Maryland's Who's who!

[BrianinMD]

Sean, the coming of spring makes the bear awake...

Tourney season and a new motor helps too

[JigMe]

Anyone had a chance to go out yet?

[BrianinMD]

I have been out a couple times, mostly in Occoquan. Hasn't been to bad, not getting the yellow perch like we were trying for but decent number of largemouth and a few crappie. Was hoping to get out this weekend but the weather is not looking to good.

[JigMe]

awesome. Where are you catching bass in Dec? For me, the bites stop after thanksgiving.

[basser89]

Hey Lee,

For me, I seem to struggle for some reason entering October (happens every year for some reason) but I had managed to catch a few here and there Oct, Nov and Dec. I've been shut down so far this year but have only been out a handful of times. At the end of last year, my bass came out of the C&O canal (if memory serves me right).

Hopefully, things will start picking up for me again shortly, it does help the days are getting longer so evening outings will be more of a reality!

[BrianinMD]

The lower potomac is an excellent fishery in winter, there a few areas which hold good fish

[basser89]

Hit Dickerson C&O this morning. The majority of the canal looked pretty much like chocolate milk but surprisingly, I found some cleaner water. Pretty slow outing, had one hit on a Senko and that's all.

Looks like the weather will warm up some this week so a lunch time outing here or there might be in the cards.

Anyone else make it out this weekend?

[BrianinMD]

Didn't make it out this weekend but if all goes well will hit the canal on Wednesday. I have done pretty well there early in the year, not a lot of bites but some decent sizes.

Can't wait for the tourney season to start. Curious at how the warmer than normal winter will affect the spawn, early spring fishing.

[JigMe]

yeah, I went to cenntennial park this past Saturday and picked up one on drop shot using Zoom finesse worm.

[Fat Boy]

_{My buddy Bob and I went out in search of Musky and Walleye on the Potomac on Thursday. The river rose and muddied rapidly. I had one strike on a musky jerkbait but it was on-off...end of my day. No more bites. I was hammered by the skunk monster, first time I've been bitten by the ugly creature in nearly five years. My buddy got one walleye while the water conditions were semi-OK early on, but no bites after that.}

_{On Saturday, my buddy Howard and I headed East for either tidal water or pond adventure. Our plan was to check the Tuckahoe River and try for some yellow perch, but Mother Nature had other ideas. Not only did the Potomac rise to very high levels, the Tuckahoe was also very full and very muddy, as was the Chester River and just about every tributary that we saw. We opted instead to head to Tuckahoe Lake since it was close. The water clarity was a little better, but not much, and the lake was as full as I’ve ever seen it. We had about 8” of visibility.}

_{I caught this bass about 20 minutes after launching on a white chatterbait in the upper end of the lake. I caught it in an area out of the current (since flooding was still occurring) in a spot that is normally dry. We pounded the entire area with various lures without another bite while getting rained on in the process. So, rather than torture ourselves on unfamiliar water in bad conditions, we thought that it would be better to leave here for another Eastern Shore Lake}

_{So, we packed up, turned the heat on high to warm and dry ourselves and headed to the other lake. It's not that the fishing is any better at the other lake, but we know the structure and layout better. In fact, all of the lakes over there are good for action just about any time of year. The second lake was also very high and the water clarity was about the same, less than a foot visibility. We fished our bigger lures all over the place, spinnerbaits, Rat-L-Traps, crankbaits and chatterbaits with Howard and I only have one measly short strike hit each. So, I opted for the fish catcher there, a 2” Kalin’s grub on a 1/32 oz. jighead. For the next few hours, we fished the grubs hard. I managed to eke out four fat yellow perch, three bluegills and a mini chain pickerel on the grub. We smeared our offerings with Smelly Jelly just in case since bites were few and far between. I don’t know if it helped, but with bites being low in quantity, it couldn’t hurt. Howard fought the wind all day while controlling the boat, which didn’t help much on his bite to fish landed ratio. He couldn’t buy a panfish or anything.}

_{We struggled all day long, and the panfish bites were few and far between, while the bigger fish seemed non-existant. During the evening magic hour, just when Howard was about ready to heave all his tackle in the lake, he decided to go back to “Old Faithful”, the green pumpkin 4" plastic worm. He got bites and landed two twin fat largemouth that he found very tight to cover and close to the bank, in less than a foot of water. Were the fish finally waking up? Or, did he just figure out where and how to catch them. Go figure, green pumpkin in muddy water.}

_{I had a pickerel break off my little grub, and I lost interest in perch jerkin’ when the bass are biting, so I picked up my chatterbait and decided to see if there were any active bass. A few casts later and I had this one tailwalking and jumping all around the boat. He hammered it.}

_{Not long after that, I put a cast into a spot that we must have each tossed thirty casts into, and this weird looking largemouth crushed the chatterbait, and also put on an acrobatic act of watery leaps. Notice the black blotches. We’ve seen these in the Canal and Lower Potomac bass before, and I’ve read about Susky smallies having them too. Local Scientists have ruled out virus and parasite infections, and think that it may be stress from electroshocking or catch and release fishing. The MD DNR site says that they're basically like freckles and harmless to the health of the bass. This guys athletics support that concept.}

_{Here’s the other side of the same bass…looks almost like a different fish!}

_{Close up of the lips.}

_{Not long after that fish, I cast out away from the cover under an overhanging tree, and had a massive hit, but missed the fish. The fish nearly ripped the rod from my hands. Repeated casts then and 15 minutes later resulted in a zero. But a bit further down lake, I had another massive strike on the chatterbait, and landed this fat chainside with a nice sunset behind me.}

_{I owe a lot of thanks to my good buddy Howard for fighting the wind and putting me on fish all day long. I’ll be returning the favor someday soon. That evening bite saved the day for us. We don’t know if we made the right move going by switching lakes because we lost about two hours of fishing time. Maybe Tuckahoe would have improved, or maybe a different pond would have been better. Would we have found clearer water somewhere else? We’ll never know. We had fun, nonetheless.}

[basser89]

Nice job Lee! Good to see you getting some action.

Once again, awesome write up Kevin!

[Monocacy]

Hey Kevin Wilson,

How the heck are you? I've taken up bass fishng the last couple of years. Let's hook up and go hook em up!

Rodger Moran

[Monocacy]

Just want to say hi to everyone. I'm new to this forum and by some of your lenghty fishing experience, new to bass fishing. I usually fish the Monocacy every week and switch off for Black Hills, Clopper, Liberty and Piney Run. Fished the Potomac last year aboard a buddies' boat and had a great time and landed some bucket mouths. He landed a couple snakeheads the time before that.

Got skunked on Monoc last Saturday. Water too high and muddy. Also got skunked at Urbana Lake. The beavers wouldn't leave us alone (really, beavers swimming right in front of us). It was still a great day to be outdoors.

Has anyone fished the ponds at Watkins Pond Blvd. in King Farm? It looks tempting.

[Fat Boy]

Hey Kevin Wilson,

How the heck are you? I've taken up bass fishng the last couple of years. Let's hook up and go hook em up!

Rodger Moran

Wow, a blast from the past! Hey Rodger, how ya been buddy? You won't have to twist my arm to fish! Let's do it!

[basser89]

Just want to say hi to everyone. I'm new to this forum and by some of your lenghty fishing experience, new to bass fishing. I usually fish the Monocacy every week and switch off for Black Hills, Clopper, Liberty and Piney Run. Fished the Potomac last year aboard a buddies' boat and had a great time and landed some bucket mouths. He landed a couple snakeheads the time before that.

Got skunked on Monoc last Saturday. Water too high and muddy. Also got skunked at Urbana Lake. The beavers wouldn't leave us alone (really, beavers swimming right in front of us). It was still a great day to be outdoors.

Has anyone fished the ponds at Watkins Pond Blvd. in King Farm? It looks tempting.

Welcome to THE boards Monocacy!

[dcfdpipeman]

Ahhh,, good morning everyone..... did someone say fishing season is opening up...

Man, that was a nice winter nap!

Hope everyone is doing well

[BrianinMD]

Made it out yesterday with Basser89, great day to be outside. The action was slow, we only managed two fish. The first one turned into a drama though, I didn't realize my line was blown across a log partially sticking out of the water. When I tried to reel in the fish the line buried in the wood and I couldn't get it off. the log was 15 or so yards away so not much i could do. Decided to break the line so the fish could swim back down. That did not work, after the line broke the first was still hung up on the tree. Fortunately it gained enough line so it was in the water but still stuck. Both Sean and I were pitching jigs trying to hook the line so we could pull the fish free. Finally got it and the fish swam away strongly so hopefully its fine.

[dcfdpipeman]

So Sean, how many fish did you catch yesterday? Got photos?

[basser89]

So Sean, how many fish did you catch yesterday? Got photos?

You can't see the pics? Guess all the albino bass I caught in that blizzard yesterday caused the pics to wash out.

Got the big old goose egg yesterday, actually for the whole year so far. I'm in a major slump and not sure how to get myself out of it yet. One of these times I'll actually catch something! Told Brian when we were out that I may have to go back to a worm and bobber. LOL

[BrianinMD]

Yesterday was a change from the norm, usually when I pick the spot to fish Sean catches everything. But I kind of like this way better.

[dcfdpipeman]

Hey, at least you two made it out. I'm still looking for my gear. I think my wife put it up on craigslist last fall.

[basser89]

Yesterday was a change from the norm, usually when I pick the spot to fish Sean catches everything. But I kind of like this way better.

If this is going to be the "theme" for this year, then I'm picking the next spot we fish!!!

I need all the help I can get to get my mojo back! LOL

[Monocacy]

Been out a couple times in 2012 - nuthin'! I hope to change that Sunday though.

Kevin, I don't know how to PM on this forum yet. We need to swap contact info.

Me and a buddy will be at Dickerson Warm Water Discharge Sunday at or about 1pm. If ya can make it out, it'd be good to see you and catch up.

Basser89 - thanks for the welcome!!

Tight lines ya'll !!

[Fat Boy]

Rodger, I think that you need something like 3 to 5 posts before the PM feature works...at least that's the way it is on other forums that I frequent.

If my plans for Sunday fall through, then maybe I can meet you there. I'm going in Howard's boat (you might know him) down to the Lower Potomac, at least right now that's the plan. We'll hook up. I'll shoot you a PM.

[nastynate]

Washington County is turning one for all kinds of fishing. The woman had another outstanding afternoon. Smallie was 4.2lb from berkley digi scale and the trout we estimated about 22 inches.