singingdog

I agree.....IF it's important for someone to have their posted weights taken seriously. Spring scales are notoriously inaccurate....more so the older they are. I don't know how many folks locally have told me about the 18" LMouth they caught off the dock that weighed "7 lbs easy"

If you don't want to fork out for a digital scale, I believe that length/girth measurements are the next best thing.

I have been stuck like that a few times as well. I take a pic with the fish next to my rod handle, and use it for a length comparison later on. Nice fish!

I will be in Morrisburg this weekend. I am taking the yak and would love to get on the water early mornings. If anyone could point me toward decent launch spots I would appreciate it. I was thinking the St. Lawrence for smallies. Should I bring pike/musky gear?

The weight that misfish posted is good, and will snag a lot less if you bend it into a curve like a Lindy snag-free weight.

If you want cheap dropshot weights (yes, dropshot does = lost weights) you can make your own very easily. Bulk pencil weight cut to the desired length, with a short section of heat-shrink tubing on the end for a tie-in. Use a small swivel if line-twist is an issue.

Yep, this is the best time of year for smallies.

On most rivers that I am familiar with, smallies will get very active in the fall. They could be holding deep in the hole, but if they are actively feeding they will be almost anywhere in the river. They have a tendency to school-up, often by size and patrol for food. It can be maddening, because they will abandon cover and travel a lot. You may get 2 or 3 fish from a spot, then gone. Be prepared to move around a lot, and fish pretty much any water from super skinny to deep. I wouldn't key on the really deep spots until the fall feed is over and the fish start to get less active.

Jerkbaits are key for me this time of year. After cool evenings, shallow areas with lots of rock, in the sun will often hold fish.

I have donated a fair bit of stuff to the OPP. They have a great Cops & Kids fishing program and always need fishing stuff. Another option would be Cottage dreams. It is a charity that donates stays at cottages to folks recovering from cancer. A couple of rods and some plastic grubs always make a kids stay at the cottage more fun.

Nice fish!! Congratulations.

Yeah, I've tried 20 pound braid and found it pretty awful picking out the tangles. I imagine if you've got a high end baitcasting reel and some really polished skills you might make it work.

Not true. I am relativly new to baitcasters (2nd season) and use lower-end reels with 20 lb PowerPro. I have had a few backlashes, only one that I couldn't get out on the water. Most folks I know find it easier to get the birdsnests out with braid than with mono....gotta have a small hook on hand.

You're a more patient man than I....topwater frogs are the most frustrating lures I have ever used. No matter how long I wait, the hookup/hit ratio is the lowest of anything I have ever tried. Sounds like you are having fun.

make yourself cheap dropshot weights like this:

-get bulk pencil weight from decent tackle shop. It is easily cut to the lenght/weight you want.

-put a short section of heat-shrink tubing on the end of each section of pencil weight, with the tubing half-on, half-off the weight.

-heat up the tubing

-cut a hole through section of heat-shrink that extends beyond the weight

-voila! a really cheap drop-shot weight.

If line twist bugs you, tie a snap-swivel on the end of your line and use it to attach to the weight.

Thank god that last spot filled.....now maybe I can get to sleep instead of laying in bed, trying to figure out how to swing the time . I described the trip to my wife and she said "That's an amazing deal." That didn't help!

Interesting. I would normally think that crankbaits are a better low-visibility presentation than dropshotting (more noise, more vibration), but your success certainly challenges that. Good on ya for trying it. Too many folks believe that it is a presentation for open, deep water.

Buzzbaits and topwater frogs are fun, but are low-percentage presentations. IMHO, on any body of water there are 5 fish that will hit subsurface presentations for every one that will hit a surface lure.

My first 2 choices for an additional presentation would be a 1/2 oz spinnerbait or texas-rigged plastics: lizards, grubs, curly tail worms....

Senkos definitly work in current. I would downsize to a 4" on most rivers, and try cheaper, more durable sticks (Yum dingers works) at first. River fish have a tendency to be less picky than their still-water counterparts. My favourite hook for weedless wacky rigging is the Northland Lip-stick

That patented hook technology seems like a great idea until a couple of feisty smallmouths untwist the cable and it breaks. Booyah makes some decent lures - their jigs may be the best deal out there - but the HD spinnerbaits are the most fragile I have ever used.

Well, if Gulp tubes work so well, it seems odd to have to use a dew worm with them

Yes, you can use that tube until it is literally falling off the jighead. Sometimes the torn-up ones work the best. The salt on the outside is to attract fisherman, not fish. Think about it, that salt is probably dissolved within a few seconds of hitting the water. It's the salt impregnated into the plastic that matters.

Pink can be a killer on bluebird days. It's tough to make yourself try it the first few times, but sometimes it's the only color that works. I have some lemon yellow ones that I got in a trade that I haven't forced myself to throw yet.

I like the crayfish cranks, but can't say that they outfish any other wide-bodied crank. For the price, I would get 2 Big Os and be confident that they would catch as many fish.

IMHO The perch crank just can't compete with a shad-rap. I find the Koppers very finicky: the least little deflection off a weed or rock seems to send them to the surface. As well, they seem to have a very specific retrieve/troll speed that will keep them running true. Shad-raps on the other hand are bulldozers. They run true at just about any speed and seem to stay down with a little bit of weed on them. I will say that the 4" Kopper seems to perform much better than the smaller perch crank they make.

The smelt seems like a very high quality lure: casts like a bullet, suspends well, and definitly catches lakers.

That level of detail seems important to me in a suspending jerk, but wasted on a reaction-bite lure like a crank. I have caught way too many fish on solid coloured cranks to believe that a realistic paint job is necessary on that style of lure.

Dropshotting is not just a vertical presentation. Just like a carolina rig, or a split shot rig, it can be cast and retrieved. It's strength is that it presents a plastic lure in a suspended manner. Just keep in mind that the further you cast out, the closer the lure will be to the bottom.

I was having a real tough time finding good sized fish this year and finally found some in relatively deep water(20-25fow). Fishing tubes got a few decent fish, but the only thing that got any number of good fish was a ridiculously slow pattern with a weightless Senko. To maintain any kind of depth, I had to count down to 50 before I knew I was in the depth range necessary. As the drift progressed, I'd have to let out some more line to keep bottom contact and would have to constantly retrieve the bait to pull sandgrass off that had collected over the course of the drift. I'm really thinking that a drop-shot rig would've been a much easier presentation to apply in this situation. "Sigh" guess I need some new tools...

Wow! You are a more patient man than I am The scenario you are describing literally begs for dropshotting, or carolina rigging. The nice thing about dropshot is that it is usually easier to detect a finicky bite than a heavy C-rig. If you are drifting for those fish, don't be afraid to try the senko - or any straight worm - on a jig head: not heavy enough to hit bottom, but heavy enough to get it down there and kind of 'suspend' on the drift. It is a deadly smallie technique.

Let me be clear: I am not accusing the guy of poaching. What I am saying is there is a disconnect between his behaviour of

1)always keeping the largest fish, and

2)his complaint that the quality of fishing is not what it used to be.

I see it all the time. Recently I spoke with a guy that had kept what he thought was an 8 lb LM bass (more likely a 6 lb, but even that is huge for this area). In the next 5 minutes he is lamenting the lack of big fish. "Lots of 2 lb bass, but it's getting harder all the time to catch a big one." Doh!

The three 1 lb bass mentioned earlier might grow up to be lunkers. The 3 lb bass is already very far along that road. Throw it back today and try to catch it again next season.

Yep. I want to catch them again.

We have a guy here in town that fishes every morning, every evening. He targets 'eyes, but takes bass as well. I see him walking down the street with 3-4 really quality fish on his stringer all the time. I also here him complaining that the fishing isn't "as good as it used to be".

Yes, closer to Haliburton. Obviously, the musky can move around in the lake, but anybody I know that is targetting bigger fish is fishing the section from the WigaMog toward the narrows into Grass Lake. If you have to shore fish, it would be worth it to go right into Haliburton and fish Head lake. Try the point right behind the bandshell and the creek that runs through the park.

Yep, a nonrattling crank on heavily pressured water can make the difference sometimes, especially clearer water.

Where abouts on Kashagawigamog were you fishing ? I've fished that lake for 18 yrs and only brought in ONE muskie (and only 22 inches at that) .. but keep hearing GREAT things about it as far as the muskie fishing... am I at the wrong end ? I'm located near the island before Ingoldsby.. please help

Yep...the north end of Kash is generally considered better musky fishing. By "better" I mean that you still are in for the long haul. Every fall, the north end of Kash gives up a few trophy musky to guys that work their tails off for them.

If you want easier musky fishing, drive your boat through the narrows into Grass, or all the way to Head. They are both much more consistent, especially Head.