TOXIC

I have ended up using the 1st guide seat on a lot of my rods. Quantum put the hook keeper on the bottom of the rod butt and I get hooked every time I reach for it. My JLM Elite rods had the keeper in the right place but every single one of them has rusted off because I fish brackish water on the Potomac. My CastAway rods either have the keeper that has help up well or came with the rubber keepers from the factory. There is a difference in the rubber keepers. I have been told that some will break easily. I have not experienced it with the CastAway ones.

Awesome technique and I never go out without a Yamamoto DShad rigged up. It can be fished in soooooo many different ways. I don't need to weight it since the DShad is more dense than most of the others. Just takes a little patience to let it get deep. I have dragged it on the bottom of Lake St Clair like a tube, twitched it on top of the weedbeds on the Potomac and worked it in all of the water column on lakes. Proven Producer. I rig the DShad weightless on a Gamakatsu 4.0 EWG hook.

Can't wait to see the vids. That's what South of the Border is all about.

Honest question.....Are all Snakeheads good table fare? We are talking about multiple species here, the Northern Snakehead which is served in restaurants here and are raised as a food fish and the Southern strain Bullseye? I assume it's no different than a White Crappie and a Black Crappie both of which are equally good to eat. I ask because when I lived in Florida, I never heard of anyone eating Snakehead but here in Virginia, they have a good reputation as excellent table fare and are kept for that reason.

Those of us who also flyfish get a little insight to this problem. When flyfishing your line is almost always heavier than your lure and you learn how to cast the line and not the lure. In a baitcaster when a light lure is traveling slower than the spool feeding line to it, you either get a backlash or what you are experiencing which is what I call spool puff. There's a number of ways to eliminate it. Tighten your spool control a little which will decrease your casting distance, downsize your line so there is less resistance when casting or change your arm motion when casting. Any wrong motion in your wrist or forearm when casting with a lighter lure will send a "hump" or bulge for lack of a better term down your line towards your lure. When it reaches your lure it reverses and heads back towards your reel. If your lure makes contact with the water before it gets all the way back, you get line puff on your reel, if it doesn't, you get a backlash. If you have an educated thumb you can cast through the puff and get to the tight line on your reel. When you then reel in everything is back to snug for the next cast. I have taught a lot of people how to use a baitcaster when guiding and throwing light lures on a baitcaster is one of the tougher things to master.

I will tell you that color number 297 Green Pumpkin/Black Fleck is Yamamoto's top selling color in all of their plastics. Why? Because it works in the most varied water colors. I have personally caught fish in black tannic water in florida, gin clear water on Lake St Clair and solid mud color on the Potomac with 297. It's easy to see why it is the top seller. That's not to say that some other colors won't get bit better in different situations but 297 will always produce.

You almost have to dedicate gear to crappie fishing if you want to catch them consistently. Although they will bite bigger lures like cranks/Jerks they are a bi-catch. Small baits, light line and downsized rods/reels help catch and as has been said, you have to look in different spots and use different techniques. When we went out last, I took 3 rods and a tiny bag of gear. It is well worth it if you want some great tablefare.

So if I want to start a thread on "All things Crappie" where is the best place to put it? Is it possible to maybe get a sub page dedicated to just Crappie? Seems to be a lot of interest.

We did OK.....well over 50 keeper fish with 20 or so in the size of the pics. All caught in canals that you could cast across from one side to the other.

Net time out I'll pay more attention to the details and do a more in-depth write up. I have a write up I did a few years ago that I'll look for. As we all know, depending on your location these fish can be in any number pf places. I have trolled for them on open water and fished them on structure more often but there are some constants. The one thing you have to figure out is the color of baits to use because they can be hyper color sensitive. When I guided crappie trips, I used live minnows. Fun fishing I only use artificials. As for the taste, a lot of folks eat them year round. I just prefer them out of as cold and as clean water I can find. The cold water firms up the meat and the cleaner the water, the "crisper" the taste and the more you get that great traditional crappie flavor. For freshwater fish, crappie are right behind walleye for my favorite and then perch.

The nice thing about crappie is that if you find one, you found a school. We sat on one spot and probably caught 20. They are notorious light biters and many times you just feel weight and a light weight slip float helps. You just have to be patient and let them take it and be careful, you don't need a lot of hookset, just a sideways sweep works best. Good luck!!

Well, our first trip out to the Crappie hunting grounds on the Potomac was pretty epic. Not to say that 95% of the time we catch fish is too much to ask but on this day there were some bigger fish to be caught. Muddy water, super high tide (see pic) and a ripping current due to a lunar tide made it interesting but we caught well over 50 fish and just kept a few for pictures then released. Water temp was still in the high 50's and that's a little warm for me to keep fish for the table. The longer I wait and the colder the water, the better the fish tastes and firms up the meat. I would venture a guess, my next trip out will be what I call a grocery store trip....time to bring them home for dinner!! We caught them 2 ways. First was a slip float (I prefer the type with the long tubes out both ends) and a 1/16th oz ball headed jig rigged with either a 2 inch tube or 2 inch curly tail grub. I was using Yamamoto baits but alas, Yamamoto has discontinued their Crappie line and when I am out, I will have to switch gears to another brand. Second way and the most productive was to cast the same jig and bait without the float and do a slow retrieve. Key was to use light line. My partner was using 4lb test and I was using 6lb and both worked but when I tried a rod with 8lb, I couldnt get the small jighead to run deep enough. There's just something about going out and getting your string pulled all day and it was a bonus that we got some of the bigger fish to bite.

No help from me. I use either a Yamamoto Pro Senko or a Yamamoto Shad Shape Worm for 100% of my dropshotting. Never had the need to try anything else.

? Haha.....Don’t knock the bait, knock the fisherman. Anybody who talks trash out of line deserves to get called out. But I do have a problem calling the Senko an idiot bait that anyone can catch fish on. I have always said that there are days the senko bite just isn’t there. I went an entire week on St Clair last May and never threw it. Could I have forced a few senko fish? Sure but they were wanting the Ned rig with a Yamamoto Cali-Roll more so that’s what I threw. No one can be a single bait or lure fisherman and be consistent. But why the hate for a bait that is so successful? Isn’t it all of our goal to catch the most or biggest fish? The senko does that better than a lot of other baits. If the truth be told, how much skill does it take to throw a crank or a spinner Bait? Aside from color and size or depth considerations are they not just chuck and wind baits. Throw it out, reel it back maybe with a pause or speed change?. I posted about 3 of us in 2 boats all throwing senko, all the same color and I was the only one catching. The other 2 sure didn’t think it was an idiot bait.? I just happened to take the senko to a different level by fishing it in a lot of situations where most wouldn't or couldn’t. If you think another version of the senko works as good, buy it and throw it. ? It’s your hard earned money. I just happen to believe it is often imitated but never duplicated and I’m always willing to share what I have learned in my years upon years of fishing it.

If you are even going to mention a record you better have at least something to back it up. Anything other than a picture. I could put up a lot of pictures of 6lb smallies that look like they could eat that one for lunch. If nothing else, take a picture of it laying next to your rod so that you can measure it later or better yet, sacrifice some fishing line and cut 2 pieces one to the length and one to the girth. Then you can at least get accurate measurements if not actual weight. Just for reference, here is a 4 almost 5. Pictures can be deceiving.

Great catch!! We are well into jacket weather here now.

Just did a post over in the General Bass Fishing page about our day on the river. Citation Smallie and a good bag. You can read about it over there. River is still producing even in nasty conditions.

Going out tomorrow for our first crappie trip. Our top areas are docks and a few canals on the Potomac river that could easily be fished from shore. Crappie are normally on shore structure in the Spring and Fall. Summertime they move out deep. Although we will be in a boat, we fish the docks with slip floats and 2" tubes on 1/16th jigheads or the same setup without the float for casting in the canals and open water around the docks. We tear them up. For added bites we dip the tubes in Smelly Jelly or tip the hooks with Crappie Nuggets by Berkley.

So a few of us Government employees (different agencies) decided to put together a "Use or Lose" tournament on the Rappahanock River. All of you who are or ever have been employed by Uncle Sugar know we can only carry over so much annual leave every year. So, we decided to put together a little TX to help burn off some of that excess leave. Figured we would do it in the middle of the week to avoid any crowds and the losers all had to bag up at least $20 worth of baits each to give to the winners. Little did we know there is a bigger TX scheduled this weekend out of the ramp we used so there were a lot of boats prefishing. Conditions were not great to say the least. Cold, 20-25 mph winds, muddy water, and iffy tide compounded by a lunar massive outgoing tide. We ended up 2nd and caught them on a number of baits....Little John cranks, Senko, Ned rig and jigs. I will say that I caught the 3 biggest on the Senko and it was a tough way to fish. Weightless in the wind and current makes it tough. Just to show how important boat positioning is, we fished down a bank with the current and never got bit. This particular bank has been good to us so we decided to turn around and fish upriver against the tide and current. 2 of the three big fish came off that decision. I was thrilled to get a Virginia Citation Smallmouth as part of our bag. We got beat by 4lbs because we could not cull out our 2 squeakers. The winners had an almost 6lb kicker. Was a fun day to be out and I'm setting up for my first Crappie trip on the Potomac tomorrow. Water has cooled off enough that they have moved up.

Well that's one thing you can say about the older models. They are tanks!! No frills but I did have the dealer install AC when I bought it new in 93. My big concern with my daughter driving it is that it also has very little in the way of safety items like airbags and anti-lock brakes. The bumper replacement was due to a fender bender and I replaced it with a heavy duty that contained a 2" receiver on the front. I was going to use it to install a removable winch but in the meantime I used it to mount the front plate with a very heavy duty mount. I can't even begin to bend it back by hand. I'm sure that is what killed the bear, it's like a battering ram. Off to Amazon to see if I can find another.

If it bothers you (it would me) I would get another boat from the dealers stock or have him order another one that has not been cut open. Surely he has more than 1 new model on the lot?

Great recap. Congrats!! That river has really been producing!! My buddy yanked a 9.8 out of there 3 weeks ago.

Well, it's a debate for sure. I'm sure if you filleted some LMB you would find Snakehead fry in their bellies as well. That's nature. Big fish eat smaller fish. Here in Virginia there has been a lot of studying since Snakeheads were inadvertently introduced to our waterways. So far the impact has been minimal. They have shown that the Snakeheads "prefer" other species of baitfish to LMB fry. They are an excellent food fish and are being regularly harvested from our waters for table fare. They have also been "introduced" by bucket biologists to closed bodies of water here also. That, I am 100% opposed to and there have been arrests and prosecution.

Funny this thread came up. This weekend my daughter decided to add another species to the Jeep trophy room.....A bear!! The joys of living in the country. I've got a little work to do on the old Jeep now. Buckled fender and trashed plate (which was brand new because the old one was all torn up). My wife took out a deer about 2 years ago. At 375,000 miles I'm just gonna patch her up and keep on driving it. BTW I have an aftermarket solid iron front bumper and that is what kept the grill front end relatively damage free.

My only cautionary comment is that cheap is not good if you are trying to teach a newbie how to use a baitcaster. I've taught a lot and contrary to what many would think is normal............Buying a Cheap Combo to start out............is totally wrong. It takes more skill to successfully cast a cheap baitcaster than it does a mid range one. Better drag/spool control/breaking systems all help a new learner develop the technique. I've seen way too many discouraged new anglers who think they can't cast a baitcaster and gave up it. More than likely they were using the cheapest baitcaster they could find. Once I put a good mid-range baitcaster properly set up for someone who hasn't used one a lot, in their hands with a little instruction, they quickly change their mind.