Fishing near Alton in Belknap County, NH

Check Prices

• These are the fish from the second night on the damn. There may be a repeat photo in here somewhere. I apologize, they were taken with different cameras and are stored all over the place on my various devices.
• This one was caught on one of those purple jelly worms that I used extensively throughout the year. Once again I was using a bullet weight and an offset hook with a Texas rig.
  
• I used two kinds of Powerbait here. The first were small "Red Shad" worms. The other were blue salamanders. Both were rigged "Texas Style."
• Truth be told I didn’t really bother measuring them out this time, conditions aboard the kayak are a little cramped for that. Maybe I should drill a measuring board to the side. I’m going to guess that this guy was around a pound and a half. I managed to pull in all three bass on my usual power worm/brass weight rig. If I didn’t have the feeling that I’m hardly to the only person to use this combo then I’d patent it!
• nightcrawler with a bobber
• i don't remember which lure i was using at the time... i will try and remember
• large shinner weighted
• i started out using nightcrawlers,i had some bites.i ran out of worms and tried using salmon eggs. i caught 3 trout with the eggs in the pool by the dam.
• drop shot powerbait smelt
• I used a white rocket shad while trolling.

Creature Check Prices

• Brush Hog
• Berkley Havoc Pit Boss

Minnow Check Prices

• Here is the fish I caught, which was the first fish of the day, an okay pickerel. Everybody was using live shiners on their tip ups and jig rods.
• Here is the first pickerel I caught. Came up early in the day. Nice to have some action early to keep you interested. As usual, it took a live shiner.
• This is the first fish I have ever caught using a tip-up device. My other ice fishing catches were done using my normal bass road sitting by a single hole in the ice. I much prefer to do things this way! It was just a small Chain Pickerel however. For bait we were using some live shiners we bought at a local shop. This is also the first time I have ever used those!
• 15 feet off ground

Topwater Bait Check Prices

• Black Jitterbug
• Zara spook puppy
• zara spook puppy
• reble pop r
• Popper and around 7"
• Mostly J7 and J9 rapalas both in Black and Neon Orange

Lizard Check Prices

• Although I got some nibbles on the plastic worms, all of the fish were landed on those plastic salamanders again!
• I used those blue lizards again in this shallow area. They always seem to produce well in this lake one way or the other.
• I caught this little guy on the same rig that I caught the Smallmouth on. A blue lizard texas rig.
• Thry just don't stop biting those plastic salamanders.
• I caught this on the same type of blue lizard that I have been hammering the Largemouth with. I was twitching it along the rocky bottom when this guy decided to play.
• zoom 6" pumpkinseed
• Same as train track 2
• zoom Chartruese lizard
• Rubber worm, spinning bait on the edge of the pond, jig middle of pond

Jerk Bait Check Prices

• wacky rigged senko
  
  smallies and larrys
• Caffiene Shad

Spinnerbait / Buzzbait Check Prices

• i was fishing a homemade tandem rig...weedless green minnow bait and a spinnerbait ...hooked the bas on the spinnerbait...i don't know if the other lure helped or not

Frog Bait Check Prices

• Zoom Horny Toad in Watermelonseed

Stick Bait Check Prices

• 3-5' jerk bait
• deep diveing jerk bait
• black/yellow heddon spook

In-Line Spinner Check Prices

• While plying the northern end of the lake by the mouths of the inlet streams, I tossed around one of those Joe's "Fly Spinners." While I didn't get any trout, it turns out that Sunnies and yellow perch couldn't get enough of it!
• Also included in mess of fish attacking the fly spinner was this large sunfish. To be honest, I'm not entirely sure which species it is. I'm guessing it's a Bluegill, due to it's size and lack of red on the gill cover, or blue "war paint." I forgot how much fun catching these fish on light tackle was! The picture is not so good, but it was dark and this was the best I could do.
• 1st was 6"
  2nd was 1-1/2lbs
  3rd was 10"
• all between 7in and 4in
• 1/8oz Rooster Tail

Dry Fly Check Prices

Worm Check Prices

• I made two trips to Manning Lake, but only managed to catch one smallmouth on the first night. Like all smallmouth, he was a spectacular fighter for his size! I love catching these fish.
• Did a little fishing near the center rock pile. Managed to pull up two nice smallies! Looks like they were hanging closer to the surface this time. Tried throwing some surface baits around but the stiff breeze killed that pretty quick. So instead I kept some soft plastics up near the surface.
• Towards the end of the day, I caught one last largemouth, a parting gift from manning lake. This guy was caught on the same bait as the smallmouth, and a bit farther north.
• After some hours of frustration on Manning lake with all of my usual baits, I tried something new, a brown senko bait with a fire pink tail rigged on a 2/0 worm hook, no weight attached. Near the rocks themselves, this produced a few little smallmouth. Encouraged, I proceeded a bit southward, fishing between the end of the rocks and the southernmost marker buoy. The next 40 minutes were pure insanity. I caught 5 smallmouth here, and hooked into two more that got away. Some of these fish fought like nothing I've seen, making several power runs, diving, diving, thrashing, and jumping a few times!
• Overall, I caught six smallmouth. A few were small, but most were in the 2 1/2 pound class. It seems witht he warmer water of late the bite is a bit more active, and the fish seem to be fighting harder. I hooked into one fish at the end of a full 40 yard cast, and he fought every step of the way back. Some of these fish went airborne a few times, overall making a nice fight.
• There are plenty of nice Largemouth in this lake as well. The also seem to grow fat on the Trout and Smelt that inhabit this lake. Though I also caught a range of different sizes, many were chunky. The biggest measuring 19.5 inches and over three pounds! Unfortunately, my phone was dead, and Dad neglected to bring his. No pictures of this beast exist...yet. The Largemouth were also caught on the magic weightless senkos.
• These numbers are the best I can figure for the number of Smallmouth I caught at Manning Lake over this period. This doesn't even include Dad's haul of a similar number! Everything was caught on the weightless rigged yamasenkos. I caught a range of sizes, but some of the biggest were pushing three pounds on the scale and 19 inches.
• Using the weightless Senko rig, I did manage to pull up a few chunky Largemouth bass. One measured at 17 inches or so, the other at 18 1/2. They were caught on different tdays. The bite was slow, so these fish helped keep the line taught.
• The first day I caught two largemouth and two smallmouth. Both largemouth were decent fish, 2.5 to about 3 pounds. As usual with manning lake, everything was caught on Senkos.
• The weightless Senko once again netted some Smallmouth Bass, but only one was of measureable size. Fortunately, that fish was my nicest Smallmouth so far! At 19 1/2 inches, I could submit this one to the NH catch and release trophy program. My scale read around 3.5 pounds, but considering this fish had the girth to go with the length, a fish like this should weigh over 4 pounds. Perhaps my technique is wrong, or the weight charts are all full of baloney. Either way, it was an awesome fish!

Plastic Swimbait Check Prices

• zoom white flukes
• white zoom flukes
  green yamamoto wacky rigged worm.
  
  booyah boo jog / craw trailer
• white zoom fluke

Hard Baits Check Prices

• 6 & 7 inch on Rooster Tail and Crankbait

Soft Baits Check Prices

• Dropshot
• senkos
• 5 inch senkos
• Dropshot - Too many of these suckers
• 3 Keepers
  1.47lbs, 1lb 2oz, and 3/4lbs
  
  Also 2 shorts
• Dropshot, and C-Rig
  4 Keepers, and 2 Shorts
• All on the Dropshot 1lb 15oz, 1-3/4lb, 1-1/2lb, 1-1/4lb, and 1 just over a lb
• Shakeyhead, and Dropshot. Between a 24" 3lb fatty to 12"
• Dropshot and in the 7" range
• Shakey Head - a 1lber and two 10"ers

Lure (Other) Check Prices

• 5" senko in bluegrass color, weightless
• phoebe lure
• Rooster Tail

Hard Swimbait Check Prices

• i used the bigger crawfish Lure this time
• crawfish lure
• crawfish lure
• crawfish plastic lure
• crawfish Lure

Jigs Check Prices

• same
  i was trowing a jig and my son was throwing a worm
• jig & worm

Crankbait Check Prices

• minnow looking crankbait....
• minnow type Lure
• tried one of my new Lures. small bait fish looking Lure
• deep runner crankbait....
• Koppers Live Target Rainbow Smelt

Bass Jig Check Prices

• black/blue boo jig, no trailer, skirt cut back
• shakey head
• jig, fluke,worm,crankbait
• white zoom flukes
  and brown and green jig with green craw trailer

Wet Fly Check Prices

• Trolling with lead core line

Nightcrawler Check Prices

• slip sinker rig
• i cut nightcrawler in half and fished with alittle weight 10-12" up the line
• nightcrawler with weight.fished the bottom of the water
• on a bobber
• nightcrawler on a bobber above the dam. without a bobber below the dam where i had the most luck
• The same worm/jig rig that brought in the bass caught some perch as well.
• I took mthe advice from a local bait shop employee and put some nightcrawlers on the end of some jigs.
• Small "trout size" worms were the bait of choice here.
• One average nightcrawler and one small red worm sent to the bottom beyond the drop off.
• Silver/Copper 2-way spinner hook.

Jigging Spoon Check Prices

• brass dotted harry lure

Topwater Bait (Popper, Plug) Check Prices

• zara spook
• Green with black spots jitter bug

Blade Bait Check Prices

• micro King
• Micro King
  Caffiene Shad

Marabou / Bucktail Jig Check Prices

• I was using the same jig/nightcrawler combintion as last time.

Grub Check Prices

• Bass Pro Brown with blue flake curly tailed grub
• Brown curly tailed w/ blue flake weightless
• Brown curly tailed w/ blue flak weightless

Live Baits Check Prices

• Worm

Panfish Jig Check Prices

Other Check Prices

• Curious about the trout-like fish I always see swimming by the boat ramp, I tossed in some powerbait on a light rod to see what they were. Turns out, they were some suckers! You know, they fight pretty hard for their size. I'll keep this spot in mind the next time I need some lake trout bait!
• Worms & Orange Powerbait.
  
  Silver/Copper 2-Way spinner hooks, bobbers & bottom fishing.
• Rainbow Powerbait (floating), off bottom.
• Rainbow Powerbait.
• Orange floating Powerbait pellets about 3.5' off the bottom.
• Squid
• berkley gulp nightcrawler powerbait
• power bait baby