everythingthatswims

The river here in Morgantown is definitely not a top of the charts bass fishery, and today I was able to catch a few. Never have two 2lbers felt so good

Texas Trout Eaters

It seems to have more musky than bass honestly

I can't wait to watch someone try to boat flip a fish on a 9'8" rod without enough line out

If you get a boat, ANY school will be more than happy to have you on their team. It's unfortunate but it's reality...

Local bass clubs can be great, but there are some where you'll see grown men act like a bunch of babies over a 3 hour tournament after work.

I regularly kayak fish a lake that I paddle 3 miles on before I make the first cast, and usually end up paddling over 10 miles each trip. You just have to want it! I know bass will travel a very long distance if they decide they need to, but I highly doubt 3' of depth change in 3/4 of a mile would make any difference to the fish.

I don't get to do nearly as much bass fishing as I used to now that I'm at school, so I am living vicariously through my youngest brother Ewing. He is a freshman in high school this year, and I convinced him to join the same high school bass fishing team that I fished with during my junior and senior years. His first tournament was a state qualifier (through B.A.S.S. Nation) on the Potomac, and historically it is an incredibly tough tournament, since it is limited to Aquia and Potomac Creek, neither of which are good during late summer. The year before, I placed 3rd there out of 50+ anglers with 2 fish for 5.35lbs, so I told him it would be tough and he needed to just put his head down and fish. I called him as soon as they finished weighing in, and he told me he didn't catch any. He said most boats blanked, a couple boats brought in 2 or 3 fish, and one limit was weighed. He said he lost count of the channel cats he caught on a spinnerbait, and lost one fish on a senko that he said was about 4 pounds . "I saw something at the base of a bridge piling on the fishinder, so I drug a jig across it, and it was either a stump or a rock but I didn't get any bites. Later I fished it with a senko and lost the 4lber right at the boat." 2 weeks later, the high school club had a tournament at the same place. This time I sent him a nice package from Tackle Warehouse so hopefully he would have everything he needed. I sent chatterbaits and trailers to cover various water colors, brush hogs also in different colors to flip and pitch, a whopper plopper because those baits seem to be magical, and some senkos too! I called him again after weigh in and asked how much the fish he sent me a picture of weighed! He said it was 3.75lbs, on a senko, on the same piling with the structure on it. Then I asked what place that fish put him in. Turns out, the Potomac was REALLY tough that day, and he won! A handful of other kids landed a fish, but the nearest was a 2-something. Even boat captains were allowed to fish that day, some of them have been fishing the potomac longer than I have been alive, and only one bass was brought in by a captain. On a body of water the size of the Potomac, especially since it is tidal, it seems like the odds of finding the same fish twice 2 weeks apart is unlikely, but that sure is what it sounds like! "When we got that fish in the net, I was shaking way more than I have from any of the bucks I've shot"

Fish are pretty good at ridding themselves of a hook.

I use the correct size line for the reel and keep my reels full, I'm not sure what some of you guys have been doing. The only time I have ever come close to being spooled by ANY fish was when I hooked a blackfin tuna on a cardiff 400, we were chasing it with the boat and it still had my spool looking hungry! I don't use 1000 shimanos for bass because they don't pick up line fast enough, but they are excellent for panfish and trout.

Learn to catch them when it's tough and when you do find a great spot it will be like cheating

I use that bait a lot when I'm vertical jigging under schools of bait. Bass, catfish, white perch, striper, etc etc

I broke the only two spinning rods I had with me during a tournament once, and that is what I was catching fish on!

Punch a trick worm with a 3/8-1/2oz weight if you have finicky fish in pads.... Trust me

Grass Carp

Does anyone fish the Mon in WV or PA? Since I am going to WVU now, I am probably going to become very familiar with the river over the next 4 years whether it is good or bad. Currently I am only able to bank fish in Morgantown, and have only landed a handful of (what I consider to be) small bass (Biggest was 16", average 10-12"). Anyone have info on it? I'm just curious to see if it is much of a bass fishery, it seems like it has the habitat, maybe not the best forage base but there is definitely some bass food present.

Also seems like the lengthy periods of inactivity that largemouth exhibit on a daily basis are either not nearly as long, or not existent at all in smallmouth.

In my opinion, smallmouth are significantly easier to catch than largemouth. They are more aggressive in nature and will be more active than largemouth at lower water temperatures as well.

I "really" am "confused" by this bit of "information".

GYCB outfishes other senkos 9 times out of 10 the way I fish them. I fish a lot of vertical cover (docks, bridge pilings, rock bluffs...) and many times the fish are suspended somewhere on that stuff. If I fished yum dingers, I would still be waiting for the bait to hit the bottom in 6-7' in the amount of time I could have covered the whole dock with a GYCB bait. The only time I will use a different brand is when the fish are in maybe less than 3FOW and I want a slower ROF. In water that shallow the GYCB senko can hit the bottom too quickly and not spend enough time falling in front of the fish.

Make them angry

Fish for schooling bass chasing shad on the surface, I love doing that there in the summer. It's almost impossible to catch the big ones unless you are there in March or April. Smart, pressured bass with TONS of food to eat.

THIS ^^^^^^^^^ There may be a 20 yard stretch of rip rap where I should put down my spinnerbait and pick up a squarebill, but as soon as I'm past it I'm going to pick up the spinnerbait again. Then I may come to a big laydown and pick up my jig for a few casts. I always have a topwater ready for schooling fish, and I always have a wacky rig ready to toss to a cruising fish or follow up a missed strike.

The more TLC I have to give to a fishing rod, the more attached to it I am. My swimbait rod has a replaced tip and a replaced guide, both of which were done by yours truly with sewing thread and scotch tape heated with a lighter so it shrinks. The tip is 2 years old and the guide is 1 year old. Still going strong!

Nice fish! I will never throw a buzzbait without a trailer hook! Something tells me you might keep one on a little more often now too.