singingdog

Once it's dark, they have been right up on the weedbeds in 3-6 fow. Before dark, I have been finding them around 10-12 fow.

And one that got away right at the side of the boat is just a little bit bigger.

Where is that listed? I don't see it on the page.

Another vote for Slammers. If you fish skirted grubs, save them after the rock bass tear the twister tails off. The body/skirt makes a great dropshot bait rigged with the skirt out like a small, solid bodied tube. Yamamoto sells them as "Ikas". A couple of my other favourites are Pro Senkos and Jacks worms (one of the best kept secrets for smallies). On many of our lakes, a shakey head will catch fish head-to-head with a dropshot rig. It's much easier to rig, and much easier to fish. Occasionally the dropshot will catch more fish, but not that often. All the baits mentioned so far work for both presentations.

Letting water out is part of the issue. Lack of water going in is another. I have been recording water levels in about 20 Ontario rivers (whitewater paddling) weekly for over 15 years. This spring, the levels were the lowest I have seen in that time period.

Stunning fish, and stunning pic. Those fish are obviously not leader shy!

If you are into selling them, powder paint is the way to go. If you are tieing them for personal use, you can use nail polish. The fish don't really care one way or another.

That last one is a nice tie, although all of them will catch fish.

IMHO, Compres are a much better rod for the $. Mojos just seem unbalanced to me.

Join the club. The bite is quirky on the lakes that I fish: really tough to establish a pattern.

Great advice. Snap jigging those tubes very aggressively is another tactic to try: 5/8 oz jig heads to get them down, then snap them hard off the bottom. I know a young guy that does very well in the summer with 6-8" musky tubes...lakers pounce on them.

I would have thought that the hot, sunny summer would have driven lots of plant growth (thanks for the Gr 4 biology lesson kfrog), but that doesn't seem to be the case in the Highlands...at least not the lakes I have been on.

Several of the lakes that I fish regularly are very different this summer: much lower plant growth, much higher water clarity. Most years the plants - especially cabbage - on a couple of lakes are so thick that the fishing gets difficult. This year the cabbage is waaay more sparse. As well, the water clarity seems much higher. Yesterday I was flyfishing for LM. It was like flats fishing: sight fishing super spooky fish that I could see easily in 6 FOW. I have even started using different presentations on a couple of lakes that are usually very stained, but are very clear this year. Anybody else notice a change in plant growth/water clarity this year? Change in fish behaviour?

Use the springs as spacer to separate other components on the wire. If the skirt material is the old "living rubber" material, it would be great for making jig skirts. Some pretty funky colours in that mix.

$10!! I'll save you the bother of reposting it in the classifieds and take it off your hands right now.

It's extremly rare for a creek to be private property. You have to decide how badly you want to access that lake...if it's worth a possible showdown with somebody who obviously doesn't want folks in there.

IMHO, putting a twist eye on a spinnerbait frame takes away a lot of the vibration.

Casting distance can be crucial with smallies: they love to follow a bait for along time before hitting it. In open water, I prefer a spinning outfit (I have never had trouble casting cranks with a spinning outfit. I guess the cranks that I use can't tell what kind of reel they are attached to) for the extra distance. Nothing beats a lipless crank for distance, but the Spro Little Johns come close....and catch fish.

Why not do both? Thread a grub onto a trailer hook and add it to the spinnerbait. It's a great way to increase the size of a regular spinnerbait.

I'm curious about the Ontario regs as they relate to umbrella rigs....how many hooks can you have on one?

Beauty fish.

Bit of a stretch, isn't it? Every day, thousands of fish in Ontario are caught and released using a rod/hook. I don't think you can say the same thing about the ducks that are "caught" using a gun.

I will fish tailspins in much the same way as a lipless crank, but they aren't a substitute. Tailspins and jigging spoons seem to really shine when the water is colder, especially late fall. Lipless cranks, for whatever reason, work better for me when the water is warmer.

A crankbait rod is the only "specialty" rod I own. After losing some real hogs on lipless cranks, I decided to try one and have never looked back. The flexibility is very helpful in keeping big fish hooked. It isn't good for ripping lipless cranks off of the tops of weeds, which can be a deadly technique, but any rod with decent backbone and a fairly fast tip will accomplish that.

Aruka Shads are my faves, but plenty of others catch fish. I like to fish them like a jigging spoon: let them settle to the bottom, then rip them a few feet up with the rod tip, repeat. It is a great way to catch smallies that are holding along steep dropoffs. Lakers and 'eyes like them too.