basser89 Posted February 11, 2011 Author Posted February 11, 2011 Anyone getting out this weekend? I won't be able to (Dad commitments). Look forward to reading some reports!!! Hellbender, you better at least be working on your jig presentations! ;D Quote
Super User Munkin Posted February 11, 2011 Super User Posted February 11, 2011 Between work and college I am swamped with stuff that is due next week. I am setting aside a couple hours tonight for tackle organization. Allen Quote
JigMe Posted February 12, 2011 Posted February 12, 2011 Centennial lake was stocked with trout recently, and I am going out this Sunday. Hopefully I will land a few, the weather is pretty good so hopefully I can catch them. Quote
Hellbenderman Posted February 12, 2011 Posted February 12, 2011 Sean...you know, until I stumbled onto you and Brian, I was content to drift into old age gracefully, and just putter about BH being lazy, throwing nothing more taxing than a senko, and catching a few good fish....but noooooo....now I go to the gym three times a week, now I gotta get serious, and play big time, and go back to spinnerbaits, and heavy jigs, and hours instead of minutes with crankbaits, punchin weeds with one ounce tungsten weights, chasing nakid wemins at post tournament BBQs, endless casting of big swimbaits, the mindless drone of buzzbaits...my wrist already hurts, nakid wemins chasing me at post tournament BBQs...I'll have to fish and sleep with strangers...I hope to God, none of them try to touch me in a priestly fashion....sheeeesh...thanks a lot guys. I've already got the jig rig out. I sit in my man den, and practice by pitching into a small trash can...it's my neighbors trash can...in their spare bathroom...up stairs on the opposite side of their house...I am soooo good. ;D Quote
Basser714 Posted February 16, 2011 Posted February 16, 2011 Hello boys, I am back from my winter slumber. Its time to dust off the rods and place an order at Bass Pro. BH Guides, i have to admit I thought I was going to be landing bigger fish at BH in 2010 than I did in 2009, but it didnt happen. The biggest I got last year was a 5lb, the year before a 6. It was more than that, many less 4s and 5s, lots more 2's and 3's etc. Was anyone else expecting bigger bass in 2010 but didnt really see it? Quote
Hellbenderman Posted February 16, 2011 Posted February 16, 2011 I had a decent year on BH, but not as good as fantastic 09. I did get one over 8, but like you I caught noticeably fewer fish in the 3 to 7 range than I did in 09, although, after a mid summer adjustment in tactics, I did better. There was something else very noticeably missing...shad. The summer of 09, if you were on the water in the evening the shad would explode to the surface; they were everywhere. Last summer, I saw only a few shad schools. That concerns me. I am not a wildlife biologist, but something happened. Is there any possibility that the handful of cormorants out there could have anything to do with this? I know they can wreak havoc on a lake, and many states have programs to control them. I'll see about Maryland, but some states are really serious about controlling them. Look at this from Wisconsin: http://www.fws.gov/midwest/MidwestBird/documents/WIeaFinal.pdf Quote
basser89 Posted February 17, 2011 Author Posted February 17, 2011 Hey Chris, hitting the gym just 3 times a week? That's it? LOL! Been hitting the gym for the last 6 weeks or so myself. Can't wait to hit the water with ya this year sometime so I can see these casting skills! ;D Welcome back Basser714! I'm getting ready to finally upgrade my spinnerbait rod on friday, can't wait for it to get here! I had a BAD '10 year in general. Black Hills yielded one decent bass and that was just a tick over 4 pounds. The '09 season is when I landed my PB out of there at 6 pounds 9 ounces. Chris (again) ;D That's some good information about the shad. I know a couple guys with DNR so maybe I can feed your observations to them and see if they can offer any insight. If I get anything back from them, I'll post their finding on here for everyone to see. Quote
Basser714 Posted February 17, 2011 Posted February 17, 2011 Thanks for the feeback. It indeed confirms my suspicions. I would have thought any old fisherman working the same body of water year to year should improve... but I regressed. So it sounds like it was not just me. I saw what I would say were large schools of pan fish in 2010 but lord knows they probably got cleaned out pretty good. Tough economy, you know. Pan fishing ground zero. I dont know if pans health and well being are a factor or not. If I see any Shags eating our shads, I am going to bring my red rider and plink their ***** to scoot them on their merry way. Even at risk for shooting my eye out. It would be great B89 if you could work your ends to get the DNR to get things back moving forward. And anything you can do on those pesky panshore fisherman eerrr cormorants - that would be great. I killed myself to beat my personal best last year and failed miserably. Quote
RockvilleMDAngler Posted February 17, 2011 Posted February 17, 2011 I am 100% positive that there are no shad at Black Hills. The main forage fish are bullhead minnows and bluegill. Quote
Basser714 Posted February 17, 2011 Posted February 17, 2011 Bullhead Minnows heh - that indeed could be those little silver fish i see in the shallows, that i have just referred to as shad. Quote
RockvilleMDAngler Posted February 17, 2011 Posted February 17, 2011 I only know this because it drives me crazy that they won't put shad in there. As good as that lake is, it would be even better with a big time schooling baitfish. Quote
Hellbenderman Posted February 18, 2011 Posted February 18, 2011 Whatever they are, and I assumed they were shad, they are gone compared to the numbers there in 2009. Quote
Basser714 Posted February 18, 2011 Posted February 18, 2011 Maybe if anyone here has any connections at the DNR or Fisheries, maybe request to get some Shad dumped in there, or a boatload more minnows. Thanks. Otherwise, we are not going to need a bigger boat. Quote
basser89 Posted February 18, 2011 Author Posted February 18, 2011 Maybe if anyone here has any connections at the DNR or Fisheries, maybe request to get some Shad dumped in there, or a boatload more minnows. Thanks. I finally got a chance to shoot my contact with DNR a message today. Hopefully, it won't take too long to get an answer. I didn't catch your request about a shad stocking til now. :-/ When I get a reply, I'll shoot a follow up email to them asking if that's something they're considering. Quote
JigMe Posted February 18, 2011 Posted February 18, 2011 anyone going out this weekend? the weather is pretty good, hehe. Quote
basser89 Posted February 18, 2011 Author Posted February 18, 2011 Got a quicker reply than I expected for DNR! Here's word for word on what he shared with me. "Our 2010 survey actually found more mosquitofish and killifish in Black Hills (Little Seneca Lake) than we had in years past. The bass population was in great condition (good size, good numbers, and good reproduction). The only down note for us was the discovery of multiple year classes of Yellow Perch (also in Clopper Lake now)." I did ask a few follow up questions that I'll share as well. Lee, gonna try to get out at some point! Its a 3 day weekend for me so I'm sure I will at some point. Hopefully everyone else can get out as well. I usually want the meanest nastiest weather this time of year but I'll take some of this weather anytime! ;D Quote
Basser714 Posted February 19, 2011 Posted February 19, 2011 great work agent B89. thanks so much. I escaped work early so me and a buddy went up to the hot water discharge at Dickerson. We got one 10" small next to shore but thats it. There were quite a few folks out naturally, what a great day to get out. Total, not so much. Guaranteed no matter which shore you cast from, the wind WILL be in your face. Mosquitofish: http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ExeLq38hgR8/S7W7vkro-JI/AAAAAAAABuA/aRQOtRiueX0/s1600/Gambuzija+(Eastern+Mosquito+Fish,+Gambuse,+Koboldk%C3%A4rpfling)+Vrste+Riba.jpg Killifish Quote
Super User BrianinMD Posted February 21, 2011 Super User Posted February 21, 2011 Got out for the day yesterday, went down to Occoquan. Ended up having two other boats from my bass club there. Only a couple bass were caught but we all got a good number of yellow perch. Time for a fish fry tonight. The water was in the low 40's and pretty cloudy in the Occoquan, but the main river was worse. Ended up just staying in the Occoquan fishing silver buddies. Quote
RockvilleMDAngler Posted February 22, 2011 Posted February 22, 2011 Yellow perch in Little Seneca is great news! Perch can get pretty big and will provide a big food source which can help get those big bass even bigger. Quote
Basser714 Posted February 22, 2011 Posted February 22, 2011 Why would the DNR consider it down note to have found yellow perch at Seneca, yet it be good news to bass fisherman? It sounds like the DNR simply doesnt want or like Perch here. I don't doubt the bass will eat them, but after a little googling it seems the bigger YPs like to eat crayfish, not good for the bass I presume. These younger fish (YP) feed on zooplankton, the variety of which increases with age. Benthic invertebrates, including insect larvae, snails, and crustaceans, make a larger portion of the yellow perch diet as they get older and move to shallower water. By the time they reach adulthood yellow perch are benthic specialists browsing plant beds for large invertebrates like crayfish, dragonfly larvae, and snails. Despite this specialization yellow perch are also known to catch small fish, including salmon, when they have the chance. Feeding occurs mostly at dawn and dusk with little to no activity at night http://ucce.ucdavis.edu/datastore/datastoreview/showpage.cfm?usernumber=115&surveynumber=241 Quote
hotrod Posted February 23, 2011 Posted February 23, 2011 Got out for the day yesterday, went down to Occoquan. Ended up having two other boats from my bass club there. Only a couple bass were caught but we all got a good number of yellow perch. Time for a fish fry tonight. The water was in the low 40's and pretty cloudy in the Occoquan, but the main river was worse. Ended up just staying in the Occoquan fishing silver buddies. BrianinMD, I plan on hitting the Occoquan with my girls to target the Yellow Perch. Can you give me any info or pointers to help make it a successfull trip. I have never targeted this species. Thanks, Rick in VA. Quote
Super User BrianinMD Posted February 23, 2011 Super User Posted February 23, 2011 Hotrod, The only thing we were doing was vertical jigging with silver buddies in 18-22 foot of water. We starting getting more when we shortened our hops off the bottom to 6-10 inches but that may be something to play around with. I know some other people there were using live minnows. Also, sometimes you can pick up decent fish on a dropshot using small plastics. Quote
hotrod Posted February 23, 2011 Posted February 23, 2011 Thanks BrianinMD. We will give it a go and post our results. Probably wont be til next week though. Quote
VolFan Posted February 26, 2011 Posted February 26, 2011 You can also try carolina rigging a small floating rapala minnow about 18 inches behind a 1/2-3/4 oz weight depending on how deep you're fishing. Reel it in 2-3 foot bursts and then pause for 10 seconds. They tend to get it on the rise, Does anyone know if Dalecarlia is open to fishing? Quote
Hellbenderman Posted February 26, 2011 Posted February 26, 2011 The last time I checked it has never been open to fishing...except one night in June, 1973 when my brothers and I made a commando run, and sneaked in. We caught quite a few, but almost got caught. They found us outside the fence, at daylight, after we were finished. They thought we were about to go in, not just coming out. Cops told us if we were caught on the other side of the fence, we would be going to jail...hehehe. Quote
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