BigTerp

@TOXIC How was the hotside in regards to boating hazards with the lake not at full pool? Dominion has it listed this morning at 248', I'm sure 2' low makes a big difference. Heading down there the end of March to fish the hotside for 4 days. Hoping they get some water by then.

How do you guys apply the KVD line & lure when re spooling a reel with new line? Instructions say to spray a liberal amount on some synthetic cloth and run the line through the cloth as you re spool. But also says to re position the cloth every 10 to 15 yards. Seems like a PITB. Couldn't you just spray the reel spool every so often as you fill it up?

Thanks for the replies!!! Some good options.

Looking for something to store and keep my rods organized indoors. I have some hanging racks in my shed, but I'm running out of room out there and want to get my rods inside anyway. The hanging racks in my shed are the generic Rapala plastic type holders and I don't like them. There isn't enough room between rods to keep the reels from hitting each other and making it a pain to put them away and take them down without a rod or two falling out of the holder. Any suggestions from you guys? I'm thinking of a ceiling mount but am not opposed to a floor based vertical rack. All my rods are 7' or less. A few spinning bass rods/reels and a few catfish rods with larger Abu 5500 round reels. So I'd like to have room for the larger rods/reels as well.

I can confirm it floats. The brim issues, like I said, are totally my fault. I've folded, rolled up, shoved, etc. my hat in numerous bags and tight spots. Not the best for the integrity of the brim I'm sure.

This is what I have and love it. Great sun protection and my head stays cool even in the dog days of summer out in my boat on the river. Has also been nice as a rain hat in warmer weather. OR also provides what they call an "Infinite Guarantee", which is basically a lifetime warranty. I'm currently working with them to send my hat back since the brim has lost it's shape enough that it's unwearable (difficult for me to see when wearing). This is 100% my fault as I've washed it several times, shoved the hat in bags, under boat consoles, etc. If they don't feel this warrants replacement I'll have zero issues with that but will be ordering a replacement right away, that's how much I like this hat. I'll just be a little more careful this time around!!

I miss my share of fish on the hookset fishing for smallmouth in my local river. I'm switching out my 6' M/L moderate fast action rods for 6'6" or 7' M/L fast action. Thinking the increase length and faster action will give me a little quicker hookset.

Weather was nice, but the fishing was SLOW. We fished for a few hours Friday afternoon, and then most of the day on Saturday. Ended up with a few small stripers, a couple largemouth (1 decent sized) and 1 smallmouth. All were caught on various size/color crankbaits. We threw a lot of different baits, but the crankbait was the only thing that was getting bit. Nothing in the shallows next to banks or weeds. Most all fish were caught in about 20 FOW. We did stumble upon a few bait balls and even a boil or two, but no luck there. Definitely an interesting lake to fish. We fished from all the way up lake, down to James/Aitch creeks. Lowest surface temp I saw was 69. Most of the lake was low to mid 70's still.

That's what I was thinking as well. Hoping we can get on a few at least. Will be fishing half the day Friday and all day Saturday. We'll see what happens.

Looks like a little cold front is going to take the air temperature from the mid 80's high/mid 50's low down into the 60's for a high and low 40's high 30's for a low by Friday. How do you guys expect that to effect the fishing?

Makes sense. Looks to be in the mid 70's water temp? Also looks like some cooler weather heading into next weekend up that way. Hoping that doesn't mess them up too much. But as long as it stays dry, I'll be happy.

Thanks. No Navionics chip, but do have a Humminbird Helix SI/DI, so that will be helpful once we are on the water. Raystown became a last minute change of plans. Planned to hit the Susquehanna in my outboard jet, but it's too low to fool with right now. We went up last year at around the same levels and it was miserable. So we decided to hit a lake with my buddy's bass boat. Raystown won the toss up over Deep Creek. Should the bass be chasing shad this time of year? I'm thinking cranks, flukes and Keitech FAT swing impact swim baits might be the ticket if so.

You bet

Thanks!!

Any tips, tricks or advice for fishing Raystown this time of year? Heading up next weekend with a buddy to fish for 2 days. Have never fished Raystown, so not sure what to expect. I'm more of a river fisherman chasing smallmouth, so still have a lot to learn about lake fishing. We plan to target bass. We are camping at the Lake Raystown Resort and will be launching from the campsite about a mile or two below the 994 bridge. Should would be heading up or down lake to chase bass? Any other advice would be greatly appreciated!!!

Nothing fancy.... Berkeley Lighting Rod 6' ML Plfuegger President 6930 6# YZ Hybrid Very nicely balanced setup that I use for everything. I have 2 of the same setups. I've never been a guy to have a rod/reel setup for different presentations. This, for me, is a nice coverall setup. For tubes I really like Mizmo Teaser Tubes 2.75" in Penrod Purple and Natural Craw colors with a 1/8oz hand poured internal tube jig with #1/0 Mustad hook. Where I fish (Upper Potomac River) the 2.75" tubes out perform the larger size tubes and many other baits.

For those of you that fish the Conococheague, what would you consider a safe level to wade? Planning on wading it Saturday morning with a buddy. Forecasted to be over 3' Saturday morning. Don't know what to expect with the water levels like I do on the river.

I fish the same rocky river as Steveo and have to agree, I honestly cannot think of one time I've had a smallmouth hang me up on a rock. I do get my lures hung up on rocks a lot (bottom contact soft plastics) but have never gotten hung up on the rocks with a fish on. Are you sure your not mistaking bumping the rocks with your lure for a bite? I'm guilty of this from time to time and a hook seat in this situation typically leads to a hung up lure.

I converted a Tracker Sportsman 1648 into a stick steer with outboard jet complete with extended front deck with storage hatches, floor, rear storage hatch, led nav and courtesty lights, stereo, bilge pumps, driving lights, etc., etc., etc. All aluminum in my build and I had zero experience working with aluminum before my project. Not the hardest job in the world, but it does take a lot of time and attention to detail. But you end up with exactly what you want vs. what's available by the mass produced hulls. The guys over at tinboats.net are a great resource for projects like this. It's a forum dedicated to tin boats and projects just like you are describing. That forum was indispensable during my build.

Finally got the chance to throw the crazy flapper yesterday. Took me awhile to switch from my confidence bait (2.75" Mizmo Teaser Tubes) but when I finally did the crazy flapper didn't disappoint. Only fished it for an hour or so, but picked up 4 or 5 smallmouth. Most bigger then the other 15 I caught earlier in the day on the Mizmo tubes. I fished it on a ned head. It did get hung up just as easily as a standard ned rig or a tube. Ordered some of the draggin heads this morning that Bunnielab suggested. I think those will work very nice and be less snag prone.

I like those jigheads. Have looked at them several times, but never pulled the trigger. What size hooks are on the regular and micro?

Finally got the chance to get out on the Upper Potomac Sunday morning for the first time this year. Did OK, but the fishing was pretty slow, especially early morning. Picked up a bit once the sun got a little higher in the sky later in the morning. Water was 59-60 warming to 62 by early afternoon and water was surprisingly clear for the amount of rain we have gotten recently. We ended up with 14. Most were caught in less than 2' of water next to the banks where the sun was warming the water. We did pick up 1 or 2 in the current breaks behind rocks in the main part of the river. All but one were caught on 2.75" and 3" tubes. The other was caught on a 5" carolina rigged senko. Most bites were pretty light. Couldn't get bit on anything else. The biggest went 20" and 3# 10oz. My new personal best.

I'll check out the J rig. And the drop shot is something I definitely need to start using.

Have a few bags of the Keitech Crazy Flapper 2.8" on the way. Wondering for those who have used them how you rig them? I do pretty well in my local river on 2.75" Mizmo teaser tubes, so figured these might do well also. Was thinking on a finesse size mushroom head would work well. Or Texas rigged on an appropriate sized hook with a light bullet weight pegged. Any other ideas?

Agreed. These units have their own internal switch, so no need for them to be switched again.