I'm new to fishin..well sorta?

[lookin4fish]

Hi all,

First want to say that I'm new to this forum and love it! I've recently started to fish again after about a 15 year layoff. Needless to say it's not like riding a bike, but far more addictive!

I've started out using some spinners (1/8 oz rooster tail) and had some good luck. Also, I'm fishing in some rivers up in Massachusetts, near the Quabbin Reservoir. I've caught a few bass and sunfish of course, but am looking to really take my results up a notch.

Any suggestions for a newly addicted fisherman? Should I move to rubber worms (or as I have read they're called soft plastics?) What has worked for you fine folks?

Eric

[JB]

eric,
you may want to spend just a few bucks and get a variety of lures, like some plastics(worms, craws, lizards, creature baits etc) and also some bigger spinnerbaits, like a 1/4 or 3/8 spinnerbait, maybe one with a single colorado blade or a willow and colorado combo, with a white or white and chartruse skirt..
Also ask around what locals use in the body of water you fish, perhaps a few crankbaits are needed, like a rattletrap, or a rapala, or manns minus one..
Take note to color selection, again ask locals what colors they see best in the water, clear waters usually mean more natural selections, like shad or baitfish or craw colors, more stained or muddy water you may want some black plastics or some color the fish can see..
If you fish a river only, try smaller lures.
When you fish try dif lures to find fish, searching lures like a spinnerbait or rattletrap can cover alot of water.

[lookin4fish]

Great. Thx for the tips. Any thoughts on the best kind of lures for running shallow clear water (like 3 feet deep) ? Or is my best bet fishing in the stills?

[Bass'n'cast]

i would say go with a buzzbait like BOOYAH or a spinnerbait like Rooster Tail which you said you have been using. go with a gold blade w/chartruse body. although asking the locals at the bait shop is a good idea too. When u use a sppiner bait keep it at the top where the blade just barely sticks above the water so it causes a wake. If you plan to go to a gravel pit or lake, use bigger lures and dont be afraid to get a lure in the weeds, i use a berkely GULP! purple w/ blue flek and black w/ blue flek both texas and carolina rigged worm about 6inch. Let it sink to the bottom and wait for a 6 count then pull up and let it drop. like i said before and JB did ask some locals, they know. good luck and good fishin'

[hackattack]

for clear water...sounds daring but try small swimbaits...and of course what do I always tell people...5 inch senkos...

[Rebbasser]

Welcome to the forum, Eric!

This time of the year soft plastics will shine. The Senko Hack mentions was the original, but there are a lot of soft plastic stickbaits out there. I prefer a Wave Worm tiki Stick and a Yum Dinger. Rig them like a Texas rig but with no weight and work them with soft twitches of the rod tip. The other way I fish them is rigged Wacky. Bend it in a U-shape and hook it right in the middle. You can see both in the rig thread stickied at the top of this forum. These baits just flat catch fish.

[hackattack]

I fforgot to mention rigging, so...what reb said

[lookin4fish]

Great. Looks like I'll have to sneak out to the store and pick up some stuff.. I have a feeling this could be just the beginning. Do any of you buy your lures online? Any good bargains out there?

[WTL]

Buy...BUY...BUY!!!!!!!!

Always the first thing people recomend is to buy more stuff, but the most important thing is for you to learn fish behavoir and how they are relating to your particular body of water. This is not to say that the lures recomended above arent good, you may need them, but they are merely tools, and the most important thing in fishing is the medium - finding water with fish, lots of them, that are willing to bite. Its like woodworking. The greatest tools in the world and the largest variety of them will still not enable you to create a great carving out of 2X4s and plywood. You need oak or cherry or some other good wood suited for the task. And you need skill and understanding that only experience can provide.

Now good luck. And Basspro.com (bass pro shops) is a very good site for making cost effective purchases of fishing tackle.

[Rebbasser]

Eric, the only baits I buy on line are the ones I can't find locally. You don't need to break the bank. I'd get a bag of watermelon seed and watermelon red stickbaits like a senko, a Tiki Stick, or Yum dinger and some 3/0 Extra wide Gap (EWG) hooks-I use Gamakatsu because they work and are widely available. Then I'd get a couple of topwaters like a Heddon Tiny Torpedo and a Rebel Pop-R. I'd finish with a shad colored Bandit 100 Series crankbait-shallow running with a square bill to deflect off cover-and a deep running crawfish colored crankbait like a Bomber Model A or a Bandit 300 Series. These I throw shallow so they dig into the bottom and kick up a mud trail like a crawfish. Add that to what you already have and you are good to go.

[lookin4fish]

Excellent. Thx everyone. I've got my list and am ready to hit the local stores. I'll let you guys know how I do. I must say you all have made me quite welcome. I've been in this web world for quite a few years now and most forums are not very welcoming to newcomers. You guys have bucked the trend!

Thx again and I'll be back

[lizardsrule]

Originally Posted by WTL

Buy...BUY...BUY!!!!!!!!

Always the first thing people recomend is to buy more stuff, but the most important thing is for you to learn fish behavoir and how they are relating to your particular body of water. This is not to say that the lures recomended above arent good, you may need them, but they are merely tools, and the most important thing in fishing is the medium - finding water with fish, lots of them, that are willing to bite. Its like woodworking. The greatest tools in the world and the largest variety of them will still not enable you to create a great carving out of 2X4s and plywood. You need oak or cherry or some other good wood suited for the task. And you need skill and understanding that only experience can provide.

Now good luck. And Basspro.com (bass pro shops) is a very good site for making cost effective purchases of fishing tackle.

That was without a doubt, one of the best pieces of advice I've seen on here in quite awhile. Keep up the good words of wisdom. Perhaps one day some of these folks might finally listen, and learn.

Lizards

[3dkicker]

Originally Posted by lookin4fish

I'm fishing in some rivers up in Massachusetts, near the Quabbin Reservoir. Eric

Fishing the streams around the Quabbin Reservoir!!! The Quabbin is one sweet body of water. For those of you who have never fished this lake it is crystal clear and deep. I was told that you could see the roof tops of the houses that were flooded when they built the lake and they were 40' below the surface. Never made it on the lake but fished it from the shoreline. The lake is loaded with smallies!!! One thing about it, or what I remember, is that there is very limited use since this lake provides drinking water for Boston. It's been 15 years since I fished it. I did a little time in Amherst, MA (Go Minutemen!).
Back to fishing that area. I found that spider grubs worked really well for bass, smallmouth and largemouth. Also I did well on small bagley crankbaits. Red/black caught a lot of smallies. I also caught some good smallies on the same crankbait on the Hudson a few years ago. There is a Norman crankbait, Baby N I believe, that did really well on the Hudson too. Don't know the name of the color but I have a few, I'll have to look them up. Small jigs, brown in color, and 3" tubes worked too.

And what the hell is a kiva? I have no idea how to spell it, I tried my best, but after hearing it so often I guess it meant sunfish or bluegill or is it a term for trash fish?

[lookin4fish]

Thanks everyone.. Well, I picked up some of the worms mentioned.. Used them.. Guess what??? Well, I got skunked for the first time this year.

I'm going back out to get the other stuff later...

I'll stay at it..

[WallStreetAmigo]

Good plan to stick with it. If you stick with it your results will eventually change. No matter which bait/lure I use, understanding what it does and does not do under the water allows me to determine how I need to work it to make it effective. Almost every time I have tried a new technique (ie. plastic worms, dropshotting, weedless frogs, etc) I have been skunked the first few times. I pay careful attention to how I am working the lures on each cast and I try different retrieves with each (faster or slower, steady retrieve or pause and go, etc). Sooner or later the fish will show me what they like. Then it is my job to duplicate that retrieve. That is how I approach new techniques and it has worked very well for me (I have only been fishing for the past 10 months or so, so i am still a newbie). Keep working at it and you won't need luck.

[lookin4fish]

Yep,still working it. However, it has slowed to a screeching halt. 3rd day in a row with nothing. In addition, I'm negative as some nasty trees ate some of my spinners. Well, I'm keeping the head up and trying some new places.