basser89

One stinkin day earlier than me! Ya BUM! LOL! Good luck with the tournament!

Glad to hear someone has been getting out! Didn't make it out last weekend and work was INSANE this week so no trips at lunch or after work either. I did get out this evening just to wet a little line in the canal here in Williamsport. Managed one little scrapper on a spinnerbait. Water has way too cloudy to tell if there is any sign of beds there. Was in such a rush, I didn't even remember to check the water temp, it was getting dark and I needed to get some casts in! Good to know I wasn't that rusty! LOL!

Hey Dan+, Here's a link to MD's DNR boating page. This should answer all your questions (I didn't want to miss anything). http://www.dnr.state.md.us/boating/ Where were you putting in? I'm planning on getting out this saturday (somewhere in Washington county, hadn't decided where yet).

Thanks wv! Haven't decided where I want to put in yet. Guess I have a little time to make up my mind. Hey Boett, I was at Dickerson last thursday (if I remember right) for a couple hours. Saw one male that looked like it was starting a bed. When I walked up on him, he swam out into the grass and settled down. Pitched a Tiki Stick in to where he was and dead sticked it. Wasn't but a couple seconds when he picked it up. Ended up with 2 out of there. Have yet to see asingle bed at the canal in Williamsport. The lower section of the canal is getting real thick with grass and the upper section stays on the cloudy side so it can be tough to see them. Thanks for the heads up on Middletown! I was actually considering going there this evening after work. I may rethink that.

wv, I had a 2 hour window that I could get out yesterday. Decided to give dam 4 a shot myself. I did manage 2 small smallies on a Bandit 100 series crank and lost what felt like a better smallie on a Senko style bait (bad hook set :-[ ). Judging from the Hancock river gauge, the Potomac is back down to "normal flow". Looking around, had I wanted to, I could've made it up to the base of the dam from the rip rap wall yesterday. There was one spot that if you would slip, you'd get wet but it wasn't very deep. As long as the weather cooperates, I may try to get the boat out next weekend for my (sadly) first trip on the Potomac next weekend. Which day is still up in the air though.

Thanks for the heads up! I'll have to check it out sometime. Maybe, we could meet up there sometime. Think I told you when I met you at Brownsville pond, I do have a boat (just a little 16' jon with a 15hp outboard and a 43# trolling motor on the front right now). If I have an open seat, you or anyone else on the boards are more than welcome to it.

Hey Jeff, Welcome to THE boards! Glad you were able to find your way on here! There's a lot of great anglers on here! If you have any questions, ask away and I'm sure someone can help you out! You know, I've heard about the pond in Brunswick but I'm not quite sure where it is?

Irene can't be too far away!

Haven't had the opportunity to get any JJ's yet. All I use is Mega Strike right now. You don't have to worry about it rinsing off in a cast or two either.

Interesting. I've gotten the wind knots with 20# test but only when the temps are below 32. I've experienced the line snapping before when fishing the river running cranks over rock ledges but not very often. It is hard to tell from time to time with braid when you have a weak spot. Rocks and braid do not get along real well. I've even landed walleye and a couple muskies on this line. Not doubting you kms, just throwing my experiences out there too.

Hey runandgun, First welcome to THE boards! These tournaments are an open team tournament. You don't have to be a member of the club to fish these. SPEEDBEAD chime in if I'm wrong, I believe the guy that runs the tournaments (Paul, I believe) is in a club. You can talk to him if you're interested in joining a club. Also jake, that posted on this thread, is a member of another club. He could probably help you out as well.

Tackle Warehouse carries it! Dick's Sporting Goods is 10 minutes away from me, that's where I usually get mine. Anxious to give their fluro a shot (I'll have to order it on line though).

I believe they call it low vis green. But yes, that's what I use.

I share the same opinion as you on Stealth. I've been using Sufix Performance braid for a couple years now. Obviously, the only down side I've had with it is sub-freezing temps.

There's a couple anglers on here that use it. I've used Elite, Siege and the braid. With the braid, I use 20# on spinning gear and its performed very well for me (with the exception of subfreezing temps for obvious reasons). I also have one baitcaster spooled up with 50# but I haven't used it enough to say yet. With the mono's, I prefer Siege over the Elite. In my experience, Elite has more memory than Siege does (I seem to remember someone else experiencing the same results but can't remember who it was). I'm using 8# (on spinning gear), 10, 14, 17 and 20# (on baitcasters). I find them easy cast and abrasion resistant. Great line IMO!

Dude! They're sick looking! I bet you do tear them up on those! That middle one looks really good to me too.

Had the pleasure of meeting up with Hellbenderman this evening for an outing on Black Hills. He got there before I got off work and figured some things out. Once I got there we scooted back to a spot he wanted to fish. Water temps were (and correct me if I'm wrong Chris) 63. Got back to the spot and had the whole place to ourselves. Things started out a little slow until we slowly put the puzzle together. Chris boated the first bass of the evening on a Senko. I followed that up by being cut off by a musky. :-? LOL! We worked the area pretty thorough and Chris landed 2 more small ones. We were considering heading to another spot when I missed one on a Tiki Stick. Decided to stick it out there as long as day light would allow us. Turned out to be the right decision. About a half hour before sunset, I hooked up again. Turned out to be the best one of the evening! She measured 19 1/2" and went 4lbs 3oz on my scale (thanks for the assist with the net Chris!). As I picked the bass out of the net, I reached in and the hook fell right out. Over all, Hellbenderman caught about 10 bass (including the ones he caught before I got there) and I landed that one and lost 2 others. It was great finally meeting you Chris! I had a blast! We'll have to do it again sometime! Here are a pair of pics from this evening. Enjoy!

That was my first thought too. I fish spinnerbaits with trailer hooks about 90% (or more) of the time.

I throw 1/8oz spinnerbaits my Energy PT.

X2. Says thousands of uses in one tube but I doubt that. I went through almost a whole tube of Megastrike last year and I didn't fish as much as I normally do. Just one tube? I went through 2 tubes of Mega Strike last year! ;D I'm kinda interested in this too (mostly the crawfish scent). I saw it last evening on TW as well and just didn't get time to post about it.

Hey Smiths.R, I was wondering the same thing about the Potomac. I just checked the Hancock gauge and it's within a foot of normal flow. I did pop down by the Potomac here in Williamsport and it has a good color to it as well.

Tough day today! My brother and I headed to Black Hills for his first taste ever on the lake. We took a gamble and headed back the east arm. We didn't get back there until roughly 9:45 (got a late start) and found we were the only ones back there. There were only 3 other boats out when we got there and had them all accounted for before we got back there. Fished the stick ups the majority of the time. Water temps were in the low 60's when we first got there, by late afternoon we found the warmest water was about 67. Found a little pattern going on, on the far shore from the stick ups. Lost a 2 1/2-3lbr and a dink paralleling the drop off in about 7-8' and there needed to be laydowns going down the drop. I did manage a small one (about 10 inches) on that same pattern. As the afternoon went on, the water was getting cooler. I believe the rain and the air temps too its toll on the feeder creek back there. On our way out of the east arm, we saw bass I estimated to be in the 4-5lb range cruising the flat just off the boat rental area. As we headed down towards the boat ramp, we found a similar pattern. My brother had a good bass break his line as he was working another drop off (no wood around that area that I could find). The baits of choice for the action we had was a white Storm Wiggle Wart (me) and a Strike King Series 3 (and I can't remember the exact color his was using but it was light in color too). Anyone else make it out? Hopefully, y'all faired better than we did today!

Lunch time at Black Hills today, they blocked the path I use to go to the stick ups area so ended up fishing the backwash area down by the boat ramp. That water was pretty stained (forgot to check the temp there). Ended up getting blanked. The way the wind was howling, the only thing I could really use (that I had with me) was a spinnerbait. After work, I popped back over to Black Hills and after a little hike, I made it to the stick ups! Saw a musky break surface and a huge carp came out of the water too. Wind was still blowing pretty good too. Maybe I got in there a little late, I figured with the front moving in, they would've been a little more active. I did manage one largemouth in the hour or so that I was there! Caught it on a spinnerbait in 4-5'. Didn't take a measurement but did weigh her. She was JUST shy of 3 1/2lbs, 3lbs 7oz to be exact. Took a crappy pick with the cell phone but haven't downloaded it yet to add. I did remember to get a water temp reading. My little cheapo thermometer read 70! With the info Hellbenderman posted before and this cold front coming in, my guess is they may move out to a little deeper water but I don't think they're gonna venture too far. Looks like the game plan for saturday when my brother and I hit Black Hills is probably going to be a reaction type bite but it really depends on how far the water temps drop and how stirred up the water gets from the rain we're getting now. Is my thinking too far off? Anyone else have any thoughts?

Sweet! Hopefully they keep chuggin away! I'll hit there at lunch time tomorrow (and MAYBE after work). As of now, I'll be on Black Hills saturday. My brother is coming down from PA to fish it with me. There's a chance he won't make it. If that happens, I'd have an open seat for someone. I'll keep everyone posted on that.

With new moon right around the corner and the water temps everyone keeps posting, I'd say this weekend to early next week!