Tuckahoe Joe

Thanks for that WRB. Gave me a lot to think about.

Thats crazy man. Sorry I can't tell you what it is. I hate spiders. I avoid them like the plague. Did you drag through any weeds along the shore or anything during your retrieve? Maybe it got on like that and just hung on for the ride. Have you tried google searching underwater spiders?

what about crank/spinner baits? wont the swivel mess up the action?

Ive been having some problems with line twist lately. I was gonna try using a swivel to remedy this but Ive heard that swivels can mess up the action of some baits. Just wondering which types of baits you should/shouldn't use swivels with.

Im sure it was neat for them to get that close to the fawn but it sucks that it was so unwary. Definitly sounds like people had been feeding it and thats never a good thing. Ive never seen any poisonous snakes. Mostly garter and ratsnakes. The only one i have to worry about is the copperhead. Timber rattler is primarily northwestern MD.

thanks for your oppions everyone. dont worry. im definilty not filling my freezer. i think the most ive caught has been 3 (all about 12-14 inches) and they've all been eaten the day of the catch. for those of you that say bass doens't taste good, i dunno. i guess my girlfriends just a phenomenal cook. i wanna try crappie and bluegill but i have yet to catch any.

im mainly fishing texas rigged soft plastics on 4/0 gamakatsu round bend offset shank hooks. my rod isn't anything fancy. its a shakespeare rod with medium/heavy action and a 10lb line.

Ok. That makes me feel better about it then. And as far as hoarding fish goes, thats definitly not me. I usually only catch 2-3 and actually have yet to catch my limit.

Headed up to Baltimore Thursday to fish with my little brother. We're gonna hit Loch Raven. Anyone know any good spots? I've driven by it a lot and I'm familiar with all the roads in the area but I've never fished it.

if you worried about friction when tying your knots, wet the knot before pulling it tight.

It sounds like a lot of you guys practice 'catch and release'. Does anyone keep/eat their fish? I see most of the people at the lake I go to putting them back but I've been keeping mine. My point of view is that money is pretty tight right now so I figure every fish dinner equals less money spent at the grocery store (plus they taste delicious). I mean, Im not poaching. All my fish meet size requirements/catch limits. Does anyone else keep their catch or is this frowned upon by the bass fishing community?

welcome to BR

i haven't tried many different lures yet. mostly been fishing soft plastics. seems like senkos get the most bites so id go with them. not sure what the name of the color was but it was like an orangish brown. white with blue flecks works good too.

i think i might be forgetting to reel in the slack first. going out this weekend. gonna work on it and maybe if i can find my camera ill post some pics if i catch anything.

thanks for the help guys. im sure once i get a few more fish under my belt it'll eventually become second nature.

Ok. So from everything im hearing/reading, its just giving the rod a good swift snap upwards over your shoulder. But does it matter what direction? Say for example a fish takes my lure and starts swimming to the right. Should I snap left opposite of the direction the fish is going or is it just up over the shoulder no matter what?

fish chris - you are joking right? if not its a heck of a story. hope you got a rabies shot afterwards

im not trying to insult you but how long have you been fishing? only reason i ask is because im new to this and the first few times i went out i had the same problem. it turned out that i wasn't tying my knots properly. i thought it was the line snapping but it was really the knot coming undone. check the end of the line next time. if its all curly and twisted, it was most likely the knot.

im not sure but i think ive seen grippers with scales built in. maybe something to pick up when i have a couple extra bucks.

senkos definitly induce strikes. went out with this guy i work with the other day. i was fishing these blue curly tail worms with no luck and he was using a senko and destroying them. i tried one of his senkos rigged texas style and 10 minutes later caught my first fish of the day. the last 4 or 5 fish ive caught recently have all been on a senko.

thanks for the input. i just got back. got there around 530am and started with a frog. got a few strikes but as soon as the fish hit it they spit it out. switched over to a senko after a bit and got a few small bites but just couldn't get them to commit. i'd probably do better if i didn't have to worry about when to leave. i stayed up all night and had to get home to get some sleep so i could go in to work at 4. thursday im actually off for a change so im gonna be out there all day.

forgot to mention french bread pizzas. stouffers or red baron. made my own once. tasty stuff!

thanks for that tom. very helpful!

nice. all very cool. no bears around here. possibly in western MD but not sure. seen chipmunks before but never tried to pet one. sounds like a good way to get a small chunk taken out of your finger. gone fishin' - all i can say is wow. thats nuts. checked out the pics. would have been awesome if you had some video. packman - what are nutria? arent they like some kind of rat? i could be mistaken guitar kid - my dad caught a big snapper on a trout line once when he was crabbing. he was dipping crabs and then all of a sudden up comes this huge snapping turtle. my dad just dipped it and flipped it up into the front of the boat. i was only like 5 or 6 so at the time i was completly amazed at a turtle that size.

i mean i guess the weight doesn't really matter that much. the length is definitly easier to go by but everyones always like "yeah man, i caught this 6lb bass". i dont care about the smaller ones but eventually im gonna catch a nice sized fish and if its a new PB or something, id like to have an approximate weight. maybe ill just use 3 different calculators and take the average of the 3 different weights.