Just in Case there was any Doubt....

[Scott Hammer TOXIC]

.....that the team of Mac Daddy and TOXIC yanked some TOADS on St Clair, here is a little evidence. We all had a great time (as always) and as always, Mother Nature tried her best to throw us curve balls with dense fog, lightening storms and rain but we always manage to eeek out a few fish:lol: I have many, many pics but this is just on my camera and the only way you can be sure you have pics of YOU is to take them on YOUR camera:lol: CIII has some but Mac in a cocktail enduced stuper, trying to show off his pics, hit the delete button on his camera!! Many stories to tell, the best friends a guy could ask for and memories that last a lifetime are a few of the reasons we go every year. I was sad that Mini could only hook up with us for 1 day and the wind had to be blowing 25knots plus (so we went into the canals and jerked largeheads ) on that day but there's always next year!! CIII and I have already started planning!! It was great meeting Smitty and getting to see Gene (even though he waxed us the day he was there) and as always Mark, Ken, Mack, Ken's son Johnathon (even though in boat driving school he crushed my spine:lol: ). Special thanks to Mini for letting us trash his boat, it was a lifesaver when Ken's motor decided to act up. I was also disappointed that Teri couldn't make it, she is a one-girl show and we really enjoy her company:wub: Y'all need to get your schedules in order so that you can join us!!



Here is a shot from a day where I only had to wear my lightweight Goretex!!:lol:

And the normal attire for me:

And drum roll please.....here is the pig of the trip (the fish not Mac:lol::lol: ) I am having a special print made of this for his mancave, it was one of the best big fish days I have ever had on the lake. Mac and I jerked 4 pounders like they were baitfish!! I won't hold it against him that while trying to lip my toad of the trip he grabbed the line (my fault for throwing mono...and the braid came out after that) and snapped her off at the boat. You know it's a good fish when even Mac gets excited!!

Thanks again my friends.



TOXIC

 

[Ben Spears]

Awesome

 

[Bob G.]

Awesome toads!!



I fished a small "electric only" lake this weekend in a canoe and it was on fire. Caught 43 smallies, 42 of them on Senkos. Best one was just shy of 5lbs. Half a dozen 4's and bunch of 3's made for some great fishing....even though I couldn't stand up to fish!! :lol:



Was that an open invite for next year??

 

[William H. (Bill) Barham]

All of those fish look great Tox!! Did you happen to weigh any of them? I'm so envious and jealous I could spit. I have never done anything like what you guys do each year, except for a couple of Florida outings, and I'd give/do almost anything to be able to join you guys...And maybe Teri too. Maybe there will be a medical breakthrough by next year and I'll get to join in?

As I seem to be living/fishing vicariously through all of you, I'm very happy Y'ALL had a great time up north.



Uncle Billy

 

[Scott Hammer TOXIC]

We weighed some and most were in the 3 1/2 to 4 1/2 pound range but when you are jerking them one after the other and are on a drift pitching to beds, there's no time to stop!! Believe it or not that long fish in the second picture (23+ inches) was only 3 and change. St Clair has some looooong skinny males. If you look at a St Clair smallie and an Erie smallie, they look nothing alike. St Clair smallies are longer. You can always tell when you hook a smallie that migrated up from Erie, they look like footballs!! We didn't catch any Erie fish this year that I know of.



TOXIC

 

[Dan J.]

Great job fellas!! NICE PICS!!! It's got me itching bad for my yearly 10 day trip to Lac Seul with the BPS guys. That brown bass excitement is tough to beat in the freshwater world of fishing. I'll be heading up in a couple weeks (14th year in a row!) and will definitely think of you guys when the brownies start to jumpin'!

 

[Corey Carrico]

Wow!



I have a buddy in Detroit that is nagging me to make a trip up there but my schedule has been a mess...seeing these pics plus the ones he keeps sending me I do not think I can hold out much longer! I plan to be up there in mid-July for a long weekend and it can not come soon enough.

 

[Jim Corson]

Those are some awesome smallies.... Ya gotta luv them footballs..........

 

[Berry Lindley]

Dang good fish right there.

 

[William H. (Bill) Barham]

I'll be heading up in a couple weeks (14th year in a row!) and will definitely think of you guys when the brownies start to jumpin'!

Dan, you better take some photos too!! I'll be looking forward to seeing the pics and hearing about your trip..



Uncle Billy

 

[Bill McElroy]

That was a GREAT Weekend!! Most fun I've had (that Friday especially) in a long time!!

Tox was a changed man after that experience!!..LMAO...show the man what a smallie's bed looks like and he goes on point like a german shorthair in a pheasant farm!! The best part is,.."He's trainable"...one lost toad on mono and he's hurlin' braid the rest of the weekend.....GOOD BOY!!:lol:



That was GREAT fun!!..like he said,..we caught so many 3-4lb'rs that day we didn't even reach for the camera unless it was a super-toad!:wub:

 

[Scott Hammer TOXIC]

And I would be remiss if I didn't tell what I caught them on...I threw the "Wong Rig" almost 90% of the time. It is perfect when the wind is blowin' and the boat is moving along at a good clip. CIII is quick to throw out a driftsock but they are a PIA and they get your rainsuit drenched when you store the 2 in the same locker, right CIII!!:angry::lol:



The Wong Rig (named after Judy Wong you gutter dwellers) is a 5 inch Senko on a 1/4 oz Gamakatsu Football head jig (2/0 short shank hook), rigged hook exposed. We actually motored up to Kim Stricker filming a Hook n' Look episode and he asked what we were using and I told him the Wong Rig and showed it to him. He got this funny look on his face and I told him the Judy Wong story and he looked at me with a straight face and said, "Well, I thought it was because it looks like a wong", we all cracked up!! It is slimmer than a tube or grub and will hug the bottom better when drift fishing. They wanted my favorite color (297) Green Pumpkin/Black Fleck when the sun was out but they munched the Baby Bass color when it was cloudy. Think of it this way, remember when you were a kid and your buddy held your kite for you and you take off running but the kite nosedives and "walks" on the ground? That is exactly what a football head jig does in the sand. That wobble with 5 inches of Senko hanging off the back just drives them nuts!! As VanDam would say, "They just can't handle it". It is great pitching to beds because the slimmer plastic helps it slice through the air resulting in more accurate casts and it knifes right to the bottom. I became a bed fishing mo-fo and for the longest time would stand there wong in hand:lol: drifting, waiting for the next bed!! What a way to fish!!



Oh and Carlos said that they never had a problem finding us because my red goretex made me look like Santa Claus on the boat, they could see me from Canada.:lol::lol:



TOXIC

 

[Bob G.]

Tox,



I drift fish for smallies in strong winds with a grub on a 1/4 oz round jig head. Would the Wong rig work for this too?

 

[Bill McElroy]

While Tox was playing with his Wong,...I threw a twin-tailed Yammie skirted grub on a weedless jig-head....LOVE those yammie's!!:wub: (Tox,...not to bust your bubble,...but when smallies are on beds like that,.....you can catch'em on a bare jig w/no trailer if you leave it in the bed long enough!! BUT,..that senko is a fish-catchin' mofo fo'SHO!:blink:

 

[Marty Klein]

Like there is any chance fishermen would lie ... :lol::lol::lol:



Nice catches ...

 

[Scott Hammer TOXIC]

Bob,



Round head jugs work but if you drag them they snag more weeds. Round heads work better off the bottom and with a bait that has "movement" like a grub or a swimming senko. I wanted to drag the bottom to go through the beds when I didn't see any to cast to. The advantage to the senko is less water resistance than a grub so when your drifting, it stays in contact with the bottom whereas a grub will plane out higher in the water column depending on line side and speed.



Mac is right, they will hit most anything if you hold the boat and really work a bed but if you are drifting at a good clip, I will have better bottom contact with the Wong Rig than with a twin tailed grub on the same jighead or a tube. And it is what I threw most of the trip. As Annie Lennox would say "Would I lie to you":lol: :lol: Besides, there was a definite color preference as I stated on the Senko's so they DO look at them



TOXIC

 

[Bob G.]

Thanks Tox. Looks like I need to go shopping!!

 

[Mini]

Good job boys. I dont think my boat ever had that many used up pieces of plastic in it...lol



Oh and the next time I see my boat going down the freeway with electronics installed I am gonna hide my keys!!!! I NEVER do that, worth too much money.

 

[Scott Hammer TOXIC]

One word of caution, it is an expensive rig because you are lucky to get 2 fish out of a senko. The Gamakatsu football head jigs use the "collar" bait keeper and one the senko gets pulled down you either bite it and fish a shorter version or put a new one on. I know different makers use different keepers. I actually had a first this year. It was the first time I have EVER straightened a gamakatsu hook (one of the jigheads) on a fish. Musta been a super toad.......or defective hook:lol::lol::lol:



TOXIC

 

[Mini]

With braid you need to use the Superwire hooks. I have straightened lots of Gammie hooks using braid.....

 

[Gene B]

Sounds like another GREAT time! Thanks for lettin' me play. I did weigh one that was a tick or 2 over 5#. :wub: I'm looking forward to next year too. Maybe I can do a couple days next time. I have been slammin' largemouths dropping a Senco knock off in and around holes in the lily pads and docks the last couple weeks.



Gene

 

[Mini]

BTW Tox....two words: SUPER GLUE!!!! Makes any biat last longer on a jig.

 

[Scott Hammer TOXIC]

Yeah I know, I've got a contact for Pro Soft Bait glue which is the schniznit but my wife swipes every tube I get:lol: That stuff glues anything and doesn't leave a residue or get hard like superglue.



TOXIC

 

[Mini]

I buy Zap-a-Gap from the fly shop @ Bass Pro. BIG bottle for $9. Can fix just about anything that Duct tape wont hold with that stuff

 

[Ken Neeley]

Fishing glue sucks...don't use it....just go to your local tackle shop and buy more Senko's!!!

 

[Scott Hammer TOXIC]

I'm writing an article for GYCB on K&D Outdoors as we speak so be nice. Good thing you are a Yamamoto dealer or I couldn't do it. Well I could, but I doubt it would get published :lol:



TOXIC

 

[Ken Neeley]

I love you man.....and your wong rig!!! :wub: