singingdog

The picture I posted is of the inchi rig: a small jighead specifically designed for fishing wacky rigs deeper. Many of my biggest smallmouth have come on the inchi rig, sometimes as deep as 30'. It's much simpler than a dropshot, casts better, and doesn't result in line twist. It can be fished fairly aggressively as well: banging that tungsten jighead against deep rocks has brought some great fish to the boat.

Not an issue....I am in a kayak.

Green/pink laminate is 908. I come from the "there are only 2 colors of senkos: light and dark" camp: most of the time I throw some version of dark green (flake color doesn't seem to matter), very occasionally white/pearl.

Switch to a wacky-rig with shrink-wrap. You can get 10 or more fish/senko.

I am doing a 5 day trip in the French River basin - leaving from Byng and heading north towards the Bustards. I'm not looking for your secret spots, just some general info on fishing the area. I would like to target smallies and 'eyes, and will be fairly minimalist (one rod, not much tackle). Any hints?

Those are beautiful fish. Congrats on the PB.

Here is the shrink wrap rig. This one is on a jighead, but it works just as well weightless. I find that the shrink wrap lasts 4-5x longer than an oring.

I used to catch lots of 15-16" bows in the Gull, with the occasional 18-20" fish. I haven't seen a bow like that from the river for a couple of years. It is really tough to flyfish the whitewater section right now with the overhead cables up for the slalom course.

You can get a lot of fish on one senko if you use shrink wrap tubing instead of o-rings. Put the hook through the shrink wrap tubing, not under it. I have landed over a dozen big smallies on one senko rigged like this. 2 hooks that will allow you to wacky rig in fairly heavy cover, an still hook-up well are the Gammy weedless finesse hook an the Northland weighted wacky hook The Northland hook is one of my faves.

The whitewater section of the Gull used to be great for rainbows, not so much anymore. I don't know if they changed the stocking program upstream, but the number of bows in that section of river has decreased dramatically in the past couple of years.

Anybody know of an Ontario tackle shop that is carrying them? Thanks.

No reason that smallies wouldn't be over 130 FOW, especially if that is where the food is. On a couple of my favorite lakes, I routinely catch them over 110 FOW. It can be very frustrating fishing, but one constant is that the bass are under the baitfish looking up. Ironically, topwater lures can be a great way to get their attention. My lure selection for those lakes is very different than typical summer smallie fishing: tailspins, spoons and blade baits all work well in those open water situations.

You can also use braid and super glue to turn an R bend into a closed eye SB. Seems much easier than a bunch of SBs with line and swivels hanging from them.

http://www.in-fisherman.com/2012/08/24/barometric-pressure-and-bass/

Nope, sorry. I got a bunch of the fly/jig tying stuff. I do know that one person came and cleaned them out in the end....no idea who.

Sorry I can't point you elsewhere. Tackle shops in this area are lamentably poor. Even the CT in Minden is pretty lame.

They eventually got rid of all of it. Raising german shepherds now.

No. Penny and Larry closed up shop about a year ago.

Your original question covers lots of behaviour/presentation territory, and should bring up lots of questions that will lead you to understand smallies better. Before I threw something at them, I would ask myself a few questions: 1. Where in that depth range are the fish? 2. What "mood" are they in? 3. What kind of water (clarity, productivity) are you fishing? Aggressive smallies, no matter what depth they are holding, will rise a long way to hit. BIG spinnerbaits, burned super fast, is a great way to find them and catch them if they are aggressive. In that case, you don't really need to worry about the depth of the fish. Finicky smallies, holding tight to the bottom, or stubbornly holding at 8' in 12 FOW are a whole different story, especially in current. If they are on the bottom, that is easier then if they are suspended. Maintaining bottom contact gives you constant feedback. Trying to present at 8' in 12' of water is much, much tougher. I am surprised that no one has mentioned lipless cranks. They are one of the most versatile, and most effective smallie lures in my box. You can burn them for aggressive fish, count them down to pretty much any depth, or fish them right off the bottom like a jig. I catch lots of big smallies in 25 FOW with lipless cranks.

It's very possible that it is an escaped bird.

They are very rare in Ontario. Post it on Ebird. It is one of the best ways to get the sighting into the database.

Curious to see how that works out Chris. The cockpit rim doesn't just hold the skirt on, it is important in helping keep the boat rigid, although I doubt that's much of an issue with that new hole behind the seat. Maybe smaller drybags are in order ?

I doubt that you will be able to reach your rods if you mount that way, unless you are waaaay more flexible than I am. My guess is that you will need to mount them behind you so that they are out of the way, but still accessible. You might be able to put your FF on top of the front cockpit, but it will be tough to reach as well. IF I were going to outfit that boat, I would put a couple of Scotty rod holders behind the seat, and mount the FF in the space between the 2 cockpits. You could rig up a plastic "deck" that goes under the bungees if you don't want to drill holes in the boat. If you paddle that boat solo in a strong wind, think about putting some weight in the front to keep the bow in the water. Otherwise, it will be very difficult to control. It will be great for going out with 2 folks for a paddle.

Tell him to "massage" his online presence before he goes: about a 75% chance that they will Google him. Otherwise, some great advice.

Kawartha Lakes Bait and tackle make really nice jigheads on 7/0 hooks: variety of weights and colours.