waynem

Great way to break in a new bait!

Hey guys - both Mattlures and 3:16 get lots of kudos here for making baits that get bit. 3:16 has the Wake Jr and Mattlures has a similar size billed wake bait in the StrongBass/StrongPerch series. For SU members that have fished both: what are the good and bad points of each? What conditions would make you choose one over the other? Thanks for the info.

When I first saw that I thought: Whoa - someone's deadsticking for Bluefin tuna!

Count me in.

I suggest you google & contact Vulture Customs and ask if they did paint work. Looks similar in style.

Great fish but this is killing me. If I toss a bait right now it just sits there on top of 8" of ice. Can't thaw fast enough for me. Be grateful for the open water.

Welcome aboard. I'm in central Mass. You will find LOTS of great info on this site. Read enough and you will get a really good idea of what works and what is just hype. Great way to improve your game while you wait for ice-out. And get your wallet out- heroin seems to be cheaper and less addictive than swimbaiting.

Sandy is running 8 Northern Bass Supply tournaments for 2014. There are two on Winnie the first half of May so she should have some good current info. It would not surprise anyone if she does sell or close the shop in the next few years. I think you will need to go pretty far up in the Northeast in mid-may to find a lake that is iced up. I fish Mass and NH lakes a lot that time of year. You won't have any trouble finding open water in NH. Let's not scare the Cali guys too much!

The RCN reel has been around for a number of years but I believe the 6601C was just introduced for 2014 so these are not the same reel. I would call or email AbuGarcia and ask them about the problem. Might have one with some early production bugs. In the old days Abu service was great, but I have not had any contact in a long time. Good luck with it.

Looks like he joined 10 minutes before he posted that!

I spent most of my career as a plastics chemist. These days there are lots of different types of clear flexible plastics. In the old days most of these types of applications would have been PVC (which is pretty resistant to most chemicals), but today there are all sorts of clear elastomers. Lots of these newer plastics have reactions to certain solvents used in some paints. You will get bad reactions if you mix incompatible types (just try mixing a Z-Man Cyberflex worm in with regular plastics worms and see what a mess you have in a week). Chances are the type of paint used was not compatible with whatever plastic DEPS is using. The bait probably looked OK right after they painted it since the reaction takes some time. Your bait is probably only going to get worse over time. They should have tried coloring a very small piece first and checked it out a week later before proceeding. But again, it probably didn't look that bad when they shipped it.

Over the last 7 years I believe I have tried about every knot for the braid to fluoro connection: double uni, Alberto, Albright, reverse Albright, Bimini, Sebile, etc with varying levels of success. The last 2 years I have used nothing but the GT knot and have not had a single failure. You can google instructions. Not very easy to tie but you end up with kind of a "Chinese finger" around the flour that is about 100% strength and very small. Try tying a rubber band to the end of the braid and setting it up so you have tension on the braid before you start the weaving step. Sorry but its really hard to describe in words-check the youtube instructions. I believe it is the perfect knot for this. I've switched some friends to this and they are also happy with the results.

Shoot me a message the week before you arrive. Not at all sure what I'll be doing then but maybe we'll have a chance to get together. Wayne

Like everywhere else the bass are not going to spawn until the waters warm up to the right temps. And you just never know what the spring will be like in New England. I'm in central Mass and I've seen bass with eggs in the nests as early as April (small shallow ponds) and as late as the end of June. You won't be that far from large deep lakes like Winnepesaukee, Winnisquam, and Newfound. But there are also just a million small 50 to 500 acre lakes everywhere in New England. After all, the glaciers stopped here! These smaller waters will warm much faster and hold big fish. In May you should be able to find spawning largies or smallies if you keep your eye on the water temps. And the pre-spawn fishing is often better than the spawn. I'd suggest you call Northern Bass Supply when you get here. They are a good tackle dealer and run one of the biggest tournament trails in the NH. They should be able to steer you right. And you are correct, there aren't a ton of people throwing really big baits but you also won't be the first. Hope that helps.

I believe on this board, people will consider S-Wavers and 6" Hudds to be more in the ultra-light category than the MH category. Those baits are definitely on the light side of the swim bait range that you will find in the SU discussions. If that is a large as you are going to throw, you can handle them with conventional (rather than true swim bait) rods & reels. Hope that helps.

I would advise you to ship via UPS or USPS rather than risk the handling by the airlines. Besides damages, I have also had problems with the oversize rod case being "lost" for a few days - so you lose a few fishing days. Better to ship to your destination. I invested in 3 and 4 piece rods for my annual Caribbean bonefish trips. These fit in the overhead and I can keep an eye on them if TSA needs to open the case.

Vanish is what happens to your baits and bass when you use Vanish.

Merry Christmas to you and your families.

Another prayer on its way from Massachusetts. Stay strong.