Snakehead Whisperer

I fish all winter up here where the water almost always hits the low 30's by February (if there's not ice.) The fishing is much slower, and so are the presentations. Try downsizing your offerings, and your gear. Usually in the winter the heaviest line I use is 6lb. If you start tossing smaller lures you will probably nail some good crappie and pickerel too. The lures I throw most in cold water are: -jig and grub -dropshot -jig and pig (use real pork trailer in winter) -anything Gulp! -suspending jerkbait -silver buddy And fish them slooooow. I've caught fish in as shallow as 2' in near freezing temperatures, but you're probably going to do better if you can find some deeper water in the ponds you're fishing.

I wouldn't recommend throwing spinnerbaits or buzzbaits with a snap (or much of anything else for that matter.) Try heat shrink tubing.

Been throwing this and boating nice fish on it for a good long while. Was wondering when you guys would catch on

Not bad. Looks kind of like a rootbeer crank without the white belly. That'll catch fish for sure.

Rootbeer is the color that comes to mind as being closest to watermelon w/red fleck. Although the color is getting harder to find. Did a search for junebug colored cranks and I found this. I'd like to see pics of the crankbaits you got painted, btw.

Ha... thanks. I don't know if I've ever received that compliment before. I'm up for some fishing.

Hey, whatever works man. I went back and forth on this for a long time before settling on the smaller hooks. I might fish a 2/O too if I was smallie fishing in TN

Thanks. The Potomac is a very fishy river. Yes, this fish was caught bank fishing.

The ML-F sounds like the ticket, but either will suffice. As for the balance issue, what size reel do you have on it? A Tennessee grip works well on a ds rod, and will allow you to balance the rod to your liking.

If I were shore fishing with only 1 rod, I'd probably use a 7' M-F spinning rod. But that's just me.

I like the 4" zoom tab tail grubs. I like using white w/blue fleck, chartreuse or pearl on white jigs.

Your setup sounds good. Personally I prefer a ML-F rod around the same length as yours, but that's just me. Usually if I'm smallie fishing I will use a 4 to 1 size hook. Rarely I will step it up to a 1/O if fishing for lmb, but even then a size 1 is usually my choice. I fish for walleye and crappie a lot (size 6 to 2 hooks usually,) and have caught plenty of decent bass on size 6 and 4 hooks in the process (but I've also caught plenty of bluegill on size 1.) I've found size 2 hooks to be a great all-around smallie size. Keep in mind that I usually throw small 3-5" baits on a ds, so I choose my hooks accordingly. I set the hook on a ds similar to how one would on a jig, but with more of a reeling action. Basically the moment I feel something different on my line I lower my rod tip about a foot momentarily (usually 1-2 seconds,) then slowly swing straight up (follow through) while reeling in the slack. This method has proven to be the most effective for me. Once you get the hang of it you can tell whether a fish has eaten the lure, or simply swiped at it. With this technique I can boat a lot of fish that are only investigating my offering (e.g. hooked on the side of the lip.) Once I have a fish hooked, I usually apply increasing pressure as I reel them towards me. If it's a bigger fish, I'll really swing into it once it's hooked to drive it home. Your line choice is ideal. I usually use 10-15lb braid with 6-8lb fluoro leader. Typically I'll set the drag really light with a ds (around 25-30% the strength of the weakest link in the line [usually the leader knot,]) and once I have a fish on I will really lay it in; letting the drag do it's thing. On larger fish the drag will engage on the hook set.

Thanks, but all credit goes to the pickerel

If it were my money to spend I'd get a BPS Pro Qualifier for $100. I'm assuming that you're looking for a low-profile baitcaster, but it's hard to go wrong with an Abu C3 or C4.

I usually reach for the black cranks when water is turbid and reddish colored. I also use them more when the water is below 55 degrees. These are the times when black crankbaits have produced for me, but it's just a preference/confidence thing more than anything else (I've had fishing partners do just as well on chartreuse or white in those same conditions.)

I've caught lots of bass on black Rebel Crappie Crank-R's. They dive to 8 or 10' and it's a 2" 3/8oz. bait, so they're a pretty decent size.

That's a scary thought. That fish is probably 15-20 years old, if not older. Ain't going out like that

I have a few... -Many fall for tackle fads/gimmicks. 90% of my fish are caught on tried and true lures that have been around for years. This is not to say that there is not any innovation in the tackle field, it's just that one has to do a lot of research to find the good stuff. -Many overlook deep water/offshore fishing like so many have already mentioned itt. -Current. This is a big one. -I find that many focus intensively on water temperature, but give very little consideration to the duration of daylight during any particular season; and many bass anglers think that the moon phase is a joke or something. I can go on like this for hours.

St. Croix Premier. Rod was working hard, but it didn't budge.

Nice. Wish we had a team when I was in school. Do the students call your coach Mr. Parent? lol.

Are you referring to walleye when you say pickerel? Us east coast/southern folk don't call them that. As for pickerel fishing, I've actually been making lures to target them specifically as of late. Here are some pics from the last week. Here is a sequence of the lure from start to finish.

The constant temperature is just different to me. Around here the water temperature can fluctuate up to 60 degrees through the course of a year.

x2 I use 3" stick baits as a trailer with good results.

Might want to try a slower presentation fishing around dusk. Perhaps a popper with a twitch/chug, long pause, repeat cadence. I have been encountering a similar situation on waters that I fish, but dead sticking a popper or walking bait has been drawing bigger fish. When I say dead sticking, I mean pausing with no movement for up to 30-45 seconds or longer. I also would try only subtle movements of these baits.

Can't really advise you with this, but that's a beautiful spot. I'd start dissecting the available cover and looking for current breaks, if it were me. There are also bound to be some pools in there, but this term is relative. I'd look for any changes in bottom composition/depth and work them. An area with only subtle change (like inches in depth) may be a huge fish magnet. It's also worth checking out those tributaries. I would definitely work a buzzbait over that grass too.