Logan S

But if there wasn't all that back and forth discussion...What would I read at work all day? Now that I have boring office job I need something to keep me awake!

I can't speak to many of the smaller local ponds or shore spots...But Little Seneca Lake/Black Hills Park a little south of you is a great bass fishing lake. Lots of shore access spots along the C&O Canal and the Upper Potomac. I've always enjoyed wading/walking the upper Potomac. I imagine some others will have some better intel for you though.

Check the MD Bass federation website, there might be some MD based clubs in that area. I know of Garrett Bassers a little further west out at DCL, one of our former members is a member out there. We have at least one member of our club from Hagerstown, just sayin' . Probably fish at least some of the same waters...

I don't know that I'd want the extra weight of 2 additional batteries in the boat, I actually wounldn't even have room for them and my boat is a 20 footer....Have you thought about going up in group size? It makes a pretty noticeable difference going from a 27 to a 31, just as an example.

The LTBs are great. For what you described I would get the 7'1" MH/F. FWIW, I think the Legend Elite/Extreme is a more direct comparison to the GLX/NRX line ups though...Not that'd you'd be disappointed with the LTB's, I have several along with some Elites and I love them all. Any St Croix Legend series is well worth the price tag IMO.

Pick one in a similar color and style to what has already worked for you and give it a shot. If you like it and it works, you'll know whether to continue down the rabbit hole. That's how I started, bought one Vision 110 to try out during a good jerkbait bite and I loved it...Now I own a bunch more MB products. The Vision 110 is probably the #1 gateway bait to the higher dollar stuff!

There's a link on BF that says they'll be going to Toledo Bend in May. I don't think I can link it here, but it's easy to find if you go to the site. May 12-15...Could be 100+ lbs. for the winning weight .

Trip Weldon said they were coming back to MD again next year...If it's not the Bay the only other place would be the Potomac. Hopefully the river rebounds, this year has been brutal for everyone. Either way, I'll be out there either watching or marshaling. It will probably be at Smallwood, National Harbor doesn't have a ramp (at least not a public one) so when the FLW was there the competitors had to launch elsewhere and drive over...I don't think they were happy with that, as this year the FLW went out of Smallwood. Either way, I'm just glad they'll be back on the Potomac. The area where Skeet won in 2007 has been almost written off, but so was the Middle River and we all saw what Aaron did . It will be cool to see the best of the best pick apart my true home waters. Cayuga was a good event last year so it's good to see it back on the schedule. They also said Toledo Bend is confirmed for May.

I was surprised that the Middle River was the winning location, many other local guys are too...I've heard it's making a comeback, but the past several years its basically been written off. I was right on with my prediction of one 20+ day with the rest being 15-18 for the winner ...To bad I don't get anything for that! They mentioned that the Elites were coming back to MD next year and not the Bay again, which could only mean the Potomac. Now it makes more sense that we saw a lot of Elite pros fishing the Potomac in the time between the last tournament and this one (still not 'official' but there are no other places in MD that could host a pro event). Hopefully the river rebounds a little next year because this year has been tough! The past several years have been a downswing, but this year is the worst I've seen since I started fishing it regularly in 2001. Either way, I'll be out there watching them!

Looks like some smallmouth are coming out to play on the live blog...Steve Kennedy looks to have run up decently far in the Susky and had a picture of one around 3 lbs. Some others have had pictures where they were up at least far enough to be in the rocks...Most of the smallie pictures are fish that are only around a pound though. Still think it's going to be LM to win, especially since the smallies that have been pictured so far are very small. Fishing looks to be tough, but they are catching them. IMO the tides today and tomorrow are pretty crappy, but Saturday and Sunday look decent...It might be one of those events where the weights go up on the final 2 days. I can't wait to see what happens, I'm planning on going to the final day weigh in. If I didn't have a tournament on the Potomac on Saturday I would launch up at Havre De Grace and follow some pros around. ETA, Kennedy is definitely pretty far up the Susky...Pic from the Live Blog. More guys ran up there than I would have thought...But given the flood tide and tough practice conditions it makes a little sense, those fish up there are less effected by weird tides since it's more like a traditional river.

I use straight mono. I usually use 10 lb Suffix Siege which is fantastic for topwater, lately I've been using 11 lb Sunline Defier...But only because I bought a spool to try for cranks/jerks and didn't like it. It's great line for topwater, but a little overkill. I think I'll go back to Suffix when this spool of Defier runs out. I tried braid and braid/mono leader and didn't like either. Straight braid gets tangled in the hooks far too frequently. The braid/mono was techinically fine, but it wasn't worth the hassle of the leader....To me it was a like looking for a solution to a problem that didn't exist. Functionally, both these options worked but not better than plain mono and there were more headaches...So I scrapped the idea.

1: Buy one of the weedless props, they work. (I use the standard Motorguide Weedless model one on mine) 2: Raise your trolling motor up so that the prop is in the water just enough to not blow out . 3: Trim your outboard up and out of the water. 4: Fish on. Note that this setup is only for fishing in the slop, it will suck when you get back to open water. When I fish a place with heavy weeds I'll always swap the TM prop for the weedless model, but I wont raise the TM until I'm actually going deep in the weeds.

I know it's not one you listed, but I'm jumping in with a few of the others and recommending a St. Croix Legend-series or MB Orochi XX. Most of my rods are St Croix LTB's with a few Elites and an Extreme...Any model in any of the Legend series is well worth the price tag. The LTB series is nice in particular because they have so many options, you can cover any technique and stay on the same platform. Don't be locked into the technique printed on the rod either, just go by power/action when making the decision (I deviate from the 'technique-specific' label quite a bit ). From what you described, the 7'1" MH/F would probably be the ideal choice for you...I have a couple of them, it's a good all-purpose stick - It will do everything you mentioned plus some. I also recently picked up an Orochi EMTF and so far it has really impressed me....I'd put it on par with the Legend Elite. Comparing their price tags, it makes the MB a good bargain. The only disclaimer I'll put on my opinion is that my sample size so far is limited to that one rod, but it is very impressive and I am probably going to add at least one more eventually. I don't think they will replace St Croix as my primary rods but I can definitely see them filling in the gaps of St. Croix's line up.

I love the Exsence, it's basically a Chronarch D-series with DC brakes and 8:1 gears. I use it for my open water jigs (3/8 or 1/2) and paired with the EMTF, it's perfect in that task...Bombs long casts and picks up line really fast. Despite the fast gears it still has a lot of power, no issues controlling a big fish. Even in 15 to 20 feet of water, when you set the hook and start cranking that fish's head will turn . Performance-wise it really reminds me of the Chronarch D for obvious reasons, although in hand it feels a touch smoother. The DC brakes are great, I pretty much only use the Flouro mode and it works flawlessly. On a calm day there's not much difference in distance than a standard reel, but when casting into the wind it keeps the spool in check so that I don't need to use my thumb hardly at all...Less thumb = more distance, so when I'm sitting offshore in the wind I'm getting the same casts that I would if it were calm. It's a little on the heavy side, but I'm not a weight guy so I don't mind it. I really enjoy using it, money well spent for me!

I've bought from Japan Lure Shop and JP Angler. Shipping is like $17ish and every package I've ordered has been at my house in 3 days. Exchange rate is in our favor and the retailers I've bought from have great service... Now is the time to buy from Japan . I'm actually pretty new to JDM tackle, just started this year, but it is much easier than I always thought it would be. The Aurora was from JLS. It looks even better in person, a work of art for sure .

I still love that 1st gen Carbonlite too ...The inside of that reel is basically identical to that Patriarch XT in the first photo, despite costing 1/2 the price at the time. Haven't used the newer ones, but those gold ones were great bargains.

Had all the rods out of the boat for respooling/re-rigging, lined up some of my favorites for a pic. I just got the Orochi recently, I have a feeling it will eventually turn into more but boat upgrades are keeping the tackle monkey at bay for now . Something else that came through my tackle room recently, this is a wedding gift I got for a very good friend of mine who is a die-hard Abu guy...It was verrrrry hard to not just hold onto it and pick something off the registry . This thing is sweet!

ETA...Irrelevant now.

I don't think many would consider running up the Susky, one or two may do it but it's probably not the best strategy for a tournament. For perspective, if you run up there the best you're going to do is 18 to 20 lbs of smallmouth...And that means that everything went perfectly. It's also only one day, so you need to have everything go perfectly for 4 straight days. The amount of fishable water up there is very small for full size bass boats, all it takes is for the smallies to move to an area inaccessible to a glass boat and the day is tanked. On the other hand, on the rest of the upper bay 18 to 20 lb bags are not uncommon and the fishable water is nearly unlimited compared to the upper part of the Susky. So you'd have a high risk of failure for essentially the same potential. Even running far south has less risk, becasue as long as you get where you're going you'll have more fishable water. It would be different if the potential weights were different, if the rest of the bay was only giving up 10 lb bags it could be worth it assuming you could pop 15 to 20 lbs running up for smallies. You can catch smallmouth without running way up though, many live in the area around Garrett Island and the bridges, there are also some mid-river rock ledges around Lapidum and Port Deposit which have given up some good ones. It wouldn't surprise me if one of the high finishers pulled some quality smallmouth from those areas as part of their plan...But largemouth will probably still dominate. I think the winning weight will be around 70 lbs...The winner will probably have one great day with 20+ lbs and then have 15 to 18 lbs the rest of the days. This is all just my opinion of course, I'm not expert up there, but I have spent a decent amount of time on the upper bay and cashed a few checks .

MD DNR probably thinks that bass fishing is in decline because people aren't flocking to the tidal Potomac like they used to...Because it flat out sucks compared to what it was just a few years ago. People in MD aren't staying home, they are going elsewhere. More tournaments (and more fisherman) are going to the Upper Bay, Lake Anna, the James, or other places in the region instead of the Potomac, many of those places are out of state. I fish all over, not just in MD...The amount of fisherman out on the water is the same as it's always been, if not more. As for technology - I'm not one to surf the web or 'stay connected' while fishing, but having a smartphone is pretty convenient sometimes. I will check the radar or weather while idling or if it looks like a storm might be coming in. Not to mention that it could function as a backup GPS in a pinch, that's important to anyone fishing big water or making long runs. It's also nice that all that plus a camera is now in one device that fits in my pocket. Heck, I'll sometimes even enter in some notes while I'm prefishing for tournaments so I don't forget.

That 5.33 test killed the average for the SDJ, it was an outlyer to the rest....To do a more accurate analysis you should test the line an equal number of times and omit the highest an lowest readings for each knot. (IE, test it 7 times, but take out the highest/lowest and average the remaining 5) Cool idea though, I always like these home-made tests. I use a Palomar for everything myself .

Just so I can at least add something constructive, OP should definitely check with the retailer and Loomis to make sure it's legit. I can't imagine a rod, especially of that caliber, would roll out with the spec label.

I posted this in the A-Mart AOY thread but it's a little more fitting here . The Chesapeake is predominantly a largemouth fishery. Good bags of smallmouth can be caught from the Susquehanna, but that pattern has never held up in a multi-day event to my knowledge. It's also pretty dangerous to get to the best smallmouth water in a bassboat (I won't take my boat up there). The winner will likely weigh in mostly largemouth, if not all largemouth. The launch is technically in the Northeast River, there are many other rivers, to include the Susquehanna, that all make up the huge body of water that is commonly called the 'Upper Bay'. It is all tidal water and there is a slight saltwater influence. It is similar to the Potomac River and I would guess other tidal waters...But every tidal system has it's own special qualities. Tidal experience will help no doubt, but you can't bank on that entirely. Bass fishing used to be very good as far south as the Baltimore area (Middle River, Gunpowder River, Dundee Creek) but those areas don't have the bass populations that they used to. Most of the fishing for this tournament will probably take place on the Flats, the Northeast, and the Susquehanna. There will be guys that fish all over the place, but the event could legitimately be won in the Northeast without ever losing sight of the launch marina. Shallow grass fishing is the main technique that will play. I'm picking guys that are good at that .

The launch is technically in the Northeast River, there are many other rivers, to include the Susky, that all make up the huge body of water that is commonly called the 'Upper Bay'. It is all tidal water and there is a slight saltwater influence. It is similar to the Potomac River and I would guess other tidal waters...But every tidal system has it's own special qualities. Tidal experience will help no doubt, but you can't bank on that entirely. Bass fishing used to be very good as far south as the Baltimore area (Middle River, Gunpowder River, Dundee Creek) but those areas don't have the bass populations that they used to. Most of the fishing for this tournament will probably take place on the Flats, the Northeast, and the Susquehanna. There will be guys that fish all over the place, but the event could legitimately be won in the Northeast without ever losing sight of the launch marina. Shallow grass fishing is the main technique that will play.