CCMD

Here are some pics of the fish we did manage to catch Tues 5/9 at the Q. Tough conditions with increasing winds and cloud cover throughout the day. Temp stayed static at low 50s and water temps 53-54.

Thanks for all of the input, fellas. We had a rough day, conditions wise. It looked great to start: sunny, winds calm, warmer than expected (49 degrees at 8:30 AM). Saw some fish pushing shallow on our first stop. We were pumped for the afternoon bite. Then the clouds blew in, the wind picked up and it felt colder at 1 PM than it did at 9 AM. Hard to fish anything on the bottom due to the wind blowing and not really maintaining contact with the bait. I still managed a decent day with 7 fish on the deck, 4 of which were nice pre-spawn fatties between 2.5 and 3.5 lbs. All of my fish were caught on conventional tackle. In fact, they were all caught on 1 bait: Duo Realis Spinbait 90 in the Prism Gill color. Dynamite bait for the post-frontal conditions. My buddy fished a jerkbait most of the day and had only 1 fish to show for it. I felt bad I had only the 1 spinbait. I even let him throw that bait for a while, and he did catch 1 good fish on it. I did fish some 5" underspins, a triple trout and an Evergreen ESflat some, but had no takers and no follows. Big plug for the Duo Realis Spinbait 90. It was the only thing they were biting all day in the wind, clouds and cold temps. Water temp was 53-54 pretty much all day. We found some good looking sheltered water in the afternoon, but we couldn't manage a bite or really even mark any fish. We found them pretty much only in the wind on reefs and main lake points, classic pre spawn staging areas. Wish I could be back in about a week. I bet the next warm/sunny week makes the Q smallies go absolutely nuts.

That's the truth! First brown bass of my life came out of there 2 years ago. I'm from Texas and was training in RI. Same buddy I'm fishing with next week took me to the Q in early June, and I caught my first smallmouth there, right at 3 lbs. I couldn't believe how hard that fish fought. It was like I owed it money or something. The first lM I caught at the Q (same trip) was a shade over 5 lbs. I was pretty happy and tossed it right back (from Texas, remember). My buddy, from Belchertown, MA looked at me like I was crazy. He'd been fishing the Q for years and only caught 1 or 2 LM that big in his whole life. He explained the whole Mass Pin Program to me. To him, that was a HUGE bass. To me, it was Tuesday. There were tons of ponds I fished growing up in Texas where if you DIDN'T catch a 5 lber every trip or 2, it was disappointing. First time I ever really thought about the regional differences. Great trip. DSOUTH, that is a helluva pile of brown bass. Love all of the stripes and spots. I hope we do even half that good. Thanks so much for the tips, guys. I really appreciate it. We're probably going in gate 43. Maybe 8, but probably 43. Hopefully, I'll have something to report come Wednesday next week.

Thanks, fellas. I appreciate the feedback. Water temps purported to be about 55 at present. We will be using my buddies boat, complete with electronics. He grew up in Belchertown, so his Crestliner is rigged for the Q. I'm going to look at the lake map and try to formulate a plan of attack.

Buddy of mine and I are planning a trip to the Q next week on 5/9. Forecast isn't great (small front blowing in a couple days before with temps dropping slightly and some rain forecasted for the morning) but we've got limited chances to get on the water. Wondering if anyone has been out on the Q lately and could give me an idea of the water temps and what depths the brown bass are favoring right now. It'll be a full moon next week, but I figure it's probably a little early for the smallies to be really pushing shallow. Any tips would be appreciated. I'm trying to narrow down a plan of attack looking at the lake map before we get on the water. Cheers and thanks in advance.

For me, I still use soft swimbaits, just not the expensive ones. I'll throw a big soft swimbait like a big Keitech or Basstrix on magnum underspin. The pike seem to love them that little flash in addition to the swimming action of the bait. That way, I can Mend-It as I go and I don't feel too bad when a swimbait I can buy in packs of 5-6 gets torn up. You can get into them with hardbaits, too. BBZs work great, S-Wavers work great, Shellcrackers work, etc. Match the forage in your area. I don't throw expensive or hard-to-get hard baits at pike. You won't find me throwing my Deps Slide Swimmers at pike, with the exception of my 175 Firetiger. I don't know that I'll ever get to the point in my life where dropping a $100 bait to a 25" pike seems acceptable. Definitely use a leader. Eric Aske detailed a good set up that I use that's easy. I'll roll with 50-65 lb fluoro, although it's on the lighter side for a toothy fish leader, because I find that bigger leaders will kill the action on a glide bait. Just my opinion.

Daiwa Tatula HD or the Daiwa Tactical (TW only reel) are great choices for that rod and those baits.

And this is what makes life worth living. Well done. Future generations of fisherman hooked.

My advice in general, and it really helps versatility, is to youtube Matt Allen's video on switching to all braid. You can spool up with 65lb braid and then just add leaders via a blood, uni-uni or Crazy Alberto knot depending on your presentation. I made the switch a couple of years ago and love it. Floating baits = mono leader or straight braid (depends on water clarity, presentation, etc). Sinking baits = fluoro leader. If the water is super clear, I'll put on a fluoro leader of over 10'. If it's murky, I'll keep it to 4-5'. I personally use the Crazy Alberto knot and love it. I don't have micro guides on any of my rods, so I don't have issues with the knot hanging up on casts. It's a really strong knot that's pretty low-profile. I haven't had any issues. I can leave the braid on my reels forever, and just switch up the leaders fresh according to presentation. Easy to do the night before and on the boat/bank.

I bought an ABT Suicide Glide before learning about all of the controversy with the company. I'll leave that discussion for other threads. Speaking specifically to the bait, mine has a great action. Very smooth glide and a good sink rate. I've caught a bunch of magnum smallmouth on it, and have had no issues. It's a sample size of 1, but I was pleased with the purchase. You can read all about the highly polarizing topic of the ethics of ABT on various previous threads, then decide if you want to buy their products or not. There's no shortage of opinions there. I'll just say that the Suicide Glide I bought performs well, and it sits at a nice price point between an S-Waver 200 and a Deps 175 or 250. I do not regret the purchase. It's a nice glide bait that regularly sees action in my rotation, especially in the mid to late spring time.

I've had the same problem. A couple of times, I've noticed the hooks that came with the bait stock were different (i.e. bigger/heavier) on the baits that sink faster. You can actually make a pretty big difference on the sink rate on an S Waver by simply changing out hooks/splits (smaller/lighter if you want the bait to sink slower or float, bigger/heavier if you want the bait to sink faster). Other posters are right, though, that the sink rate on the Wavers tends to vary out of the box considerably. It's a great bait regardless. Try comparing hooks/splits on the baits and see if there is a difference. If not, then try to add heavier hooks to baits you want to sink faster or switch out to lighter hooks on baits you want to sink slower or suspend. I'm in agreement, however, that having an S-Waver that suspends 2-3 feet down would be fantastic, especially this time of year as the fish are moving in and out of the shallows to feed/stage/bed.

Can't believe the generosity. I'm IN. Thanks just for the opportunity.

The colors and the action on that look amazing. That is one of the best bluegill bait swim vids I've ever seen.