Hi C7,

I know you are reading the posts here from time to time. I wanted to let you know I have my new motor on my Corson boat and will soon be heading into lunker heaven up here.

I am hoping to catch a couple of lunkers to post. I will be traveling across Pocomoonshine Lake and into Allen Stream. From there I will travel another six or seven miles into Lower Mud Lake. This Lake has produced a few 10 pounders and is a catch and release lake only. It is only accessable by boat and is hard to get to.. I will try to post a few pictures of the place as I travel up threw it. I am hoping to nail a few big ones up there.

These will be in the largemouth catagory and then I will proceed to the smallmouth catagory..LOL

Take Care my friend,
Phil

I took a boat ride up into there this afternoon and never hit any big ones. The water got rough so it was hard fishing. I did catch several chain pickeral, smallmouths, and largemouths. The smallmouths were running around 2 1/2 to 3 lbs. while the largemouths were about the same.. It was a great trip in as I saw a deer sneaking off, some canadian geese, loons, ospreys,and a couple of eagles. I never wieghed my smallmouths or largemouths yet as I did not feel they were big enough. I did take one pic of one of my largemouths for you and quickly released it.. I also saw several boats going to and from there. Here are a few pics of the area I was in today..

the deer

a boat with a couple of guys fishing while heading up threw the stream..

The same guys heading into Mud Lake..

The only island in Mud Lake and it is surrounded by hydrilla, pickeral grass, and lilly pads..

Another pic of the stream going into Mud Lake..

The geese on the rocks in Pocomoonshine Lake.. Notice the rocks as this lake is full of them both above water and under water the water.. It is one of the best smallmouth fishing lakes up this way..

Last pic folks I hope I never bored you with so many.. I just wanted to share a little of what today was like out in the great outdoors.. This pic is from Lake pocomoonshine as well. It is of a small island which Pocomoonshine is noted for as well as rock piles. I thought it was sort of neat with the young birch tree on it..

Nice! I am really looking forward to the mayfly hatch down here soon. I have have never caught a smallmouth and will be chasing them with the fly rod! Where I will be fishing, Wilson Lake in Florence, AL, is supposedly one of the best smallmouth fisheries in the country. 5-6 lbers are an everyday thing and 7-8 lbers are pretty common! A past world record smallie came from there too! I am not bragging, just getting really siked up as I would really like to catch one!

I will agree with you that the bass has a longer growing season so typically speaking bass will be bigger in the south. That is largemouth and smallmouth bass. Here we have a lot of sportsmen fishing with guides for our smallmouth fishing. As well as the fact for a bass over 5lbs. would have to live for a longer time to reach that wieght. We still do have some that will exceed this but they are not as common.

Now fishing them with a flyrod two of my favorites are the poppers which when brought in can look like a minnow. Then the hair made mouse which looks like a mouse that you can skip along the lilly pads and the like to draw a large bass out. It is hard to beat catching anything on a flyrod..

Very nice pics Phil..I managed to get this 4 pounder on a Horny Toad this morning..I found a really nice clear lake near me. Matt got a nice boat yesterday..a G3 12 footer with a 15 HP Yamaha..like new for 1500.00 ..with 3 new batteries , trolling motor and depth finder....found it on Craigslist..nice trailor as well.

Nice pic Chuck... Tell Matt congrats on his new boat! Is the motor a 4 stroke? They are so darn quite it is hard to believe.. I am sure you both will enjoy it a lot.. Up here with our average lakes being the size they are it is good to have a bigger boat on the water. They are good for the big lakes but, not much for fishing in the shallows.

I was catching most my bass on the worms you sent me a few of years ago.. I am just about out of them now.. I have enjoyed using them to say the least.. I also was catching quite a few on the Zoom Baby Brush Hogs in the watermelon seed color. Which is what I have caught the largemouth in the picture on. I need to locate were I put my lizzards in the pumkin seed color as they work great as well. I will have to see about getting some of those Horny Toads to try. What color do you like the best in those? PM me on it if you want to..

Phil,
I use the bullfrog color but any green or dark color should work..YOu will need to use an off set hook to keep the frog from coming sliding off the hook. I primarily use this lure in thick cover ..especially lily pads..in places where mono would break easy. I use anywhere from 20-40- pound test Power pro braid..as the fish can't see the line anyways..When you get a boil up..let the fish straighten out the line then set the hook. Most of my fish were hung up in the pads so with tight line I pull me and the jon to the fish and net the fish. Walmart seels these for about 3.50 a pack.

After they tear some, they won't stay on the hook. I then take my pile of used Horny Toads home..and squirt a dab of Super Glue in the tear..It's better than new as the glue makes the front of the taod more harder..I fished along time this morning with one of my refurbished toads boating 3. Where I fish at is thick vegetation..a couple of other things that will work are a weightless worm or fluke.

God bless,
C7

here's an off set hook..I use a 4/0 size for the horny Toads.

http://www.cabelas.com/product/Owner...h-All+Products