fishwizzard

Hah, call the consulate and complain, maybe I can get a free trip over there for the trial, it would be fun to loose some lures on the other side of the Atlantic!

Yes, the bail snaps shut and your lure keeps flying. The lack of the wire means you have to manually move the line onto the roller after the cast. For lobbing a sonar out there it should not slow you down too much.

Neither of those options are out of the question, but my friend saw them too!

If you are going to use a cheap spinning reel, cut the bail wire off. I have sent a few heavy saltwater lures sailing to portugal when the bail on my surf reel snapped shut during the cast.

That describes every good spot I know of around here. Observed an odd thing the other day. I decided to hit the North Track of Pax Refuge and at one of the ponds I observed 3 different pairs of large bass sitting in very shallow open water right up at the bank in different spots around the pond. It was like 90 out and cloudless. I assume the spawn is long over and I was consistently catching other bass throwing lures way up under shaded cover and under pads, which is what I expected. When I noticed the shallow bass I would cast to them and they would hit the lure violently, but I was unable to hook any of them. Any idea what was going on?

I have a pair of Costas in the discontinued yellow lense and a pair of Smiths in their pink "ignitor" lenses. I got them both from online deal sites so nighter of them fit especially well, but I like them both a lot. I am still looking for a pair that actually fits me well, but I found that I really prefer lenses with high contrast and high light transmission. To me the main advantage of the more expensive glasses is the scratch resistance. I have like a dozen pairs of cheaper polarized glasses and they all have scratched super easily, while my two nice ones have had the same level of treatment and use and are still both completely clear.

The yak only weighs 50lbs, but the drive and seat have to be around half that added on top. It's a fun little boat.

Honestly it isnt bright enough, not to match my kayak anyway. I like super bright rod highlights, but not the full blank being colored.

What kind of rod is best for like 1/2oz single hook spoons like a Timber Doodle or Silver Minnow? I have a Doodle that I picked up because I liked the name and while I have thrown it a few times, it seems like if I go light on the rod I risk not being able to get a bass out of cover or set the hook as most lures of this style seem to have really thick/dull hooks, but when I go heavier I can't cast it well and can't get it to skitter across the surface as well.

I have started fishing the Ika a bit and am having a lot of luck with it. In addition to several nice bass I have caught a few sunfish, a eastern water snake, and a large bullfrog. All caught casting to pads and then slowly popping it into the water. I am still up in the air about what hook to use. So far I am using a 5/0 Owner Rig-n-Hook and a 4/0 Owner Beast. The Rig-n sits close to the plastic, is very weedless, and gives decent hooksets, but the plastic's lifespan is poor. The Beast sticks out a bunch and snags a lot. But it gives almost perfect hooksets and I have gotten 6-8 fish on a single plastic with them.

The dropshot rod for sure. I have a Premier 6' L/F spinning rod and it is even a little too soft to get a good hookset.

The only issue with them, other than cost, is that they get gummed up more easily than a single large caster. Depending on the sawdust/dirt/grit level in your garage, it might never be an issue, but if after some time they get harder to move, take a look at the rotation points and give them a clean and relube. And yea, the first time I worked at a place with enough budget to afford them it was like magic moving huge set pieces around with just a gentle push.

In theatre those are called "zero throw" casters and they are the bee's knees for easy and careful moving of heavy stuff.

I only started fishing jigs this past winter but have had some decent luck with them in smaller ponds. But I have only ever caught when swimming them, maybe only one or two when the jig was falling or on the bottom. I have noticed a trend for bigger fish as well. I have been breaking my "per pond PB" more and more frequently sense I threw jigs into the mix. This one came from like a one acre pond, it was almost twice the size of the bass I usually catch in there.

I prefer the blank to be a darker, flatter color, I very much love super bright/loud highlights and hardware.

So I have been giving swimbaits a bit of a go and on Friday got my first hit on a Hudd Gill. Sadly the fish shook off right as I was reaching for her. While I was standing there looking at where my bass disappeared I saw my line moving off, grabbing the rod again I hooked and began to land the same bass, who had grabbed the lure sitting on the bottom. But again she shook off. I am trying to be more fearless about throwing swimbaits, but I don't think I am ready for an exposed hook yet, but man losing that fish twice was really annoying. It less annoying news I am learning to really love chatterbaits. Now that I have a heavy rod I can fish them on without shaking my wrist off, I am really getting into them. Got this guy yesterday on one yesterday morning. I switched ponds and picked up six around this size; Which is not impressive in and of itself, but what is impressive is that they all came from the same wacky rigged senko! Sadly the senko went flying off on the next cast and resulted in a nasty backlash. I have been fishing wacky rig senkos on a casting combo for a few months now but this is the fist time that happened. I called it a day and went to try a new bbq place in Brandywine. It's called Texas 202 and oh man it is good. Maybe the best texas-style sausage I have found around here and the brisket was great as well. It's a bit out there but well worth the drive. This is the area I fish, send me a PM to remind me and I will send you some spots tonight. I have never found a great spot, but have a few decent ones I can share. But in general around here, google maps is your friend. Most every pond in a park has some bass in it and there are a few private but unposted spots as well.

I have a small rubber trout net and I like it a good bit. It is too small to fully contain a larger bass, but it works great as a lift-assist for bank and kayak fishing where I can't be sure of getting a good grab on a lip due to terrain or the boat moving. Sadly I still have yet to hit on a good way to carry it on the bank so rarely bring it along. The other day I "caught" my first fish on a swimbait only to have her thrash off right as I went in for the lip. If I had had her butt in the net I bet I could have landed her.

I am giving frogging on 25lb Defier mono a shot. Mainly because I am fishing medium swimbaits on the same combo and figured that I would rather miss a fish then cast-off a $25 rubber bluegill. I have only had one hit on a frog so far, but I hooked and landed him, so a 100% success rate!

I fish from the Mill up to the first set of falls a few times a year. There are smallies in there in decent numbers, but I have never really gotten one of any real size. Above the fall is nice as well, but takes more scrambling to fish well. The patapsco river is also full of smallies and has a ton of spots to access it from.

I use their 2/0 and 3/0 offset worm hooks a ton and love them. They do rip up plastics but I get good hookset ratios and Culprit and Zoom worms are cheap enough that I am fine with burning through them. I am also trying some of their wacky hooks but I crimp my barbs for that presentation and the Trokers are not great for that.

I have never made it to Blue Heron, but have caught in the other ponds in the North Track. Some morning in the next week or two I am going to be there at 8am and make the hike.

#4 is as small as I have ever bought. I can't decide between #4 or #2 as my prefered size.

Had a bad day at work and picked up these guys; Could not find anywhere with both of these and a White Python in stock, so still need to pick one up in that color. The paint jobs on these things are really insane for a freaking fishing lure. If I had a desk I would buy one of those little display stands. But I don't so I am going to fish them and be really cranky when a pickerel bites one off. Also found a guy on ebay who would make be some MWF jigheads with #4 hooks. Every Time I have gotten them with #4's I look at them and think they are too small, but they work so well.

Thanks for the info guys. It sounds like any truck or van that I buy with a v6 should be good, but even "can tow a bit over 3000lbs" us a good benchmark when I am looking. The reservoir/bay question is still out there, but I have time to sort that out. There are a lot of small tidal rivers around that I have seen some tiny boats in, like from Jug Bay and north on the Patuxent River in MD. Owning two boats for the two applications sounds best, but lets not get ahead of ourselves And yea, learning how to launch/drive/land a boat is on the list as well, I was planning on trying to join a club next year if I can get my work schedule to a more regular place.

Caught a ~3' water snake today. Had him landed and was trying to figure out how to get the hook out when he just let go of the lure and shot off. I dragged him through like 10-15' of water and lifted him up like 3-4' and he held throughout all that. Must have really wanted that Skinny Dipper.