Steveo-1969

Welcome to Bass Resource David!!

I fish because I'm physically addicted to it and I don't want to go through withdrawals.

Second in the nation?!?!?!?!?!?!? Congrats to you and your partner! You are my current "brush with greatness"...

I haven't rigged it up on my grandson's Spiderman rod yet. The little squirt already outfishes me with bobber and worm. If he outfished me using a Ned Rig I might have to take up golf...

So in this thread a year ago I said I was most disappointed in a fluke. And a year later I still haven't caught a fish on a fluke... because I haven't used one! Right now I'm most disappointed in the Ned Rig. I've caught a couple fish on it, but for me it definitely hasn't been the magic bait that it seems to be for most people.

My GF gets to use my GLX spinning rod with Stradic CI4+ reel. I let my son use it one time. He didn't break it but was very careless with it and he isn't allowed to touch it anymore! I bought him a spinning rod and both of us are much happier about the situation. My loaner is a Gander Mountain GSX spinning rod (no longer made but a great rod!) with an Abu Orra S reel (older black/red model).

Unlike everyone else on the entire freakin' planet I haven't had much luck with the Ned Rig. I've fished it for a couple hours total and have only caught a couple fish with it. I'm going to keep trying but I think I'm cursed...

Way to go Derek, nice fish!!!!

Thank you for your comments Mr. Sandwich. Well thought out arguments for the advantages of using braid in rivers. It's very possible I will end up there.

I agree that using braid with my casting rod will probably fix my hook set problem, but I'm going to give fluoro mainline a try for a little bit longer and play with my hook set technique some more as RW suggested. If I can't get it to work for me then braid it is. I break off often in my rocky river and don't want to be tying on leaders all the time but I'll do it if it means more fish landed. On my spinning rod I use 10# Sufix 832 in neon lime for visibility and 8# fluoro for a leader. I love that system and would never use mono or fluoro mainline on this rod.

This is EXACTLY what I was going to say! We also call them "goggle-eyes" in this part of the country. I'm surprised so many of you answered walleye. I catch them out of a river so maybe that makes a difference, but they pull hard with big head shakes and 18"+ will also pull drag for me.

Thanks RW! It really doesn't make any sense to me either but line stretch is all I can come up with as my problem. A long hook set for me might be 20 yards at most (I am wading though so angle is low to the water). I feel the bite, reel in slack until the rod starts to load up and set hard straight over my head. The rod goes past my head and I reel like crazy until the rod loads back up again and fight the fish. Half the time the fish comes off after a few seconds. I never have this problem with my lighter-powered spinning rod with braided line. When I set the hook with my Mag-Light spinning rod it's solid. So you are saying I might be setting the hook too hard and I should just snap my rod tip up? I'll definitely give that a try. My apologies to the OP for hijacking the thread!

Wade anywhere between the dam and the power lines downriver that go across the river. The water is a little deeper down by the power lines. Areas with current will be better than slack water right now. Wade out, cast lure of choice, feel bite, set hook, reel in fish. Repeat.

I fish a river for smallmouth bass most of the time and I have one spinning rod and one casting rod I use. If I'm bank fishing I take both of them, if I'm wading I only take one and it's usually the casting rod. Spinning rod - G. Loomis GLX WPJR 821S. This is a walleye jig pitching rod. 6'10" Mag-Light power/XF action, 1/16-5/16 ounce lure weight. I use 10# braid with 8# fluorocarbon leader. This rod is used for small jig heads and plastics, or light t-rigged plastics. This is my most effective rod. I've never used a more sensitive rod, I can feel everything. Despite the Mag-Light power, with the braid when I set the hook it's solid and I rarely lose a fish once I set the hook. But my casting rod is my favorite river smallmouth rod... Casting rod - G. Loomis NRX MBR 842C. 7' Med power/Fast action, 1/8-3/8 ounce lure weight (other rod manufacturer's ML??). This is my favorite rod because I enjoy using a casting rod more than a spinning rod, but it's not as effective as my spinning rod. At least not yet... I'm using 10# fluorocarbon mainline and have tried 5 different lines (Red Label, Invizx, Abrazx, Sniper, Gander Mountain) and I lose about 50% of my fish after I set the hook. I'm using primarily finesse jigs and t-rigged plastics, normally 3/16 ounce. When I reel down and set the hook straight up it feels like there is so much stretch the rod keeps going past my head and I have to quickly reel and see if the fish is still there. The only time I get a solid hookset is if the fish is very close to me. The 10# GM fluorocarbon didn't have as much stretch but is MUCH thicker than the other brands and harder to cast light baits with. So I've just about come to the conclusion that with this rod I need to use braid for better hooksets so that it becomes my favorite and my most effective river smallmouth rod. Sorry for the rant, this is my passion too...

My suggestion is to wade that area of the river right now instead of fishing from shore. Shorts and old sneakers is all you need, and the water feels great on a hot summer day. You can wade all the way down to the power lines. Lots and lots and lots of different baits will work to catch smallmouth. Tube jig, Ned rig, Senko-type stick bait, finesse worm, finesse jig, paddletail swimbaits, in-line spinners, spinnerbaits, jerkbaits, topwater baits, the list goes on and on. Can't go wrong with a 4" YUM Dinger or GYCB Senko or BPS Stik-O that's Texas-rigged on a 2/0 EWG worm hook with a 1/16 ounce bullet weight. Cast it upriver and let it drift along the bottom and you will catch smallmouth. Good luck!

Hello Matt. Were you shore fishing at Dam 4 on the Potomac River on the Maryland side? Just trying to figure out where you were before I offer some advice... Oh, and welcome to Bass Resource!!

Seeing as we are playing with your money, I would buy an NRX rod from American Legacy and have them replace the broken GLX rod for free...

I've never fished there, but don't Doug Stange and the Lindners film smallmouth segments on the Upper Mississippi? They always catch some nice fish...

Beautiful fish. On a side note: Are you wearing a Green Bay Packers hat in Chicago Bears colors???

This past weekend while I was fishing I watched two mature bald eagles harassing an osprey. It looked like they were trying to get the osprey out of their fishing area. That accomplished the eagles split up and one of them started getting harassed by a pair of blackbirds. Karma is a b*tch...

Yup, mark me down as another fan of John Gillespie's Waters and Woods. "Get the Frabil!!" and "It's a Slobosaurus Rex!!" Does anyone watch Fishing with Johnny Johnson? It's a bass fishing show taped in Arizona.

I prefer MLF but I don't dislike UMF and there are only a couple things about UMF that I find annoying. One of them is watching them flip the bass into the boat and flop around on the carpet. The other is having TWO announcers. Joe Thomas or Fish Fishburne by themselves wouldn't be so bad but why do they need both of them? And they each get their own boat to follow the contestants? Just silly...

I absolutely will not catch any fish while sitting on the couch at home.

Hmmmm, I record and watch all the shows on your list (and then some) so I can't pick out the one I watch the most. The one I like the most? If you held a gun to my head I would pick Major League Fishing. (So I picked that one for your poll......)

When wading I only carry one rod (spinning or baitcasting depending on my mood) and I carry all my tackle in a small over the shoulder tackle bag. Specifically a Plano Crappie Fishoflauge bag. Plenty of room for the limited tackle I need while wading and doesn't need to be water proof because I never fall in the water while wading. Well, almost never.........