hokiehunter373

I am not seeing an email. Is there a code or is it automatic? Nevermind. Did some googling and got it now

Top water bite finally heated up and now the weather is about to cool down. Caught a half dozen or a few more in an hour this morning. Half on top water. Half on the roboworm.

Agreed. For numbers, you can't really beat a senko, but I catch most of my bigger fish on other baits. 10" PowerWorm is one of them. 6" Magdraft Freestyle another. Savage Gear pulsetail works great. A big frog. A jig. If I had to use one to catch a big fish or my life is on the line it'd be the magdraft during the summer

What are you talking about @BrianMDTX?!? I tell my wife all those things barely cost a dime!

What rod are you throwing it on? You've gotta decide if you want it to actually be general purpose or if you're actually worried about snapping off. My frog rod is only used for lures going into riskier areas or that are heavier. I'm not going less than 50# braid on that. It's a mag heavy and I want to be able to put some torque on it if I need to and not worry about the line. To me, MH is what you want for general purpose and I'm not throwing 50#, or likely any pound, braid on that.

Went out last night like 5:30-7 with the kids. Roboworm was the only thing catching bass again. Saw another giant that wasn't interested in anything other than coming up once every few mins to check a bed before returning to the deeps. My kids were fishing for bluegills and if a bluegill would pull on the worm, she'd attack the bobber on the surface. That was the only time she was interested in anything. Anyway, caught a handful. The best was about 2 pounds that got the kids pretty fired up haha: Caught this smaller one with a spot on him which I don't see too much around here Managed to drive away with my kids lunch box and water bottle sitting on the bumper. Went back this morning to look for them and was greeted by this. Just wow. Need to fish more mornings.

Maryland has close to 30 of them but only 2 are venomous (timber rattler and copperhead). I've luckily seen neither and the rattler only lives in Western MD. We most commonly (in my experience) have watersnakes, gartersnakes, and ratsnakes. I'll never forget being in my in-laws underground pool which is surrounded by woods and getting the absolute crap scared out of me because there was a big commotion coming from the woods and then something lunging at my face. Turns out a snake was chasing a frog. The frog must have known where the pool was and took a giant leap once it got through the fence hoping he'd find safety and not knowing I was there. Luckily the snake either saw me or didn't want to be in the water because he just came to the edge of the patio and then slithered away. Really wish it would have happened to my wife because I imagine I'd still be laughing today with whatever ridiculous reaction she would have had.

Morning dawn has been what's worked for me. Make sure to try them on the drop shot

Unfortunately didn't find any size but found numbers. Spinnerbait bite was off, they didn't want the savage gear bluegill swimbait, but they did want the roboworm... again. Going to need to purchase a bulk supply here soon. Caught 11 bass and a big bluegill in 75 mins. Can't complain at all but need to find the bigs. Might drag around a 10" powerworm the next outing and deal with a skunk if I have to to hopefully catch something with more size. About half of last nights catch was 1.5-2# and the rest were pretty dinky. Lot of fun though.

No. I was fishing a trick worm on a shaky head and the worm got bit off. I had the roboworms in my pocket and figured I'd try them and see how the fish liked it. Worked well enough that I fished it some more yesterday. Didn't get anything else sizeable but absolutely hammered a pile of 1-2 pounders on it mid day. Speaking of, yesterday was a year since my dog passed. Took the day off work to do fun things with the fam and figured I'd start off by watching the sunrise over the water. Didn't disappoint. Of course the first fish was fittingly the smallest of the year The next was considerably better. I switched to a spinnerbait and saw this guy come charging over right as the lure got to shore and I was lifting it out of the water. I tossed it back out a few feet in front of me, spun the reel a few times, and got to watch him annihilate it. The amount of eats I've gotten to watch already this year has been amazing and never get old. A caught a few more on the spinner and saw a giant bass but had to leave for the morning right as the bite was heating up. Came back midday for an hour and change and the spinnerbait bite was off even though the wind had picked up. Broke out the above mentioned roboworm on a shaky head and stacked um up. Full worm or even with the end bit off, it didn't matter. Failed to take any pics with things happening rapid fire and nothing chunky. I'll be back at it tonight looking for something with some more size to it.

Saturday morning my kids and I went out for an hour and caught 4 rainbows. I decided we needed a few more for a good meal so I went out Sunday morning for an hour. Caught my first palomino and a couple more rainbows to round out the feast. That golden is a beautiful freakin fish.

Roboworm is becoming a favorite quickly. 3# that looked like she just dumped a bunch of eggs. Caught a couple 2s on a shallow crank. Bite was weird tonight after some dumping rain but a lot of fun

Love these for bluegills: https://shop.northlandtackle.com/soft-plastics/ice-fishing-soft-plastics/impulse-rigged-mini-smelt/

So sorry, @A-Jay. Doesn't get much worse. I grew up with a Husky and he was such an amazing dog. Slept in my bed with me when I was little and would then sleep next to it when I got too big for the both of us. Didn't think I could have a stronger bond with a dog until I purchased and cared for my own. In a few days I'll be without her for a year. Still hurts enough I'm not going to work that day. Point being, you clearly have a bunch of members on here that feel your pain with you. And while it takes a while for things to improve, hopefully they will in knowing you gave your buddy the best life you could, and in return you loved him enough that it made you feel how you do now. Thinking of you man.

Met up with this guy again. Last night on the drop shot. Caught a handful the same way but nothing for size. Switched over to the crank and started getting better bites. Lost the best at the bank cause I got cute with lifting him out of the water because the hunter in me was trying not to spook the deer making their way to the pond. But hey I've got their favorite path of travel now. Caught a couple more before the deer in the background got wise to me. Lost 2 more on the crank at the bank. Final totals, caught 7, lost 3. Best numbers night this year but unimpressive size overall.

Buttt if you test out a steel leader to see if you can catch a muskie... might have your answer

Scheels order finally came in. Can’t wait to get those magdrafts wet

Took my 2 year old out and caught a quick limit of rainbows while we ate dinner. She’s hooked ?

I've had good luck with the albino color. I put a real light unpegged bullet weight on the front of it. Jerk jerk pause just like a jerkbait. The slow fall of it really seems to set them off.

Usually my take as well. Most of my fishing is an hour or less. Saving time by not having to retie to switch lures is awesome.

Reminds me of using my bow while walking through rows of corn while hunting and trying to avoid orb weavers and their giant dang webs

I find strippers inshore quite frequently. They use very sturdy poles, no reel necessary. Might have a tough time staying under $400 though.

Completely understand. Just about the only time I get to fish is after the kids go to bed unless it's the weekend and I can get out with them. I try to run out even if it's only 30 mins every other night. But it sounds like bass fishing has been frustrating but you still want to fish so you might as well give that UL a try and enjoy those little buggers fighting you How old are your kids? I get the burden thing but it's ok for them to see dad having a tough time. It'll let them know that your human and it will also let them know that it's ok for everyone to have tough times. We all do and it's fine to feel what we're feeling and find a healthy way to deal with whatever that feeling is. If you're just bottling it up and feeling how you are your kids can probably sense that anyway but have no idea why. If they're old enough, it'd probably be beneficial for them to understand. Sorry to sound all counselor-ish, not my intent, I just feel like kids feel our mood changes even if we don't verbalize it so you might as well.

Hey, man, sorry to hear you're going through this. I haven't gone through depression but I've dealt with the frustration of feeling like your sucking at something and that making that passion unenjoyable. I've minorly dealt with it with hunting. Wanting to succeed so bad and having such little time to do it that you're not enjoying the totality of it while you're doing it. Luckily my wife drove it home to me last year that I've always liked just being outside, being in nature, watching critters be critters, not just the success at the end of the hunt. I started making sure that while I was hunting I was soaking those things in again and enjoying being outside in nice weather watching the sun rise or set and not concentrating on a "failed" hunt. It wasn't. I've done the same with fishing. No one wants to get skunked but man we're getting to be outside doing what we like and it sure as heck beats some alternatives. You ever think about not worrying about bass? Take out a tiny spinner or a little hook with some worms and a bobber. Try to catch some sunnys. Or take some of your more stout poles and see if you can hook into some catfish. Those things can probably be a bit more relaxing than trying to catch your PB bass and hopefully you won't have to worry about the skunk that way. Enjoy nature while you're doing it. Maybe you'll catch some bass as bycatch and get the fire back. I hope you can find some joy in your passions again. Let us all know if there's any way we can help!

On Saturday something made me think I needed to try a drop shot the next time I got out to my favorite pond. Of course I was stubborn and the first 10 mins there tonight I wasted throwing around a fluke and a jig. Finally made myself switch to the DS. 1st or 2nd cast with the roboworm I bombed it deep and missed on a bite right as I saw a good fish swim in front of me. I reeled it in real quick and let it settle right in front of the fishes face. Gave it a twitch and got to watch him open his mouth and inhale it. Freakin awesome! I don’t know if it’s the same fish I caught last Tuesday or not but it seemed exactly the same and weighed the same. 3-9. So fun. Of course my next catch on the same lure was this big ol sunny. That cracked me up. What a contrast. Caught 4 more pretty dinky bass before finishing the evening with another 3 pounder on a 10” power worm.