Topics

1

Northeast U.S. Fishing Reports / Keech Pond - RI

« on: August 26, 2018, 11:03:01 AM »

I fished a club tourney at Keech Pond on Friday night.

We fished from 10 PM to 6 AM. Let's just say that the fishing was tough. A 97% full moon made sure of that!

I ended up catching 8 keepers. My best 5 weighed a measly 6.46 lbs. 

But, that was good enough for the win! My kicker fish was 2.55 lbs. Tourney lunker, caught my @metz12 weighed 4.44 lbs.

The vast majority of my fish were caught on a 1/2 black spinnerbait in 2-4 FOW.

Water temp started out at 77 and was down to 74 by the morning.

I caught a total of 8 keepers over the course of the night.

2

The Hawg Forum / Super Shallow Night Fishing

« on: August 12, 2018, 10:58:34 AM »

I fished a club tourney Friday night, from 10 PM - 6 AM.

The water temp was mid to high 80s!! 

I found my bass in water less than 3 feet deep all night long. Most of them were in only a foot.

I caught them all pitching a beaver style bait to inside weed lines, behind thick, gnarly coontail weed. This made landing the fish very tough (I lost at least 4, including a giant that bent my wide gap worm hook  ), but all of the fish I caught were quality, including a 5.17 lb kicker.

I ended up with a 14.10 lb. bag for the win, with my kicker taking tourney lunker. Felt good to win one after bombing badly in my last two tourneys.

3

Regional Bass Fishing Tournament Listings / No Amos Lake Tourney This Year

« on: August 11, 2018, 08:38:51 PM »

Just a reminder that there will be no Northeastbass.com Amos Lake tourney. I am no longer running it due to a lack of time.


I have had a couple people ask about it, so I wanted to post it here again to make sure everyone knows.

4

Boating Forum / Installed This On My Boat

« on: August 01, 2018, 11:45:16 AM »

I installed a new piece of equipment in my livewell this week!

This is the Accu Cull Culling System Weight Recorder. It allows me to record the weight of all of my fish by simply dialing it in on this unit.

I no longer have to worry about writing the weights down on a dry erase board and then having that writing rub off and disappear.

I'm really looking forward to using this thing  (yes)



Here are some installation photos.

First, I taped it to the inside of my livewell lid, so I could mark the spot to cut the foam insulation off of the lid.



Then I peeled the foam off.





Then I cleaned the lid off as thoroughly as possible, so the adhesive on the mounting bracket would stick well.



Then I stuck the 3M double sided tape to the bracket.



Then I pressed the bracket into place on the inside of the livewell lid.



Then, after letting it sit for 24 hours, I snapped the unit into the bracket. Installation complete!

5

The Hawg Forum / Independent Bass Anglers and Dead Bass

« on: July 15, 2018, 01:00:07 PM »

Back in 2016 I was conducting a guide trip on Indian Lake. While I was preparing to launch my boat, a bass club was there preparing for the start of a tourney.

I spoke with one of the guys and learned that the club was called Independent Bass Anglers.

During my trip, I witnessed people in that tourney using stringers to hold their bass. I also witnessed an angler putting bass into a cooler or some other type of storage box with no aeration system. I knew this by the fact that I saw him repeatedly empty water out and put new water in.

Long story short, when I completed my trip, I found many, many dead bass at the launch area. Some of them were big bass, too, with one or two between 4 and 5 lbs. and others over 3 lbs. I was disgusted with what I saw.

I reported them to DEM for their lack of proper care for the bass they caught and weighed in. DEM reprimanded them for this, but apparently continued to give them permits.

Well, I was contacted by another forum member this morning who told me that he fished at Indian Lake yesterday and saw Independent Bass Anglers there again, completing the weigh-in for a tourney. And once again there were dead bass floating at the ramp. One of the club members told a fellow member to pick up the dead bass because they had gotten in trouble in the past for leaving dead fish at the ramp.

So, apparently they have made a habit of making sure they clean up their carnage before they leave in order to cover their tracks and keep from getting scolded by DEM again.

Well, if I can do so, I will work my butt off to make sure they never get another permit to run a tourney in RI. I'm tired of seeing and hearing about their careless handling of bass during tournaments and the large numbers of dead fish they leave behind when they're finished.

They allow the use of stringers and they allow the use of containers with no pumps, to hold bass for the duration of the tourney. They seem to have a track record of killing high numbers of bass during the summer months, and they have been doing this for at least the last 3 years that I am aware of.

It's time for this stupidity to stop once and for all.

I will be contacting DEM on Monday to let them know about this and I will be requesting that they revoke any existing permits for this club (and the people who run it) and they they never issue them another permit in RI.

I would like to ask that everyone else do this also. Please call DEM at 401-789-0281. Ask to speak to Alan Libby. He's the person in charge of issuing permits for tourneys.

I realize that a person is allowed to keep up to 5 bass per day, so technically an entire club could kill up to 5 bass per participant. But this is not acceptable behavior, and clubs who operate this way need to be held accountable.

A bass in RI takes roughly 5 years to reach adulthood. And these guys are waltzing into area lakes and killing many of them off in a matter of hours, at every lake they go to. There is no respect shown for the fisheries and for other anglers who go to great lengths to keep bass alive during tournaments, by spending money on livewell pumps and other accessories to take proper care of the bass.

Please help end this by calling DEM and requesting that they put a stop to it now.

401-789-0281

6

Fishing Tackle & Equipment Reviews / Best Baitcasting Reel Under $100?

« on: July 11, 2018, 03:00:11 PM »

For the last year or so, I have been scouring the marketplace to find solid rods and reels that won't break the bank.

My latest review is for the Best Baitcasting Reel Under $100. This one is a true beast for the price!

http://www.tackletest.com/best-baitcasting-reel-under-100

7

Fishing Photos Forum / Scouting for Upcoming Tourney

« on: July 04, 2018, 01:07:16 PM »

Spent 3 hours on the water last night, scouting for an upcoming tourney.
The bite was a bit slow, but caught a couple good ones, including this one.

8

Northeast U.S. Fishing Reports / Pataganset Lake - CT

« on: July 01, 2018, 09:03:22 AM »

I fished a club night tourney here on Friday night/Saturday morning, from 10 PM till 5 AM.

Fishing was slow and steady all night.

Ended up with a 11 1/2 lb. bag that was good for 2nd place. Missed the win by 1 1/2 ounces!

Bulk of my fish were caught on a black spinnerbait, with a couple also being caught on a topwater bait and one or two on a Senko.

Water temp was 78-79. Air temps were 65 - 70 for the night.

The moon was big and bright, but there was a high layer of thin clouds that kept it from being too bright.

All in all a great night of fishing 

9

Fishing Tackle & Equipment Reviews / KastKing Centron 2000 Spinning Reel Review

« on: June 25, 2018, 09:46:44 PM »

I just posted a new review over at TackleTest.com for a KastKing spinning reel that costs under $30!


http://www.tackletest.com/kastking-centron-2000-spinning-reel-review

10

Boating Forum / Livewell Lights

« on: June 14, 2018, 10:07:22 AM »

I wrapped up my LED lighting project this week with the installation of LED lights in both of my livewells. 
Here's a pic of them turned on in my garage after dark.

Here's the Port livewell.

Here's the Starboard livewell.

And here's the LED switch that I installed on the console to turn them on.

It was a lot of work, running the wires, drilling all the holes and then securing the wiring to keep it safe and out of the way, but I have no doubt that it'll be well worth it. 

11

Fishing/Marine Electronics / MOVED: Battery charge question

« on: June 05, 2018, 07:01:28 AM »

This topic has been moved to Boating Forum.

http://forums.northeastbass.com/index.php?topic=7321.0

12

Northeast US Lake Conditions / Local Water Temps

« on: May 29, 2018, 09:13:25 AM »

My wife and I hit two local lakes this past weekend. On Friday we fished at Glasgo Pond in CT. Water temps in the AM were around 67, but up to a tad over 70 when we left in the afternoon.

We fished Wyassup Lake, also in CT, on Saturday. Water temps there were slightly above 70 in the AM and 72-73 when we left.

Even though we have some more cooler weather moving in this week, it looks like the water temps are now safely in the summer range.

13

Fishing Tackle & Equipment Reviews / Best Baitcasting Reel Under $50?

« on: May 23, 2018, 10:28:09 PM »

This is a common question. Here's the answer 


http://www.tackletest.com/best-baitcasting-reel-under-50

14

Lure Making / How to Make Chatterbait Style Bladed Jigs - Video Tutorial!

« on: May 22, 2018, 02:08:03 PM »

Put this video together last week.

15

Boating Forum / New LED Light Installation.

« on: May 22, 2018, 10:07:55 AM »

I spent a fair amount of time this past weekend installing a complete LED light kit on my boat!
I've had the lights for a long time, but never took the time to tackle the installation until now. It was a lot of work, sorting out how and where to route the wires, etc. But I'm really happy with the results 
Here are a couple pics 





















I spent a fair amount of time sorting out the logistics of it all; connections, wire routing, fishing wires through the boat, etc.

I'm really happy with the way they came out and the way the boat looks with them on in the dark.

I picked red because it doesn't attract bugs and it doesn't mess with my night vision.

The entire LED light set on my boat, including the bow lights, is from LEDHead Lighting. http://stores.ebay.com/LED-Boat-Lighting