Logan S

Lot's of Elite Series pros fishing the river this week. Shared some water with Cliff Pace and also saw Tak and Adrian Avena last weekend. Saw Ike, Hank Cherry, Carl Jocumsen, Jason Christie, and Davy Hite yesterday. If you want a chance to bump into them hit the river this week, I think it's the last week before it goes off limits for their August event. As for a report...The river was a little tough this weekend, but it's still 100% better than it has been the last 2 years. Frog, spinnerbait, and chatterbait accounted for most of the fish in my boat. Winning weight in our tournament was 13-6 (which was me ) and it was close with a lot of 10 to 12 lb limits weighed.

I love my Stratos...But I also wouldn't mind riding in pretty much any of the other brands either. They are all 'good'. I'm about 2 years out from my next boat, it might be another Stratos but it could very well be something else. Unless there is a some kind of feature that is very specific to one brand that you absolutely must have, I would just look for the best deal you can find on any of the major/popular brands...That was my plan for my current and previous boats and it will be the same for my next one .

I have to say, if the steering is as responsive as it appears in the video I'm pretty interested...It looked pretty darn quick. The pedal looks to be an electronic version of a cable-steer so you have that reference point without having to look at the head. I'm a die-hard cable-steer guy and a MotorGuide fan to boot, but this has my attention....IF its as responsive as a cable-steer with the cable-steer style pedal and deployment it could very well be a game changer. That's a big IF though, I'd have to test drive one myself before dropping the cash on one.

I tried to get one ordered through my local shop that's a Dobyns dealer, Dobyns told him they won't be shipping out til the end of the month. Seems like it's pre-order only right now.

I peg my weight and use a straight shank hook instead of an EWG. Comes through grass very well. You can also change your weight to help you...Going down to a 1/8 will let it sit on/near the 'top' of the submerged grass a little better and going up to a 1/2 (or heavier) will let it slither its way through a little better. Which one you choose depends on whether you think the fish are hunkered down in the grass or cruising around the edge/top. The 3/8 that you're using could be just the right amount to hang you up. Bait choice plays a role too...For example, a Rage Bug will 'grab' (but not necessarily snag) grass more than a Pit Boss will...Even though both are creatures/craw baits. Play around with weights and baits and you'll find something that works...But pegging the weight and a straight shank will probably help you a decent amount with no other changes.

They are worth it to me. Doesn't mean I don't also have LC's, Rapala's, Smithwicks, Duo's, etc, in my boat...But more often than not my jerkbait rods have MB baits tied on. I've never broken a bill on mine, but I don't bang them off rocks either. If I'm fishing around rocks and my goal is to make contact with them, I'll use the 110 FX...The folding bill seems to take a pretty good beating (or I'll use a Pointer or X-Rap).

Supposed to be very good...Haven't tried it yet myself.

One mini snakehead and one monster snakehead from the Potomac today...

For me personally, it's not about pulling the bait away from the fish since I don't really subscribe to that theory either. IMO the bait behaves differently on the glass rod...No scientific evidence to back it up, just what I see/feel on the water. For some reason chatterbaits move through and shed the thick/heavy/sloppy grass we have on our tidal rivers here much better on the glass rod, in my hands anyway.... I actually hate glass rods in general so I wouldn't use it if it didn't make a difference for me .

Pohick is my favorite ramp on the river...Easy to get to for me from MD and a great mid-river location. FYI, the no-wake in Occoquan goes all the way down to just past Belmont Bay Marina. I like fishing in Occoquan but I hate that no wake zone too! Anyway, welcome from a semi-local guy .

7'2" MH/Regular Zillion Glass with 15lb flouro for me . I don't like the glass rod for spinnerbaits, but it's awesome for chatterbaits IMO. This Zillion MH is rated closer to many other Heavy powers, 1/2 to 2oz. It's very similar rating-wise to the Evergreen rod Hite uses...Which is why I decided to try it initially.

While it's a good line overall, I have found Sniper to be less abrasion resistant than I'd like. You could bump up to 20 lb or try a different brand. Red Label isn't as nice as Sniper, but does better around rocks....AbrasX is very nice and holds up well around rocks/wood, but it's more expensive when you get into the 15lb+ lines. I typically use 15lb Red Label for C-Rigs, but I don't deal with a lot of shell beds around here If I'm going to be in especially rocky areas I might bump up to 17lb AbrazX....But that's a rare occasion for me. The 15lb RL holds up well to the 'normal' rocky/gravel points I typically throw a C-Rig on. I would never use braid for the situation you describe...Would get torn up even worse than what you're using now.

The ALX Brawler I picked up recently is an awesome rod...It's a 7'6" XH/F that's lightweight and balanced. Very impressed with this rod, especially in the $200 price range. My last tournament (where this fish was caught ) and my next one are on tidal water so it'll be dedicated to flipping...But the next two after that on lakes so it'll get a reel swap for some flouro and a 3/4oz jig for deep water fishing. Don't see ALX mentioned a lot on here so I figured I'd toss it out there .

MLF is a dink-fest, so they use smaller baits in order to potentially get more bites. Before I get blasted, I watch and enjoy every episode of MLF...But it's a numbers-only game in that format. When a 15oz. bass is a 'game changer', it's a dink-fest .

Personally, I would hate to see the sport changed drastically in order to suit a TV audience. I think BASS Live is awesome exactly how it is, the slow times are often just as interesting to me as any other....If you're a tournament angler you've been in those tough spots, it's awesome to see how some deal with it and either figure it out or get spun out. I also don't believe that TV audience exists. When ESPN bought BASS they tried to do almost exactly what some are saying. I believe they even aired 2 hours of live coverage on ESPN2 a few years back. ESPN also sent the Mike and Mike radio show to broadcast live from the Classic once or twice. I even remember ESPN making a BassCenter show that had the SportsCenter theme music and everything, it failed miserably and was cancelled. ESPN really tried to make it mainstream and it didn't work. There were also the MegaBucks tournaments where it was a set 'course' and each angler had a certain amount of time on each 'hole'. Heck, there was even a time when they incorporated a boat race time trial type of thing to some tournaments (not sure if that was under ESPN or not). Tons of stuff has been tried, none has worked. The simple fact is that the audience is just too small and probably always will be...There are avid tournament anglers that don't even follow or care about the top level tours (I know several). Changing the format isn't going to make them care, in fact it will probably drive some away since many are like me and don't want to see the sport altered significantly to suit the masses. ---------------------------------------------------------- On to KVD, just another example of why he's the GOAT. Should also help put to rest the 'one trick pony' thing too since he was sight fishing, using spinning tackle, and flipping for most of his fish .

The knot is always going to be the weakest point unless there is other damage to your line. If you're talking about the knots breaking when the line is 'supposed' to break, like pulling off a snag, I wouldn't worry about it. If you're having unexpected break offs that you are 100% sure are at the knot, it's probably a poorly tied knot. Re-tying frequently helps, I'm sure knots can weaken over time even if there is no visible damage. The only other variable is using appropriate line size for the technique, which we have to assume you are since you didn't specify the flouro size and/or what you were doing. I have never seen a noticeable difference in knot strength in any of the brands I've used...But FWIW, I'm a fan of Seaguar lines - Specifically Red Label with a little AbrasX here and there.

Yep. Here on the Potomac it's the hot, humid, glasses fogging, sweat-down-your-back type of days that usually lean heavily to frog fishing....Especially with the right tide. It's usually not 'wide open' for me on days like this, but more of a predictable way to get some quality bites. Low-light/overcast is usually productive for most moving baits or topwater in the warmer months so its sort of a default that frogs would work well too....But when I think frog fishing specifically, I think about hot and sunny .

The wind itself usually doesn't change my plans...But if the lake/river I'm fishing is big enough to where it'll get rough I might change ramps or choose not to run very far. 20+ MPH on some places is no big deal, but 20+ from the right direction on the Potomac main river or the Upper Bay is downright dangerous.

Those of us with Smallmouth in our lakes/rivers sometimes like to offer them something a little more bite-sized .

Awesome! The Rage Bug has become one of my favorites, I was hoping for a Jr size and a Plus size one day....Halfway there

Does this count as tackle storage 'on the bank'?

You can always catch a bass by fishing docks on Anna...Doesn't matter if it's January or June. Might not be the best or most productive pattern for a given day, but it rarely fails. This time of year shade is as important as any other cover/structure, not all the fish go deep and/or chase shad .

I have the Ronin and really like it a lot, but it's not a powerful rod. The action is definitely Mod-Fast and to qualify that further, it's closer to a Moderate than it is to a Fast (if that makes sense?). I use it for small jerkbaits and it's great in that role...It can launch a Pointer 65 on 6lb flouro further than anything I've ever tried. I originally was hoping to use it as a dock skipping rod since the ratings suggested it had some power to it, but there's no way I would feel confident with it in that role with the way I fish so I'm sticking to my M/XF LTB's. The Ronin does well with drop-shots and other open/nose hook type stuff, but for stuff like tubes and shakeyheads I think you'll want something with a little more power. I guess it comes down to your fishing style and locations. For me, when I fish a tube it's usually on places like Conowingo/Susquehanna where there's lots of rocks/wood/current so I like to have some power. For shakeyheads it's usually docks and/or deeper water, so again I like some backbone. I don't regret buying the Ronin since I throw the small jerkbaits quite a bit (especially at DCL ), but it's not what I thought I would use it for. For the stuff you describe I wouldn't personally recommend it. Hope that helps a little.