RobbyZ5001

You should look into joining a club. I had a club tournament on March 30th. I have another tournament on April 5th. Then I have collegiate tournaments had one in VA early march, Indiana April 12-13. Potomac and susky mid to late april.

You better hope Long Mike doesn't catch wind of your j/k's, mad skills, and lol's! You don't want to awaken the beast.

I basically took what you said like you were laughing at me saying I sucked and that anyone could go to Raystown this time of year and do amazing. I am somewhat new to this competative bass fishing game but I know that 15 mph winds, 40 degree water temp, the water was cold and muddy as well. All of this in the midst of a cold front are not "ideal" conditions. Another thing I threw the jerkbait for the majority of the time I would say about 70% of my day. I also threw a jig a good 20%. I tried pig and jig and a T-rig speed craw. All we fished the whole day were points and ledges. I don't know how you wanted me to take the "lol then you werent fishing with a jerkbait and you weren't fishing points and ledges". That is basically a big kick to the grapes. I am by no means a pro, and you probably won't hear me talking like I know everything. You should have got ahold of Ike when he and Marcia Rubin fished Raystown. They only got one dink.. maybe with your expertise you could have informed them that no matter what is happening on a given day that he could have just fished the spinnerbait when it was sunny, when its cloudy use a frog, and sometimes pitch the tube. Then fish the dam to finish out the limit!

If you guys new how to prepare the pickerel you would be eating them all the time! I keep them when I get one around 20 or bigger because any smaller and it isn't worth the struggle. I don't have the recipe, but I may be able to get it for you. I can tell you what I know though. My grandmother pressure cooks the pickerel and then picks the meat off the bones and makes them into cakes (sort of like crab cakes). I am not aware of the seasoning, but they are amazing! She does the same with pike. One day I actually caught an enormous sucker from the lake the thing must have been pushing 8 or 9 pounds. She cleaned the sucked the same way as she did the pickerel. If you guys want I can give her a call some time and get ahold of the recipe.

Bassnbrett101 go ahead and fish it catch a new PB! Good Luck bud! I guess you know better then the guys in my club with more then twice your age in fishing experience and probably near your age just fishing Raystown. I am guessing you have logged or remember distinctly the temperature, past temps., and current weather and I guess it must be the same as last year at this exact time. I guess the fishing that was continuing to get worse and worse every year stayed exactly the same last year and this year as well? I don't know you are the lake pro I am new to the lake.

The lake is absolutely beautiful and I have only fished it once. This topic is a sore subject for me! Just had a tournament there on Sunday caught 0 got bit 0. There were 40 degree water temps just tough.

What comes with the dinner for two? Is it salad, appetizer, steak, and desert?

You can just "go fishing" and have a paper tournament. The only thing you could get in trouble for then is fishing beds.

Why don't we move this to a moose hunt in Maine instead? Forget this fishing nonsense lets go hunting!

I was down there a couple weeks ago... and ain't that the truth!

Burley you have such delicate ways of saying things! I love it!

no problem guys enjoy it!

Muddy I agree with you 100%. I would also rather put 10-20 fish in the boat in a fun setting. Mauch Chunk is a great time and everyone will have a blast. One piece of advice is have all your legalities in order such as life jackets, lights, and whatever else (the authorities are strict and WILL be watching).

My partner actually knows the guy who makes these. I used one in VA on Smith Mountain Lake. It was very convenient! http://team2kfishing.com/

Yeh I live right next to Beltzville and minutes from Mauch Chunk. I have fished both all my life. At Mauch Chunk the majority are what Zel said 12-14". Beltzville I would say %80 of the fish I catch are keeper size. Beltzville is a very hard lake if you dont know it well.

Mauch chunk has some good fish. It is basically somewhere we can go and be guarenteed to catch 10-15 fish.

If you guys fished where I fish with a 7ft rod you would rip your hair out. I fish with a 5'6 microlight bass pro rod. LOVE it for trout. I use 6lb test I wouldnt go any lighter unless you plan on catching 16" and below. I use a microlight reel usually abu garcia nothing special.

I was just using a lighter for awhile. I just light the end and put it out with my fingers.

I didn't know the wheel was invented back then...

I think if you want to bass in the lake to grow larger you would keep the ones just making the cut such as 12-14 inches. Thinning the smaller bass out will make more food available for the others and space thus making the others larger. You can do whatever you want like Jimzee said as long as your within the law. I know most of the guys on this site are pro catch and release. Since you have been around for a year I don't know if you are trying to stir up a fight or what. Either way it will be fun to watch!

I hope he is living in a van down by the river. What a clown!

bmadd yeh I wish you would have made it. There were 10 colleges that made it.

Scott thanks for the offer. I WILL be getting in touch with you!

Well this past weekend Penn State's fishing team attended the Virginia Tech invitational. The tournament was held on Scott's (fivebasslimit) home lake (Smith Mountain Lake). This lake is absolutely beautiful! This lake has everything deep clear water, points, rip rap, and bluffs. I traveled with my partner to the lake which took about six and a half hours. We got to our hotel crashed there Thursday night and went fishing at first light. Friday was a nasty rainy day very harsh conditions. Water temp was anywhere from 46-50 degrees. We managed to get bit once we were fishing main and secondary points. Saturday which was day one of the tournament we decided to concentrate on one main creek channel which turned out to be a decent idea. Saturday my partner caught 10 fish on jerkbaits, and 3 were good keepers. I got 5 fish and no keepers on jerkbait and trick sticks. We weighed in Day 1 with 6.75 lbs which put us in 5th place. First place was a local community college team CVCC with 19 lbs of fish and second place was NC State with 14.75. Day two was a very cold day. Everyone had problems with their equipment including frozen steering cables, fuel lines, and light problems. Day two we decided to stick to the game plan with that one creek channel hitting main and secondary points. My partner caught 5 fish 3 keepers. I caught 10 fish 1 keeper. I couldn't get the quality bite. We had 4 fish in the boat at 11 AM and couldn't finish out our limit. We weighed in our 4 fish for 8.05lbs with a total 2 day weight of 14.8 lbs. First place was NC State, second place was CVCC, third was Radford. The final day had multiple 5 pounders weighed. Later Sunday night Captain Phil Witmer took me and my buddy out striper fishing. Capt. Phil hooked up with 2 stripers around 5 pounds. My buddy and I both had strikes but missed them. Overall this trip was amazing between the marina and all the people there it was a great time. Virginia Tech put together an awesome tournament! Below are some pictures and the site with weigh in info. http://www.bassfishingteamatvt.com/

Those pictures are so beautiful. It actually brought a tear!