Long Time Lurker From Southern Maryland

[ictalurus]

I've been lurking off and on since 2009, but I thought I'd finally introduce myself since I've been doing more bass fishing this year. I live in southern Maryland, fish from a kayak, and spend most of my time fishing in the Chesapeake Bay, lower Patuxent River, and lower Potomac River. However, the saltwater fishing has been kind of slow for me this year, so I've spent more time bass fishing than usual. I've been fishing since I was 7, and I spent most of my weekends as a kid fishing in the Occoquan Reservoir system with my father. I used to fish almost exclusively with plastic worms and spinners, but now I don't really have the patience for finesse fishing after spending so much time saltwater fishing. That's something I'm trying to work on.

I fish for bass primarily in the tributaries of the Potomac. It's kind of a long drive for me to most of these places, so I don't get to do it as often as I'd like. Most of the places I fish also have snakeheads, which I'm still learning how to target better.

I generally use chatterbaits, poppers, and crankbaits. In addition to needing to practice more finesse techniques, I'm also working on using frogs more effectively, especially hollow body frogs.

I've had some good luck this spring and summer, so here are my greatest hits from this year:

17-incher caught on a 2" floating Rapala minnow in St. Mary's Lake (only 4% of the bass in the lake are greater than 15", so this was a surprise):

16-incher caught on a black and blue chatterbait in the Piscataway:

24" snakehead caught using a Rebel Pop-R near Leesylvania State Park:

17" bass from Mattawoman Creek also caught on a Rebel Pop-R:

26" Mattawoman snakehead caught on a white chatterbait:

18" bass from the Mattawoman caught on a square bill Rapala:

Anyway, I've really enjoyed getting back into bass fishing lately, and I'm looking forward to learning more about it here. If you see a guy fishing in a yellow kayak wearing a dorky red hat, feel free to stop by and say "hey".

Thanks,

Bill

[whitwolf]

Welcome.......Out of curiosity, do you kill the Snakeheads you catch?

[ictalurus]

Welcome.......Out of curiosity, do you kill the Snakeheads you catch?

Thanks. Yeah, Maryland requires that all snakeheads caught be killed. Dealing with them in a kayak is kind of an exciting endeavor. Once you get them to the boat, the real fight begins. It's worth it, though, because they produce nice, big fillets that are pretty delicious.

[Tuckahoe Joe]

welcome to the forum. im from maryland too over here on the eastern shore. dont think there are any snakeheads around here but thats probabaly a good thing since they mess up the food chain and all that. plus being kinda inexpierienced im not sure i wanna be trying to get a hook out of something with that many teeth.

[KSRonH]

Hi and welcome to BR

[GoTakeANap]

nice pics and welcome to the forums

[topdog5050]

Welcome to BR.

[bassfisherjk]

Welcome!

[ictalurus]

Thanks for the welcome, gents.

Tuckahoe Joe--I saw on DNR's website that a few snakeheads were caught in the Nanticoke and in a pond near Salisbury. I haven't seen any reports from the Choptank or Tuckahoe. However, it seems like it's only a matter of time before they spread through the Maryland portion of the Chesapeake, unfortunately. Dealing with the teeth on a snakehead isn't any worse than trying to unhook a pickerel. Pliers and grippers are all that's needed. Having a net makes handling the snakehead easier because it keeps it contained. Sometimes they twist and break their lower jaw, which makes the gripper useless.

[Tuckahoe Joe]

i have pliers but i should probably invest in a gripper. and as far as the pickerel goes, im still kinda new to fishing so i haven't caught one yet. going fishing with my brother at loch raven resovoir in a couple weeks though and im pretty sure hes caught some there so we'll see what happens.

[Glenn]

Welcome Aboard!

[dave]

Thanks. Yeah, Maryland requires that all snakeheads caught be killed. Dealing with them in a kayak is kind of an exciting endeavor. Once you get them to the boat, the real fight begins. It's worth it, though, because they produce nice, big fillets that are pretty delicious.

They require that they be killed IF you intend on keeping them. They cannot require you to kill anything you intend to release. They are becoming and are a great gamefish. Pretty soon there will probably be a www.snakeheadresource.com. LOL

[Tuckahoe Joe]

The MD DNR website says "Due to the potential for significant impact on the aquatic systems, any movement or possession of live northern snakehead fish is a major concern and a violation of state law... Anyone possessing one should not release it but should report it to their state natural resources agency."

Of cousre your going to kill it if you plan to keep it. They want you to kill them all no matter what. They screw up the food chain by eating a large percentage of the forage eaten by other native fish species.

[dave]

They can't mandate catch and kill. They want you to kill it but, can't make you. Again, tremendous gamefish and tasty too.

[eScanoe]

I am new to the snakehead scene. What is the orange thing it looks like you're using to avoid their teeth? Looks handy.

[roadwarrior]

Welcome aboard!