basser89

By the way Chris, Brian told me about the outing over the weekend, CONGRATS!

I "think" you read Hellbender's post the way I did the first time. When I re-read it, he means that if we didn't have pictures to show our catches, the only way would be able to share the catch with our friends would be to drive around holding the now dead fish since its been out of the water so long, and beeping to get our friend's attention to show them.

Nice pics Fat Boy! Thanks for sharing!!!

Glad to see I'm not the only one that hasn't had any problems using the palomar. Been using it for years with fluro as well and have not had any issues.

Thanks Brian. Was really shocked to find her back there in all that heat. She was only sitting in about 2'. Did you make it out saturday? My weekend was booked up so didn't make it out. Hopefully, I'll get out this coming weekend but from the looks of it, that'll be in PA.

Got out last evening for a little while, did a shoreline trip at Black Hills. Despite the heat, I decided to hit the backwash area. Managed 2 on the trip. First one went 4lb 1oz and the second went 2lbs even. The 4 pounder was caught on a drop shot and the second was caught on a t-rigged ribbon tail worm. Here's a pic of the 4lbr. Sorry for the crappy pic, only had my cell with me.

Most of my Potomac fishing is done below dam 4 down but can tell you I've had success with spinnerbaits ranging from 1/8oz all the way up to 3/4oz. Careful with those spinnerbaits though, toothy critters enjoy them too and will take them from ya in a heartbeat! Color wise, baitfish colors, chart, chart/white would be good starters. I'd start with some in the 3/8oz range and add from there with what you have success with.

I'm so sorry to hear this! Glad everyone is ok! Had a close call with a tornado and my boat too several weeks back. Had it stored at my dad's place along with his tracker and a 14' jon boat that he has too. Had an F1 tornado come through, fortunately it came over the back side of the ridge that my dad lives on and lifted off the ground when it went over dad's place. My boat and dad's tracker never moved, dad's jon boat was turned around. All three boats were side by side. Really shocked that my trailer jack didn't break with the wind (need to replace it sometime soon).

Got out this morning for a little while. Went back to dam 4 again. Nothing along the rip rap this morning but down below the "island" I managed 4 smallies, all on shallow running cranks (that's all I took with me). The water is clearing up some, chrome seemed to be the color they wanted today, tried several other colors but no takers on those. Got another trip set up this afternoon. Hoping to find some largemouths there!

The ones I usually hit would be Williamsport (rather shallow), Taylors (boat ramp is a pain in the butt), Snyders (odd ramp set up but not too bad) and Dargen's (get some jet skiers there but not real bad). Whites Ferry, Nolans Ferry and Brunswick are all good spots from what I hear but have not fished those areas yet. Hope that helps some!

Congrats on the boat! Me personally, I stay away from dam 4 in the warmer months. There are some HUGE cruisers that put in at dam 4 and have absolutely no consideration for smaller crafts. I was almost thrown out of my boat several years back because of some idiot. I tend to hit some of the other boat ramps around washington county, they're more shallow and you have to pay attention a little more when running the outboard but to me, its safer.

Had today off so hit dam 4 this morning. Made a good call on that one. Didn't catch numbers but the bigger ones were hitting! Managed 4 smallies, 2 on a crank and 2 on a tube. Smallest went 16" with the biggest going 18".

Welcome to THE boards westmdbass21502!

How was it last evening? Here's hoping that all our friends living next to the Potomac (and other bodies of water) are safe! I saw this morning the river gauge that I track (Hancock) peaked at over 25.3' but with more rain coming today and tomorrow, it could spike again! I can't even imagine if it spikes again. Can still remember the flows from last year and that was crazy! Where the levels are right now, the road to Dam 4 is still covered.

Shoot! I didn't realize they started the "night fishing" already! Can't make it them. My daughter has a concert that I have to go to that evening and that won't be over til 9. By the time I grabbed my gear and headed back down, it'd be after 10 til I got there. Too late for me unfortunately.

Cool deal on your outings wv! I haven't tried the Sharpsburg pond yet and only attempted Brownsville that one time so far and didn't get a line wet there. I've fished that section up by the visitor's center at Williamsport a few times. Managed only a couple small bass on cranks. I got out this morning for a couple hours. I hit the C&O canal at Dickerson. Spawn is definitely over there. The grass is really coming in there now which switched up how I was expecting to fish. With the rain we got last evening, the water was in a lot better shape than I expected it to be (except for the areas carp had tore up). Ended up missing a couple of a Rage Toad before I switched up to the Rage Shad Caught 2 on it. The biggest one was about 2 pounds. Looked to be a spawned out female that crushed the toad when I swam it by the end of a laydown on the opposite side. The other one came off the tow path side as I paralleled the shore line. Anyone else make it out this weekend?

Welcome to THE boards Terry! I wish I could help you with your question but I haven't ventured that far west to be able to offer you any insight in that area. Hopefully someone can help out with how the fishing is around there. As far as the license goes, yes you can fish either shore with a MD or WV license.

I kinda figured it would start slowing down some when I saw what I did the last time it was there. Might be a different story on the boat (if I had mine down here ) since you could look for bass in other stages that way. Just remember, there's more areas to fish than just down at the boat rental area. Google map the lake, I think you can find some decent shoreline fishing where you're not elbow to elbow with other guys. Just pay attention walking, with the warm weather, the snakes would more than likely be out. I saw that rain is coming. Hopefully, I can get out some where before that happens. Only time will tell though! Good luck if you (and everyone else) do get out!

Welcome to THE boards 301-fisherman and BaltimoreLaura! 301, how did you make out at Black Hills the other day? wv, did you get a chance to hit the C&O the other day or did you run out of daylight? BaltimoreLaura, if you saw my post, it looks like the spawn is underway. I haven't been to Black Hills since my last post about it. So I'm not completely sure how far along they are. I can get you that far, maybe others can add more about black hills or the other spots you mentioned. The last time I was able to make it out, I hit the Potomac (at Dam 4 from shore), think it was actually the same day wv mentioned getting out. The levels weren't quite where I wanted them, a little too low for the one area and a little too high for the other one (LOL). But I did manage 1 scrapper largemouth and 4 smallies. Biggest went about 14-15 inches (a smallie) and they were all caught on tubes. Not sure when I'm getting out again. Hmmmmmmmmmmm?????

I'll second the great story! Entertaining to read and sorry for the loss but it does happen. Given the color and the fight description, I'd have to say it sounds like you were up against a big ole musky. I wouldn't suggest targeting this toothy critter on regular bass tackle if you can help it. Fortunately, I haven't had any gear failure when dealing with these beasts but I've heard way too many stories of rods snapping and stripping gears on reels. When I target them, I'm using a musky rod (7'6"HM Quantum Alliance rod) on an Abu 6000 spooled with 30lb Berkley Big Game and a 18" 80lb hard mono leader (that one of my buddies hand ties). Good luck in catching it!

Glad I could help out! And welcome to THE boards!

Here's a technique that's worked great for me and since I've started using this technique I'd say I've only had to cut a birdsnest out MAYBE 3-4 times. What I do when I get a birdsnest, the first thing I do is tighten the line tension some so the spool isn't free. Now engage the thumb bar and then grab the line where it comes on the spool. What I want to do now is pull the line off the spool so its coming up off the back end of the spool instead of the top (if that makes sense). Go slow, and when the main line come up on a loop, carefully use your second hand to slowly pull the loop off the line. Do this until the birdsnest is completely gone. I've had cases where I was fishing from shore and got too close to a tree or something and wasn't paying attention with my thumb and the spool looked like nothing but a billion loops and thought the only thing to do was break out the knife and just start cutting and re-spooling when I got home, usually within only a couple minutes (depending on how severe the nest is) I can work it out without kinking the line creating any weak spots. Hope this makes sense and helps. Good luck!

I've been using the same ball weights you mentioned but I'm also wanting to try the long cylinder style weights as well, just haven't figured out which ones I want yet. I'm also using the same Gammy hooks too and they have been working great for me. You've pretty much covered the same baits I have been throwing on the drop shot too. The 6" Roboworms have produced the best for me. To tie the hook, hold the hook like you want it to be when rigged up. Then run the line down through the hook and then back up through, making a long loop (so you have enough line to tie on the sinker then. Now, just tie the palomar knot. One more thing I do before adding the sinker is take the tag end of the line and run it back down through the hook. This seems to help me keep the hook running in the right direction. Add the weight and you're ready to go. Hope this helps!

Here's 2 old posts on these. Bassin_Fin@tic had some great info on these.

There was a good post on these way back when these first came out. I'll see if I can find it. I had a couple packs of the smaller ones (which were recommended in that old thread. I've had limited time throwing them but I have caught bass with them.