VekolBass

I had a lot of success with Senkos using the 909 color as well as with green pumkin in both the 5" Senko and the 6" Cut Tail worm. A great pond/bank fishing bait.

Roadwarrior, Does that apply to submerged humps in rivers as well? There are some of these in the Potomac. They rise from about 30' to 8' - 15' deep. In fact there is a relatively small area ( maybe a square mile) with almost a dozen of these structures, and it is the only stretch of the river where such structure exists. I've read a good deal from professional guides on places to fish around here, but this place is never mentioned. I've been meaning to go there, and would have went today except for heavy fog that lasted into the afternoon prevented it. Think it's worth the trip?

-- Buy Tackle -- Sort Tackle -- Sharpen/Change out hooks -- Scout new water -- Find new structure/cover on familiar water -- Unless there is ice, fish. Even if the fish aren't biting (like today) you can still learn and practice different techniques. I got a new GPS for Christmas, and I gave it a workout today trying to navigate in fog, with about 50' visibility. I took me about 15 minutes to stop going in circles, and travel in a straight line. That will come in real handy during the summer if I decide to go night fishing on big water like the Potomac.

They are a pretty good pond and small river bait--particularly in stained water. As someone else mentioned, you can not only catch LMB but white bass, perch, and crappie as well on them

I've been real interested in using swimbaits here in northern VA, particularly on the tidal Potomac. I've caught a few using a 3" shad imitation last year. I just checked out Matt's website and saw the yellow perch imitation. The thing looks like it should be wrapped in tin foil with butter and garlic. The Potomac is loaded with perch, and I'm sure they constitute a portion of the diet of LMB as well as stripers, and perhaps the big catfish as well. Definitely plan on getting a few to experiment with.

Pretty much always. I started doing it this summer and found that it clearly increased the number of fish I caught. Generally use a 3-4" curly tailed grub or a 3" fluke. White, smoke, or chartreuse.

Welcome to the board, recommend--as others have--that you visit the fishing articles section of the board. They really have a wealth of information that will help you out. I was kind of where you are now about a year and a half ago, and while I still suck, the vacuum factor has at least decreased to the point where I can almost always catch at least one bass per trip--given a water temp at least 60 degrees. Reading the information on these forums and spending a lot of time on the water over the past year did it. Give me a holler some time and we will go out. A friend of mine was catching striped bass a few days ago in the Potomac near the Occoquan river.

I'm trying to figure out how to fish with jigs too, and I already come to the conclusion that I like bigger better. A larger (heavier) jig is easier to pitch accurately, and makes it easier to stay in contact with the bait when you're trying to crawl it across the bottom.

I'm glad someone in VA caught fish yesterday. :-[ I'll have to try the yo-yo thing next time. Kind of forgot about that.

Great looking fish. Glad to hear your recovery is coming along smoothly.

I recently was surfing E-Bay and saw a no-name reel that the seller was asking $15 for. I bought the thing. I was manufactured by an outfit named Ningbo. It's a nice looking reel, and I fished with it this weekend for an hour or two, and it is as good as any spinning reel I've ever used. It may not last a season, but when it breaks I'll throw it away and look for another just like it. For $15 I can buy two a year for many years before spending what one Shimano costs. If you open up a spinning reel and look at the guts you will find it is not a Swiss watch, or anything close. Building a quality spinning reel isn't rocket science, and there really aren't any deep secrets involved. There may be reasons to spend $50, $75, maybe even $100 for a spinning reel (I can't think of one though)--but anything over that is simply insane.

I use various lines for various purposes. I use braid for fishing in grass and wood, because as others have noted it cuts the vegetation and is about as tough as anything so it reduces lures lost on snags. I use mono because it floats and makes it easier to fish topwater, I also use it sometimes on crankbaits because the increased stretch, in my opinion, helps to set the hook more effectively when bass are aggressive. I recently bought some Yo Zuri Hybrid that I'll try out for finesse fishing. If that works, I might buy some heavier Yo Zuri to use with jigs in clear water situations.

Great looking fish!!

Fantastic!!!

PETA doesn't care about animals, what they really care about is people. They want to control people. They're fundamental argument is in itself senseless if you look at it stripped of all it's rhetorical flourishes: "People shouldn't kill animals." The obvious answer, that even PETA types understand in a subliminal fashion given their rather limited capacity for rational thought, is that everything dies--and in most cases something else kills it--why shouldn't people kill fish as well? Confronted with this, the obvious answer that the PETA type would have to reply with is that people shouldn't derive any enjoyment, profit, or sustenance from killing animals because it is immoral. Well I'm sorry, I thought we valued diversity in this country. Why should my morals be the same as yours? And why do you think you have the right to use coercion in order to force your morality on me? Now the argument has shifted from compassion towards animals to controlling other human beings--and that is what every extremist in the final analyses wishes to do. They have a compulsion to do it like the drunk has to the bottle. My own personal theory is that they (and this isn't exclusive to animal rights types) do it because they suffer from some deep seated guilt complex that has nothing to do with the cause that they espouse--probably from some personal behaviour or past experience that they are trying to atone for. A historical example is Adolf Hitler's well documented conversion to vegetarianism after his alleged complicty in the murder (staged as a suicide) of his lover (and second cousin) Geli Rabaul in the late 1920s. It's this deep seated personal involvement and need to atone that makes PETA types so vulnerable to marginalization and mockery--as one of the previous posters alluded to. Which is precisely my recommendation as to how we handle them. Beat them at the ballot box, and humiliate them in the public square. This will force them into ever more radical, and eventually criminal behaviour, for which they can be arrested and prosecuted. Which in fact, is what needs to happen to them so they can be institutionalized and get the help they so desperately need

My fondest hope is that all PETA members return in their next life as BAITFISH.

I'll take the opposing view. It's been shown time and time again that every conceivable lure color works, and I think these college lures would work as well as any other color selection. Why not have some fun if an angler gets a kick out of using a lure with his favorite team's colors? I seriously doubt that he'd be reducing his chances of catching fish. Just one word of caution, as one of the other posters mentioned, Rat-L-Traps lose their paint quickly--particularly when your're catching bass with them (which is a lot of the time.) So if your're planning on keeping the lure as memorabilia--don't fish with it.

Fillet it using a two man rip saw. :-/

When a fish follows your spinnerbait like that I've found that stopping the retrieve suddenly sometimes generates a strike. Other times a temporary acceleration triggers the strike. I've noticed that adding a plastic trailer has definetely increased the effectiveness of my spinnerbaits.

I replaced the factory prop that was on my trolling motor with a Hydrilla Hacker after the prop fell off this summer. :-/ The Hydrilla Hacker does seem to get through the weeds better, but also seems to generate less thrust than the original.

I used to live in Arizona. Never fished Bartlett or Pleasant, but did fish Roosevelt occasionally. My recommendation is to talk with people, or read articles regarding those waters and see what others have been using. Settle on 1 or 2 techniques, and learn them. If I was fishing in central Arizona those two techniques would be Carolina rigged plastics and crankbaits. Buy the best equipment you can afford. For instance, if you decide to fish crankbaits, buy a rod and reel designed for that kind of fishing, and a good selection of crankbaits (10-20) covering a variety of depths and actions. Most of them should match the prevailing forage, but get 1 or 2 that have bright colors for dingy water conditions. That's it, don't buy anything else until you start catching fish on crankbaits. Even if you don't catch anything at first don't give up with the technique, eventually you will start catching fish. There isn't any substitute for spending time on the water, get out as often as you can. If my memory serves correctly, the guys I knew who fished Pleasant generally used soft plastics, and fished deep. That was before Senko style baits, so maybe Senko's and their variants are a good option. Remember that Senko's fall around a foot every two - three seconds without adding a sinker of some kind, so if you're fishing in 20 feet of water you better be patient and be able to hold the boat still that long.

I notice you live in New Jersey. Good judgement.

My starting line-up most days (3 pre-rigged rods): Spinnerbait. Generally 1/2 white with the main blade a Colorado, and a white trailer. Rat-L-Trap, generally 1/2-3/4 oz chrome/blue. Senko. Always with some greenish color to it. I generally am fishing shallow water in and around weeds.

You're a better man than I am. I'm sorry, but bass fishing is a warm weather sport as far as I'm concerned. I'll fish in the colder months once the air temp gets above 50, but I'll reserve my shivering in the morning stuff for hunting, and (maybe) trout fishing.

People make a name for themselves by winning. That's what Iaconnelli does. Nuff said.