dinneronastring

Went to Seneca Lake in Montgomery County Saturday. Caught these two. Didn't put up much of a fight. Fished the Monocacy River on Sunday. Caught a 15 smallie and a foot and a half eel. I had never really considered that there were eel in there. Totally surprised me.

Monocacy produced nothing today. A couple of light hits. One really large one jumped throughout the day. Made a splash like someone smacking the water with a catchers mit.

I'm from New Windsor and fished for first time this season today at Cunningham falls and then tripped to the Monocacy at the Frederick and Carroll County line. Caught one 15 inch smallie from the Monocacy. Fish are holding deep at the lake and river. Bites are minimal. Went to C & O canal yesterday. Caught 6 sonny's and one pumpkin seed.

Looks like fine jewelery.

I purposely bought a large round reel for heavier line and more of it and heavier drag because I'm going for the record catfish in Maryland this year.

Yes, lots of smallmouth. Some folks think the Monocacy is fished out but I find if I wade it to where others rarely venture I pull'em out 15 to 17 1/2 inches long. This past season was my first season fishing in many years but never went to the mouth. This year is going to be a great year!

Great answer. Thanks much. Larry

I have a question that's been nagging at me. I see and hear of folks using say for instance 65lb woven string only to end it with a leader in say for instance 20lb mono. I understand the clear mono but why not fill up the entire spool with mono. Haven't you defeated the purpose of the strong string by putting on a lighter weight leader? Larry

I've recently done a lot of reading and video watching on the A-rig. No where have I come across anything mentioning this: I am considering doing an Alabama rig in the current at the Mouth of The Monocacy and the Potomac River. Seems I could place it and let it set in the current and operate without any intervention while I fished with another rod. Anything capable of grabbing it in that current would have to be a large strong fish. What are your thoughts on this? Larry

I search out and visit new potential fishing spots, plan and dream.

Worked it all out. The lure I was using was too light. I was basing my expectations of spindle free spin upon a real of less quality that I checked out at Dick's Sporting Goods that had no braking system. When you spun the empty spool with your thumb it continued to spin for a long time before it stopped. I am assuming it was the lack of braking system. Maybe tight tolerances play a part in the Silvermax. Still uncertain at this point.

I received one of the reels I wanted for Christmas a couple days early. I checked out a Silvermax while at Dicks Sporting goods. It seemed to have what I wanted in a reel for my purposes. However, it was in gator packaging so couldn't play with it much. At the time it seemed as though the spindle had very minor drag on it when it should have been spinning freely in the cast mode. I was hoping it was my imagination because it was difficult to evaluate in the packaging. The one I received for Christmas is the same. This limits how far I can cast a light weight lure, plastics, etc. when this was why I chose this style of reel from what I have been using. Has anyone else experienced this with a Blackmax or Silvermax? I believe I will remove the crank, attach a hose, put a headless nail in the other end of the hose and attach a drill and run it to break it in. Very few people have heard of this trick. As far as I know, I invented it. Should work. I set up the magnetic break so that can't be the problem. Any thoughts? Larry

OK folks. This weekend is supposed to be 70. I have no boat. I will be fishing from the bank at the mouth of the Monocacy River. Any good ideas on what to use to catch them? Larry

Well ladies and gentleman, the weather is supposed to be in the low 60's on Sat. and Sunday. Water is cold, BUT, I am taking live bait to the Mouth of the Monocacy River and giving it a go. I miss fishing THAT bad! Larry P.S. Can't wait to play with my new Christmas toys!

Well gentleman, after 40 plus years of not fishing I now have the bug real bad. I find myself charting the river and finding every location where a road bridge crosses it for access points and planning next year. Looking for a canoe, better rods and reals, and lures. having found a good woman my dreams of women have been replaced with great fishing days. I started fishing the finger lakes this summer but went toward the end of summer and the algae was really bad. Studying data on this site will have me prepared as much as reasonably possible and for the first time in my life I have an understanding of lures and how to fish them. The problem is .............. winter is just too darn long to please me.

I recently started fishing again after many, many years away from the sport. (40+). I joined this site to find out what others, if any, had fished the Monocacy River. During the course of viewing this site I learned the prospective of catch and release. Having grown up very poor had taught me to always take home and eat what you caught. Fishing wasn't a sport. It was dinner. I felt bad for having eaten the fish I caught knowing that someone else could have caught them again had I let them go. Fishing had, for the first time in my life, become a sport. Hunger was no longer the reason to fish. I also learned the additional excitement you receive when a fish hits your lure. Back when I did fish we always fished with live bait. Fishing with live bait requires you to watch the line and set the hook at the appropriate time but doesn't throw my heart rate up there like that sudden hit on a lure being cranked in. I discovered that last week while reeling in a night crawler. I had a 14 inch small mouth hit it twice. The first time it hit I thought I had snagged on something. The exhilaration was fantastic! I've learned a lot in the short time I have been here and continue to grow. I now release all my fish so that others may catch them, too. Thank all of you for the information you share. Larry

Fished it again yesterday. Six small mouth and three cats! The photo in my avatar are the fish from Monday. Note the smallest fish in the photo is 12 1/2 inches. This river is full of bass. A lot of silt and run off from the farms. I would not recommend eating a lot of them often because of the PCB's but great for catch and release. Also, a lot of water moccasins.

Have been fishing the Monocacy River for the ladder part of this summer. I fish off route 77 between Detour and Thurmont. If you park at the pull off by the bridge and walk the common trail to the river you'll catch an occasional bass, sonnies, red eye bass, crappies, suckers, and cats. BUT, if you wear waders and walk the river to the other side of the bridge and beyond, you'll catch lots of bass. Pulled out a 5 1/2 lb. large mouth and 3 small mouth on Monday. But I did it with night crawlers. I have great luck with night crawlers. It's all in how you set your bait on the hook and reading your line to know what type of fish is running with your line. Or a turtle. This section of river is difficult to access any other way and there for not fished much. Long wide stretches of calm water. Lots of hungry bass!