Dramer77 Posted January 25, 2013 Posted January 25, 2013 Dramer, I caught that large mouth up in Saratoga, NY last summer fishing with a guide service. I have been out mostly on the river with some buddies on their boats and shore fish at Greenbrier and that other one in Clear Spring (can't think of the name). I even drove out to Codorus St. Park once and did some fishing there. Never made it to Black Hills because its a hike but I am planning a trip at some point this Spring during spawn season. have you checked out big pool or blairs valley lake? there a a bunch of decent spots around here.... Quote
basser89 Posted January 25, 2013 Author Posted January 25, 2013 Pagliaroj, can you give us an idea of what you'd like to learn? As you may have figured out, everyone has their own unique style of fishing and to help serve you better, it would be helpful to know what you're interested in learning (whether be it fishing the Potomac for smallies or other bodies of water for largemouths). There are a lot of options for you around Hagerstown (I used to live in Sharpsburg and Williamsport) so while your options open up with a farther drive, just know you don't have to travel that far for different waters to learn to fish! It's really sad to hear they cancelled the outdoor show in Harrisburg. Having grown up about 45 minutes from Harrisburg, I can't remember them ever cancelling it before. I did have the chance to get out the other morning for a few hours. As I mentioned, I did hit PEPCO. The levels were all but perfect for how I like to fish there. While I didn't find any decent smallies, I did catch 5 small ones on cranks. They were pumping the warm water too (they better have with the temps that morning. LOL). So I am finally on the board for 2013 now. Quote
Super User Munkin Posted January 27, 2013 Super User Posted January 27, 2013 Wow, I don't check out this thread for a couple weeks and all of a sudden there are a ton of new people in the area. Where to start? Someone mentioned tournaments; Rocky Gap Lake Habeeb has an open trail that starts the first saturday in June that you are allowed to keep bass. The tournaments are then every two weeks from like 6am to 1pm or 4pm to 11pm and they alternate. These are team events and cost $40 for the year for the overall trail and $40 each tournament with like a 90% payback. Two years ago I won the first event and it paid like $450? They pay first, second and lunker, maybe third if there are enough boats. This is a decent event and the guy you have to watch out for is Mark, he looks like Abraham Lincoln and has an Xpress boat. Cabin Creek show: There are a lot of deals to be had at that show if you know what you are looking for. I bought four packs of tungsten worm weights for $2 that were unopened which sell for like $5 each at BPS. The other thing I always get at the show are bear hair jigs, bear hair jigs are what any serious cold water river fisherman use around here. Butch Ward went out on New Years day one year and caught 10 SM over 4lbs on these out of Williamsport. Next year I recommend everyone to try the show even if you are not looking for anything just to talk to some of the other people. Most of the best fishermen in the area will be there, Aaron is an FLW touring pro and every year I just try to BS with him because how many professional bass fisherman are from Washington County? Black Hills fishing get together: We really should have a meeting day there and since Basser89 basically lives at that place he can organize. I have room in my boat for someone else as I am sure others do as well. Black Hills was on fire last spring and 8 of the 10 biggest bass I caught came on two trips there in April. Bring; creature baits, jigs, white flukes, your favorite shallow diving crankbait, white spinnerbait and some senkos just in case nothing else works. Allen Quote
Super User Munkin Posted January 27, 2013 Super User Posted January 27, 2013 Almost forgot about fishing locally? Step one, take everything you read in Bassmaster with a grain of salt. Washington County, MD is not Lake Guntersville, Falcon Lake or some other big southern fishery they like to write about. The Upper Potomac river is dominated by smallmouth bass that average 12" so they techniques to catch them are different. For anyone planning to fish in the next month locally you need only a few lures; small tube in 2 1/2 or 3 1/2" and for colors green, black or brown would be the easiest to fish. Second would be a hair jig in 1/8- 1/4oz depending on the depth in the same colors as the tube. These are both very simple to fish; cast out, let it set for a long time, let it set longer then just lift up the rod tip on a tight line about 6" and repeat. Locations: The warm water discharges are great when they are running but terrible when they are not. The one at Williamsport is easy to see. if standing in the middle of the concrete wall it looks like the water is getting ready to boil about 5' about they are running otherwise it is flat. The two places I would recommend are Blairs Valley Lake (as long as it is frozen) fishing the riprap from the water discharge (the concrete and steel box sticking out of the water) to the corner of the lake. That area is like 18' deep a cast length out and fish are there year round. Place number two is McManns Mill on the Upper Potomac river up river from the Big Slackwater ramp. Park at the Big Slackwater ramp area and follow the trail NW until you see the mill. They just upgraded the walkway of the trail around the mill and you will see all the areas that can be fished right from the trail. If in doubt fish right where the stream from the mill empties into the Potomac as that area always holds fish as well. Enough of the novels for this evening, if anyone has any questions just contact me and i will do my best to answer them. Allen 1 Quote
Dramer77 Posted January 27, 2013 Posted January 27, 2013 Wow, I don't check out this thread for a couple weeks and all of a sudden there are a ton of new people in the area. Where to start? Someone mentioned tournaments; Rocky Gap Lake Habeeb has an open trail that starts the first saturday in June that you are allowed to keep bass. The tournaments are then every two weeks from like 6am to 1pm or 4pm to 11pm and they alternate. These are team events and cost $40 for the year for the overall trail and $40 each tournament with like a 90% payback. Two years ago I won the first event and it paid like $450? They pay first, second and lunker, maybe third if there are enough boats. This is a decent event and the guy you have to watch out for is Mark, he looks like Abraham Lincoln and has an Xpress boat. Cabin Creek show: There are a lot of deals to be had at that show if you know what you are looking for. I bought four packs of tungsten worm weights for $2 that were unopened which sell for like $5 each at BPS. The other thing I always get at the show are bear hair jigs, bear hair jigs are what any serious cold water river fisherman use around here. Butch Ward went out on New Years day one year and caught 10 SM over 4lbs on these out of Williamsport. Next year I recommend everyone to try the show even if you are not looking for anything just to talk to some of the other people. Most of the best fishermen in the area will be there, Aaron is an FLW touring pro and every year I just try to BS with him because how many professional bass fisherman are from Washington County? Black Hills fishing get together: We really should have a meeting day there and since Basser89 basically lives at that place he can organize. I have room in my boat for someone else as I am sure others do as well. Black Hills was on fire last spring and 8 of the 10 biggest bass I caught came on two trips there in April. Bring; creature baits, jigs, white flukes, your favorite shallow diving crankbait, white spinnerbait and some senkos just in case nothing else works. Allen a black hills meet sounds good to me, i dont have a boat but hope to have one later this year... i also picked up a flyer at the cabin creek show for a open tournament at i think four locks that the Big pool bassmasters is putting on ... ill have to find the flyer.. Quote
basser89 Posted January 28, 2013 Author Posted January 28, 2013 Black Hills fishing get together: We really should have a meeting day there and since Basser89 basically lives at that place he can organize. I have room in my boat for someone else as I am sure others do as well. Black Hills was on fire last spring and 8 of the 10 biggest bass I caught came on two trips there in April. Bring; creature baits, jigs, white flukes, your favorite shallow diving crankbait, white spinnerbait and some senkos just in case nothing else works. Allen Good to see you post Allen! I have had some success at Black Hills over the years. The past year or so, I have practically lived there since I was living and working in Germantown. Unfortunately, I was laid off from the job that I had for almost 20 years. Since the beginning of October, I've been on the job hunt and moved to Frederick. Obviously, the job hunt has been my main focus since then. I have really enjoyed meeting several on the guys that post on this thread (which was the whole purpose of me starting it) and I would love to be able to commit to setting up a get-together but my priorities are on finding a job right now. I do have a good lead that I'm currently pursuing, and if I do land the job, I would be happy to set things up! As far as boating goes, I do still have my boat, but to save costs (mainly storage), I have it "stored" at my Dad's in PA. Once I have a job again, I do plan on getting it back down here and I would have an open spot as well. Quote
Dramer77 Posted January 28, 2013 Posted January 28, 2013 Good to see you post Allen! I have had some success at Black Hills over the years. The past year or so, I have practically lived there since I was living and working in Germantown. Unfortunately, I was laid off from the job that I had for almost 20 years. Since the beginning of October, I've been on the job hunt and moved to Frederick. Obviously, the job hunt has been my main focus since then. I have really enjoyed meeting several on the guys that post on this thread (which was the whole purpose of me starting it) and I would love to be able to commit to setting up a get-together but my priorities are on finding a job right now. I do have a good lead that I'm currently pursuing, and if I do land the job, I would be happy to set things up! As far as boating goes, I do still have my boat, but to save costs (mainly storage), I have it "stored" at my Dad's in PA. Once I have a job again, I do plan on getting it back down here and I would have an open spot as well. yea ive been off since around the same time... and no one really hires at the end of the year so now im really looking harder, have good lead that i have an interview for thurs in winchester... so hopefully it pans out side note i changed up my new gear, i decided that i dont need 2 setups right now since i mainly fish from shore, and there was a reel that cabelas just started to carry that i had really wanted to try.. so this weekend me and a buddy made a trip to Bass pro then up to cabelas.. returned my 2 abu garcia setups and picked up a St Croix MOJO BASS rod and one of the new Lew's BB1 speed spools... first time at cabelas and i gotta say its Freaking HUGE!! and their aquarium is WAY nicer than BP Quote
Super User Munkin Posted February 7, 2013 Super User Posted February 7, 2013 Season is coming soon! Organized some tackle already now i just need to dig out some more jigs. I will stock up on hard baits with all the ones you guys break off at the stickups in the back of Black Hills. For those looking for tournaments the early bird is out of Four Locks on Feb 24th (I have to double check). Allen Quote
Dramer77 Posted February 7, 2013 Posted February 7, 2013 i cant wait! i may make a trip to pick up some more gear ive been wanting to get this weekend.. im so ready to get out and fish Quote
Traveler2586 Posted February 7, 2013 Posted February 7, 2013 i cant wait! i may make a trip to pick up some more gear Ive been wanting to get this weekend.. I'm so ready to get out and fish 10-4 on that, I've been hitting my local small shops first, and then some on-line for things not available at the small shops. Quote
Super User BrianinMD Posted February 8, 2013 Super User Posted February 8, 2013 Can't wait to get out, between weather and homework its been awhile. Doesn't help I signed up and paid for my tournaments at our club meeting Wednesday night, or the web master put a count down clock on the website to our first tourney. Have a three day weekend coming up for Presidents Day, hopefully get out during one of those days. Quote
Super User Munkin Posted February 8, 2013 Super User Posted February 8, 2013 Can't wait to get out, between weather and homework its been awhile. Working on my Masters thesis myself which sucks. Allen Quote
BMBass Posted February 16, 2013 Posted February 16, 2013 Went out over the past few days. No luck, but Its SOOO nice to just be back out there fishing. I uploaded a couple videos thats I recorded this afternoon. Quote
Super User Munkin Posted February 16, 2013 Super User Posted February 16, 2013 Went out over the past few days. No luck, but Its SOOO nice to just be back out there fishing. I uploaded a couple videos thats I recorded this afternoon. Did you fish or just walk around? I would have tried a black jig in those laydown ends. Allen Quote
BMBass Posted February 17, 2013 Posted February 17, 2013 Did you fish or just walk around? I would have tried a black jig in those laydown ends. Allen Yep…I was throwing a black/blue jig, I didnt get any hits. Quote
basser89 Posted February 17, 2013 Author Posted February 17, 2013 Thanks for sharing the videos BMBass! I managed to pry myself away from the pc/job hunt yesterday morning for a short outing. Headed down to PEPCO to "cheat" a little by fishing the warm waters. LOL! They were running the water but no takers. Not sure if the fronts messed them up or if it had to do with me getting there later in the morning. Fished the channel until the kayakers started making their runs and was cut off by someone fishing out of their boat. To try to salvage the outing, popped up to the canal. Managed one keeper size largemouth on a Kinami stick bait. Surprisingly, it was tucked up next to the opposite shore. Had to skip the bait back under some over hanging branches to get back to him. Would have liked to have fished the area a little more thorough but just ran out of time. Quote
Super User BrianinMD Posted February 18, 2013 Super User Posted February 18, 2013 Kind of surprised there were no takers when there were running the heated water. Still jealous you got out, hoping to get out myself sometime soon. The semester is starting to wind down. Need to get out, first tourney of the year is the end of March. Don't want to head into that without having some time on the water prior to a tourney. This coming weekend is my daughters 15th birthday and the in-laws are coming up so there won't be any fishing. Did get all of my licenses a couple days ago so I am ready. Quote
basser89 Posted February 18, 2013 Author Posted February 18, 2013 Kind of surprised there were no takers when there were running the heated water. Still jealous you got out, hoping to get out myself sometime soon. The semester is starting to wind down. Need to get out, first tourney of the year is the end of March. Don't want to head into that without having some time on the water prior to a tourney. This coming weekend is my daughters 15th birthday and the in-laws are coming up so there won't be any fishing. Did get all of my licenses a couple days ago so I am ready. Yeah, I am too. The river level was pretty much spot on where I like it too. Glad to hear school is winding down. Hopefully it won't be much longer til you can wet some line! Quote
Super User Munkin Posted February 18, 2013 Super User Posted February 18, 2013 My Yukon is in the shop, the only rods I own that have line on them are a frog rod and a flippin stick with 65lb braid so I really need to start getting my stuff ready. I plan on hitting Four Locks in about 2-3 weeks to see if I can catch some big SM. When does Black Hills open for the year? Allen Quote
Super User BrianinMD Posted February 18, 2013 Super User Posted February 18, 2013 Black Hills will open on March 1st. Quote
Dramer77 Posted February 19, 2013 Posted February 19, 2013 My Yukon is in the shop, the only rods I own that have line on them are a frog rod and a flippin stick with 65lb braid so I really need to start getting my stuff ready. I plan on hitting Four Locks in about 2-3 weeks to see if I can catch some big SM. When does Black Hills open for the year? Allen do you use a boat at 4 locks? ive fished from shore there a few times..... i need to get a boat Quote
Dramer77 Posted February 19, 2013 Posted February 19, 2013 Went out over the past few days. No luck, but Its SOOO nice to just be back out there fishing. I uploaded a couple videos thats I recorded this afternoon. where is this at? looks nice Quote
BMBass Posted February 19, 2013 Posted February 19, 2013 where is this at? looks nice Its a place in Annapolis, MD called Water works. Its hands down my favorite place to fish. You have to buy quarterly or month passes to get in, but its worth it. Sometimes its just me out there for alone 4-6hours. That bass in the icon is the first I caught outta there. Biggest LM I caught outta there was prob 5-6lbs…there 8-10 pounders in the waters. 1 Quote
Super User Munkin Posted February 19, 2013 Super User Posted February 19, 2013 do you use a boat at 4 locks? ive fished from shore there a few times..... i need to get a boat Yes, they are nice to get to spots but they always need work. Since I have a prop and not a jet the only two places I can fish on the river are Four Locks and Big Slackwater. If you are fishing from shore I recommend fishing below the dams. Smithwick Rogues work really well below both dams and will catch walleye along with bass. The other bait to use is a white spinnerbait with a single silver willow as it will not roll as much as a double bladed bait. Allen Quote
Dramer77 Posted February 19, 2013 Posted February 19, 2013 Yes, they are nice to get to spots but they always need work. Since I have a prop and not a jet the only two places I can fish on the river are Four Locks and Big Slackwater. If you are fishing from shore I recommend fishing below the dams. Smithwick Rogues work really well below both dams and will catch walleye along with bass. The other bait to use is a white spinnerbait with a single silver willow as it will not roll as much as a double bladed bait. Allen you ever go in up in hancock ? you should do well up there too.. pretty smooth waters Quote
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