MCS

It was a tilapia die off, water temps in alot of ponds dipped below 55 and even 50 degrees, all the non natives went belly up. All the bass, bluegill crappie, gar, bowfine are fine. Also a lot of ponds whether it be paid maintenance or FWC on bigger lakes kill weeds, they die make muck and then when it gets super cold it releases a lot of the nitrogen and other gases from the decomposition. This in turn causes algae bloom when it gets warm, there was some of that too but not enough to choke out any fish.

My inlaws live in boyce. under the bridge at 50 is decent. there is slow slow water up river. there is a low water bridge that has some decent bank access a few minutes up the road. Lake Frederick was my go to. Can walk around to fish for bass. Go to the pier and rig worms with split shot, or small crappy jigs down on the bottom. Get some nice shell crackers. Watermelon park was a no go even back when I lived there 15 yrs ago. It is overfished. You got to remmember there are apple orchards up there. Alot of folks keep and eat fish any size. Public fishing areas are hit hard, they don't do too well on bass etc. but they eat up all the bait fish. Craws are king tho. Also that stretch of doah from front royal to berryville state of VA stocked with muskie. I believe 42 incher has been caught from that stretch before. This is all off my memory 15 yrs or so ago, I think last time I was up there was 2018. still was the same back then.

Tampa bypass canals, there are access via parks or parking lot under overpasses, use google earth. Search youtube for content, good fish in there, feb should be right in pre spawn/spawn. And congrats on grandson getting a look. As an O's fan hate to see him go to the yanks.

Well, being from MD I know crofton and the patuxent well along with all what is stated. Living in Flordia for a number of years I can fill you in, the snakeheads in Fl are the bullseye, but I am sure they spawn the same, they have a big ball of a good number of fry they guard, they are small and can go through storm drains, small streams etc.......As far as florida is concerned, they don't really do any different or kill everything like they are said to.....Bass, gars and bowfin eat baby snakeheads as do birds and turtles. Gators eat bigger ones....But these are northerns here in ga same as MD, I think yeah they aren't good and hope they don't get prevelant here in GA. I am not sure there would be enough other animals to eat them. I also think they are more in the Potomac because it is a dirtier and slower water body. As far as they go in FL they are more in the canals and ponds in dirty slack water. I never really hear anyone landing them in the glades or O. You will though see folks catch more bowfin, oscars, myans and jaguars in the glades....

https://georgiawildlife.com/invasive-snakehead-fish-caught-gwinnett-county?utm_campaign=&utm_content=&utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery&utm_term= The Georgia Department of Natural Resources’ Wildlife Resources Division recently confirmed the presence of the non-native northern snakehead fish (Channa argus) in Gwinnett County. This is the first documented occurrence of snakeheads in the wild in Georgia.

I'll be moving to Savannah area in about a month....good info guys. Thanks.

Scorpion XT 1000 is great. Buy a set of Hedge hog bearings from the Trap and it will do anything you want. You could also get a set of core 7 ratio gears, they are aluminium tho, if you want to speed things up, instead of the 7.7 brenious gears as another option. Perfect reel IMO.

That's awesome man, I will admit my 10 yr will hold his Az. Mtn King but he would not pick up a wild snake like that. My oldest daughter loves to catch the frogs, toads and lizards.

Ah you have to see the snake man. Besides mildly venomous in the herp world usually means it paralyses its prey, this case, tiny toads, crickets, worms... you know toads secretion would probably have a worse effect on a larger person. It's all relative and yes I agree, leave them alone. This instance I was checking the yard for the venomous species since I have little ones. I knew it wasn't a viper.... I actually thought it was a hatching yellow rat when I caught it.

That area has ton's of ponds. You are fishing post spawn and in the beginning of the slowest time of year. Think of where and when fish would want to hide or feed in the hot ass summer. google earth is your friend and obey all "no fishing" signage....Now Go Do Work.

Thanks man, how u been?

Right! And these are grown men ......I know it's been a while Darren but since we are on the subject of snakes I caught a pretty cool one in the back yard a month or so back......A pine woods snake. Very beautiful little snake.Google it if you get the chance. Interesting enough they are finding out more and more colubrids with slight venom.

Black and blue and candy bug, and junebug. Chatterbait, spinnerbait, jigs, worms, flip/pitch.

Sorry for your loss. I have 5 little ones, I am praying for you and your family. I cannot imagine what your going through. God Bless