Bill Poch

Looks like I'll be heading out on the Bay on my Uncle's boat this Sat for some big strippers. This is the 1st year I've been able to go and he knows what he's doing. A 30" fish on his boat is considered small and his biggest is a 51 1/2" monster. I hope to have some great pics to share when I get back.

I'd love to know the name of the book

Anybody ever fish the Potomac from the Lander boat access area? I'm curious as to if this part of the river is wadable.

I need to start paying attention to what you guys look like. I think I saw and talked to you over at the tubes. I was there with my little girl trying to catch her some bluegills and sneak in some fishing for myself. Saw one bass guarding the nest and he wasn't interested in anything I threw. He did hit one plastic worm but grabbed it by the tail below the hook and ran with it. If he would have grabbed it head 1st I would have caught him.

I made it out to the Monacocy tonight at Pinecliff and the bite was pretty dead. Managed 1 little carp and 1 little blue gill. It was the 1st time I had my Kayak out so I spent more time just playing around in that than fishing though. I hoping the bite picks up soon, last year it was pretty active at Pinecliff for Smallies. Weather permitting I will be heading up to the Potomac just down river of the 340 bridge on Tues so I'll let you guys know how that goes. I'm dying to get into some smallies.

I've gotten out twice this week. Monday night I hit up a creek near my Mom's house. It's starting to get active back there. The blue gill bite was on but no so much the smallmouth. Only got 1 smaller one. Did catch 2 spotted bass, I think that's what they were, had red eyes. I like hitting that place up, I've never seen anybody else fishing back there. I've made a custom google map of the place if any of you guys are interested in checking it out. http://maps.google.c...2399a7bb69b11aa I hit up the Monacocy last night, but it was a little chilly when the sun got behind the clouds. The river was very low and clear. Again the blue gill bite was on and caught a bunch of those guys. Managed one little smallmouth. I did see a nice sized catfish swim by. For the Fredneck guys that like fishing the Monacocy, here's some of the spots I fish at Pinecliff park. http://maps.google.c...4c6f275ea730859 If you fish my spots I want pictures Right now I've been using only a 2" rebel crawfish crankbait in red. Green/oragne seem to be pretty good in that river too. I hope to get back out Sat. afternoon with my brother.

Thanks a lot!

Ran out real quick after work to a creek and managed 1 smallie but only fished for a very short time. Also got a chance to take a look at the Jon boat my brothers and I are getting for free. The owner is still looking for the title to the trailer, but we may just go and pick it up just to get it up to use. Boat looks in very good shape and he is throwing in a bunch of PDF's, 2 swivel seats and a Mercury 9.8 gas motor. We did bring the motor home and it fired right up on the 2nd pull. The carburetor is spitting some gas out so it may be a little clogged. Now I just need to find some places on the potomac that are deep enough to run the gas motor. Here are some pictures.

I'm going to switch things up and talk boats. My brothers and I are getting a jon boat from a friend for free. We've been bugging him for 2 years trying to buy it and he finally said he doesn't have time to fix it up (not in bad shape at all) and he won't use it if he does, please come get it if you want it. My question is about registering the boat. We are getting a 9.5HP gas motor with the thing (which we hope runs). Any ideas as to what/if we need to register this thing? Back to fishing, I only managed to get out Fri after work this past weekend. I went up to the Potomac up by Harpers Ferry. The river was extremely low. River gauge up there said it was 3.14 feet. I didn't catch anything, but I love it up there. Also was able to make a mental note to myself that my old sneakers are not very safe jumping around on the rocks, almost took a nice swim. I may try some cheap beach/pool shoes although I know I really need to just bite the bullet and invest in some nice wading boots but they run $70 and up and don't fit in my budget at the moment.

Well, I never made it out to the river tonight. With the overcast skies and breeze going it felt a little chilly to be wading around in the river tonight. Anyway here are my 2 fish from the creek. 1 smallie and 1 crappie

Thought I'd post about my weekend fishing since I have some time. Sat. afternoon I hit up a linganore creek back behind my Mom's house in Spring Ridge, Frederick with my bro. We did some wading and I don't have any hip waters so it was just shorts and old tennis shoes. It was freaking cold but worth it. There's a couple hot spots I know back there. I managed 2 Crappie both about 8 -10". I had no idea they were back in there because we never caught any of those last year. The best was when I managed to cast over a tree branch (Happens way to often) The lure was just dangling in the water as I tried to figure out how to get it back with having to go balls deep into the cold water. While I'm going over my options a big ol crappie decides hes hungry and hits my lure. So I have this d**n fish hooked and my line still stuck in the tree about 3' out to far. My bro comes up and lasso's my line with his, brings in the fish, saves my lure and no need to break my line. It was pure comedy gold. My bro got the only smallmouth at around 8". I also had 4 -5 bluegill. I fish ultra light with 4lb so any fish back there is fun to catch. I know there are some biggies back there because my bro caught one of the biggest smallmouth's I've ever seen last year. If I remember right, probably pushing 18 - 19" and fat. Sunday I went out to Pinecliff park and waded down past the the bridge with both my brothers. Again, shorts and tennis shoes. I really need to find some money for waders until it gets warmer out. I did decent. Only 1 smallmouth but he was about 12", a bunch of blue gill, and 1 baby carp. I did see about 5 or 6 big ass carp swimming around out there. Both my brothers managed 1 smallmouth so I get the claim the "fishing crown" in the family for the day for most fish. I plan on rolling up to the Potomac after work tomorrow and check out the river up there near Haper's Ferry. With no rain lately the river is pretty far down and I should be able to get to some of my good spots from last year without having to get too wet. I know most of you seem to target LMB, but there is just something I love about the fight of a smallie on my ultra light setup. Also the fact I rarely get skunked in the river vs going for those big boys at Black Hills. For me a rebel crawfish crankbait is money in the rivers. In the Monocacy they seem to prefer the bright green/yellows, but most of my fish this weekend came off of red/orange I have some pics of the Crappie but it's on my waterproof camera, or I should say, my wife's waterproof video camera that I bought for her at X-mas with alternative motives for myself. I'll get some pics posted with hopefully some Smallies from the Potomac tomorrow night.

Check ebay - I saw a bunch of nice auctions going on for nicely priced lipless cranks

I've looked at those bait retivers several times but never pulled the trigger on buying one yet. I'd love to hear if it works for you.

I decided to go for some smallmouths on the Monocacy tonight at Pinecliff park. I don't have any waders so I was stuck to shore fishing. I fished the heck out of this spot last year and most of the places holding fish are not accessible by shore. I tried my crawfish crankbaits and 2-3" power grubs with no luck. Those are my go to baits on the rivers for smallies. When the sun was starting to set I saw a fish in the middle of the river hit the top, so I threw on my little rebel popper even though it's not easy to work in a running river from shore. I would let it drift down river and slowly pop it up the shoreline. I was completely shocked when I got a hit and fought him for a few seconds until he decided to jump and spit the thing out. Although no fish were landed it was a great night to be out and I love fishing that river. I think I'm going to get the new kayak in the water this Sat for a test run if we don't get any rain and the river stays about the same. I'm dying to get the yak in the water just to play around with it. I've never owned one. I think I may put in up by the Walmart on Rt 26 in Frederick and paddle up river and just enjoy the day. It will be a nice test run for me since I'm transporting a 10' Kayak in the hatchback of my Camaro. I have T-tops so I can't get a roof rack, but I tested it out, it fits!!

I noticed when I was at Black Hills yesterday they had a sign stating they are expecting a large crowd on Sunday and may have to close the park if/once the parking fills up. Just a heads up for anybody thinking about going Sunday.

Oh, don't get me wrong. Skunked doesn't mean I would have rather been doing something else.

my mistake, meant to say skunked at Black Hills.

Completely skunked. I fished from about 11 - 2:00 Later in the evening I ran out to a creek up near Spring Ridge in Frederick. Manged to catch 2 and miss 1 smallie. There were not big fish, biggest going about 8 - 10" but they are sure fun to catch.

Good morning, I'm going to skip work today and hit up Black Hills around 11ish and fish until the rain shows up. I hope I catch some big ones.

Nice fish!

I can see it just fine. Clicked on my profile name at the top, selected settings, then signature was on the list on the left. I was able to access it.

Thanks guys, I'm still pumped up about it. Fat boy - I think it's suppose to be warmer tomorrow so now that you know they will hit the buzzbait you can land him tomorrow night. TheKingFisher - your sacrifice has not gone unnoticed. Maybe next time I'm out there I'll have to build an alter on the banks and leave a crankbait as an offering to the fishing Gods.

Made it to BH tonight, fished what I think you guys call the "stick ups". I went with what has become the theme lately, lipless cranks. The is the 1st time I've used them and it paid of huge. Landed my PB. I'm guessing he was pretty close the 4 pounds 19 - 20". I'm not used to catching big fish like this so I've never bothered with a scale, but homeboy was pretty thick and had the entire crank bait in his mouth. My dumb butt left my all purpose tool in the car that has my needle nose pliers and I was kicking myself. I had him hooked in the lip and deep down just passed his gills. I turned in to the MASH 4077th and managed some meatball surgery and was able to free the deep hook with a stick. I was going to be really upset with myself if I wasn't able to get this guy back in the water. I was fishing the crank pretty slow and he was holding in about 2' of water and maybe 5 - 6' off the bank. I thought I got snagged, because I didn't anticipate him being so close, but then I realized, trees don't fight back. That was also my 1st of the year, so I'm pretty pumped right now drinking a victory beer or 3 tonight.

I should be out there tonight as well. I'll be the guy out there getting snagged on tree's and losing the few crank baits I picked up today.

I made it over to the pond at Baker Park for about 90 minutes this afternoon from about 1:30 - 3:00. Although I didn't catch any bassholes I did see some baby LMB here and there around the bank, so they are in there. Like I said earlier, my tackle box is a little limited right now. I tried some 7" red power worms, 3" power grubs, and I had a little 1 1/2" shad crankbait. I wasn't skunked, I got a 5 - 6" crappie on the crankbait, and it's the 1st fish of 2012, so at least I got that one out of the way. So in a pond with very little visible structure, what do you target, or just keep working the bank until you find them? I should be hitting Black Hills after work tomorrow, I'm gonna try to hit up Walmart at lunch to see if they have some lipless cranks.