basser89

With the river levels being where they are right now, its tough to find productive areas (especially from shore) during a lunch time outing. Don't feel too bad, like you said, at least you got out! I couldn't make it out today but one of the guys here at work managed 2 at Black Hills at lunch today on a spinnerbait.

Shoot! Made a TW order a week too soon. I need to get my hands on a few of these babies!!! Might have found an excuse for another order! LOL

Welcome to THE boards Basser714! Off the top of my head, I can't say for sure when the fall bite gets good at Black Hills. I'll have to check out my fishing log to see if I can help you out there.

WOW!!!! You're a brave man! There's no way I'd attempt that move! I'd be swimming with the toothy critter for sure! ;D

I've thought about the sane nets before myself. My only concern with them is if you're flying solo. Easy enough to lay the one side over the boat and lay the othe end in the water. The problem that I could see happening (with my luck) is reaching over to grab the end laying in the water to pick the fish up. If the ski decides to kick its head up, there's a chance of getting hooked (mostly concerned with baits with trebles). A question that I'd throw out there on the saning nets too. Would a regular sane net be durable enough to pull a 25-30lb plus musky out of the water? Not sure what those nets are rated for. :-?

I have used the Gander Mountain Guide series rods for several years and they are ok for me. I have also used St Croix (borrowed from a good friend) as well. For about the past year or so, I have been using a Quantum Alliance musky rod and IMO, it is close to the St Croix that I've used. Musky Shop has the rod for $80, so that would be another one to consider.

bigbadaaron, Are you fishing from shore or from a boat? I handle them differently depending on which I'm fishing from. When I'm fishing for musky from shore, I have a Lindey glove (the orange one) and my Rapala grip with me. Whenever possible, I'll use the glove only as the grip can damage muskies (as a matter a fact, I've had a couple of rare encounters that I haven't been able to get the grip on the musky's lower jaw - BIG FISH!). When fishing from the boat, I use a large net and my Lindey glove. Fishing for them either way (boat or shore), you want to play them out some. It's not the best idea to try to handle one that to very green as they can be very unpredictable and you can possibly get hurt trying to handle them (example: get stuck with one of the hooks, which isn't a good experience, which I know first hand!). If you fight them too long and they stay belly up, it's harder to CPR them and their survival rate isn't as high (even if they eventually swim off, there's a chance they can still not survive). Make sure you have a LONG set of needenose pliers or a hookout tool to remove the hook(s) and even a a heavy duty pair of cutters. Hope this helps! If I (or anyone else) can answer any other questions, let me/us know. Good luck and let us know how you do!

Lee, Keep throwin those spinnerbaits, it'll keep getting better! Now, I could see if it was a private pond and someone came up to me and said that, I'd let the guy have the spot. But on public waters, first come, first serve. You had every right to fish that spot and the other guy had no right to demand you to leave or even ask you to see your license. :-?

Thanks again for the invite MskSlyr! I had a ball! Hey Wayne, we caught all our bass on a variety of baits (we started at first light). Buzzbaits, frogs, spinnerbaits, chatterbaits, lizards, stick baits and jigs. Had to have a pretty quiet entry so I'm not sure how well some of those tanks you have would have done. I actually wanted to try some of the hollow bodied swimbaits I have but forgot to bring them. :-[

Be patient Lee! That spinnerbait bite will be turning on REAL soon!

Welcome to THE boards Lee! Just a heads up, I had started a MD Who's Who thread in the NE section as a way to get to know some of our in state members and share info.

Hey wv, Thanks for the heads up about the ramp! Yeah, when I lived in Sharpsburg, I used to wade about a mile or so below the railroad bridges so I know how shallow it can get down there. I know there's a rather shallow spot down from Snyders Landing launch where there's ledges that run just about the whole way across. With where the levels are right now, you might not be able to make it over them. It's been such a LONG time since I've had the boat on the Potomac, it isn't even funny! Hopefully, weather cooperates and I'm able to get out this coming weekend! Sorry to hear about the leak! That'll definitely put a damper on things! Hopefully its nothing major and you can get it fixed soon! Talked to one of my fishing partners this evening and he told me the walleye are starting to really pick up on the action! Told me he lost a monster this evening!

Well, shoot! Wish I had said something earlier Mike! I was up there camping from friday through monday. I was mostly hangning out with great group of friends and kayaking but got a little bit of fishing in. I got blanked up there. Did get to see a striper (guessing somewhere around 26-28 inches or so) which was a first for me. I was throwing tubes around this one long point and it came up out of the grass and worked its way out the point never to be seen again. Sunday night, I did some shore fishing in one of the coves near my site. I was hoping for some top water action (which is all I took along down) but they wanted nothing to do with them.

Hey I really like Eagle Claw's tie clip/hat pin but they even loose their finish rather quickly. ;D ;D ;D ;D

Hey wv, Let me know how you do putting in at Shepardstown. I've never put in there, I've alway put in at Snyders but have wanted to fish that stretch below the ramp. Looks like some decent water to fish there by the old bridge pilings. Wow! Sleepy Creek is a place I haven't heard of or fished in many moons! LOL! I always had problems fishing there. I only remember one decent outing there and that was at night. Talk about a rough time navigating around under a new moon! Glad its electric only! LOL

The C&O is a decent place to take the kids. Actually been fishing it too from time to time. Its actually a sleeper place for bass! The best I've landed out of there this year is a 4 1/4lbr but I've seen bigger and have talked to others that have as well! Mukin, to me, it depends on where you're putting in on the Potomac and what the levels are. If the levels are low, like they are now, then Snyders is a safe option for those with electric only. My boat is a 16' jon with a 43# trolling motor. When I had my outboard stolen, Williamsport and Snyders were about my only options for fishing the Potomac from the boat. I always carry a spare battery with me but I've only had to use it once (forgot to check the levels and they were a little higher than I anticipated them to be). There are others you could probably put in but they have deeper water and the bigger cruisers and jet skiiers don't make it safe! Just my 2 cents.

Welcome back FisherGal! Been there, done that with the long hours and 7 days a week working deal too. Wouldn't recommend it to anyone! Glad you're still able to get out and rip a few lips from time to time too!

Definitely a PA Dutch thing and I love it! Need to make some soon! Gotta add Scalloped Potatos to the list too! Pull them out of the fridge and barely heat them. YUMMY!!!!

I have 2 of these and a OcheeChobbe Fats bag, all 3 are well made and packed to the last inch with stuff, with no problems Hey Muddy, We actually had the same bag up until I bought the Cabelas bag. I liked the OcheeCobbe Fats bag but didn't love it. Most of the zipper handles had come off mine. Either slipped off the tab or the tab itself broke off. :-/ The main zipper was starting to go bad on mine too and the zipper was tearing away from the fabric too. You're right though, you can pack a ton of stuff in them! But this Super Mag size, I can get more! LOL! I'm really happy they offer the bag without the boxes! Actually saved me money going that way! Didn't need that many extra boxes right now either. WAY too tempting to fill them up as quickly as possible.

When I hit the Potomac, I put in over here in Washingrton county. That's about an hour and a half from you. I hit Dargens Bend today. Big mistake! It was too nice out! Any fishable water I found, I had to compete with the wonderful jet skiers. > I really wanted to fish some deeper water but they pretty much killed that thought!

I was reading the one thread last week about the BPS tackle bags and swimbait had recommended the Advanced Angler's Pro Series bags. Now I'm usually not a big fan of Cabelas but I decided to check it out. I checked out the Super Mag size and it seemed to fit what I needed. Ordered it over the weekend and it showed up yesterday. This bag is put together very well and it holds almost everything now! Its definitely a boat bag, I don't think I want to tote this one around for shore fishing! If you're in the market for a new bag, check these out! http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/pod/horizontal-pod.jsp?_DARGS=/cabelas/en/common/catalog/pod-link.jsp_A&_DAV=MainCatcat20166-cat20327_TGP&rid=&indexId=cat20327&navAction=push&masterpathid=&navCount=1&parentType=index&parentId=cat20327&id=0038875 They're still on sale too!

Doesn't *** have a points system for ranking that covers all the pros? And yes, KVD is "on the top of the food chain" there. :D

Water clarity and light level determines where I start with skirt and blade color. Some of my most productive skirt colors are: skirt color (water clarity) translucent (gin clear) white/black scale (clear) white/chart (clear to stained) blue/green (clear) chart/pink (stained) solid chart (stained to muddy) bluegill (clear to slightly stained) black/blue (stained to muddy) firetiger (stained to muddy)

I hadn't seen that color from Picasso yet! They're one of my top 3 choices in spinnerbaits! I have an older FLW spinnerbait in a perch color that has produced for me. Haven't seen them in a while, not sure if they still make them.

I'm using a 5/0 Monster Gammy for the 10" Anacondas. I'll use a 3/0 or 4/0 straight shank Gammy for most of the other worms I throw. Obviously, bulkier baits I'll go to an EWG hook instead.