Lucky Craft Sammy 100

Was checking out my favorite smallmouth forum, Riversmallies, and a guy in SC was talking about a lure called a "Sammy". Didn't know what it was so asked some questions and he sent me a link to the Lucky Craft page. Turns out this lure is a floating minnow with "walk the dog" action. You twitch the rod tip, it darts right, you twitch the rod tip, it darts left; this is what is called "walking the dog". You do this 5-6 times, let lure sit, then repeat, or you can just keep walking the dog all the way back. When sitting, the tail is loaded with 4 bb's for rattling effect, so tail is below the water, head on top. The start and stop retrieve is supposed to drive the fish crazy. He said he spent the day with only this bait and was slaying them. There is nothing like top water action for any fish species. I bought the Sammy 100 (4" long) today at Greentops. This same guy and other reviews I checked are using the "Ghost Minnow" color. Bronze back, tint of blue on the side, white bottom. This thing looks exactly like a minnow. Can't wait to try it out and have the luck others have had!

Here are links to the sites. First is the Riversmallies site, the second is the Lucky Craft Sammy 100 site.

http://riversmallies.invisionzone.com/index.php?act=idx

http://www.luckycraft.com/luckycrafthome/products/topwater/sammy100.htm

Here's a picture:

Net Bait Paca Craws

If you haven't tried the Net Bait Paca Craw line of baits, do yourself a favor! These things are awesome! They ought to be illegal, it's like fishing with dynamite; you'll catch every fish in the pond/river! I've fished them Spring, Summer, and Fall with the same great results.
They have 4 sizes, largest to smallest are:
Paca Craw
Baby Paca Craw
Tiny Baby Paca Craw
Paca Chunk- primarily a jig trailer
Personally I use the Baby and the Tiny, Tiny the most. I've only used them in Green Pumpkin because I haven't had to try any other colors.

I went to Tommy's pond this afternoon. Weather was calling for rain Saturday so I didn't go to the river. Overcast but we only had a couple of sprinkles, literally. Sunday they were calling for rain, then possibility of strong thunderstorms with threat of Tornados. Sun came out so I went fishing about 5pm. Turned out to be a beautiful afternoon with little wind. Go figure!!

I threw a small white 1/4oz Booyak pond spinnerbait. Caught several, one being about 2.5lbs. Tried a couple of .99cent lures in bubblegum out of the sale bin at BPS's, nothing, even though bubblegum senko's by Yamamoto produce well here. Then I went to my go-to bait, the tiny baby paca craw. I must have caught 20 bass, mostly in the small to 1.5lb range. If I'd have gone with the larger craw, I truly believe I'd have caught larger ones. About half way thru, one of the craws got torn off. Roughly ten fish later, the second one got tore off. I still thru the nub and caught 3 fish but the ratio of casts to fish did decrease. On average, every 2 casts I had a bass on! These even work this well in the river for smallies. I fish them weightless in the pond, just the hook and swivel making them sink. They are hollow on the inside so the craws float up like a real one in self defense. In the river, I use a small split shot or bullet weight to compensate for the current; to get them to the bottom faster.

 If you can't catch fish on these, it's one of two things:
1. There are no fish in the waters you are fishing or
2. You're fishing with barb wire for line and a fence post as a rod (these baits are so good, this may not be true, you'll probably still catch fish!!)

The Net Baits last much longer than the Berkely chigger craws. Usually the Berkeley's will loose a craw or two after just one fish. Net Baits last 10-20 times more. At roughly $3.69 a bag, you can't go wrong!

Here's a picture, green pumkin on the left:

Fishing- a jerk on one end waiting for a jerk on the other.

JL's pond on 60

Went fishing with Tater this afternoon. Weather was great, some wind, but it would come and go. Went from a tiny paca craw to a baby paca craw by Net Bait. The Baby is a little larger. Paca Craws have become my go-to bait. If they ain't hitting this, there aren't any fish in the pond! Caught a good bass about 20 minutes after lauching, 2.5-3lbs. Tater took a picture but it didn't do the fish justice. Went out in the middle of the pond and threw a chartreuse/white spinner bait. Caught 1 pike and 1 bass. Went back to the bank with the paca craw and caught a couple more decent fish, lost a couple also. Tried a TN shad shallow crank, no luck. Tater caught a couple bass and 1 pike. Tater hates pike! Fished till O'dark thirty, had a great time. It's just great to be on the water! Weather is calling for a front to move in Friday afternoon and last thru the weekend, so no river this weekend, AGAIN. Need to get out there, might just have to take a day off in the middle of the week to get good weather.

5lb largemouth

Went fishing with Tater on what he calls "the clear pond". I was catching a lot of small bass on a green pumkin tiny paca craw. Tater started catching some larger bass on a baby brush hog, so I changed over as well. He backed me into the corner of the pond at the end of the dam in his 16' jon (he could have easily fished this spot but he gave it to me). I threw out the green pumpkin baby brush hog on my new 7 coil Emmrod, twitched it a couple times and got a tap-tap. I set the hook, it was in some lily pads, so I thought I had a small fish that was just wrapped in the pads. Got her out of there and she ran along the front edge of the pads and that is when I saw what was really on the other end. I get some ribbing from Tater on this rod, so when I initially hooked up, I threw the rod back side to side a few times like I had a lunker and was fighting hard. We laughed and that is when I saw the fish. I see the rod bend like never before and I'm saying, "Tater, get the net, this IS a big one! Tater landed it in the net and we laughed so hard at how this played out; me joking at first, then the rod bending, and me yelling, "get the net"! And to think me goofing off could have lost this fish! After taking a couple of pictures, I took the hook out. Lo and behold, the hook was barely in; one good head shake and this fish would have thrown the hook! The good Lord was on my side!

Lake Chesdin

Spent the day with Tater at Lake Chesdin on his 18' procraft fish/ski boat.. Got there around 7:15am to find a light rain. Checked the weather on my phone and looked like it would end soon so we lauched. Ran up the lake from the dam and fished a couple of creeks. I caught a small pike on a black/silver broken back rapala and rain ended about 1hr after launch. You name it, we threw it to find what the bass wanted. Nothing until about 1:30. Tater landed a 1.5lb and 2lb bass on a Yum green pumkin wooly hawg tail. I had a crappie and small bass role on the rapala but didn't hook up. A day on the water fishing is a good day. Fishing was extremely tough, probably because of the cold front moving in. Water was glass in the morning but got choppy due windy conditions as the day went on. Talked with a couple other boats in passing and all were having a difficult day. Oh well. Look forward to getting on the river soon but have spring cleanup yard work to do most likely every afternoon this coming week. Will shoot to get on the river this coming weekend.
Still dreaming of getting my Riverpro jet......

Tommy's pond, bait purchases

Back to Tommy's pond this afternoon. Cold front coming in, must have dropped 10-15 degrees in an hour. Started off with green pumpkin curly tail grub. 5 casts, 5 small bass. Wind was blowing so I tried a buzzbait, nothing. Tried a white chatterbait, 3 hits but didn't hook up. Bought a new senko called "daiquiri", white with a tint of light blue. Looks great but nothing hit today. Put on a green pumpkin chigger craw, first cast, fish ate the craws off. Put on a green pumpkin baby brush hog and caught 6-7. Took the gulp crawdads with me so I tried them. First cast, bass ate off the craws, soft bait like the chigger craws! Kept throwing it without the craws and still caught 4 bass. Got too windy and cold, spitting rain, so I came home. All in all a good day, small fish, 2 maybe 1-1.5lbs. Had a deer get in the pond and swim to the other side, got out for a few seconds, then back in and swam down to the driveway. No idea why the deer got in the water, no dogs or people pushing it. Tommy came down to see how things were going. What a guy, always tells me that we're welcome anytime! I asked if it was ok to bring the yak down and fish, his normal reply, no problem, have fun. Will try it soon. Hope to get on the river this weekend; river is looking good!
Ordered some baits from "Land Big Fish". Should arrive later this week. Got the new Stanley "Y-Not", craw imitation with pinchers that float up like a craw in defense. Should produce. Also got some Stanley "Itsa Bug", baby brush hog style that should also work well. Not sure of manufacturer but lure is called "Stingray", sort of a helgramite imitation that I hope will make some action in the river. Went to Greentops today, last day of their Spring sale and spent an undisclosed amount of money re-stocking my go-to lures at 20% off; senkos, chigger craws, fat baby craws, paca craws, hooks. Does it sound like craw imitations are my go to baits?! Thinking about trying some braid fishing line. Hard to give in though, the 10lb Stren lo-vis green has not let me down.

Riverpro jets, Hockey

Got to see the boat in person. WHAT A RIVER BOAT! It's everything I could want in a river boat and more. It's built like a tank but light, roughly 1500lbs. I've been in touch with the builder by email, will be calling him in the next couple of days to get specifics on options. Still about a year away before I can purchase one but want to get started on the planning phase. This boat will give me the option to shallow water river fish but also double as a family boat to pull the kids (grandkids one day!) on tubes and skis. The more I check into this boat, the more I love it! Most likely the only boat I'll ever purchase, so I'm going whole hog!

Johnny's team won today. They all played very well. Johnny had a good day, tough on defense and scored the game winning goal! GO VADA! We're purchasing the DVD of the tournament so we can share memories with family and friends. Gonna go see Niagara Falls either Friday or Saturday, too close not to go by and visit, about an hour west of Rochester, NY.

Had to go by Gander Mtn and check out Walmart tackle. Same supplies here at GM as back home. Did find a baby brushhog lure by Netbaits that looked good so I bought a pack, mad paca's. Got a couple packs of Arkie soft plastics on sale at Walmart. Hard to pass up fishing lures on sale!

Easter, Hockey, Riverpro boats

River is still up, stained but not really muddy. Couldn't go this weekend, had hockey games on Saturday, spent day with family Sunday for Easter. Went to Tommy's pond this afternoon with my son-in-law Alec. Caught 25-30 small largemouth but nothing over a pound, still had fun. Alec was slaying them with a pumpkin/black spec yamamoto senko and a grub in the same color. Since he was on, I just threw a bunch of other lures just to see what would happen. Couple on shallow diving crankbait, a few on chartreuse creature bait, a few on a chigger craw, a few on a bubble gum senko. Mosquito's are out! My legs looked like I had walked thru a briar patch from smacking them on my legs.
Going to ice hockey U18AA Nationals this week with Johnny so no fishing on the calendar until next week. We are going to stop off in Harrisburg, PA on the way up to check out the RiverPro jet boat. That's my dream boat! Done all the research I possibly can online, need to see them in real life, touch and feel. Check them out at www.riverpro-boats.com/
This boat will take me to my favorite river fishing holes and still allow me to be on big lake water; best of both worlds! Now I just need to decide on which one. I'm going for the 20' but can't decide yet on whether to go with the dual center console or dual side console. 200hp inboard jet, 50mph on the water. That's the speed of light on a river!