Bill Poch

I went out last weekend up to Dickerson and fished the warm water discharge on the potomac. Manage 7. It's the first time I've tried up there from shore. Nothing big, but I was catching fish. I wanted to get the yak out, but it was really windy which would have made for a crappy day in the yak. Sitting here looking at the weather for tomorrow I'm seriously considering calling out sick tomorrow to get the yak out on the Potomac one last time. I told my wife this and she caught me and said "Isn't this the 4th time you said you'd take your kayak out one last time?" LOL. Yes, yes it is. Tuesday would be the better day but at my work we split Vets day and the day after thanksgiving for floating holidays. I signed up to work Vets day, so I can't call out Tuesday. So, as I sit here finishing my 3rd beer for the night, I'm pretty sure I'll be on the Potomac tomorrow instead of doing my job. I do have to say I'm thankful for my wife understanding my fishing obsession instead of saying, no you need to go to work, she just shrugs it off and makes fun of me.

Nice fish MARs, I wish Linganore was open to everybody. I'd love to fish that place. I have fished the creek that flows out of there to the Monocacy, lots of smallmouth in that creek with some LMB mixed in.

Tried a little bass fishing at baker part for lunch yesterday, managed a 13 -14" crappie Thinkin about running down to Black Hills with the kayak on Monday since I have the day off. I've not fished there this late in the year. Where should I look for the fish? Will they be shallow or deep.

Ran over to Baker Park this evening. I didn't realize there was more than 1 fish in there. Caught 4 decent size fish tonight, all on a buzz bait. Buddy of mine caught 1 on a plastic worm.

I finally made it out to that retention pond tonight after work. Absolutely no fish in there at all. Don't waste your time. Never fish this place, ever . . . . Easy 4 pounder was only 16" but heavy. Caught 4 tonight, should have had 6. Had another beast on the line, darted under the yak and snapped the line. So ticked about that. My drag wasn't that tight, but I loosened it up after that. I only saw about 2 other spots with very limited shore access. And with the a lot of vegetation on the sore line, it's a lot easy to attack from the yak. Biggest fish caught in my yak, and 1st not in a river. Pretty fun fighting that guy while he pulled me around. Not so much fun dodging tree branches to the face though.

If I start pulling 20" fish out of there I'm gonna tell everybody I got skunked, LOL. Nah, you guys have been extremely helpful in the past I have no problem sharing. As of now looks like Sat is 80% chance of evening thunderstorms, so we'll see what it looks like. If it rains, I'll try to get up early Sunday and give the morning bite a try.

If that's the case, looks like I need to get the yak over there Sat. afternoon

Unless you bought a white water yak and very good helmet

Had a productive fishing holiday, managed to get out Sat, Sun, and Mon. Hit up the potomac on Sat afternoon and caught a good 14 smallies. On Sat. I had an hour to 2 kill and I remember somebody here mention the retention pond over by Frisco's in Frederick, so I thought I'd check it out. Not many places to access as far as ideal casting spots, but found a few. Manged 2 largemouths. I would love to sneak my kayak in there since I doubt that place is fished, could hold something special. Actually, I have no idea what the law is about putting a kayak in a retention pond. There are no signs that say you can't trespass. I may need to hit up DNR and find out, but then again, who's gonna be looking for me back there anyway. Ran back to the Potomac on Monday but I had to get out at Noon. With pretty clear sky's and crystal clear water, it made fishing hard today. It wasn't until a storm was working it's way through was I able to find the fish. By then after 3 smallies and seeing some lightning, I got off the water. Too bad after I had the Yak back on the Jeep, it didn't end up raining. Oh well. Live to fish another day. The Potomac is really low, showing 1.2 feet at Point of Rocks.

Skunked at Blackhills tonight but I did get 2 blow-ups on a frog in the backwash, but they both missed. Who do I have to buy a 12 pack for to take me out there and show me where the fish are?

I fished up there about a month ago and managed one. I'd say around 2 pounds, maybe a bit more. Caught him on a wacky senko by the cat tails in the evening. The only other one I caught this year was a dink on a buzzbait. I don't have much luck up there so I don't fish it a lot. I hope to get to blackhills Tue or wed after work. I haven't been down there in a few weeks

Nice and 4 out of the 8 teams got skunked. Must have been some stubborn fish

Took the yak out on the Potomac at Mouth of Monocacy today, it's becoming one of my favorite spots lately. Easy to paddle and river is calm. I was worried it was way to low this weekend. This morning the river was at 1.2' at Point of Rocks, good thing my brother didn't get the Jon boat out, it was super low. Caught 10 and managed one worth posting a picture. 17" hog. Oh yea. Best smallmouth this year, and 2" shy of my personal best. Wish I had my scale with me because he had some weight to him. I'll be back out there Tuesday night.

I was born in 73, so missed it by one year. To me it's Murphy's law, if I get it I'll never get stopped, if I chance it I'll get stopped right away.

That be the one. I'll never get stopped, hell, never seen DNR out where I fish ever. But I just can't take the chance.

I did much better tonight with the Gamakatsu 2/0 hooks, I landed 12 out on the Potomac at Mouth of Monocacy with no real issue losing them. I wish I didn't have to spend so much time paddling the kayak up river, it's taking time out of my fishing, LOL. I'd say average size was 10" but a few a little over 12". All I know is the Potomac is on fire now and I hope it stays that way until Nov. I'm paddling up to the point of the 1st island and drifting down a tad left center of the river. I haven't drifted down past the Mouth of the Monocacy because I don't don't feel like paddling back up once I'm done fishing. I'm trying to get my brothers to get the Jon boat out this weekend, but the one with the boat keeps blowing off my texts. I don't have my boaters license yet, so I can't take it out alone and the trailer sucks. It's so hard to load it alone. We don't have trailer guides for it. I'll have to get my boaters license over the winter so I can just go take the boat. I'd get one of my own, but I don't have parking for a trailer I think the wife would kill me if I came home with one also, so there's that. One day . .

I'll teach you where they are in Baker Park, actually landing them, nope. I'm going through an "unlucky" phase. I ran up there tonight for about 30 mins. 1st one on was easy 4-5 pounder, he decided he didn't like me and breached the surface 2 feet from me and spit the hook. I think I heard him laughing too. That's twice in 1 week that little basshole did that too me. I did catch his little brother though. Hitting the Potomac with some new hooks for my wacky rig tomorrow after work and hope my hook up is better this time out. If my issues continue I may be the 1st person to wacky rig with a treble hook. This is my 1st year really working a wacky rig, I'll accept the missed fished. The fact I'm actually get hits is enough to show me I'm doing it right.

Thanks for the info guys, I'll grab a bit bigger hook and see if that helps.

Fished the Potomac at Mouth of Monocacy this afternoon in the Yak. The smallmouth were rocking, I however had some issues. This is the 1st time I tried a wacky rigged Senko's out in the river and the hook I used failed me. I managed 6-8 fish tonight but missed another 10 that got off. It's either the hook or me but after I missed a few I started setting the hook like the Hulk but still had too many get off. Some even fought me to the yak and then just let go when they got close. So either it's my hook set or bad hook. I used a size 1/0 Wacky Weedless by VMC I think is the brand, I picked them up at bass pro over the winter. I'll attach a pic of what I used. I think I just need to upgrade to some Gamakatsu hooks, is 1/0 still a decent size for 5" Senko's. So I'm looking for hook suggestions or hook set techniques for Wacky rigged. I did have them rigged with a o-ring. I'm a little upset with myself, 1st I had tonight jumped and threw it and it was an easy 15" smallie.

Got up to Harpers Ferry for some wading Wed night. Managed 8 mostly on a wacky 4" senko. Nothing big enough to post pictures. The river is nice and clear. I'm hoping to get the yak out to Black hill's tomorrow afternoon, or put in up at Mouth of the Monocacy to hit the Potomac, depends on how much I feel like paddling up river since I don't have float buddy to arrange transportation if I float down the river and want a ride back up to the Jeep. I hit my brother up tonight to see if he wants to take the jon boat out, not sure if he is free yet. I'd welcome you to the boards but since I'm already friends with you, suck it! I only stayed at Whittier tonight for about an hour and 1/2. I didn't have any advil so my back was really hurting. Plus, I just can't get into that place so I wasn't feeling it.

Just and FYI, but after years of fishing in trees, I can confirm you will not catch any fish there. Yes, I know, trees are cover and bass like cover, apparently it has to be under water though.

Ran up to Middletown Pond tonight after the storm came through. Only managed one little 2 pounder on a wacky rig watermelon senko. Only the 2nd one I've caught out of there. Hoping to get the they yak out on the river this weekend.

With the Potomac river gauge at 1.4 feet today I decided to wade up at Harper's Ferry after work tonight. It's by far one of my favorite places, it's just so beautiful up on the river up there. Any way, manage a few dinks and a nice 2lb smallie. I missed a couple on a Bass Pro mini tube. I think my hooks are too small for the tubes and didn't penetrate through the tube. Gotta figure out the right hook to use. It was just T rigged on a small worm hook. Any way, had a 1st tonight, this was after I pushed the barb the rest of the way through, had to then hike a mile back to the Jeep and another 15 min drive to my friends house to cut it. Apparently, I was the fresh catch of the day. As long as I have been fishing, I new it was going to happen sooner or later. But, I'd take arm over face any day. It was by pure dumb luck. I have a back pack tackle bag with fishing rod holder. I had my ultra light on the tackle bag with the jitter bug on, when to take the back pack off, Wham! Good thing I had a buddy there to come over and cut the line and help out, his exact 1st words were "dude, you're in bad shape" LOL. At 1st it was 2 of the 3 hooks from the treble hook, thank god on the 2nd one it didn't get past the barb. Surprisingly, it didn't hurt as much as I imagine it would. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't pleasant. We both looked at each other and said, too bad we don't know the cool method of getting this out with fishing line. I've seen the video's before of doing it, gonna study up now. I only had 10lb line in my bag anyway, so not sure if that would have been strong enough for it though. But I caught a 2lb smallie, so I'm calling tonight a win.

I was fighting a 485lb catfish on 12lb line for 3 hours and then my fishing rod gave way. Oh wait, that's what I tell people at work that will actually believe that. I wish it was something as simple as falling or big fish. My texas rigged craw got stuck so when I pulled on the line to see if I could get it out, BAM, snapped right in 1/2. Looking back, I suppose I'm to blame for 1) not grabbing the line at the end of the rod 2) being a budget fisherman and only paying 40 bucks for that rod. Funny thing is when I bought that Rod, I had a $50 gift card for Dicks and had the full intention of using that and some cash to see if I could pick up a rod around 80 bucks. I'm a budge fisherman not by choice, but because I have to be. Anyway, I wanted a 6 1/2 foot rod, but it has to be a 2 piece or it won't fit in my Jeep. Dicks didn't have anything in the 80 buck price range in 2 piece so I went with that 40 buck rod, actually, it may have been 30. I don't remember. Either way, I'm rod shopping when I get back from PA for the 4th of July.

I was going to go fishing at Hapers Ferry last night. The river level was perfect for wading. I got in 20 mins then this happen . . .