afree

I am moving to Alexandria from Seattle in a few months, and this is a great thread to follow, I know next to nothing about the bass fishing on the Potomac. Anybody have any contacts that guide in the Fall in the area? Doesn't have to be Potomac, I am open to anywhere

Great. Thanks a lot Zeth! Luckily I have a few tiger muskies under my belt from my Midwest days but I wouldn’t mind running into another one. I think the color side of things will be very different here compared to back home. I almost primarily threw blacks/blues and darker colors, feels like I need to go lighter here. I have some spinners on order that you described. Thanks again!

Hey all, I am from MN but moved to Seattle (Fremont) in the Fall for the lady's job and have fished my whole life, with bass fishing being a huge part of my life. I live in an apartment and do not have the garage space for my boat which is back in MN. I bought a 12-foot fishing kayak and have never kayak fished, although I have kayaked in sit-in models for a long time. Rather than fight the Lake WA and Sammamish size right away, I am wondering if anyone has any smaller lakes or ponds that they can suggest for a first time kayak-fisherman. I am partial to largemouth but am well-versed with smallmouth fishing on Mille Lacs and back home. Also, anyone have insight on Lake Tapps, I have a friend down there who wants to fish and he lives close by. I have another 9-foot kayak he will be using. THANKS!

I have been bouncing around between MN and WI lately and have been fishing more in WI. Found some water temps in the mid 60's today and ripped a buzzbait around for a while this morning. Caught 2 LMB on an all black 1/4-oz black Buzz Frog (Big Bite Baits), one was a dink and the other was a 3.5. The bigger was caught while ripping it through shallow weeds. Also caught a 26" pike on it. Moved over to a different area of the lake around some exposed stumps and started flipping a bit. Caught a 33" Muskie in 2.5 feet of water using a pegged creature bait. The 5/0 hook was bent in half afterwards, eyelet touching barb. Next cast, caught another decent one on the same dead-fall. It is mid-60s and clouds everywhere so the fish should be moving the rest of the day. Good luck to all, hope everyone is healthy and safe from the COVID.

I believe this part of Wisconsin (Hayward area) just started the staging phase, you referenced. We did not have the warm week here, it was rainy, cold, windy all week until Saturday the 2nd where it hit 70. Before that it didn't crack 60 at all. I fished some yesterday around the Hayward/Chippewa area and had a great day. Water temps between 53-55 and found the fish in about 4 foot of water. They were buried on laydowns and thick dead fallen trees. Stuck to the north end of the lake and it paid off, found 20+ fish and some keggers in there too including a 5.11 that honestly looked bigger. I am fishing alone due to Covid-19 so no photos unfortunately, or at least any good ones. All fish were caught on pegged Texas Rig except one on a jig which was the first fish of the day. I love the 7" BioSpawn ExoRibbon for this rig, it has amazing action although they are not durable, last only a few fish if lucky. 1/4-ounce Swagger Tungsten weight and 4/0 Trokar Worm HD offset hook was the combo. Weather in this area is going to be terrible for 10 days so I might work my way to MN mid-week, if work allows. Good luck to all, stay safe.

I am now quarantining at my place in Northern Wisconsin and hit the water this afternoon for the first time on lake/flowage near the Chippewa Flowage. Weird body of water, about 750 acres and the deepest point is 19 feet. During the warmer months I have some of my best days here but have never fished it for bass this early in the year. Ice out was only about 12 days ago but surface temps are 50-52 depending on where you are. I managed to catch 3 LMBs, all over 3 pounds with the biggest at 4.4 so overall a good day but it was a grind to get a bite. Sky was clear as day and air temp around 60, was seeing fish in less than 6 inches of water getting some sun on the bank but they were not interested in eating. Caught the first on a Carolina Rig, one on a drop-shot, and the 4.4 was on a T-Rig in about 5 feet of water on laydown. No consistency as far as I can tell but I am new to deep water fishing so I want to try and focus on that. Going to hit the crappie tonight. Good luck to all in the coming weeks and stay safe.

As others have mentioned, I need to know learn how to fish more effectively in deeper water. I have had some success with it but I tend to always turn the boat toward the bank. Utilize my electronics better as well and finally organize my tackle better!

6.81 LMB on the Ned. (1/15th ounce, green head, green pumpkin elaZtech)

Thank you all very much for your suggestions and the warm welcome! There will be a bunch more Amazon boxes at the door this week, that's for sure. Will make my 24 hours of travel next week much more bearable!

I just loaded up on these as well. Big fan of the screwlock.

I fished Northern Minnesota and Wisconsin a ton this Spring/Summer and had a decent year. My top 5 baits of the summer were: Z-Man Elaztech Finesse TRD (Ned Rig.) 1/15th oz in shallow water, 1/10 oz in deeper. Green Pumpkin and Hot Snakes were the colors typically but caught more on a lot. Booyah Baits Pond Magic Buzz-Bait. Red Blade, Black Skirt. Whopper Plopper 110 - Black Loon Color T-Rig- BioSpawn ExoRibbon Strike King Red Eyed Shad - Delta Craw color Biggest this summer was 6.81 LMB on the Chippewa Flowage with a Finesse TRD in mid-August.

Hi All, I was wondering if you all had any favorite books on bass fishing? More specifically, books on tactics and expanding my arsenal of fishing techniques. I spend a lot of time on airplanes (190,000 miles/year) and am looking to do some learning on my long haul international flights. I do apologize if there have been numerous threads on this topic, I am new and this is my first post but I did do a quick search and found one semi-related thread about collections. Thanks in advance.