
    in it :-)
    	Something you may want to try that is out of the ordinary
    is a hellgremite (sp ?). They are ugly black multi-legged bugs that
    are found under rocks. I've never tried them but heard stories of
    them being used with success where nothing else really worked. You
    can also buy rubber ones if your against bait fishing.
    
    RAYJ

    How deep do dem DADS go???
    
    Crawdads dont usualy go deeper than about 10 feet. I dont think
    that the fish know this. I have hit them on jigs deeper than 30
    ft. The young DADS dont go much deeper than about 3ft (they may
    be clear w/ a soft shell) GREAT BAIT! But of coarse I would never
    use live bait (and tell about it). ALTHOUGH: crawdads have been
    found much deeper, in cold water lakes. I have heard about them
    in 50ft. This was in lake TAHO in Cal. Aint no BASS in there.
    
    HELLGRAMITES?? Reed 335 for lots of small mouth info.

    re: .0
    You said the smallmouth were following your crank bait up to the
    boat.  Did you try different colored crank baits before switching
    to the different colored jigs?  The lake I was at over the weekend,
    I was getting hits (smallmouth and large) on only one colored crank
    bait, and ONLY the crank bait.  I got a one pound and a half smallmouth,
    and a two pound largemouth.  I even had one fish follow it up to 
    the boat just like you mentioned.  I didn't see it too clearly, but I 
    think it may have been a perch who are always following lures around.
    I also using jigs and spinner baits.  I got two crappies on the
    jig n pig, and nothing on the spinner bait.
    
    Mike_L

    
    re: .19
    
    What if any fish are in lake Taho?
    
    I was water skiing in Taho sevaral years ago and was scared out
    of my mind.  Not only was it the coldest non hard water I have ever
    been in, but an eerie feeling being in water that was that clear and deep.
    I was getting back in the boat after a spectacular spill and saw
    the biggest fish in the world. 
    As it turned out it was the shadow of the boat on the bottom. 
    Keep in mind that the water was about 60 feet deep and you could
    see the shadow of the boat on the bottom.
    
    ps I was not on DRUGS!
    
    
    

    Lake Taho (not to get of the subj.)
    
    Is the deepest lake in the northern hemisphere. I did quite a bit
    of skin diving in that 41 degree (in JULY) lake. I swam next to
    some 30" rainbow trout. Some type of salmon ,I forget the name.
    But fish are on TAHOE.



                          BUCKETMOUTH
    

re .20 We tried a bunch of differant colored crankbaits, but what color
    were you using that day?
    
    Rich

    re .23
    I was using brown.  I forgot to mention in .20 about the one I lost.
    It broke my ten pound test line.  Never saw the fish, it gave three
    very rough pulls, followed by a couple of my own, then nothing.
    The line was new, and wasn't kinked or chafed.  I don't think it
    was a pickeral either since it wasn't weedy, and I didn't catch
    or see any at this lake.  The lake has some rocks, so the fish may
    have scraped along one.
    Well, whatever it was that broke my line, I was PO'd.  The two pound
    large mouth I caught shortly after that felt wimpy next to those tugs.
    Mike_L

    	There are also some BIG Striped Bass in Tahoe.

    re .24	When we started I had a brown crankbait on. It must
    		of been operator related. If there are any pike in 
    		them waters you were fishing, I'll bet that was the
    		culprit. I fish quaboag (sp) pond in Brookfield quite
    		often, wich has plenty of Pike, and loose quite a bit
    		$ to these toothy critters.
    
    Rich

    re .26
    According to my maps, there are no pike in this lake.
    Mike_L

    REP 8
     LIKE RON SAID, try shortarm spinnerbaits. I used them up in maine
    and caught some big smallies. i used a totally brown bushhog and
    that seemed to be the only thing that worked. make sure that the
    skirt isn,t too long and if you have them try putting on a trailer
    hook.
    
    good luck,mark

    Two weeks ago I took my three boys fishing on the Susquehanna just
    off the Harrisburg airport. In six hours we caught and released 148 
    smallmouths ranging from 8 to 16 inches (We did keep six for the
    frying pan.)
    
    All the fish were caught on either a rapala or a blue fox super
    vibrax.  The favorite color on the rapala is white/black but we
    also used a sunfish color w/bright orange.  The rapalas are about
    1.5 inches long.  They were caught on both twitching on the surface
    and on the retrieve.

    Anyone care to reccomend some good smallmouth water in NH.  I know 
    Winnipesaukee is excellent, but I'm looking for something a little 
    closer to home (Milford, NH - OK TBDW? 8^)  Most of my smallie fishing
    has been on the Merrimack...
                       
    But now, thank's to my In-Fisherman Smallmouth handbook, I'm after a 
    trophy (I've caught a couple 3.5lbs smallies, but now I'm looking
    for 5lb+!)   According to this book, it's *now* HAWG smallie time. 
                                                                     
    So, this Saturday, I will venture out, with my trusty In-Fisherman
    Smallmouth handbook at my side, at the crack of dawn, scrape the frost 
    of the boat (like we did on our Conn lakes trip) and begin my search 
    for the elusive lunker bronzeback.  Also, going back and reading this 
    note and 335.* was enjoyable, it's amazing how we REALLY used to talk 
    about actual fishing...
                                                        
    Don Mac - not ready to store the boat quite yet... 

Went up to Merrymeeting Lake (up by Alton Bay, NH) on Saturday morning.  
I had found a classic fall smallie spot on the maps and went there right 
away (it was a large point with deep water not too far away).  After about a
half hour I hooked onto a real nice 3-4lb smallie.  I was using my ultra-light 
(5ft graphite rod about 1/8" thick, the sucker bends with a brookie on it),
6lb test, using a 3" gold grub on a yellow leadhead.  He hit in about 30ft
of water, came straight up from the bottom, out of the water about 2 feet.
What a fight!  He basically went where ever he wanted to, taking runs out,
in, down, and most excitingly UP...  Although I was TRYING to boat him as 
quickly as possible, I didn't mind him running all over the place because I 
was in deep clear water and there was nothing that he could get hung up on.  
However after I had him right next to the boat, he took a drag screeching 
dive down about 10ft, came up right next to the boat, tossed my grub at me, 
and went on his way... Two hours and no hits later we went to another lake 
(Halfmoon), not hits there either.

It was still a good day though, fight'n that smallie on the ultralight made
my day...  

Don Mac     

    Two of my boys and myself headed out on the Susquehanna river at
    dawn on Saturday morning.  We caught and released about 100 (yes
    that's right) smallmouths in the 10-14 inch range.  Most were hooked
    on white or yellow twister tails and some on rapalas (one on the
    zara spook).  The fishing on the Suskie is just incrdible right
    now.  Even prompted the newspaper to run an article on one of the
    local guides talking about how the Suskie is close to the premier
    smallmouth river in the country.
    At one point we got into a school of rock bass and that had to be
    the best 10 minutes of action I've had in fishing for a long time.
    Some of the rocks went 1 1/2 to 2 pounds.
    
    If anyone would like copies of the articles on the susquehanna,
    send me mail and I'll copy them for you.

    
    WOW.............100................WOW
    
    
    The SUSKIE has sure come a long way....
    25 years ago around the Lockhaven area the river was totally devoid
    of all life forms.  Paper mills
    
    Glad to hear of the return of a great peice of water.
    
    Would you mind sending a copy to me at UPO1-4/A8
    
    Thanks
    
    TBDW

    No problem sending copies but I need an outside address.
    
    In-house mail technology hasn't reached those of us in remote field
    service offices yet.
    
    					the old ALFer
    
    					Harrisburg Pa. area support

    	Well I guess it was inevitable but it finally happened. I caught
    about a 2lb. smallmouth that on his second leap into the air managed
    to jump right into the canoe. Not only did he jump in the canoe,
    he also landed right in the net that was in the canoe.
    
    	RAYJ

Just got back from a week's worth of camping on Pawtuckaway Lake.  Due to 
the hot weather, fishing was a little slow, so I decided to explore deeper 
waters and parts of the lake I had never fished.  I had heard that 
Pawtuckaway had smallies in it, but in all the years I have fished it, I 
never caught one.  

Well... this past week I found them and managed to catch 12-15 of them!  No 
real size to them, the largest being only 1.5 lbs, but real scrappers!

A lot of fun!  My 12 yr. old son was amazed when a 4" smallie nailed his 5" 
Rapalla and proceeded to jump 4-5 times and act like a 3 pounder!

-HSJ-