Bill Poch

Since I live in and work in Frederick, I think I'm going to see what the pond at Baker park looks like tomorrow (Mon) at lunch. I don't anticipate much of anything, going through my tackle tonight, all I have for LMB from last year are some plastic worms, plastic jerk baits, and a few cranks. I'm on a tight budget so I'll have to pick a few things up when I get paid this week. Tuesday after work I'm going to hit Black Hills and if we don't get much rain, I may run up to the Potomac at Harper's Ferry on Wed. I was up there last week but the river was still up a bit and couldn't get out of the shore line. Unfortunately the Hydrograph up there hasn't reported a river level since the 14th.

The pictures actually inpire me. That's what I like about fishing, you just never know when that big guy is going to hit. Lucky for me, my basic tactics catch fish but I would love to expand on my limited techiques for those days when what I know just isn't working. For the rivers (Monocacy at Pinecliff and Potomac just up from Hapers Ferry) my main lure is the Rebel floater/driver crawfish crankbait. For me, those are pretty money for catching fish. My 2nd that didn't seem to good last year are 3" power grubs on a jig head. Maybe I'm not working them right, I would just cast and retive, but I got tired of always getting hung up on the bottom with those guys. My only topwater bait was a few poppers that got a few hits, but those are hard to work in a moving river. This year, I have a kayak so I'll be able to cover more ground and not be limited to jumping rocks to get out in the river, although the Potomac was down most of the summer so I could get out pretty far. At Blackhills, from land I stayed away from any crankbaits that had treble hooks because I'd end up losing it getting snagged. I didn't catch much there last year, but got a few. When I was younger I used Berkley powerbait worms and slugo jerk baits, so that's what I've stuck with. The worms I would just texas rig (I think that's right, with the bullet weight on the line and a 2/0 hook in the head to body). Again, I used some topwater poppers and actually caught the biggest LM out of there last year in the backwash out on the long point working the tree's sticking out. I don't have a scale but he had to be close to 2lb. I've tried spinnerbaits but have never had any luck with them. It's either I'm to impatiant or just not working it right. Maybe when the weather gets a little nicer and I'm able to get out a few times a week we can come up with some "technique of the week" for us guys that are looking to learn to fish and not rely on one minded techniques

Those are some nice looking fish. I feel like a novice looking at all these huge fish you guys catch on this site. I'm gonna have to start studying all the tips instead of just chucking crankbaits for smallies and plastic worms for LM.

Just bought my 1st "boat" 2 weeks ago, 10' Ascend Angler. Last year I went out with a friend that had 2 rec. yak's and loved fishing from it, I had to save up for one of my own. Funny thing is I don't have truck to transport it and my Camaro has T-tops so I can put a rack on it. I said to myself, I'm buying the yak no matter what and I'll figure out how to get it to the river after I own it. Lucky for me, the thing fits in the car. I doubt I'm the 1st to shove a 10' Kayak inside a Camaro, but I would like to think I am.

I've been taking my kid to daycare in Middletown for the past 2 years, I had no idea there was a pond up there. I had no idea there were bass in the pond at Baker park either. I never made it up to Cunningham Falls last year, but it was always in the back of my mind. Thanks for the info.

Hi guys. Just found this forum looking for some late winter smallmouth fishing information. I live in Fredneck and fished a lot last year out of Pinecliff park just wading around and fished the upper potomac at Harpers Ferry. I did hit blackhills a few times as well. I spent most of my prior fishing experience at blackhills, I grew up in Damascus so I was pretty close to Boyds. I used to mainly fish for largemouth when I was a teenager into my early 20's. (I'm 39 now) Life kinda got in the way and I hadn't fished for many moons. Last year during the summer I got re-hooked and this time it was wading for smallmouths. By no means am I pro-angler, but in the summer on either river, it wasn't very hard to catch fish. What I'd really like to accomplish is actually understanding the fish a little more and be able to understand, what I should be trying to do to catch more fish. Although for both those rivers I've always stuck to rebel crawfish crankbaits and 2-3" berkley power grubs, if one wasn't working, the other was, though I've had most my success on those crankbaits. Anyway, just posting to say Hi, and I hope to learn something here. I've never tried fishing this early in the year and I'm not sure how the fishing from shore is since it's too cold to be wading in, but with these temps I really want to get out and fish. I did pick up a kayak this winter, but I want to wait until the water gets warmer to use it in case I dump myself.

Awesome, didn't even see that NE section. Thanks.

Hi guys. Just found this forum looking for some late winter smallmouth fishing information. I used to mainly fish for largemouth when I was a teenager into my early 20's. (I'm 39 now) Life kinda got in the way and I hadn't fished for many moons. Last year during the summer I got re-hooked and this time it was wading for smallmouths in the Monocacy river in Frederick and the Potomac river up by Harper's Ferry. By no means am I pro-angler, but in the summer on either river, it wasn't very hard to catch fish. What I'd really like to accomplish is actually understanding the fish a little more and be able to understand, what I should be trying to do to catch more fish. Although for both those rivers I've always stuck to rebel crawfish crankbaits and 2-3" berkley power grubs, if one wasn't working, the other was, though I've had most my success on those crankbaits. Anyway, just posting to say Hi, and I hope to learn something here.