Tuckahoe Joe

Hello and welcome!

Welcome to BR!

Dang man...thats a nice fish!

Why does a squirrel swim on his back? To keep his nuts dry!

KVD 1.5 but Im planning on giving the Bomber Square A and the Bandit Squarebills a shot this year.

I got skunked this weekend too. The major downside to bank fishing is that theres only so much water available to you and if the fish aren't there, then thats it. Hopefully they'll be moving shallow soon and getting a bit more active.

Welcome! Ive never fished any farm ponds myself but I hear they can hold some really nice fish. I think the MD state record was caught in a farm pond.

Oddly enough, I have never smelled the stinkbug smell. And Ive crushed more than my fair share of them. I dunno. Maybe I just have a really poor sense of smell. In this case, I guess that makes me lucky.

Went out Sunday morning for about 2 hours with approximately 0 bites. Wouldn have stayed longer but I had to get home and get some sleep since I had to work at 5. Went out a few times recently in the mornings with no luck. Gonna go out Thursday around noonish and try my luck. Hoping that the sun being higher in the sky will make a difference. They gotta start biting sooner or later.

I don't use the rod to lift fish out of the water if I can help it. When I get it right up close to the shore (or boat if you have one) I grab the line a couple feet above the fish and then lift it out. If its a pike or pickerel, grab it behind the head or by the gills. If its a bass just lip it but if its a biggun, make sure you don't hold it horizontally becuase you could break its jaw. Broken jaw can equal dead fish. Then ues needle nose pliers to remove the hook. The pliers arent really neccesarry if its just a worm hook or something but they're a must for treble hooked lures.

Ah...thank you. I kind of assumed longer rod=longer cast but I didnt' realize it was a trade off between distance and accuracy. I may look into a longer rod. Since I do all my fishing from the bank, that extra distance would open up a good deal more water to me.

Thanks for that Hooligan. So heres another question. How much more castability would I get from a 7 ft rod as opposed to a 6'6'' rod of the same power and action? Does that extra 6 inches really make that much of a difference?

http://www.orkin.com/other/stink-bugs/

Wow...thanks you guys! Both of your explanations were really thourough. Im gonna bookmark this thread and the link in RW's post for future reference when buying new rods.

I hear you guys talk a lot about rods with fast or extra fast tips, slow, moderate, ect. To be honest, Im a little lost on this subject. What does the rods action actually affect? Im sure that the different actions are better for different lures/presentation but I don't really know the difference. Any info is greatly apprecitaed. An example or two and what each action is best for would be great.

Oh my god, I freaking hate those things! I don't know where they're getting in but once it warms up, there will be like 5 or 6 of those things in my house at any given time. I had one buzzing around my living room the other night while I was spooling up my new reel. Stupid thing wouldn't land. It just kept bouncing off the light bulbs in my ceiling fan. Plus they always land all over the screen on my back door and I have to flick them all off from the inside before I let my dog out. Bugs are the thing I hate most about spring and summer but like Rooster said, it means its almost fishing time.

Ha! Slime rockets...I love it! As for the law, sounds stupid to me. Good thing you got out of that state when you did.

X's 2. All the lakes near me are only really fishable from the dams and maybe 1 or 2 other places along the bank. Id kill for a chance to be able to fish all that unaccessalbe water from a boat. Congrats on your first fish of the year!

Welcome to BR!

X's 2. Thought so but the OP made me stop and think to myself "wait....really?". So I went to the BPS website and I checked a couple brands that I use. Strike King and Bandit both make them with/without rattles so Im sure the other companies do too.

Rapalas are great but kind of pricey. I like the Strike King Bitsy Minnow for trout. Its basically a tiny 1/8oz version of a KVD 1.5 and they're only like $3.50 at Wal Mart.

Amen to that brother. I grew up in Dundalk and moved to the Eastern Shore last year. Now when I go back to visit my parents, I just can't wait to get back on my side of the bay bridge. Planning on going out Sunday morning. Ive heard a couple people say they've had luck with squarebills but I dunno. The water still seems pretty cold. Looking forward to some warmer temps. I can't wait for some sweet topwater action!

I mostly use 4/0 EWG hooks but occasionally Ill use some standard offset hooks. I also have some 5/0 keel weighted hooks for the rage rig. My thing is I need to work on what hooks are best for which baits/presentations.

Good job buddy...keep em coming!

Congrats on the new boat and a good trip! Looking forward to seeing the pic.