Tuckahoe Joe

Oops...looks like I posted this one in the wrong forum...oh well. The color was Gold Black. I've also had success with Green Tomato. The retrieve was steady and fast. I'd cast it out and burn it in. The lure was only running about 6 inches to a foot under the surface. I did well with the Red Eye Shad this past spring into early summer and now it looks like the lipless crank bite is picking back up as the weather cools back down. I've caught a lot of nice size bass and quite a few chain pickerel with this lure. Easily my favorite lipless crank.

When I first got to the lake today there was already someone fishing in the spot where I wanted to start. So right off the bat, my game plan was thrown into disarray and I was forced to fish off of a dam where I've never had much luck. Started out by pitching soft plastics to shoreline weeds and patches of lily pads with no luck and it looked like the day wasn't shaping up to be a very good trip. After a while I figured I'd try the exact opposite. I walked out to the middle of the dam and started casting a Red Eye Shad out into open water. On my second or third cast I got bit. I never saw the fish so I don't know if it was a huge bass or a huge pickerel or heck, maybe I snagged a huge carp...I dunno. But whatever it was it would have easily been the biggest thing I'd ever caught. I felt like Jeremy Wade from River Monsters. I actually had to put my weight into fighting this fish and I was still gaining little line if any at all. It ended up getting off after about 20 seconds and as I was burning my RES back in disgust, this hit it... Well I figured since I had 2 strikes in one cast, that there was probably something to the RES today so I kept throwing it. A few more casts and I hooked up with 2 more. I also had 3 more get off. Two were small like the first one and another one was about the size of the second. Around the time I was getting ready to leave, the guy who had been in my original spot came over to the dam and started fishing the grass and pads that I had started on. Just as I was getting ready to pack it all in, I had one more bite and it turned out to be the biggest fish of the day. Fortunately the guy had come over and I was able to have him snap a pic that would do the fish a little more justice than just holding it out at arms length. I wish I didn't have to work today cuz I would have stayed and I know I could have picked up a few more fish but hey, what are you gonna do?

Those fish are beastly!

Happy birthday, Roadwarrior!

That's pretty funny. Never had one of my dogs pee on anyone but when me and my wife first started dating we were shooting pool in my parents basement. She was bending over the table about to take a shot. When my brothers dog (who is usually really friendly) randomly came up behind her and bit her on her butt.

When they stock trout in the creek by my house, your elbow to elbow with fellow anglers for the next 2 weeks. While I've never used it, most of the people I see fishing for trout are using a ball of Power Bait on a small hook under a float. However, I use inline spinners or small crankbaits with pretty good success. I've caught them on inline spinners as big as a 1/4 oz. (because that's all I had at the time) but you'd be better off with 1/8 oz. or smaller. As for crankbaits, I like the SK Bitsy Minnow. I use a ML rod but that's just cuz I already have one and don't feel like putting out money for a rod that I'm only gonna use maybe a dozen times a year. Ideally, I'd go with a light one. For line, I use with 4 pound test.

Good looking fish!

That's probably it right there. You'd be surprised. There's a small pond in a park that I used to live by where more than a few piranha are caught at every year. And it gets pretty cold in MD. I personally know at least 2 people that have released them there but I doubt there are that many released to account for all the ones that are caught so I would assume there's a breeding population, small though it may be.

Good fish! Pike/pickerel seem to love spinnerbaits and I've had them trash more than a few of mine as well. All you can really do is try and bend them back into shape or go out a buy some more and keep on fishing.

Last season I had a lot of luck with squarebill cranks in the fall, mainly the KVD 1.5. Lately it's sure been feeling like fall, especially in the mornings and at night and I've been crushing fish with spinnerbaits.

Not sure what the depths are on the lakes your fishing. I like the KVD 1.5's, Bomber Square A's, Rapala Shallow Shad Raps, and Bandit 200 Series for depths 5-6 feet and less. That's really the max depth on the lakes I'm fishing so I don't really have any experience with anything that goes deeper. Or you could go with a lipless crank. They can be fished at any depth depending on your retrieve. For lipless cranks I like the Red Eye Shad.

Any 100+ fish day is an awesome trip in my book...congrats!

I'm with everyone else....in the 4 pound range....nice fish whatever the weight!

That's a good problem to have...nice fish!

Nice fish! Sam's one of the guys on here that can give you one of those answers that sounds like its strait out of an encyclopedia. He's helped me out with more than a few questions.

Good looking smallie!

Ha! You actually posted a pic of a skunk. I lol'ed on that one. Nice fish! While self pics do kind of suck (that's all I'm able to take most of the time by the way), I usually look at the person's hands to try and give it some scale. I figure my 4 fingers are about 3.5-4 inches across and that's probably close to average for most of the people on this site so I'd call that fish about 14-16 inches and a fat one at that. Nice one!

Nice fish! I often try to take the pic with the lure still in the fishes mouth as well. It helps to give it some scale. Spinnerbait bite has been hot for me lately. Also been catching some on crankbaits. Mainly the Rapala Scatter Rap Crank.

Hey guys. Went out with the wife this morning and she asked me a question I didn't have an answer for. She had left her purse at home so she didn't have to worry about leaving it in the car and she was wondering if DNR stopped us, would they want to see her ID to check it against her fishing license?

Good looking sandwich! Fish aren't too bad either