Tuckahoe Joe

Good post man. I have to say I totally agree about the sense of community. Everyones really helpful and its nice to be able to get several different oppinions on any given subject without a lot of bickering. Congrats on your 5 years and thank you to the BR staff!

Awesome fish man. Glad you had a good day.

Welcome! Congrats on the new boat.

Sam gave you great advice. Im still learning too and the only other thing I can really say is don't get discouraged. Sometimes the fish win.

Thats pretty cool. Theres tons of those birds all over my lake in the spring/summer months. Haven't seen any since it got colder out though. Think Im gonna have to try that next year when it gets warmer.

Whats the best way to rig/fish these? They look similar to a senko so Im assuming they're done the same way. I just wanted to make sure.

Haven't been doing so well lately. Been getting skunked a lot or only catching 1 small one in like 3 hours. Went out yesterday morning before sunrise and caught 3 in about an hour. On my first cast I hooked one through the top of his mouth and into his eye. This made for an interesting situation because it was still completly dark out. I was holding the fish in one hand while fumbling for my pliers with the other and holding a flashlight in my mouth. And of course I still couldn't see what I was doing because the batteries were dying. This one was about 12 inches. A little while later I caught 2 more that were closer to 14. Not the longest fish but they were all fat. I'd say the smaller one was about 1.5 lbs and the others were around 2 maybe 2.5 lbs or so. Not a new personal best or anything but for me they were still nice fish. Caught them all on a 7inch dark dark red/almost brown worm fished really slow across the bottom. Took a picture of the first one. My camera sucks and goes through batteries like water so I couldn't get pics of the others. Too bad too since they were better fish. Gonna make sure I carry extra batteries from now on.

I was in a McDonalds drive thru and saw a guy sitting on the curb looking down and out and his sign just said "McHungry". Couldn't help but laugh. Came back around after I got my food and gave him 5 bucks and a book of McD's coupons. You should have seen this kids face light up. It really made his day. Also he went right into the McDonalds so I was glad he wasn't just trying to get money for drugs of booze or something. A lot of them around here purposly get themselves locked up for the winter. When it starts to get cold, they'll get themselves caught shoplifting or some other petty crime and spend a couple of months in jail. I guess they figure 3 hots and a cot is a lot better than freezing/starving on the streets.

Dude, that sounds like an awesome job. I suddenly feel like I wanna go to the carnival after reading that. I suppose I would but I can't remember the last time my piece of junk car was washed. I think the dirt is whats holding it together.

Im using 10lb mono. Went out earlier today and didn't have any problems. I did get snagged once though and after pulling free I checked and it was all frayed for like 4 or 5 inches above the hook. Im gonna be more diligent about checking my line every so often. I feel this should fix my problem.

Welcome to BR!

Welcome to BR!

Im pretty certain it was tied properly. And if the knot had failed, the line should have been all curled where the it pulled free right? I pulled myself off of a couple snags so now that you mention it, it might have been frayed. Most of the cover is just weeds and lily pads but theres definitly some more solid snaggy stuff down there. The rod is only a couple of weeks old and I've been careful with it so I doubt there are any nicks and i know all my guides are there. I suppose Ill just have to make sure I check my line more often for signs of fraying, especially if I get snagged. Thanks guys.

Did ok on tips tonight but this one lady really got me mad. So I get to this house and theres 2 little 8 y/o girls in the yard. I always try and talk to people kids when I deliver so I say "is this pizza for you?" The one girl says it is and pulls out a 20. I've had small children pay me before (usually their parents are standing right there though) so I figure "ok...I guess the parents gave the kids the money to pay me" so I tell them the total is $14.82 and they give me the 20, take the pizzas and run off to the house. Now I always give the customer change but if they walk away without saying anything, I assume that means 'keep the change'. So I put the 20 in my pocket, get in the car and head back to the store. When I get back, my manager is like, 'hey Joe, that lady said you didn't give her any change". So basically, I ended up having to go all the way back to give it to her. Went from thinking it was a 5 dollar tip to not getting anything and having to burn up extra gas for my trouble. Im not saying shes not entitled to her change, but if she would have just dragged herself off the sofa and away from the tv to pay for her food instead giving her money to a small child, the situation would have played out a lot differently. And as long as were on the topic of children, why do people insist on calling for pizza while sitting in a room full of screaming kids? I can't stand that. Im trying to hear what your saying but all I here is the noise your kids are making. Either that or people are placing their order and yelling at their kids at the same time.

I used to skate in downtown Baltimore so I've definilty seen my share of panhandlers. A lot of them aren't even homeless. Just people trying to get money without having to get a job. The majority of them I wouldn't help. You have to be careful. You could pull out your wallet to give them a buck and then they grab your wallet and run. There were 2 that I always helped though. They were both legitimatly homeless and me and my friends actually got to know them a little cuz they 'lived' at this spot we skated. The one dude would freestyle rap for you and the other guy sang 'amazing grace'. He wasn't quite right in the head though and would just sing the same verse over and over. Kind of sad. Me and my friends would put change and maybe a buck or 2 in his cup and if we went to mcdonalds or something we'd pick him up a burger form the dollar menu or give him a bottle of water from our backpacks.

So I went out earlier today and was fishing for about an hour with the same hook tied on the whole time. After a while I caught a small bass (might have weighed a pound of so). 2 or 3 casts later, my hook/worm flew off into the blue. The fish was small and didn't put up much of a fight but I had been fishing without incident up to that point. Can one little fish really weaken the knot that much? Should I be re-tieing after every fish? Or for that matter, every snag as well?

Thanks for giving me some other optoins to look at guys. How do you rage rig something. I'm still new and haven't heard of it.

I have a couple lakes within 15-20 minutes from my house. Sometimes Ill drive up to Baltimore to fish with my little brother and thats about an hour and a half to his house and then at least another 30 min to get anywhere decent.

Just wondering if anyone uses these. They come in various weights with 2/0 and 4/0 size Gamakatsu hooks. Seems pretty convenient with the weight being built into the hook. Less to deal with when rigging. Is there a downside to these Im not seeing?

I dunno about my neighborhood but if they came by the neighborhood my parents live in, they'd probably get shot at.

I agree with you about the durabiltiy. Yamamoto brand senkos seem to tear really easily. Haven't fished STIK-O's but I bought a bag of YUM dingers and they are much more durable then the yammies. Glad to hear your experiment is working out for you darren.

Thats interesting about the knots. Didn't know that. Theres been a couple times when I made my first cast of the day and had my bait just fly off into the blue. Now I know why.

Thats good advice. Sometimes I feel like Im just over-thinking when I should just be fishing.

Nice fish! Caught one a little smaller than that myself the other day.

I am by no means an expert but Ive caught a couple on frogs. Try fishing them early in the morning around weeds or other cover. If you can, stop it on a lily pad or something and let it sit for a minute. Sometimes the bass will be watching it and hit it when you twitch it off. Use eratic retrieves. Frogs kind of swim with short spurts and pauses. Try and mimic their natural movement. If you do get a strike, make sure the fish has it before setting the hook.