Surveyor

Not absolutely. I don't normally see two or more bass beds so close together. Also they are near some older bream beds. BUT they are much too large for bream beds and too soon for bream. The weather is supposed to get up into the 70's by the weekend and I will check them often. I can see them from where I park the truck. The water temp. should get near 60 where these are. Next Sunday is the new moon (if that matters at all). If it is bass they should return by Sunday. Will let yall know and hopefully post pics of a 10 pounder.

Right at my boat house. I'm sure they weren't there 2 weeks ago. There were no bass on them probably because of the drop in temperature in the last few days. The water is still too cold for this also--low 50's. Gonna keep an eye on them. Had a bass, about 4lbs, bedding at the dock last year and watched her for a few days. These beds would not have been visible last year due to grass. This year the low water earlier and cold has killed of most of the grass. Its gonna be an interesting spring.

Yeah its running right now. Too bad I didn't get any action. Springs coming soon here.

Only got one to brag about. 3 lbs on Anaconda. No luck on toad they were still deep. Water just at 55 degrees. Just a couple more degrees and they tear up anything on top. Oh did catch a crappie on the giant anaconda about 2 lbs

Thanks guys. I missed the part about a hook slot in the back and haven't noticed it while fishing. Must have gotten the 4o EWG hook from the video. Most of my experiments kinda wound up like the literature from RT. Giants huh . Well I'm more of a Braves fan anyway kinda auto think that way. OK 60 degrees now gonna head out. Will post pics.

Tried the RT last weekend. Got plenty of action but only one hookup. I had a couple of problems with weeds, and toad swimming upside down also. I called myself rigging like the website says with disappointing success in all three problems, weeds, upside down and hookups. When using 4o WG hooks and leaving the eye exposed all three problems were bad. Tried 4o WG running the hook further into the toad This solved the weeds problem but still upside down about half the time. Finally tried a 5o WG starting the hook just a little bit above center and coming out almost at the hook slit in bottom of toad. This required the reentry of the hook very near the rear of the toad and skinning the hook no where near the hook slot. This did solve the weed, upside down problem and I finally got a hookup. I was limited in how long I could try this however and was just curious to see if anyone else has a solution to these problems. I went out yesterday to try some more but water was too cold for much action. Did throw the annaconda a little and caught 2 four pounders. I really like the action on both and as you can see can't wait for spring. Gonna try the toad again today before the Falcons beat the Giants. Maybe he waters a little warmer again.

Fish population in a pond this size can be very volatile. Either or both the prey fish or the predator fish can easily be over fished or diseased. Most likely you caught so many last year you just wised them up ---- they got "so" mouth.

Throw a rock on it. If there is a splash its safe to put in a boat or fish from shore. If it bounces or slides its too D**N cold.

Sounds like me and Rambler came up about the same time. I learned to cast w/o any magnets brakes or drag, so I rely on feel mostly, but the magnets make life better, and the drag saves on the knuckles. Spinning rods are for sissies

Naw he's a good kid. I bought about 1 grands worth of rods and reels when he first opened, bout cleaned him out of Falcon rods. I coached him in baseball when he was a 10 y/o. Problem was he was in the middle of hunting season and the folkes he order the shipment from weren't fishing orientated. I'll still buy from him whatever I need when he has it but won't hesitate to order what he doesn't have. Besides the only other sports shop here in town is run by a guy that can't "talk" fishing & hunting. He just DKS

My 2 favorite ways to Bass fish is top water and Texas rigged. I just love the splash when he comes out of the water after it, and the thump, thump of the soft bait bite. Just ordered a bunch of RTs including the toad. Gonna have the best of both with the toad. Gonna try running it on top almost like a buzz bait or jerk bait, and fish it slow letting it fall in the lily pad pockets. Just hope I cant wait for him to swallow it when buzzing.

This is true buttt--- I went online and put in the cart at TW & BPS over $150 worth of soft plastics, weighs and hooks that I wanted. Didn't buy them cause I really like the guy who opened up a new sports store. Went there with a list and had him order all of it. Two weeks later I got less than half what I wanted. The price was better ($35 for what they priced at about $50) and no shipping but was really disappointing.

Had this pattern about a week ago. What I noticed most about it was how "lite" the bite was. I was texas riggging a zoom dead ringer and almost didn't feel any strike. Mostly just a really lite nudge then the line would start swimming off. Caught a few deep but the action was in 3-4' and on the "sunny" side of the cover.

Sand-silt usually fills in the upper parts of an area first. The sand settles out when the velocity of the water can no longer suspend it. but----IDK. Maybe they are goberment owned, maintained and will get fixed.

Was there a lot of erosion caused by the storm. I'm not familiar with the damage caused in Md. There was-is always a lot of sand, soil moved during storms. It could have possibly "filled in" the ponds. If so its not gonna get better by itself. It will take dredging most likely. Hope this is not the problem.

Putting adult fish in the pond sounds good at face value but is a very bad idea. They will eat all the fry you stock it with and the pond will "START" off unbalanced. A pond this size requires close monitoring to keep it in balance and producing quality fish. Check with your local ASCS office and game officials for recommendations on when and how many of each species you stock it with. Some states will supply the fish at no cost or at least a reasonable price. For cover along the banks, willows, maybe even cypress. A few Catualba (sp) even supplies bait. I have built many ponds and am a believer in leaving lots of treetops and stumps. My dad and I built a 75 ac pond in 1964 and many of the stumps, trees are still there and are fish producers. A tree floating to the top with a root ball on the bottom is hard to beat even if it has been there nearly 50 yrs. Islands are good too. Be sure to leave a min of 4' of water right up to the banks around the islands especially. This helps eliminate some weeds and you can toss a couple of treetops right up to the edge. Killer spot for a jig or t-rigg. Boat slips are a bit much for a small pond but that depends on how many folks you gonna have fishing. I have just one twin boathouse but keep my guest very limited. Definitely build a dock that your bride can sunbathe on and you can bait up some bream for the kids (grandkids). We even have a Christmas tree on ours. GL and enjoy.

Its a 2 stroke penalty for using a cell phone while fishing. Oh crap!!! wrong sport but it ought to be a penalty.

Take a look at the reel he's using That little bass had it really singing--stripping off line. Lots of fun.

4 yo grandson and best friend Still cant post pics WAS Finally

Use a heaver weight. In the weeds is where the fish are. I tried a little different setup when confronted with weeds on the bottom. I used a 3 way swivel with the weight on 8# test about 12" from the swivel. Then used 20# test about 16" and used a high floating worm to keep the worm above the weeds. It worked PDG where I was fishing. Also it helps in heavy treetops in case the weight hangs up. Don't know what this setup is called maybe someone will comment.

Still haven't figured out how to post pics from my album like I really want. Anybody got suggestions.

Caught these Thursday. Good table fare tonite Channel Cat 3lbs 5oz. Bass 2lbs 2oz Copperhead --little but dangerous was swimming across lake. The bite was slow and the bass I caught with a c-rig. He was hooked deep and was bleeding badly before I even attempted to extract the hook. Got the hook out w/o doing further damage but he turned belly-up almost immediately. Only caught 3 fish but was a great time. Oh almost forgot one more bass 5lbs 10oz, 21.5 " long. Last cast of the evening. Weighed him and released, a real healthy fish.

Took my grandson out this am. This is what its all about.

Q&A from guy who didn't have much luck to one that caught a bunch. Q--Man I couldn't get em to hit anything. What did you catch all those with? A---It wasn't so much the bait son, you see, when your good,,, you just throw it in their mouth.

I'm definitely not an expert, never even seen a SMB much less caught one, but isn't the bass in the 5th pic a large mouth?? Sure is marked up differently. Just curious.