Snakehead Whisperer

In order of success: -white -sexy shad -chartreuse -red -black Those are about the only colors I feel I need; if the fish aren't hitting them then the buzzbait bite isn't on. Typically it seems that buzzbaits are a reaction bait and that the color is insignificant compared to the size, sound and water displacement. I usually have the best luck with quieter buzzbaits, even when the water is mildly choppy. I'll throw on a clacking buzzbait when there are whitecaps, but usually only in the late fall (though I'll usually throw on a pencil bait if they're hitting the clacking buzz, as it seems to attract larger fish.) There's no time when I use any particular color over another, I just check the water color and pick something that looks natural in contrast. I've caught fish at night using white, and I've caught fish in gin clear water on black. IMHO buzzbaits are pretty simple in theory, but require skill/experience to know when and where to throw one. Don't have a link but there's a good video online showing what a buzzbait looks like from underwater; and contrary to popular belief, the fish can't see the color of the blade when it's churning on the surface. One more thing... always throw a trailer hook on when conditions permit.

Please post your results; I'd love to see a fish you caught on those.

One thing I haven't seen mentioned in this thread is line size. What size line are you throwing these cranks on? If you're trying to get down deep for these smallies you'll get a bit deeper with lighter line. I usually throw 6-8lb. copoly/hybrid if I'm hunting that deep.

Your screen name kills me (no pun intended ) Welcome to the site.

This right here!

Not sure, but they look like they'd be perfect for longnose gar. Usually para cord lures are multi-species and thrown into a survival pack. They look like a minnow/bucktail in the water. If I had either of the 2 on the right as trailer hooks on my buzzbaits I'd be slamming the gar right now. @mcwiggles... Do you fish these ever? If so, what do you usually catch on them? Those hooks look pretty big for bluegill/crappie. I bet a pike would slam those though.

Learned this the hard way when I started trying to catch walleye. During the winter I use a jighead or a jigging spoon tipped with a piece of night crawler. If the bait isn't within 6-12" of the fish they won't hit it. Live lining minnows or trolling a crawler harness is also a good example. If the speed is too fast or too slow, the fish will ignore your offerings. Bass fishing with live bait is the same thing. Finding the fish is the most important thing, and presentation and accuracy are at a close second. With that said I have been outfished pretty hard by anglers using live minnows for smallies while I'm tossing similar looking artificials. But they knew where to place the bait, and had the casting accuracy to get it there as well as the right rigging to keep it in the strike zone.

A live crawfish

Mentioned Minnesota in my first post on page 1. The Dakotas are definitely awesome. Some of the best walleye fishing in the world. Never fished the other 3. Also worth mentioning are Wyoming and Montana if you're into trout. I've fished all over the place, and I've never encountered a state (or country) that didn't have something substantial to offer. The only thing I can think of is that Germany and Switzerland have banned systematic catch and release (you can only release fish that are below the legal size and must keep all legal fish until you limit out.) That is a buzzkill.

Texas is great. I have friends in Conroe, and it's always a great time out there. There's also some incredible river fishing in Texas. Oklahoma also has some great fishing opportunities. The OP said he's within an hour of Berryessa which has some really huge LMB, but the largest I've heard of caught there is just shy of 17lb. I do remember folks catching spotted bass up to 8lbs. in that lake and others in the area (Shasta is a good place for huge spots.) Another fun freshwater fish to target on the West Coast is the squawfish, although many view them as trash fish because they compete with salmon, eat salmon roe, and aren't very good eating. However they fight good, get pretty big and will hit bass lures.

x2 Can't speak for NY, but the mid-Atlantic has some world class fishing. Virginia and Maryland have a great balance of northern and southern species with a mild climate that produces pretty large fish (especially smallmouth bass, state records both over 8lbs.) Within an hour of my home in DC I can hit the upper Potomac for smallies, walleye, muskie, etc. Within 5 minutes of home I can be on the tidal Potomac for largemouth bass, stripers, gar, giant catfish, monster crappie and snakeheads. If I head east I can fish the Chesapeake bay for stripers, black sea bass, speckled trout, bluefish, etc. BTW, I am from the bay area originally and California fishing is hard to beat, but this area gives northern CA a run for it's money. Other areas that I would rate high would be. -Tennessee -Minnesota or any of the northern states(though it's really cold up there.) -Oregon (specifically the Columbia River.) -Maryland/Pennsylvania -Florida -Kentucky

Largemouth, spotted and smallmouth bass are all sunfish. So are crappies. As for sunfish that resemble bluegills, check out this wikipedia article on Lepomis (bluegill genus.)

You can fish it either way. A worm makes a decent topwater bait, but I was thinking more of a punching technique or something you can cast over the grass and drag through it with a heavier weight. One of my favorite presentations for river smallies is a Slider Spider jig head with a 3-4" senko or grub. I usually fish this texposed because the hookup ratio is better, but the hooks can be bent slightly to accommodate a non-exposed hook point into the plastic. A bullet weight and an ewg hook will make a similar rig, as will a shakey head. Who knows, you might hook up with some walleye on this rig in the grass too.

There are probably fish lurking in the weeds between where you're standing and the area you're trying to cast into. Any chance of wading through the grassy area into a better position to get at the moving water? Not sure what kind of weeds you are fishing through. Is it grass, hydrilla, etc? Texas rig, shakey head, regular bass jigs with a weed guard, etc. should all work. I like to throw a craw imitation on a shakey head texas rigged. You should try throwing a buzzbait earlier and later in the day, although sometimes you can catch smallies on a buzzbait at high noon. Use one without a trailer hook if you are picking up salad. If the weeds are really thick then maybe a frog.

I understand, it's just that I've heard the stories from many irritated bass fisherman who get their lines chewed up by pike. I've heard them called all kinds of names... like snake, etc.

Awesome. I don't run the risk of catching pike in most of the fisheries I frequent, so I guess I'm uninitiated Pickerel do put up a good fight for their size, but I've never had a problem with their teeth breaking my line. I'm curious now. Need to get up north and try for some pike and muskie. Maybe I should stock up on steel leaders first. One thing that pickerel do though is try to bite me when unhooking them. On more than one occasion I've had pickerel take a swipe at my hand when removing hooks. Pretty tough little fish.

Like everyone in this thread has said, yes pike will eat a crawler (real or fake.) A couple of months ago I saw a guy at a local lake hook and boat a 25-30lb. muskie with half of a night crawler on a 1/8oz. jighead while walleye fishing. He was fishing a MF rod with 6lb. mono. The fight was epic to say the least. His line was completely trashed, and he almost lost the fish at boatside. We don't have pike in many places around where I live, but we catch lots of pickerel on soft plastics.

Rope lures are definitely the way to go if you want to catch longnose gar. Attaching the rope to a buzzbait or spinnerbait body is also a proven technique. Hannover_Yakker's advice is spot on, especially the part about letting the gar take the lure for a few seconds. One thing I'd add is that once you have to fish on, do not give it any slack. Gar have an uncanny ability to roll and wriggle themselves free of these rope lures if you give them a slack line. As far as catching gar on a hook, you'll have a much better hookup ratio if you downsize the hooks (think like size 8-12.) I have a 2.5" popper with size 8 hooks that I throw quite a bit, and I hook into gar with it pretty often. They'll usually strike it 2-3 times before I can hook up. Usually I can shake them off quite easily if I don't want a photo with them. If I keep the line tight though, I can usually net and boat the fish with ease. I definitely like catching longnose gar... a good fighting fish and they're just cool looking too. Here's a pic of one I caught on that popper a week or two ago in DC (popper is sexy shad color.)

While I know for a fact that bass are opportunistic feeders; and that they will practice cannibalism, I'm not convinced that bass see a 'baby bass' colored lure as a baby bass. Many baby bass colored lures (especially soft plastics) tend to be a generic fishy color that resembles the coloration of a bass. They could just as easily resemble a killifish, a darter, or any number of other forage species. That's just my 2¢. I'm definitely not contesting the effectiveness of baby bass colored lures... they catch fish.

They do have predators. The fry/fingerlings fall victim to kingfishers, and the larger fish are preyed on by osprey and herons here. Bass, perch, sunfish, catfish, walleye and crappie all eat snakehead fry when they can get away with it. The fish are a good game species imho, but it's too early to understand the impact that they'll have on the balance of our ecosystem here. So far the effects have been negligible. Bass fishing on the Potomac gets better year after year (and so does snakehead fishing.) Chances are the fish will spread to nearby watersheds, and then who knows where. They are already in the Wicomico river on MD's Eastern Shore (across the Chesapeake bay from the Potomac,) and the Delaware River, as well as many of the surrounding watersheds in those areas. Snakeheads also occupy habitat that is not typical of their usual haunts in parts of the Potomac River. One example would be Chain Bridge in Washington DC. It's rocky with heavy currents and the snakeheads occupy relatively deep water there. A stark contrast to the typical shallow, weedy backwaters that the fish are known to inhabit. The fish are already deviating from their patterns known in their native Amur River, so all bets are off. 2 things that I'm sure of... 1. LMB and SMB aren't native fish to the Potomac, much like snakeheads. 2. Snakeheads aren't going anywhere, so we'd better get used to them.

A couple of really good looking fish. What fly patterns do you use to target them?

The Maryland DNR conducted research to make comparisons of the diets of largemouth bass and the northern snakehead in order to gauge whether they are competing for food. As it turns out, neither fish's diet consists much of juvenile bass/fry (at least in this region.) Link to the study: PDF file

This was just published in the July/August issue of Bassmaster magazine.

Sounds like it's been a good year, and that you have a lot more 'firsts' to come. There's still a lot of fishing left to do this year. I met my goal of catching a 5lb. smallie. It fought better than a 15lb. snakehead, hands down. I've since caught a few more in that weight class. Been really trying to polish up my swift river current techniques and reading the water. So far so good, but there is always more to learn.

Sure is. If I had a dollar for every time I thought I was fighting a 2lb. smallie only to pull out an 8" fish, I'd be very wealthy.