Buzzbaiter

I don’t know exactly what part of the Bay you plan on fishing, but mahi don’t venture into the Chesapeake (to my knowledge). I also don’t know what you mean by “mega bass.” If we’re factoring for fish that are more common in my part of the Bay (middle/upper), I’d expect blue/channel/white catfish, rockfish, redfish, speckled trout, summer flounder, black drum, cobia, and smaller game (croaker, perch, and spot). I have no experience fishing for cobia; I imagine they’d be in their own league when it comes to gear. However, you do not need extremely heavy gear to do the other stuff. I have a Shimano Spheros SW 4000 with a Medium power Falcon inshore rod, and it does perfectly. Light tackle fishing is popular in the Chesapeake because the fish aren’t huge. Unless you’re going for the tarpon that got lost in the Bay, I think something along those lines would do fine. Maybe heavier if you’re exclusively targeting bull reds, cobia, black drum, and overslot rockfish.

How do you catch gar? I’ve got a bunch (probably longnose gar) in the marshes near me but they mostly ignore plastics.

I’m not catching any of the Menderchuck monsters that you are, so that likely factors into it. The waters I fish are rivers and creeks: relatively shallow without underwater hazards like mussel beds or wrecks. I’d probably struggle more fishing in more adverse conditions with bigger fish. But for the average 2-3 pound Potomac smallmouth, you just have to calm down and get to work. Be there no question, I lose plenty of bass. But when it comes to getting me panicked, black bass have a hard time getting me off my guard.

I used to fish for smallmouth quite often because I felt that they were hard fighters, which, for freshwater, they are. But eventually, I started to figure out how to fight smallmouth effectively, and the explosive runs and jumps became predictable and controllable. Nowadays, I search for salinity to scratch that same itch. Bass are still fun to fight, but they are more of a mental exercise for me.

Chesapeake Bay?

There was a stream in central Maryland that once held native brook trout. I caught my first brookard in that stream, and it was quite beautiful. However, that stream was on the margins, even at that time. The summers became warmer, and the surrounding land became less forested. In the more recent times I’ve been there, it’s been nothing but creek chubs. I couldn’t even see a single salmonid in there. I haven’t bothered fishing that stream for a while. It’s sad to see a fish that once thrived in that stream for an untold number of years suddenly become extirpated at the hands of human development.

An ounce of prevention… With smallmouth, I’ve found that they generally only jump if you let them. Keep calm, and keep them below the surface. Horsing smallmouth in only makes them go upwards. With largemouth and Florida bass, I’ve found that they jump whenever they feel like it. Lighter hooks for better penetration will probably help. As for muskie, I haven’t shaken hands with one yet. But if they’re anything like snook, then I’d be content to jump them, and ecstatic to land them.

Big Gunpowder. I’ve heard that there are snakehead in the nontidal portion of the river, but it doesn’t strike me as archetypical snakehead habitat (granted, I’ve never caught one). All of the known hotspots on the western shore are ultra-pressured, and I’m stuck on the bank. I’m not feeling too confident that I’ll get my first snake before the summer’s end.

I went out in the afternoon yesterday and got a nice smallmouth out of the Gunpowder. I was going for snakeheads, but I’ll take a brown fish.

I’ve always liked the uni knot

I’ve never had walleye, so I’d go crappie, bluegill, then catfish. Catfish taste pretty good, but I have a mild aversion to eating bottom feeders out of dirty water. Bluegill are so small that I don’t bother filleting them. They taste pretty nice, but the bones can be annoying. Crappie are easy to fillet, taste fantastic, and return a high yield, so I enjoy eating them. It’s not an option on the list, but I fried up a mess of kingfish (whiting/sea mullet) last week and really enjoyed them. They taste mild, but not totally neutral; they still have a pleasant briny/sweet flavor. I butterflied them this time around. I’ve filleted kingfish in the past, but they have a triangular shape to their body and scales like armor, which makes it a pain. I don’t know that I prefer them over crappie, but kingfish are a fine fish for frying, and easy to catch, too. I’d eat them more if I lived closer to the surf.

On the topic of different species, I’ll say the following: Largemouth that I’ve caught fight decently, lots of headshakes. Florida bass give up relatively easily, although it might just be because I tend to catch them in heavy weeds where I don’t let them fight. Smallmouth pull hard on short runs, and jump if you let them get towards the surface. They’re very hard fighters. Suwannee bass fight somewhere between largemouth and smallmouth; I’d say they have a fight style similar to the former, but the strength of the latter. Shoal bass are the hardest fighting bass I’ve caught. They fight like schoolie rockfish. On the topic of whether some fisheries have harder fighting bass than others, I’d say yes, and that it likely has to do with genetics, water conditions, and hunting habits. Moving water seems to consistently produce harder fighting fish, irrespective of species. I would imagine fish that feed in open water tend to chase more than those that feed in cover, which might make some fish more inclined to swim around than others.

I second this. I tried using 80lb mono for bite leader when I started fishing for snook. The knots are so big it’s almost comical. You can’t tie that line to 20lb mono main leader in a way that inspires confidence. I’ll stick to 40

Fighting a solid fish and seeing how big it is.