Fishing December 30, 2007

It has been a while since we were able to get out onto the ice with the schools being out and things on the too do list to get done. Now that those things have been finished it was time to hit the ice and we decided to head to our favorite ice fishing lake and see what we could find. The ice was about what we had expected as we have been having warm weather conditions with temps in the 40’s a good portion of the week. There was also rain mixed in with those temps and figured that the ice maybe taking a toll because of this. With spud bar in hand it was time to hit the ice and was surprised that for a Sunday there wasn’t a person out there and nobody came out at all the time that we were there. With an approaching storm, we figured that the bite should be better and it definitely was from previous outings as of late. We drilled 12 holes in a circle that ranged from 14 feet of water out to 18 feet and only about half of them we were marking fish throughout the day. The crappies that we were catching were very small and really faded out and not sure if that is from all of the snow cover or what as they are usually not that faded. The sunfish were definitely bigger on this trip compared to what we generally catch there and were more dominant than the crappies that were caught. The bass were biting as well and watching the video you will see what we had caught as this is one of the nicer fish that we have caught through the ice in a while. We weren’t able to find able perch as they generally make a strong presence while we are out there. The baits that worked on this outing were the Loby Bait’s Polli starting with the red color but had to switch to white to get a better bite. Also a number of fish were caught on T.H.E. Jig in the blue/chartreuse color scheme and both of these jigs were matched with the Austin Custom UL and Elite Series rods and work perfectly. The ice is around 8-9 inches thick but was cracking a lot when we first got out there. The ice would crack under your feet here and there and when drilling a hole that would create cracks as well. Was a little nerve racking for a while but when the temps raised some the ice softened up some and was much better. We are going to be going out again here in a couple of days and may have to give this lake another look or pending ice conditions may take a look at another new lake...

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Mild temps, bad for ice

As we have been enjoying the mild temps the last few days and looks like a few more coming, this has been enjoyable for getting out but not so good for the ice on our lakes. Driving by a couple of lakes this afternoon we are seeing the snow is completely gone and there is standing water on top of the ice. Folks out still out there fishing and that is our plans for tomorrow so hopefully we have a few more days of being able to get onto the ice. The rain last night didn't help any at all either and between the rain and sunny warm days, this is going to take a toll on the ice. The fish are still there waiting to give us a tug on our line but we know that we are going to be having a spud bar with us for each step that we make out there. If you are going to venture out onto the ice to do some fishing, we are becoming a broken record and keep saying to be very careful out there. New England's weather changes just like the days and we can go from one extreme to another in a matter of hours. Always be aware of what you are doing out there and also kind of watch what other folks are doing as well as we need to keep an eye out in case someone needs that extra hand. Enjoy these nice days of late December and being out on the ice in these temps doesn't get any better but there are circumstances that come with that and we don't want anyone to become a statistic...

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Fishing December 25, 2007

Christmas morning and getting out for an ice fishing run and it doesn’t get any better than that unless the fish are not going to cooperate. Since the weather here is looking like the temps are going to hover around the mid 30’s for a number of days we decided to make a run to a local pond that we have never been to and see if the fish want to play. This pond is one of those that not many people know about as you need to hike through the woods to get to it and is a town reservoir that many people forget that you can fish at. Since the rains and warm winds have been blowing, the next few days we are not going to be able to hit the ice, figured that we better give it a try and see what is happening. The ice on this pond was sporadic as the thickness was fairly uniform but the make up was different from one part to the next. Where the shade hit the ice most of the day it was a solid 8-12 inches but where the sun was hitting it there was a layer of 2-3 inches of frozen slush with an open layer of 3 inches of water with a 4 inch layer of black solid ice. This area as well you needed to watch your step as there was a few times you would break through the top layer to step on the black ice, not fun. A spud bar is needed still as every pond you visit is going to be different and without one you are taking chances while you are out on the ice. We worked a number of holes and had plenty of lookers that we could see on the flasher, but they would just sit and look at the bait and the bite was definitely off. We did manage to catch one nice sunfish and a small bass, but were a little disappointed that the fish were not going to cooperate this day. There were only a few holes that had activity but no matter what we put down the hole they would just sit there and look at it. Was a tough day out there but any day on the ice is a good day and this was another pond that we wanted to try and time to look at the next one to sample. With the conditions changing daily with the warmer weather and every pond is in a different state as far as ice conditions, everyone out there needs to be safe and be sure of that next step...

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Fishing December 23, 2007

What a difference makes in just two days here in New England as we went from a cold 20 degrees on Friday to mid 40’s today and raining now. The ice is holding up very well yet in the areas that we were fishing and the 8 inches of snow that was there Friday is now 2 inches deep. Mush easier walking today and dragging a sled but with the warm temps I was able to down size my equipment and brought the minimum things along. I wanted to fish a new area on the same lake but as I was walking towards that area the slush was taking over and one of my steps was very spongy and made me back up and not go forward any more. So I went back to the flat and worked the drop off again and was very well rewarded with good fish once again. Actually today the bass were very active and caught a number of them along with some sunfish, crappies and big perch again. The fish were mostly caught from 4-7 feet of water with the deeper waters void today as well. Three baits were the choices today with them all catching about the same number of fish, the white LOBY BAITS MOUSI, purple LOBY BAITS BUGGI and of course T.H.E. JIG in the white/chartreuse pattern did very well and the bass really liked T.H.E. JIG today. Basically fished 17 different holes that I would work each hole a couple of minutes and then move onto the next one until one of the holes had some activity in it. Most of the time I could catch a fish out of a hole and then there wasn’t any fish left and the hole would go dead. With the mild temps made for a very relaxing afternoon and was very surprised as there wasn’t anyone else out there until about the time I left a couple came out with their tip-ups. Think it is time to move onto another lake and see what we can find and I am looking forward to exploring a bunch of different bodies of waters this year. The next couple of days are going to be busy with the holiday but towards the end of the week we will be back out there and catching them again as long as the mild temps this week doesn’t do any bad things to our ice...

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Fishing December 21, 2007

The ice season is definitely here and with all of the snow it is making a tough time to get out to your fishing spots. Without having some sort of a machine to get around on the ice, the latest snow is tough to pull the sleds through and depending on what kind of shape you are in, will depend on how far you are able to travel. We went out to a lake that we haven’t iced fish on before and have done well for panfish in the warmer months. Leaving the access we went around a shallow flat over to a deep shoreline looking for areas that schooling fish are going to hang out in. We proceeded to drill a number of holes but weren’t marking too many fish after moving from hole to hole. The ice conditions that we were finding was that there is a 3-4 inch layer of frozen slush under the 8 inches of snow with a 1-2 inch layer of open water slush with a layer of 3 inches of clear ice underneath that. Being it was Friday there wasn’t anyone else on the ice and with the latest snow made for some very nice scenery while we were fishing. Since the fish were not cooperating in this area and we weren’t to willing to continue on down this shoreline getting further from away from the landing, we decided to turn back and work a flat between us and the landing. This was a good move as when we started working the shallow waters of this flat, this is where we started to find the fish we were looking for. This flat we were working had an inside corner in that area and we had punched 17 holes to get a lay of the land. What we were finding was that the right side of our holes were running on the top edge of this flat and were in 4-5 feet of water. The outside line of holes we had drilled in water depths of 8-11 feet of water and between these two lines the distance was only 20 feet. We drilled a third line of holes in between the other two and these were in 7 feet of water. This was a sharp drop from the upper holes to the deeper holes and after finding out what depth the fish were relating to, it was quickly seen that the deeper holes were void of fish and the other shallow holes, most of these had activity. The sunfish started the bite off and by using a flasher we were able to determine the depth that they were using and made it easier for working them. Once the sunfish bite had started, the crappies started showing up and a majority of them came from 4-5 feet of water. We haven’t been fishing this shallow this season and it was quite fun as you didn’t have to reel them in but just lift the rod and pull the fish out of the hole. For the time we were out there we caught sunfish, crappies and perch and all of the perch were bigger fish up to 11 inches. For the day we caught around 30-40 fish and they didn’t come fast and furious as we had to work at catching all of them. There was only one instance that the activity was fish after fish and we had caught 6 fish in a very short time. There were only two baits that were needed for our fish today, the first one was a WHITE LOBY BAITS MOUSI and was rigged on a 1/32 ounce jighead and the other was the 1/80 ounce T.H.E. JIG in a white/chartreuse color pattern. The LOBY BAITS MOUSI, we only needed that one plastic bait and it is still rigged up and ready to go and that shows you the durability of the LOBY BAITS plastics. We have to give mention to the AUSTIN CUSTOM RODS that we are using and with the sensitivity that is built into these rods, we are able to feel the bites a number of times before they are detected or seen. Since we have started using the AUSTIN CUSTOM RODS we are finding that they are exactly what we were looking for and are going to be the only rods that we use from now on. All in all for all of the work that it took to get us out there on the ice, we had a very enjoyable day and looking forward to our next outing....

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Be ready to work out

The ice on the lakes in New England, are covered by many inches of snow and with the latest rains, ice on top of that. If you are venturing out onto the lakes to do some ice fishing, be very careful out there as with all of this snow every step needs to be paid attention to. The uncertainties of the ice conditions are totally hidden by this snow and stepping into an old hole could be hazardous. Reports are coming in that there is snow up to 14 inches on top of the ice and on top of that a couple inches of ice. There is reports as well that there is slush between the snow and the ice at the bottom making for very wet conditions to be walking in. If you are going to be traveling a great distance on foot to your fishing spot, be prepared for a workout. As walking through this snow you will break through the top layer of ice that is covering the snow and makes for some very tough walking conditions. If you are not up for this type of a workout then you may want to find a lake that you won’t need to do much walking to your spot. An angler needs to be very careful out there and we are looking at getting possibly another 3-10 inches of snow over the next day depending on where you live. We really don’t need anymore snow but this is what we are going to have to deal with, enjoy the early ice fishing season, but be careful out there as we all want to fish another day.

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Ice uncertainty

A couple of weeks ago the forming ice was coming along very well and was looking like we were going to have a great ice season. We are still frozen over but have had a few storms along the way since our first ice fishing trip of this season. We have had warm days with some rain thrown in for good measures. Lately the snow storms have been really putting the snow out there with late last week giving us around 11 inches and then again on Sunday the same but throw in a long period of rain after the snow to add weight to the ice covered lakes. What has this done to our ice here in New England, we are not totally sure yet as we have not been able to venture out and check the conditions. But driving by some bodies of water the last day or so, we are seeing that the lakes are covered in snow and also that the water in areas has come on top of the snow. This is not a good sign as with the weight of the snow and rain, this may possibly be to much for the ice to support that was there and putting a strain on the ice making it possibly unsafe. The snow is firming up very hard with the cold temps the last couple of days, but the anglers really need to pay attention as to what is happening underneath that snow. If you are venturing out onto the lakes, take extreme caution as every step needs to be paid attention to so that we don’t end up going for a swim...

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Snow has cometh

WOW....that is all we can say after the snow storm that hit us yesterday. What was left was a blanket of 11 inches of fluffy white snow and snow in New England is quite a sight to behold. Commutes home last night were rather long and if you had to take any of the major roads they were in grid lock. This morning everything has been cleaned up and is back somewhat to normal once again. Looks like a snow cleaning weekend this weekend and also there is a Nor'Easter that is going to hit the New England region depositing snow and rain in its path. Between that and what was left behind last night, looks like this weekend there won't be any fishing going on. Have not checked any bodies of water today to see what the snow is doing to our ice conditions. After having rain earlier in the week and now around 11 inches of snow on top of the ice, hopefully the ice is in the same state yet as it was last weekend. We definitely will need to be using a spud bar in the coming days to make sure that the ice that we do walk on is strong enough to support us. If you are not using a spud bar on your ice fishing outings as of late, there is the danger that you may be taking a swim in the icy cold water. Make sure to have all of your safety equipment with you if you are planning on hitting the ice this weekend....

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Snow Coming

Looking at the radar here in New England we are getting braced for our first major snow storm this afternoon. Schools are closing already or planning on leaving early to get all of the kid’s home before the conditions get to bad. We had warm temps and rain the last day or so, so the surface of our lakes is questionable as we drove by one of our lakes this morning and it had a strange look to the ice. Not sure if the rain did anything to the ice as we didn’t get a chance to check it out but with the coming snow, this is going to make ice fishing interesting to say the least. Really need to rely on that spud bar to check the ice conditions as with every step that we take areas may have softened up and gotten weak. We are also looking at another significant storm forming for Saturday night with snow accumulation which is not going to help the ice making process at all. Hopefully the ice will be thick enough so that the layer of snow insulates what is there and we are able to enjoy this early ice season. With the holiday season approaching this will bring many days and hours on the ice and reports to follow. Looking forward to exploring many different bodies of water in search of fish and meeting folks along the way that enjoy the same passion as us in fishing New England waters....

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Ice forming set back

With the mild temps the last day and the rain that we had late last night and into this morning will definitely have an effect on our ice covered lakes. Whatever snow that was covering the ice will turn to slush and be a mess on top of the ice. The rain and warm breeze today could possibly loosen the ice from its clear solid state to a softer and possibly honeycomb state that occurs in the spring. If there are any hills or higher ground surrounding the water the runoff will be running onto the ice and these areas of ice could possibly be weakening as well for points to get onto the ice. These changes are going to be unique to each body of water as none of them are ever the same as the others. Caution needs to be taken if venturing out onto the ice the next couple of days and thankfully the long range forecast is calling for cold nights so this should firm things back up. The season is very early this year and waiting another week or so may not be a bad idea as we generally are not on the ice this early. Waiting is better than putting one's life in jeopardy as the fish are not going anywhere and will be there no matter how long it takes for us to have safe ice conditions. Be safe out there, bring all of your safety equipment with you and be ready to act fast if an situation occurs....

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Fishing Dec 8, 2007

With the winter blowing into New England with a fury we were able to get out on the ice this past weekend. We had been checking different bodies of waters all week long and making a judgment as to which one was going to be ready for our ice fishing trip. By Thursday of last week there wasn’t going to be too many options as many lakes still had open water areas or the ice was only an inch or two thick. The lake that we decided to go to had around 4 inches in the back bay as this area had froze over much sooner than the rest of the lake. The ice was clear and black and there wasn’t any sound of cracking at all. We had our spud bar to keep checking the ice as we walked as well as wearing a life jacket just in case. The temp was going to be around 40 for the day and was warm enough that we didn’t need to use the ice house. Other than being a very nice day out on the ice, the fishing wasn’t that great. Over the course of the day we drilled 50-60 holes from shallow water to the deepest water in the area and was only a few times that we were actually were marking fish on the Vexilar. If it wouldn’t have been such a nice day, it would have made for a long day but just being on first ice for the year makes up for not catching to many fish. We caught a couple of perch and one nice sunfish but were unable to find any crappies. The fish that we did mark on the Vexilar were all on the bottom and came up to our bait as there wasn’t any suspended schools that we could find. As we were packing up to leave in the afternoon the main part of the lake started getting water on top again and not sure what the ice conditions are like over there now. Now that we have our first day on the ice in, we are looking at trying a new body of water next weekend and hopefully the results will be much better. Fish or no fish it is great to be out on the ice once again and caution still needs to be taken as the temps are above freezing here for the next couple of days coming.

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Ice is Dangerous

We are hearing many reports after the weekend of the ice conditions around the North Shore of MA as being very erratic in thicknesses. Anywheres from open water spots to 4-5 inches at the thickest that has been reported. We were out on Saturday before the afternoon thaw and we were seeing around 4 inches where we were fishing. That area was holding up for the afternoon warmth but the main part of the lake was getting water on top of it and we are not certain what condition it is in now. Caution needs to be taken if you are going to try some early season ice fishing and bring along all of your safety things as well. We had our ice pick's around our neck, with the spud bar in hand checking every step and also we were wearing a lifejacket every time that we moved from one location to another. These items not only are going to help save your life but also get you out of the ice and water if by chance that you do break thru. This time of year you don't want to be in this water as hypothermia is going to set in very fast especially if it is cold and there is a wind blowing. Always make sure that someone knows where you are and about what time to expect you back so that if a situation arises, they will know where to look. Getting an early start to this early ice is very exciting but also needs to be respected as one wrong move and that may be your last time to enjoy the early ice season....

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Ice is forming but be careful

The ice here in Northern MA is forming but we are getting reports that the consistency is varied from lake to lake. We are hearing reports of open water to 4.5 inches of ice and this is showing you that it is very inconsistent where ever you are. This means that caution needs to be on the anglers mind at all times and if you do venture out onto the ice, take some safety items with you. Never go on the ice especially now without ice pik's, spud bar and a life jacket. All of these items are a necessity at this time of year and depending on the body of water you are going on, the ice may very in thickness. The ice pik's are used if you fall through the ice and using these will allow you to try to pull yourself out of the water. The spud bar is used to check the ice as you are walking and you hit the ice in front of you with the spud bad to see if it goes through the ice. If it goes through the ice stop walking and back up as the ice in front of you is not thick enough to support you. The life jacket will help to save your life if you break through as if you are not able to get out of the water, you will stay floating and not get trapped under the ice. With the varying ice conditions out there, staying off of the ice is the best remedy and should be taken to heart for anyone that wants to venture out there. This ice season is going to be very long this year and waiting another week or two is a good idea for most and there will be plenty of time to enjoy the activities that come along with ice. Be careful out there and the best thing is to stay off of the ice as any and all ice is truly never safe....

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Spring Bobbers

At the early stages of the ice season the fish are still fairly active in their search for food and the bites are as well. What we are getting at is that the bite detection is fairly easy to see on your ice rod and this makes it a little easier to detect the bites. We are not using bobbers when we ice fish and the sensitivity in the ice rod is very crucial and very important for what we look for in an ice rod. So as the ice season continues on, the fish start to slow down in their feeding mood and the weather conditions start playing a major role in a successful day on the ice. When these conditions happen the fish are biting so very lightly that the bites are going on without detection a good part of the time. There is a product out there that helps with these light biters and it is called a “Spring Bobber”. This is a wire or very thin flat piece of metal that attaches to the end of your fishing rod and you feed the line through it. When these light biting fish bite, these spring bobbers will move ever so slightly and that is when you set the hook. You may and will not feel these bites but by concentrating on the motion of this spring bobber you can detect the upward and downward action that the bite is doing to your bait. If you are getting bites and not catching fish, you will need to attach one of these “Spring Bobbers” to your ice rod and start catching more fish. These come into their prime especially once we get into January and February when the bites are getting very tough when those high pressure days are taking over our winter months....

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Ice fishing reels

As we continue our look at the ice fishing equipment, the last post dealt with a rod selection and now we are going to take a look at the reels that we use. A majority of ice fishers out there are using the open face spinning reel for their ice fishing and we have been using these for years and they work very well. Since we are fishing such small sized baits we are going to match the spinning reel size to that and use the ultra or micro sized spinning reel that the ultra light fishers use for catching panfish with. These small reels are more than sufficient and hold enough line as well since the deepest that we usually fish is 30 feet. By using these small reels they work very well with the 2 pound line that is spooled on them. Once the drag system is set to the fish that are being caught, sit back and enjoy fishing similar to when you are summer fishing. By using these spinning reels this keeps the line off of the ground that happens with the jiggle stick that you bring in the line hand over hand. You are able to fight the fish much better with the spinning reel and even if a large bass or pike takes your bait, set the drag and utilizing the rod, you should be able to still land a big fish with this small equipment. Using a quality spinning reel with a number of ball bearings in them keeps everything moving smoothly and these should be able to be used for years to come....

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Ice fishing rods

As we look into the equipment that us ice anglers use we have taken a look at some baits and size and knots to tie them onto your line with. Now we are going to take a look at the rod/reel combo's that are used for ice fishing. These are similar in fashion to the open water fishing rods/reels that are used but for the rods, size is the difference and for the reels going to a small spinning reel works the best. This season we are using the Austin Custom rods as our choice and two particular models are going to be used the most. Both of these are small 27 inch long fishing rods and being they are hand made, are very sensitive and durable. The first one is an ultra light version that flex's the whole length of the rod and we are using this for those very finicky biting fish. Where we want sensitivity and not a lot of resistance this ultra light version works very well. The other rod is the 27 inch Custom taper in the light action and this rod offers great sensitivity like no other that we have used. This version offers a very good backbone to the working section of the rod and the tip is very fast and sensitive to detect the subtlest bites. This is a great rod for letting those deep dwelling fish know who the boss is when we are out there rearing on some fish lips. Take a look at the Austin Custom Rod lineup and for the money they are a great value....http://www.lobybaits.com/index_files/Page956.htm

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Ice is forming

With the winter weather moving in very quickly and some snow along with it, the winter season has finally started and there is a possibility that the ice fishing season may start earlier this year. The lakes and ponds are starting to skim over with the cold air over the weekend but any ice that was there, there will be snow on top of it as well. Ice in general is considered never safe and especially at this time of the season, needs to be respected at all times. Now is the time that we all need to watch the KIDS and family pets from venturing out onto the ice as it is not thick enough to support them. For us anglers this waiting period can and will be painful, but we need to keep safety in our minds and wait until the ice is thick enough to support your weight. For New England this may be one of the longer seasons for ice fishing if the cold weather stays and we don’t get anymore snow. We need to be very careful out there any time that we are near the ice as one false move could create a life threatening situation, so don’t put yourself or others in a dangerous situation. We will get out there ice fishing soon and it hurts to wait, but we need to keep in mind that safety is number one....

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Let Winter Begin

This past weekend was a blow of winter that is coming and for us folks in the New England area a dose of reality that fall is over and winter is beginning. With the cold temps and high winds on Saturday made doing anything outside somewhat unbearable if you were not wrapped up tight. Sunday wasn’t quite as bad as the temps moderated a little and the wind had died down so that the last few things could get done outside before the storm hit. The storm that lashed out on MN and WI at the end of last week approached New England, this gets everyone a little uptight and preparing to be snowed in for who knows how long. As we awoke this morning and found 4 inches of the new white stuff on the ground, the pristine view that one has looking into the woods with the trees covered in snow, makes you stand in awe as to the wintery scene. This is only the beginning of our winter season and was a good primer to get everything running and working and most are ready now for a white holiday season....

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www.backwoodssportsman.com/

If you have an outdoor related question that you would like to "Ask BackWoods Sportsman Outdoors", send those inquiries to the following e-mail address and we will be glad to post a response for you:

outdoors@backwoodssportsman.com

Micro Bait Knots

Once we have figured out the micro baits that we are going to start fishing with, then it comes down to deciding how and which knot to tie the bait to the line with. These baits are very small and for them to be fairly productive we need to tie them so that they hang horizontally. A normal bait is tied so that the knot is tight to the eye of the hook and if we were to do that with these baits, the bait would hang somewhat vertically and is not natural looking. These baits need to hang and be presented horizontally and by tieing a LOOP KNOT we are able to achieve this. By following the diagram and with some practice, these knots will come second nature to the angler and will not even have to think about it when tieing. By creating this loop this allows the bait to hang horizontally and also is able to move easily and naturally as the angler is jigging the bait. The free movement of the bait also allows the fish to not feel the tug of the line as they suck the bait in and this is going to allow more hookup rate successes and more fish on the end of the line. There is other knots that work very well as well but we have found and so have others that the LOOP KNOT is a great knot for fishing with these micro baits....

BackWoods Sportsman Outdoors web site:

www.backwoodssportsman.com/

If you have an outdoor related question that you would like to "Ask BackWoods Sportsman Outdoors", send those inquiries to the following e-mail address and we will be glad to post a response for you:
outdoors@backwoodssportsman.com