fishwizzard

The hooks on the Zman shroom heads are pretty brittle. I used to use the VMC halfmoon jighead and they had the same issue. I prefer softer hooks that bend but don't snap for finesse stuff.

I wear one all the time too, thus "fishwizzard". My buddy never gets tired of that joke.

I never really confront people, other than people who let their dogs thrash around in spawning beds. 99% of the time the owner has no idea and will immediately stop their dog once I point out the beds and explain what they are. The 1% blows me off and gets DNR called on them for having an offleash dog. The "Catch a Poacher" hotline seems to do nothing, but the Natural Resources Police seem to come running if you call about an off leash dog. I have called them in when I see guys poaching too.

I don't really worry about residue, at least for e-tape. Even when it is years old it comes off very easily with alcohol.

An RI Skinny Dipper w/ heavy hook weighs in right around 1/2oz as well. I will most always fish one with a 1/16 or 1/32 steel weight pegged. The weight acts as a bumper of sorts to prolong the life of the plastic and makes the lure more weedless.

I thought about plumbers tape, but figured it would be too slick. I have a single roll of "nice" electricians tape I use for spools. It has less adhesive and gets less sticky than the cheap stuff. I also use it to cover my backing/mainline knot, I use braid as a backer and floro as my main line on most of my casting reels and a little tick of red tape becoming visible is a good reminder that I am coming up on my backing.

I am really curious about the 7'6" Neko rod, but don't know if I could deal with a rod that long. I would love to make a few casts with one, but don't think I could buy one blind.

You can find older Alphas reels on ebay for sub-$200, add some bearings, DIY Spool, and maybe new drag washers, and end up with a very nice reel for not a ton of money. The prices on Pixys is really low as well, I have seen a few right around $100. I will second the Major Craft rod recommendations, they have a ton of options, just keep an eye on the actions, they have a lot of Regular/Moderate action rods in their lineup. I have a Phenix Recon 2 6'8" L/F that I use. I like it a lot (other then the reel seat), but I have not held their newer offerings.

Every time I get a more sensitive rod I set my hook about every third cast until I get a few hours on it and calm down.

Yes! It is a much better fishery then it looks like it should be. I had another great day there Saturday. I have been fishing there for a few years and only this season have I really started doing well. The bass in there seem to be a bit larger then normal for the other little ponds around here, I thought maybe the trout stocking could be the cause. Do you fish the Bowie/Crofton ponds much?

Just this saturday I had a guy, unsolicited, give me a tip that turned the day around. It was a small pond, so I am sure he saw me trying for an hour to get the bass to eat what they wanted all last month (pink robo on a dropshot) and as he passed me just said "throw a lipless out like you are trying to lose it and reel it in nice and fast". Sure enough, I did it and bagan catching almost immediately. I got about 5 in an hour and walked over to thank him. He said that he had been there since 6am (I arrived around 9am) and had "wasted two hours with a damm pink worm" as well, so he couldn't stand to see me waste my time too. It turns out that I had turned him onto the pink worm weeks ago and he was repaying the favour. He had a fly rod the first time and a pair of baitcaster the second, so I guess I remember gear more then faces, but my kindness was repaid and I ended the day with 8 bass all between 1.5 and 2.5, which is great for that spot.

Yea, it amazes me that people will spend money on the booze and then mix it with store-brand mixers. Tonic especially, spending a buck or two more a sixpack makes a huge difference. As for liquor, if you like bourbons/ryes, check out High West out of Park City UT. They do blends and are all pretty interesting at the very least. I keep a bottle of their Campfire (a blend of bourbon, rye, and a little scotch) around as it is pretty unique and people seem to get a kick out of it.

As long as there isn't a 5 gallon bucket at your feet, I will tell you exactly what I am catching on and even offer up a few plastics if needed.

Found it! River Rock Fat Sticks; https://river-rock-custom-baits.myshopify.com/products/2-3-4-fat-stick No idea if they have any wiggle to them.

This is not super helpful, but I saw some floating short stickbaits that were made with the Ned in mind. I cannot for the life of me remember the name of the company but I think it was a small-midsized producer and I found them while looking at tubes one night, so many someone known for them?

I have tried that with the 1" cut off ends of some Hula Stickz. I called it the "Ed Rig". Never even got a single hit the two times I tried it.

What lure did it hit? I got a smaller one on a J-7 Rapala of all things a month or so ago.

I have used 6lb braid on my panfish/perch reels before and like it well enough, except when trying to tie on a new leader in any kind of wind. It is so thin and limp that it drives me crazy trying to get a knot tied. I tried 4lb braid once and that lasted about two trips, my fingers cannot deal with it. I fish a lot in brackish water for white perch. As bycatch I get pickerel, small stripers, and sometimes small blues. I will sometimes run 6lb braid to pretty heavy floro, like 8-12lb. It seems to help get my little spinners deeper and the perch don't seem to care.

The heat thing seems likely, I live in central MD and depending on the weather at the time of stocking, the trout can be in water way way too hot for them and at times it is hard to get a spinner to run slow enough for them to catch it. On a few occasions I have have had trout die in the time I takes me to get them unhooked. The state tries to shift the stocking times/locations around based on water levels, but there is little they can do about the temps I guess. FYI, do not try to wrap a trout in the outside of your rain coat to take home. I now carry a few plastic bags in my tackle pack incase I end up taking home an unplanned fish.

That sounds vastly more practical than the "camping lantern lashed to an old tomato stake" light pole I had rigged up for my last attempt at night fishing.

Yea, I am still a bit gunshy about throwing a $25 chunk of plastic into the water, so I am sticking with the smaller weedless swimbaits for now. If I start getting hits but not hookups I think I will change my tune though. For now, my plan is to fish the 68 around obvious cover and use a larger jig to drag the bottom as much as I can. None of the rangers I have bugged have any idea about the bottom contour so it will at the very least get me some good intel about what is going on down there. My current catching streak has had most of the larger fish right up on the retaining wall, so I have little idea about the further out areas.

You really have a knack for catching fat fish. Do you use a light much when night fishing? I tend to pack it in as soon as I can't see to cast, but there is one more night fishing day at Centennial this year and I kinda want to give it a go from my yak, but I am a bit intimidated about paddling around in the dark.

Huh, most of mine, which have all been LMBs, have been stuck on the rear treble. Maybe I will try one each way and see.

I am less worried about them hitting my lures but more excited that they might be feeding on the stockers and getting nice and fat.

Very interesting info guys. It sounds like the bass in this pond could have been feeding on the stockers for the past few years. I am gonna really give this spot some attention in the coming months.