Conference wahoo::fishing-v2

    There are smallmouth bass in the St. Lawrence, Brian, and the water
    there is further north than the uppermost reaches of New Hampshire, so
    I'd bet you'll find smallmouth bass there.
    
    John H-C

    I live in Toronto, eh.  In the summer I fish primarily on a river that 
    is cold, clear and deep.  It's typically frozen from December to late 
    March.  Our bass season doesn't open until mid-June, but believe me,
    there are few things more exciting that pulling smallmouths out of 
    the rapids an below rapids in deep pools.
    
    They concentrate in the deep pools, waiting for crayfish and other
    tasty morsels to tumble downstream.  There is plenty of action,
    the fish are typically well fed and in great shape.  
    
    The water temperatures in the river do get quite warm by late July
    and early August.  I suspect too warm for trout.  But heh, I don't
    miss them.  
    
    I am from Indiana originally, when I first started fishing this river
    back in '86, I assumed that I would be able to pull out some trout.
    I was quite shocked to hook into bass instead... Now I am a hard-core
    smallmouth bass river fishing fanatic.  
    
    Regards,
    
    Mark, Damn Yankee in Canada
    
    
    

    What type of baits work best in these cold situations?  I would assume
    small jigs, leadhead grubs?
    
    thanks
    
    Brian

    
    Brian,
    
    I would suggest a small (1/8 or 1/4 ounce) hair jig 
    in black or brown with a small trailer, like a UJ 101 
    spin frog or split tail eel in a contrasting color.
    
    Works good for me during the early spring.  
    
    As for grubs, I am *ALWAYS* willing to throw them
    for smallies, regardless of the time of year.
    
    Gusman.
    

    
    Brian, if you referring the many tiny streams flowing off the White
    Mountains, then I'd say the answer is doubtful. There are plenty of
    bass in the larger rivers north of there. Moore Resevoir, a
    compoundment off the Conn. River is just north of the Whites and has 
    lots of bass.  
    
    There are tons of tiny shallow fast moving streams in the mountains
    which I would seriously doubt could support bass - native brookies
    maybe.
    
    -donmac

    For bass in the rivers I use:
    
    1.)  Worms on a hook.  It's scary how this is still sooo effective.
    
    2.)  Jigs, purple and black are effective.
    
    3.)  Live crayfish are fun, but they beat the shit outta them,
    haven't tried any artificials yet.
    
    4.)  Leopard frogs are great, but hard to catch as well.
    
    I am digressing from your cold water fishing, as our bass season
    doesn't open until the water has warmed up.
    
    Regards,
    
    Mark

    DonMac
    
    I have walked miles and miles of the Swift river the big one that runs
    the lenght of the Kangkamangus highway.  If you get away from the end
    near conway and head up to the middle the river becomes smooth and deep
    in spots.  In fact there are long long stretchs of deep slow moving
    patches with no rapid water at all.  I often walk past these spots and
    really wonder if there is a monster smallie hiding in them.  This year
    I am going to take a shot and try to find out.
    
    Oats
    

    My guess is you'd be more apt to find a monster rainbow or brookie than
    smallie.  Pretty sure the Swift is trout water.  I can't say for sure
    there aren't any bass in there, but I kinda doubt it.
    
    For bass in that area I'd look for the ponds or lakes.  
    
    Conway Lake has bass.
    
    Or, try trout fishing.
    
    -donmac (who's seriously going to learn to fly fish this year 8^)

<    -donmac (who's seriously going to learn to fly fish this year 8^)

   A 2lb bucket mount on a fly rod will put your heart in your throat.  This is
just what the doctor ordered on a steamy July evening when the bass are hitting
top-water baits....

	RE: .8

	Brian,
		I used to fish the Swift a lot, and I never saw a Bass.
	That doesn't mean you won't find them in there.  Aren't there Bass
	in the Saco River?  The Swift flows into the Saco.  I would think
	that the Bass would travel upstream at least to the first serious
	falls in the Swift.
		Personally, I'd just fish for Trout up there, and by the way,
	they'll take small grubs too, the panfish size.  Just adjust the
	tackle to the size fish.

					B.C.

    
    I plan to a little flyfishing on Winnie this
    year.  I can't imagine what a pre-spawn 3 lb
    smallie on a flyrod would do to my adrenaline
    levels!
    
    Now, if I can just learn to cast more that
    15 feet!
    
    Gusman
    

   I use a 3-4' piece of 30# monofilament as a leader off a 9 weight Bug taper 
floating flyline.  The 30# leader provides enough stiffness to allow the line
to pickup and roll over the heavier bass poppers and deerhair flies.  Bass are
not nearly as line-shy as are trout, so the heavy leader doesn't seem to bother
them as much.  One of my best fish on a fly came out of Ft. Meadow.  The other
guy in the boat was running a buzzbait through pickeral weed and I was
following about 5' behind him with my popper, just stripping in the line as
fast as I would work it.  That 2.5 lb bass like to scare the crap out of me the
way he hit that cork popper. 

   Flies are great fun...

    
    I was wondering what kind of leader would be needed.
    I didn't think it would have to very long, but wasn't
    sure if it need to be tapered to get the fly to turn
    over.  I currently have a 7wt graphite rod, and reel
    has a 7wt weight forward tapered floating line on it.
    Should I consider overloading the rod with an 8wt 
    line, or will the 7wt do?
    
    For winnie, I was thinking about using a bulky white
    or chartreuse streamer of some sorts, since sluggos
    work so well in the spring.  And who knows, if it's
    early enough in the season, you might even nag a laker
    or salmon.
    
    Can't wait for ice out....
    
    Gusman
    

	Heh, Heh, Heh....  Jeez Gus, that's pretty bad...  15 feet huh?

	Let's see...  9' rod...  I guess you don't have much line out the
	tip to do 15 feet...  Maybe you should let a little more line out
	so the rod loads... 8^)

	And -you- Mr. Whitman!  You should be ashamed!  30 lb. tippets?
	They don't use tippets that heavy for Billfish!  You could at least
	drop down to an IGFA 20 lb.!

	Al, only 7.5 weeks away...  Wanna try some Snook on that flyrod?

					B.C.

<	And -you- Mr. Whitman!  You should be ashamed!  30 lb. tippets?
<	They don't use tippets that heavy for Billfish!  You could at least

   how often do you roll cast for billfish???

<	Al, only 7.5 weeks away...  Wanna try some Snook on that flyrod?


    I'm up for anything.  Actually I don't know what kind of vacation time
I'm going to have as I leave for a 7 day cruise of the western Caribbean on
Sunday and I have a day on the Big-O (that's Okeechobee) in Mid-April. Perhaps
on a Saturday or Sunday...  We'll see what's up when time gets closer


al

    How would you fish the slow water deep pool parts of the swift for
    brookies then?  Would you slow move small rapalas up the middle of the
    channel or bump them along the edges?
    
    I usually skip these deep pools and head to the more broken up parts of
    the rivers.
    
    Oats

	   First, you get a nice little 4 weight flyrod...

	Or, try some tiny grubs in a variety of colors, I'd start with
	very dark natural colors, and bump them along the bottom just
	like you would for Bass.  Don't use any more weight than you need
	to just tick along bottom.  I'd also recommend that you fish from
	the tail of the pools, cast upstream, and keep the slack out of
	your line.  You'll do a lot of reeling and you'll hang bottom a
	lot if your doing it right.  Dress to blend with the background.

					B.C.

<    How would you fish the slow water deep pool parts of the swift for
<    brookies then?  Would you slow move small rapalas up the middle of the
<    channel or bump them along the edges?
    
    I don't know how the brookies would do it, but steelhead in the Pacific
Northwest sit in the the slack water of the pool waiting for the food to drift
over the upstream lip of the pool.

    You'd fish an eggsack or a lure (like a Hot-Shot) from upstream and let the
rushing water make the lure vibrate. Let out a little line at at time until
the lure reaches the edge of the pool. Just let the lure sit there, working it
back and forth in the area of that upstream rim of the pool.

    I'd expect any smallies that might be there to be doing the same thing,
sitting in the relatively slack water, waiting for the food to come to them.

Al

    Guys,
    
    Don't forget the small in-line spinners for the smallies too!  Crawfish
    jigs are hard to beat, try some tube jigs.