Micro

Blue Cats? This is where Ugly Stiks shine. A good, stout Ugly Stick (about 7' good for 15lb + line) with an Ambassadeur Trophy or C3 reel in 6500 size.

Very cool!

Once you get a fish on, how do you get it off the branch?

I had a '94 Ford Explorer with the 4.0 V6. One of the spark plug wire brackets broke and one of the wires melted on the exhaust manifold. The current then arc'd to the manifold. Truck idled very rough and lost lots of power. Simple fix, though.

Yeah, and those are in stock. I can't seem to find the Megabait in-stock anywhere.

+1. Square As are fantastic baits. I also would put a plug in for the Rapala DT Fat (dives 0-3). It's balsa.

I usually use Bomber craw colored cranks, or Rebel crawfish (my favorite), sometimes Rapala DTs in craw color. I have good success with these. But Megabait's crawfish cranks look downright interesting. Has anyone used them? Opinions?

When I'm cranking in the situation I described a few posts ago, I'm trying to stay in contact with the bottom during as much of my retrieve as possible. I use a fairly steady retrieve until I hit something substantial. Then I pause for a second or two then accelerate the bait back down to the bottom. In the creeks I fish that have sand/gravel/stone bottoms it's the most productive cranking technique I've tried.

I'm a fan of both. I have two HMG spinning and one HMG casting, as well as a spinning HMX. I have two IM10 casting, four American Classic casting, and one American Classic spinning. As far as sensitivity goes, the HMG is a wee bit better than the IM10. The IM10 is a wee bit more sensitive than the American Classic. I can't tell much difference between the American Classic and the HMX. The American Classic is a brutally strong and very sensitive rod. At $90 is hard, very hard, to beat. On top of that, it's a beautiful rod. I like my mix. But if I had to have just one brand and line, I'd go with the American Classic. I've caught more fish on my American Classic 6'6' medium/fast with my Abu Garcia 500 ALB than I have on my other rods combined.

The weirdest thing I've seen is people saying, "I've been using a 'insert brand/model here' all my life. Now I picked up a Revo and got a backlash. Damned Abu Garcia."

Lucky, I've seen it happen that way a hundred times. :'(

I've been seeing a few rants recently (not here) that basically go ,"My Revo backlashes when I cast light baits - there must be something wrong with it." WTH? Is there any reel out there that will cast for you? Is there any reel out there that doesn't require some discipline to use? Turns out, most of these people seem to be winging their baits and hoping the brake will take care of the spool. Does anyone use their thumb anymore? I know there are reels that will slow you spool and prevent backlashes. But IMO, if a brake is slowing your spool so quickly that is will prevent an overrun without some thumb input, it MUST be limiting your cast distance. Or you are putting more into the cast than is otherwise needed. I don't get backlashes anymore frequently with my Revos than I've gotten with any other baitcaster. But I do get much better distances. I get better casting in general. But I use my thumb some. I just don't get it. Seems we're condemning something before we've even made a half-hearted attempt to learn how to use it. Looks like people are pointing the finger at their equipment when the problem is in the mirror. Anyways, thinks for reading

Red eyes? I don't remember any Rapala with red eyes. Sure it wasn't some other look-alike brand? If you want one made up, these guys could probably do it for you: http://www.customluresunlimited.com/clu_2008

Give it some time. The real monster is in the mouth of the Chesapeake - somewhere . In the meantime, there's some monsters out there: 92 lbs from Maryland - caught in a net If there a 100 lb'er out there? My last striper of 2007 was caught the week before Thanksgiving in a brackish tidal creek while LMB fishing. Caught it on a craw-colored Bomber Model 4A that I was skittering along the bottom in about 6 feet of water. I didn't weigh it but it probably went about 10-12 lbs.

Yeah, Little Creek Reservoir in James City County, VA is down 9 feet, and that's up from being down 11 feet 2 months ago. It's been closed to fishing since October. Vast flocks of ducks have taken a liking to it, though.

A pretty package can do that to ya.

I understand what you are saying. But how do you get, say, an 8 ft diver to 8 ft when you are only retrieving it fast enough to get it to 4 ft? In the tidal creeks I fish, when the water hits the low 50s to mid 40s and the fish are holding anywere from 6 to 12 feet, I can't seem to get many hits if I'm using cranks that dives to those depths on a normal retrieve. So I might select a crank that dives deeper so I can get to those depths on a slower retrieve. I have better success when I do that. With respect to hitting bottom: my experience is that the same pretty much applies. I tend to use a deeper diver to get to the bottom on a slower retrieve. In the creeks I like to fish, when the water gets cold, craw colored cranks, particularly Bomber Model As, and Rebel Crawfish, that are skittered along the bottom seem to produce best for me. And a slow to moderate retrieve works best. So I use a deeper diver to get to the bottom on a slow retrieve. I don't mean to imply that I'm trying to dig the lip into the bottom, but I'm definately hitting bottom with it. Once I started this, my success in these creeks went way up. For me, it would more like throwing a 16 foot diver into 10 feet of water and retrieving it at a speed that allows it to dive to 10 feet. I'm sure the lure looses some action with a retrieve that's too slow. But something is working - perhaps the eratic action that must be imparted when the cranks is skittering over gravel and sand.

Hasn't happened yet. Again, the DGIF has found that these fish are occupying DIFFERENT habitats. They are not competing for the same prey. Snakeheads are not preying on bass. Snakeheads in the Potomac are not new. They've been there for years - probably longer than most people realize. Big fish already exist there. DGIF has only seen bass and snakeheads mixing on a few occassions. One plus is that the DGIF biologists have determined that these northern snakeheads tend to eat their prey tail-first. That is why they are predating on soft-rayed fish, like killifish. It's difficult to say what will become of snakeheads in the Potomac. As of right now, there is a large and growing population. But it hasn't affected the bass fishery. At this point there isn't much that can be done about them. Killing the ones caught is about it. Poisoning the river like they did at Crofton Pond is out of the question. The fish is here to stay. It's just encouraging to hear that SO FAR things aren't anywhere near as bad as people had feared they would become.

They were first 'discovered' in a lake in Maryland years ago (Crofton Pond). Once discovered, all sorts of wild (and untrue) stories circulated about them - like they could breathe air for days, and walk across land. People suspected that asians dumped fish in the lake so there would be a ready supply of them to eat. Others think that pet owners dumped unwanted pets into the lake. Just about everyone speculated that the snakeheads in the Potomac came from these fish. Like I said, the VA DGIF has been studying these fish. Turns out, the fish in the Potomac are genetically different that the ones found in the Maryland lake. Additionally, the study has indicated that based on the sizes of fish captured, they may have been there a lot longer than anyone realized. The head of the DGIF study thinks that the point of introduction into the Potomac was Dogue Creek since the populations seems to be spreading from there. Lastly, the DGIF suspects that instead of people dumping unwanted pets in the river, it appears it may have been a deliberate attempt to establish a snakehead fishery in the Potomac River. The studies are ongoing. The good news is that there seems to have been no real detrimental impact to any fishery yet.

I suspect Guiness ins't what he is interested in. Probably looking for an IGFA record.

Throw that snakehead in with an equal size bowfin an see which one wins.

Come to Virginia: VA freshwater record - 53 lbs 7 oz VA saltwater record - 68 lbs 1 oz

Introduction of non-native species is banned by every state that I know of. It's interesting to note that largemouth is an introduced species in much of the US as well. And largemouth have been introduced worldwide with some populations (ie. Japan) devastating native fish populations.

Thing is, alien snakeheads are NOT ruining the ecosystem. The Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries has been conducting a study on the snakeheads in the Potomac River and its tributaries for several years. Some conclusions of that report can be found in a previous issue of Virginia Wildlife magazine (Sept 2007, pages 9-13). Some of the conclusions reached: 1) Snakeheads are breeding and have established self-sustaining populations in the tributaries of the Potomac (Virginia and Maryland sides). 2) 12 lbers have been caught by the DGIF, 15 lbers by anglers, with 20 lbers expected. 3) Snakeheads are NOT directly competing with bass or other predatory fish because there is very little overlap in their desired environments. DGIF states that snakeheads are using a niche habitat - 1-2 feet of water, with the deepest caugth at 4 feet. They are using poorly oxygenated waters clogged with weeds. 4) Snakeheads are not preying on desirable gamefish. Rather, their main forage is killifish. 5) Snakeheads are, conversely, being heavily predated by Ospreys. Most of the large fish captured by DFIG show evidence of Osprey attacks. This is because the snakeheads suspend in very shallow water. 6) There is growing snakehead fishing industry in Virginia and Maryland. Operators report that many parties are asking for the opportunity to fish for snakeheads. 7) There has been NO impact on the bass fishery in the Potomac to date. Other tidbits: they really are great gamefish. And they really do taste delicious. I don't support that that guy did in the video. I wish snakeheads were never introduced. Bu they are here and they aren't going anywhere. They are nowhere near as destructive as people had feared. And they are quite handsome and gamey fish. Might as well learn to enjoy them.

Old reliables. That's why I keep a box full of Mepps and a few Heddon Lucky 13s laying around.