Logan S

Our club, Fish On Bass Anglers, fishes the Potomac and most other local waters. Not in Southern MD though - we're based in Montgomery County. Open to all, boater/co-angler draw format. Only the meetings are in MoCo though and we don't have participation requirements or anything like that. If you'd like more info feel free to PM me. Website is in my profile, can't post it due to forum rules (it's only allowed on profile).

Took my daughter fishing the other day and snapped/posted this pic of her helping me wipe down the boat...Just on my own page and I'm not a big social media person. Skeeter Boats saw it and liked it enough to feature it on their page . She's already more famous than me in the fishing world lol ?.

My thought on all this was that lots of people saw the video of the guy casting at the wall and thought the DC would be magic...Allowing them cast full distance with no thumb input. When they winged that first cast out there and backlashed, they thought it was a faulty reel. DC is cool and there are some situations where I think it really shines, but as a general reel day in and day out I doubt the average user would find it to be a huge 'game changer'. I say this a Shimano fan and owner of multiple DC reels.

Great rod, definitely up there. IMO the Megabass XX Shakeyhead is a better rod...I sold my LTB's and replaced them with XX's. I'd fish with an LTB any day though, one of the best...I just prefer MB after having used both.

No experience with Falcon or Suzuki...Although I've heard Suzuki's are a little tough to prop on bass rigs, but obviously possible since people are running them. Supposedly bulletproof and those that do have experience seem to love them. Only thing I'm seeing is that you're underpowering the Falcon 205 with only 200HP. IMO this is a recipe for regret down the road, not just a speed thing...All aspects of performance will take a hit. Not sure if it matters to you, but underpowered bass boats also tend take a huge resale hit if you ever go to sell it or trade it in. I love my ZX250 and can't recommend Skeeter and the Yamaha SHO highly enough...If you go that route I can vouch for the fit, finish, performance, and fishability of the ZX series.

Yep same here, can't let the yaks, canoes, and AL/Jet boats have all the fun

The Potomac and Bay are shallow/grassy also, similar to FL waters in many ways (I lived in FL previously)...90% of the fish I catch there are in 4' or less (with a good chunk of them coming from 2' or less). I still use electronics pretty heavily... Side imaging can map out the grass edges and find isolated clumps that don't reach the surface. I also use it to locate rock/ballast piles and wrecks that don't uncover at low tide. Since the grass changes season to season you can mark productive areas, hard bottoms, or other things so that you can find them quickly even if the visual identifiers are gone. While fishing shallow like this I sometimes turn the sonar off, but I always have my map/GPS on. Mapping and location are just as important overall as sonar. Not saying you're wrong or anything...Just pointing out that electronics aren't useless in shallow, swampy water if you decide to take advantage of them .

I use them quite a bit and think they are the most important accessory on the boat. I don't think it increases my skill, a better way to put it is that they make me more effective. Here's a quick example: This is a spot that's pretty well known because you can see the top of this tire reef when the water is clear...But those single tires out deeper you can't see. But with side imaging they show up clear as day. Sitting at the wheel while scanning I can drop a waypoint on each of those tires and have them appear on my map up front thanks to the ethernet link between my graphs. When I come back to fish them, I have range rings on my map so I know exactly where to cast and can drop a bait right on those individual tires that are 12 to 20 feet deep without ever seeing them with my own eyes. I catch fish on these frequently. Side imaging, linked units, and good mapping can make you very efficient if you put the time in to use them to their full potential. Plenty of other scenarios too.

Fishing has always been #1. Used to have a few other hobbies like wakeboarding, mountain biking, and cars...But I faded away from them. My only other hobby now is diving...My entire family dives - dad is an instructor so it's sort of in my blood. Wish I could do it more but its somewhat limited here where I live. Most of my diving these days is just helping my dad with his classes occasionally. I probably could do more if I didn't fish so much...But fishing is #1 .

Been done and referenced in thread already ...

Excitement as a 4+ goes completely airborne, then defeat as it spits your frog back to you . Also, this is what the Susquehanna Flats looked like the week before the Elite event was supposed to be there...Perfect conditions. Things changed fast to make that postponement happen.

Test is useless since the lines are dry...How often to you fish with dry line? If he did that test underwater I'd be pretty confident the result would be different. In general, mono is similar or better than FC in abrasion resistance and knot strength when dry...But when the lines are wet it flips and FC usually performs better than mono. This is becasue mono(nylon) lines absorb water while FC does not (at least not in significant percentages). IE, FC stays the same whether wet or dry, but mono/nylon weakens when wet due to absorbed water. In real word fishing, FC is generally the best line type in terms of abrasion resistance...But the ultimate abrasion factor is diameter, a thicker line will be more abrasion resistant than a thinner line - Even if one is mono/nylon and the other is FC. This means if you're going to compare 2 lines you should start with the same diameter - Not the strength rating on the label since there is no standard for diameter to rating.

I really like Siebert's Dock Rocker head with the Deep Throat hook (Dredge series). The reverse angle on that hook keeps the trailer from sliding down while skipping. Paint holds up better than most I've used...But any jig will get battle scars after skipping all day.

I frequently catch spawning bass in July and sometimes August on the Potomac and Bay. The main spawning time around here is April and May. My theory is that many wait until the grass is tall/thick enough to give current breaks from the tides. These are flat areas that would be unprotected earlier in the year. Caught a couple spawners just last weekend on the Bay out on the flats actually... Don't think this is the situation you have, but just an anecdote that shows all bass don't exactly 'go by the book'.

Yea I was mostly joking ...I do have a "I need to have everything available to me" type of mentality when it comes to rods/reels though. All of the places I fish I could get by with a 7' M/F spinning rig with 10lb braid (if leaders are allowed, if not I'd make it 8lb FC). I agree picking 1 is easier than a couple...Because you just go with the most utilitarian or universal thing you have.

Sort of related to the topic...But in one of the early BASS Classics Stren was the 'official line of the Classic' and all the competitors used the same line. I can't play along with the scenario...I go crazy enough trying to slim down to 18 or 20 rods in the boat most of the time so getting to 1 would probably make my head explode ?.

I don't have my facts wrong. They encourage anglers to kill snakeheads even if they decide not to keep them (IE - they should be killed but it's not required) with an added caveat that if you are going to keep one, it must be dead.

One thing about this statement.... MD and VA DNR's don't say that you can kill them, they both say that you SHOULD kill them. It might seem like semantics, but that distinction it pretty important when determining the 'official' stance on the fish by authorities. They don't want them in the ecosystem.

If you kill it and chuck it...It'll become a meal for a turtle, eagle, osprey, buzzard or something else within hours. No need to get philosophical about it, the river wastes nothing. I think it's important to realize that the Potomac is a huge ecosystem that's very different from other bass fisheries...It gets influxes of predator and prey species from the bay/saltwater constantly so a new predator like the snakehead is probably not THAT big of a deal in the big picture....BUT, since the snakehead guys seem to be hellbent on illegally stocking them in every other waterway in the area they COULD and probably will end up in a place where they do real damage to the fishery. Black Hill (Little Seneca) comes to mind as one such place where there could be a negative impact and they were just recently found there. If people don't want to kill them on the Potomac that's their call, I think everyone agrees that they aren't going anywhere at this point...But any snakehead caught outside the Potomac should be killed immediately IMO.

That's exactly what his post said....

The 3 major inflow creeks to BH all have dykes and good amounts of grass that filter out the water pretty well...It's rare the 'main' lake areas dirty up. There were couple seasons where construction runoff killed most of the grass and it stayed pretty stained but aside from that it's generally about as clear of a lake as you'll find even in heavy rains.

30 would be tough if you wanted to keep them individually in a 3700 size...The space just isn't there to give each one a slot Check out the Plano FTO boxes. They don't store baits individually, but they don't rub or bang against each other. The hooks go into the slots so you get the rubber-band effect without having to use rubber bands. They're nice boxes - Hold a decent amount of baits and prevent tangles.

I use an alternative solution for your problem...Just pack the boxes so full that moving around and banging against each other is impossible . Seriously though, the Bass Mafia Coffin is good for what you want to do since it has so many divider options. I'd look at the Plano FTO boxes for this too. I used to use Coffins for my hardbaits but I got rid of them because the outside dimensions are bigger but the inside dimensions are smaller compared to normal 3700's...So they don't fit in most 3700 slots (like the ones in my boat) but hold less tackle. I still think the Coffin is the best option for terminal tackle though and still use one for that.

Around here everyone calls that a Rock Bass, including MD DNR. I've also heard it referred to as Red Eye, Goggle Eye, and Warmouth. I've also seen/heard completely different fish referred to as all of those names. Sunfish/Panfish have lots of different regional names and nicknames.

This is an excellent answer to the question...I was going to write something similar but there's no way I would have hit the nail on the head as good as this. Well said.