Bill Poch

Looking for some help in the Frederick area. Anyone service reels? I have a Daiwa Tatula that's jacked up. All was fine, made a cast and the line released kicked in stopping the cast. Gears felt off reeling it in. I've taken the thing apart and it looks ok to me. Put it back together and it's stiff reeling it and the spool is tight when free for spinning. If I set the drag very loose the spool won't spin with reeling. I'm at a loss.

I did both. Not the best pic though.

I fished Black Hills this past Sunday. While I was taking the kayak out by the bridge I saw a Snakehead shallow protecting its fry. Fish was at least 24 inches if not more. So, let's hope they don't screw up that fishery.

So, I haven't posted at all in here over the summer. But now that fall is here the fish are getting bigger. My normal during the week fishing spot was Culler lake in Frederick since it's 5 mins away from me, has been drained, dredged, and is under going restoration this past summer. Lucky for me I work at Ft. Derick and they have a pond there that, from what I've seen, is not heavily fished. Over the summer it was a very productive but also a dink feast. In the last 2 weeks all the big boys have come out to play. They have been crushing the top water in the morning. One morning I caught 11 in an hour with a just quick trip around the pond. A few of the bigger ones Normally I get out to the Potomac in my kayak, but every time I had a chance to get out it seemed like it would rain, so didn't really get as much smallmouth fishing in as I would have liked. I also hit my least favorite place in Frederick this week, Whittier lake. I can't figure that d**n place out. I may have caught 3 or 4 total fish out of that place in the last 2 years. Anyway, finally lucked into this guy Monday night on a chatterbait. All in all, it was a fantastic numbers year for me, but I've had to wait until Fall to get into the bigger fish. Well worth the wait.

I've not tried the Mizmo tubes but the campground are a little softer than normal plastics and have salt embedded in them. They still hold up pretty decent though

I started using the campground teaser tubes last year on the upper Potomac and had my best year on that river. I primarily fished at mouth of monocacy and caught several 18 inch fish in that stretch of water. I've also notice largemouths on beds in my ponds can't resist them either.

My confidence with a spinner bait is about none. I just can't catch fish with them. I've not tried one for smallmouth. I'll give it a shot when I get a chance to get on the river. The 2 I listed are what I've found work the best for me the past 2 years on the Potomac.

I can't speak for the Monocacy because with the Potomac so close I don't mess with Monocacy. I find for the Potomac you only need 2 things, wackey rigged 4 or 5" senko and 2 3/4" tubes

Nothing crazy, but managed this 3.5 prego at Whittier last night. Getting the kayak out on the Potomoc Sunday for some smallie action.

That one actually failed me. I don't know if its because I'm dealing with such light line or not.

Thanks guys, I'll give the Alberto ago. This is my 1st year using braid. I picked up a shaky head/drop shot/light finesse rod/reel this winter and figured I'd give braid a try.

Im looking for a knot to tie a 6lb floro leader onto 15lb braid. Any suggestions?

For the record, I hate that place. I haven't spent much time trying to figure it out. With that said I did manage a 3.6 pounder last night. With Culler being renovated this year, Whittier is the next closest lake for me to fish on week day nights. So, I will be more than willing to share anything I learn from there assuming info is shared with me too. Last night I tried a lipless crank and a black and blue chatterbait. Got nothing. Tied on a 2 to 3 inch bluegill swimbait I got for xmas just to see the action. I caught this one about 10 feet from shore with a steady medium retrieve. I think it was about 5:45 in the evening.

I heard about some nice fish caught of there last year, I've not tried yet. It's the smaller one right, not the bigger one on the other side of the bridge off Monocacy rd/

I saw that and it really sucks. Caught my personal best out of there last March, 5.3 pounds. I live real close to there and it looks like I lost my best fishing spot during the week when I don't have time to run out somewhere else this year. I wonder how long it's going to take become a decent fishery again. I really had that place figured out too. I know there is another pond down by Whittier, but I can't figure that place out to save my life. I guess I'll have to try and change that. I saw you have a kayak, me too. If you want some smallmouths, put your yak in on the Potomac at the Mouth of Monocacy boat ramp. It's an easy paddle up river so you don't need to worry about somebody dropping a car downriver for take out. I've fished that area pretty hard the last 2 years and did really well last year. I would normally put in, paddle out to the Potomac and paddle up to the first island and fish/float back down. Rinse and repeat. I caught about a half dozen 18 inchers last year.

So, I have a 3 year old Ascend from Bass Pro and it's managed to get a 3/4" hairline crack in the hull and now leaks a little. This is my 1st kayak and I'm asking for information on how to repair this. Any tips?

2 3/4" tube with 1/8oz tube head in anything green.

I ran into Edub at mouth of Monocacy while I was putting in, he was coming out. I managed 15 or so fish, and add another 18" smallie for the year. They keep teasing me, I really want to hit that 20" mark.

It's been a long week of no fishing while while taking a boot camp training session for wok with getting another certification today. Finished the test by lunch so had some time to hit baker park for an hour. Managed 2 with this one going 4 1/2. It's been awhile since I've caught something over 3 in there.

More Potomac action tonight, managed two 16" Smallies and a boat ton of 12-14" to go along with them.

Awesome. I've been on the yak a few times at Black Hills but I'm convinced I need a fish/depth finder to be able to catch fish from a boat there. With the Potomac being so close I'd rather the guarantee of catching a bunch of fish instead of going to Black Hills and hope. I found some guy on youtube that fishes Black Hills and puts up a lot of videos. He's been drop-shotting most of the summer and manages a good 10 fish per outing. If you hit the Potomac up this weekend, I've been going out from Mouth of Monocacy and paddling up just past the 1st island staying to the right of the island and drifting down fishing. All I've been using have been 4" watermelon wacky rigged Senkos and 2 3/4" tubes. I went tonight and am about to put up a few pics

No monsters this weekend but the average size is up. Took off work Friday and hit up the Potomac from about Noon to Sundown. I lost count of how many I caught. No 18" this time. I did see 2 while paddling up river that could have been 20" Best was this 14" that was nice and fat. A few others to that were about the average size for the day.

Bassmasters elite series on the Chesapeake bay

Hit the Potomac again this evening. Another 20+ fish, and my 2nd 18" Smallie in 2 weeks. So far this has been a fantastic year fishing for me, topped both my personal best for Largemouth and Smallmouth. Let's hope I catch these guys in the fall after they eat some more.

Since I did so well on Sunday on the Potomac I took today off and fished it from about 1:00 - 8:00 1st cast of the day with a 4" stick worm wacky rigged - Never a good sign for me when catching one on the 1st cast. Moved up the river a bit more and about 7 cast later - Bam, something crushes my worm, set the hook and hold on. He jumped right away and when I saw him all I can think of was, "Did I really just see that?" He put up a heck of a fight on the kayak - came in at 18 1/2" I wish I had my scale but I've never seen anything this big on the Potomac at Mouth of Monocacy. He was heavy, if I had to guess he was every bit of 3lbs. I'd love to know how close to 4lbs he was. Oh well, I'll have my scale on the river from now on. I caught around 30 this time and much better size. This was about the average fish - I'm pretty pumped, that is the biggest Smallie I've ever caught.