Turtle135

I am not currently carrying a scale with me but I think I would probably go with weighing them in a net with a rubber bag (less potential damage to the bass).

Anyone have any luck fishing the Tidal Potomac in the winter for largemouth bass? Excluding a warm water discharge area was looking for any insight on what type of conditions you look for and what type of presentations you favor. I've been skunked down there 3 straight trips this month (dealing with surface temperatures around 38 degrees). Since my local lakes are still frozen over I will be taking another whack at it this weekend. Thanks in advance

I'm curious if they were jumping for distance or height? This might indicate that there is something seriously wrong with me!

For largemouth I pretty much exclusively throw jigs. I have been in a jig phase for the last 3 years where I will give up quantity for quality (or at least that is the plan).

It is possible that there are separate groups of bass. We constantly mark fish in the deepest basin in this lake during the winter. They can be maddeningly difficult to catch down there but we do get them with blade baits occasionally. We mark virtually no fish on those 15 foot deep flats adjacent to the creek channel but that is the area you want to drag a football jig in the winter. We are catching the largest bass of the season on those deep flats.

How deep are the lakes where you are fishing? From the results I have had fishing in the winter I suspect that the bass spend much of their time in that warmest/most dense 39.4 degree water but they will make forays into shallower sunlit water when looking for food. That sunlight can get insect hatches going, crayfish may stick their heads out of their burrows, etc. even in the dead of winter. The reason I ask how deep is that I have also read that bass probably will not move more than 10 feet vertically in the water column in one day unless forced to. Swim bladder issue, it takes them time to adjust and become neutrally buoyant again when they make a dramatic vertical move. In the lake I winter fish at I suspect they spend their time 20 - 25 feet down and will move in water 12 - 18 feet deep on feeding forays.

Never even thought about matching colors until I read this thread. I just looked around my place and noticed all the rods I actually use are black (so part of my unconscious decision making process may be in play when I am selecting a rod). My reels are all different colors. I have a tendency to purchase reels based on brand, then price point,

I probably fish alone from my kayak about 95% of the time. Been doing so since 1991. The one thing experience gives you is awareness of a bad situation brewing (usually weather related). Get in the habit of watching the weather forecast and being aware of the clues mother nature gives you. Keeping close to home is a good idea. Most times there is good fishing closer to the ramp if you slow down and work over and area.

My kayak cart, strap it up, head through the woods for those "creative access points", fits in the front hatch (the wheels are flat free)

frequently dream of fishing, almost always it is bass in shallow clear water where I can see them, cast to them and watch them take the lure

When I fish down on the tidal potomac river for largemouth it is something of a "contact sport". My line frequently gets wrapped around pad stems, laydowns and dock posts. Usually after two or three full days of fishing down there I will completely change out my line. I would hate to hook the fish of a lifetime and then have a nick in my line be my undoing. I just save that used line in a box and ship it off once a year to the Berkley Recycling collection center.

Great photo and good luck today! p.s. - I am fishing from a kayak in the winter but I do wear a drysuit and always, always have my PFD on

Well done again Goose52! When I bass fish in cold water (the 38 to 40 degree range) I find it most productive to anchor and work over a spot. Usually I am slowly crawling a jig on the bottom and it is not unusual for me to fish in one spot for 2-3 hours. It is not uncommon for me to be camped on that one spot and then finally get that one bite in hour two or three. You are pulling good bass out of cold water with a much more active presentation. How long do you spend in an area before relocating?

congrats! nice job with the football jig on the better fish

I have been fishing with monofilament line since the 1960's. I do not trust flourocarbon. The mystery breakoffs with flouro drive me to drink (I drink enough already). Flouro has some characteristics that I like but the breakage issues from backlashes and during hook sets make for unacceptable performance in my book. There is a reason that the pros change their flourocarbon line after every tournament day. Flouro line is the today's equivalent of the "Emperor's New Clothes".

I think a lower catch rate is the norm for largemouth bass (smallmouth are a different animal when it comes to cold water). I am in Maryland and when the water temperature is dropping into the 50's in the fall we can get a pretty hot bite going. I think the bass instinctively know what is coming and they feed up to survive the lean months ahead. That 45 to 50 degree range we can still get numbers of bites but the presentation speed starts to slows down. 40 to 45 degrees and the presentation needs to be be winter slow and I will start to have 1 to 2 fish days. Down at 38 to 40 degrees and I will fish all day for one bite. When it gets below 38 degrees it helps that I am an eternal optimist who loves to fish.

I think the website is legit but it looks like they ship from outside the United States (which jacks the shipping charge up to an unacceptable amount). They made some popular kayak items and I had heard years ago that distribution in the U.S. became problematic (looks like they never resolved that distribution issue). Here is a similar product available in the United States: http://www.austinkayak.com/products/9101/Milk-Crate-Buddy-No-Crate.html

"CratePak Camouflage". I was about to write that they stopped selling those in the United States but then I saw this: http://www.precision-pak.net/detail.asp?catid=80500&subcatid=0&pdtid=653135&maincatid=80460

that is a beast of a pickerel! does the average size run large in those ponds?

nice job on the ice cold greenies!

I think these Perception Sport Pescador kayaks are good starters for bass fisherman. This is the 2008 Wilderness Systems Tarpon 120 mold, a roto-molded sit on top kayak. The roto-molded kayaks are generally much more durable. Some of the big box stores sell very thin walled kayaks that do not do well around rocks. The Tarpon mold tracks well and is a stable platform for fishing. http://www.amazon.com/Perception-Sport-Pescador-12-0-Kayak/dp/B00CE5BAMG/ref=sr_1_1?s=sporting-goods&ie=UTF8&qid=1420748632&sr=1-1&keywords=perception+sport+pescador+12 You may want to surf around looking for the best deal, look for "West Marine Pompano" or "Perception Sport Pescador" kayaks. Both use the same mold, some include a seat and some do not so factor that into your final cost.

nice! those Tarpon 120's are great river fishing kayaks

Wilderness Systems Ride 115 (stable enough to stand and fish) with a Humminbird 346c DI Fish Finder My crate with a lid works on other bass too!

Well done. Congrats on kicking off the 2015 season.

That rain was pretty brutal but I was able to get out of that breeze. That's winter fishing, I only got the one bite in five hours. I had the jig motionless on the bottom for at least 30 seconds and she just picked it up. Second biggest thrill of the day was the car heater on the drive home.