sean_steiner

saltwater rapalas has always worked for me, and for live bait just ask around.

If fishing during the day, go to choppy water, stained water, or a combination of both. I don't know the water temperature there, but I'd say they are probably gonna be at least 20 feet down during the day unless they are under rapids. My favorite way to catch walleye for EATING or sheer numbers is find a school and just drift with a jig, after casting a crankbait a few times. The best place to do this is under a small waterfall or below impassible rapids. The fish that wash down from these places tend to just stay put in the rapids and wait for whatever floats down. If you want size, I'd suggest trolling, as the bigger females tend to be alone or in small groups. I prefer minnows as my livebait, but nightcrawlers and leeches work very well. For artificials, my favorites are crankbaits, either rapalas or rebel crayfish, inline spinners, and soft plastics such as cabelas aquaglow, grubs or worms doesn't matter. Swimbaits also works well. I look for rocky areas to fish them with, especially ones with drop offs. During the night, they will come extremely close to shore, and if there are a lot of leeches where you fish thats where they will be at night.

31 smallies isn't bad for one day at all! I'll have to try the monocacy sometime, I've only fished from the shore a couple of times.

It's always amazed me the sheer number of fish in black hills, of any species. The size of the largemouth too has always amazed me, I'll see multiple 20+ fish patrolling the shores together. Just gotta know where and what to fish with!

Unless its the dog days of summer on a lake, I'd say pretty much anytime during the day as long as they havent been fished earlier. Winter of course is out for bass. When it is in the thick of summer, or even during the spring in fall, nighttime is a great time, as the big females come close to shore to feed. In rivers, just as long as it isn't winter you can catch bass throughout the day.

you can always add a small splitshot weight... it doesn't interfere with the action all that much.

try night. they have to eat sometime, and I discovered a while back that during the heat of summer they all come out at night close to shore, including the big females.

Learn through experience about how, when, what, and where to fish. We all have days where nothing bites, our lines keep getting tangled, we snag everything in sight, and say "how in the heck did this happen?!" You just have to keep calm, and just relax and enjoy, as that really is what fishing is all about. This is probably one of the few sports where most everything that happens isn't really your fault. The more you fish, the more you will learn about the sport, and how to best increase your chances of catching fish. If your only goal in fishing is to catch huge fish every time, you'll be disappointed just about everyday. This isn't a sport where you can control how things are going. You aren't playing the same exact game the opposite team is playing. The opposite team (the fish) doesn't even know you are there or what you are trying to do, because if they did no one would ever catch one on a rod and reel! You can't control that in muddy river water bass won't bite, or that the fish just don't want to go after your favorite bait today. You can't get worked up too much about things which are out of your control, as you will always end up angry,

I hunt both both and firearm, as in my area if you bowhunt you get a jump start on the firearms deer season. Bowhunting is much much more challenging than firearms, but it is so much more rewarding. Theres a much smaller target on deer for bow, as it is not advised to aim anywhere with bone, or at the head and neck for obvious reasons. You also have to be much closer with a bow. You need to practice practice practice until you can hit where you want on a target every time. I would suggest getting those decoy deer with the vitals shown, or a paper target of the same. You do not ever want to make a bad shot on a deer, its even more important with a bow. and I agree with raider, I use a recurve. I've found the compound bows to be complicated, although they do work great if you know how to use them. The ultimate challenge is hunting wild boar with a recurve

They will breed in the feeder streams to lakes, but from what I've read from the natural resources guys in maryland is that the eggs die because once they enter the lake they sink to the bottom. Don't know if this is true for hybrids. Might be different where you guys are, be interesting to know..

Don'tbe afraid to go big on the bait. I usually just hook them through the lips, for the bigger ones only through one lip just like you had just caught the bait. Here in Maryland, saltwater rapalas and saltwater plastics artificials work the best, I don't know the prey over there in arizona though. Stripers tend to be found in very loose schools, although the big females may be alone. You catch one, sit for a while in the same spot and you may catch more.

Yeah, many people don't know about the largemouth in seneca. Of the places I've fished, the best is right after rt 355 to a littleways past 270. Fish the deep slow moving pools. During the fall you can actually see the largemouth close to the surface. There are a few places to park on game preserve road to get to them. I haven't really fished much downstream, although I've seen monster suckers, and a few catfish. There was a time too for a while where I caught smallmouth up to 16 inches far up seneca creek past 118 towards watkins mill high school, but I havent seen them for a few years. They are probably found in good numbers downstream farther.

your best bet is to fish at night, after the sun has been down for a few hours.

Small world! Yeah, I've seen your post on black hills aka little seneca lake, and my advice on that lake is to use what most people don't, and go where most people don't. Or risk the fine and night fish. That lake is the most temperamental body of water I've ever seen. And I know use bass fisherman don't use live bait, I would have to suggest it if nothing else is working in black hills, with barbless circle hooks. Circle hooks almost never are swallowed, and if they are you can just cut the line and the barbless hooks just fall right out eventually. I caught my biggest bass in that lake playing around with a gamefish spoon meant for lake trout in northern canada in the deepest area of the lake by just letting it up and down like a jig. I didn't expect to catach anything, and when I hooked something I thought for sure it was a tiger muskie. Turns out it was an almost 9 pound bass. They are in there, just not in places you would expect! Also, everything that is in that lake washes down from the dam into little seneca creek. If you walk up from the seneca lodge in clopper through the woods all the way to the railroad, you'll notice a huge area of relatively deep slackwater caused by the damming of washed down logs. I have pulled out monster catfish, huge sunfish, as well as a 5 pound largemouth. I even once hooked a 25 inch tiger muskie, and as I had it on the bank it snapped the line and went back into the water. This pool is where all the washouts from the lake settle into. I've never seen anyone else fish it either.

You should try the cacapon at some point in morgan and hampshire counties in WV. It rarely gets muddy with rains. However, it's not deep enough for a boat, so you would need a canoe or a kayak, or to wade and shore fish. People will say the upper parts of the capon are the best, and they are, but the lower capon is still much better in my opinion then the potomac. I'd also suggest not using a canoe in august, as you'll be walking and pulling more than fishing lol. I find it a better smallmouth fishery by far than the potomac, I've never fished the susquehanna, but by the looks of your photos it must be nice! I've only driven over and it seen how huge it is.

I've caught snapping turtles many times while fishing at night for walleye and bass. If you shine a flashlight in clear water at night you may be suprised to see how many snapping turtles are actually in the water!

During the summer, the hammerhandles will be in shallower water around stick piles and weeds. The huge ones however, will be deeper near drop offs or choke points where baitfish (baitfish for pike that size could be a 20 inch walleye) of larger size are concentrated. I find the easiest place to catch pike of this size is near tumbling rapids, where they lie in wait near rocks to strike at whatever floats down. Otherwise, I'd troll with a huge spoon or rapala along rocky drop off areas. Big pike can be a lot more picky then their younger brethren. If artificials don't work, see if you can find sucker of large size and put them on a bobber and wait. Lazy I know, but I have caught some of my biggest pike this way!

I live near the chesapeake bay in Maryland, and I can tell you those are in fact medium sized, maybe even on the lower end of the medium sized scale. Stripers are the premier tidal fish here, and I have seen absolutely humongous stripers pulled out the of the bay. Another good thing about stripers too is that they can survive in freshwater, either as a hybrid or pure. They don't breed however in the freshwater lakes however, and have to be continually stocked. They do reach those giant bay sized proportions in lakes that are large enough to support them, as long as they aren't taken out.

Caught some while fishing for largemouths when I was really little, and noticed how a ten inch smallmouth put up more of a fight then a 5 pound largemouth. I've been hooked ever since. I've caught many huge 20+ inchers in Canada that have pulled a motor boat with two people, fishing gear, a cooler, and a dog. Pound for Pound, no other fish can match their pure power.

My name is also Sean, live in montgomery county in Germantown. Private ponds are the best places in my area to catch big largemouth, as they aren't as wary. My biggest was almost 9 pounds in a privately owned pond. In this area, I fish seneca creek and the potomac by pennyfield lock. You'd be suprised at the size of some of the largemouth I've pulled out of seneca creek, probably wash-downs that have actually stayed to breed. Also, the sucker run is very productive, and they fight very hard. For the potomac near me by pennyfield, look under the star grass for bass. There are also huge numbers of catfish in huge sizes here for the catfisher, I once caught a 22 pound channel while throwing in a small spoon for bass. I have a house in west virginia by great cacapon, and for smallmouth nothing surpasses the cacapon. I've caught a couple smallies there slightly over 20 inches. It's the perfect habitat, relatively swift moving water with lots of riffles. 90% of the creek has a rocky bottom, perfect smallie habitat. I've had 50+ smallie days there multiple times, not counting all the sunfish and catfish I bring in. It's a very clean and beautiful river. My favorite place however is canada, specifically northwestern and north-central ontario. If you want to experience smallmouth bass fishing where you rarely catch fish below fifteen inches, this is the place to go. Also, they aren't wary at all and will take literally anything you throw in the water, no matter what the size. The only problem is getting the lure in their field of view. It's a much different experience from smallmouth fishing down here. The biggest smallmouth I've ever caught up there was a 25 incher, he even pulled our motor boat for a short time. I also love fishing for pike, nothing puts up more of a fight. The biggest of those I've caught was a fat 47 incher, I have a scar on my arm from that pike. Walleye are my second favorite, behind smallies. They aren't fighters until they get over 24 inches, but they make great eating. The larger ones are a good fight, and I've caught many over 14 pounds in Canada. If you are a smallmouth fanatic, I'd suggest taking a trip to a remote lodge that offers very good smallmouth fishing. You'll be amazed how you can catch smallmouth over twenty inches with every cast, and how aggressive they are. It's not like the smallie fishing here.

I don't know if live bait such as worms is allowed, or what the minnow and baitfish restrictions are for the lake. I'd use live bait of any kind if nothing else is working, if it's allowed. Hellgrammites are one of the best, but I don't know if they have them in dammed lakes. For artificials, twitch minnows, powerbait worms, rapalas and storm crayfish are my favorites.