fishwizzard

Right by the trail at Savage Mill. I drove up to the parked and fished up there a while as well. Saw some very nice fish in some of the deeper pools, but only caught a few smaller ones. It's a great area, but there is a lot of very skinny water between the pools.

Hit the Little Pax today to test out the new Z-man finesse tubes. Got one decent fish and maybe 2 more like the second one. I also got two or three large redbreasts, they are impressive fighters when they get above hand sized. I also saw, swimming long like 4-5' from me, a 15-20" snakehead, the first one I have ever seen up-close and in clear water. I will admit to a moment of panic before I realized what it was. I froze up and counted a very slow 200, then did a little underarm cast to where it was patrolling. Nothing. I saw it again maybe 5 min later, and I just fast-balled the lure right at it. Nothing, again. Now I really, really want to catch one.

Hah, I had forgot about them until I saw this post. I have been out a few times to some productive waters too. I have moved them to the top of my lure-mountain, so I will report back next time I get out.

If all goes well I will give them a little test tomorrow.

Yea, the ribbon tails were a good score. Outlet Bait has them super super cheap right now. I really should order more. Otherwise you can still find the SK equivalent on ebay.

Something Old: Something New: Excited as hell to try both!

OP, bank fishing in central MD is awful right now, anywhere that isnt pressured is going to be overgrown with thorns and swarming with ticks. Get yourself to the upper Patapsco River and wade for some (small) Smallmouths. Use a Ned/MFW stlye lures, or a small tube. If you hit an uncrowded section and can find some shaded pools, it would be hard not to catch atleast a few.

I refused to believe that the #4-6 hooks would hold a larger fish until I tried them. Now the only reason I go larger is to 1: Reduce bycatch of tiny panfish that swarm the lure and 2: Need to make the rig weedless.

Hah, yea, I am not looking to drop that much. I am about to pick up a new rod for senkos and light t-rigs, so I do need some 1/8-1/4oz weights.....

Where does one buy tungsten weights in bulk?

Nice work. I really need to hit the canal asap, but this heat is making me a big sissy. Going to try and get up at 6am tomorrow to hit two local spots and do some pad punching from shore, hopefully the somewhat cooler temps will get them to bite.

I recently picked up a few packs of the Keitech 1/16oz by 1/0 shakeyhead jigs. I have been fishing them with 4.5" Plasama tails in neon colors and 4" Reins Bubbeling shakers in natural ones. Very impressed with both. The Plasma is very durable but still has great action, but I have to skin hook them on their sides to get consistant hooksets. The tail section, cut down to 2-3" and rigged kn a jighead, makes an amazing panfish lure as well. The Riens worm is amazing as well, super soft amd when they soak up some water they literaly feel like a minnow in the hand. Durability is only "ok", with one lasting between 2-4 fish. Going to try and presoak some in Gulp Juice, I think this will be killer.

Owner Ultrahead finesse jigs in 1/16oz/#1 are the best common jigs I have found, Decoy Nail Bomb in the same size seem to hold the plastic better but I can only find them on eBay. they both have a slightly worse hookup ratio then a small jig, but they are better in that you don't get as many tiny panfish as by catch.

Woud a bass even survive being pulled up from that deep?

I usually like to fish upstream, then walk on the bank on the way back, stopping to hit any hot spots I had found. Spinners and micro cranks are good ideas, I fish them both for perch but never think to use them for bass. The spot I do most of my SM fishing is so productive with a Ned rig or other small plastics, I got into a mental rut I guess. The picture is deceptive, the stream was badly erroded for decades so the banks are still super steep. The riffles average 6-12" and the pools are up to 3-4'. I turned around that day when I hit a run that would have been above my waist. I have caught decent numbers of small SMs maybe 2 miles down stream of this spot, but the non-restored areas are tough to fish with pools that are crazy deep.

Yea, that is what I first used them for, but I realized they work great as a substitute for small spinnerbaits in a lot of the ponds that I fish, but they cast better and I can slow roll them more eaisly. But the 1/16oz Zman ones seem to be about 50/50 on actualy "chattering". Is there a way to tune them?

Have you tried the 4" zman finesse worms? They should slip through the weeds well and a 1/16oz worm weight should be a perfect fit to keep the rig streamlined and snag free. My only issue with the finesse worms is that small sunfish give them no peace, I have landed 3-4" bulegills that were not even hooked, they just would not drop the lure.

I believe that the vertical line tie lets you keep the lure "heads up" during the retrieve, which gives it the swimming motion. It also helps keep it from snagging as badly imho. When fishing in current I can feel it ticking against rocks and it helps me keep my retrieve speed correct to just skim the bottom.

That's too bad man, I have yet to loose one but I dread the day. It takes some of the joy out of a new rod when I have to strap the damm foam onto it.

That is really simple and clever, I am going to have to try it. I really like that even with the plastic glued on, you can still switch between an exposed hook and weedless as needed. These are the two weedless jigs that I use: Owner Ultrahead, 1/16oz/#1 Decoy Nailbomb 1/16oz/#1 I prefer the Decoy as it has a longer shank that helps hold the plastic a bit better and the vertical line tie seems to keep the lure from wedging in the rocks as often.

My introduction to pickerel was in brackish tidal rivers, so I was very surprised when I first caught one in a FW lake. I love the slimy jerks as they provide great sport in the winter then the bass are deep and slugish. I also like fish that can fight back: I bet that pickerel is still telling the story of the time he bit a 200 pounder.

If you marked the spot and the current isnt too swift, get back out there with a snag hook and try to retrieve it. But yea, floats are annoying, but not as annoying as loosing a rig.

Huh, I thought it was closed. How does one get a permit?

The cicada idea is interesting, I had not thought of that and was not yet fishing when the last one happened. Here is what the section I am trying to fish looks like: The large rocks are from the restoration work and really narrow the flow down.

Which Waterworks are you talking about, the one in Annapolis? Also, I hit Cash this afternoon. Skunked, but had a bunch of blow up on my fluke on top of the pads. Some guys in a canoe must have had and lost a good one, I heard it jump and splash back in from across the lake, then their "disappointment" carried across the lake as well.