A month with no new posts, winter is a jerk.

 

I was out glumly hiking around a frozen pond yesterday and noticed something odd in the ice;

 

Found maybe 2-3 dozen sunfish frozen in the ice.  They were all within 3-4' of the bank and the ice was still crazy thick, I took my jack handle and chipped at it for a bit, made it like 3" down before I gave up.  This is a really really small pond, I am a little worried about fish-kills now.  

Soft water, thank the Christ! No bass but couldn't keep large pickerel off a large JB and swim jig with a subtle paddle tail trailer. 

Come on March. I should be healed enough to fish March 1st

I managed my first bass of the year today.  I have spend every moment I have been able the last few days slowly dragging a jig, slow-rolling swimbaits, and dozing off between jerks on a pointer 78.  All for nothing.  I was at it again today but started seeing baitfish moving around in the shallows and then saw some small bass suspended in maybe 3-4' of water.  They would not even turn around to look at a jig, so I ran back to my car, grabbed a spinning rod, tied a ned on, and within two casts I caught this monster.

 

Also, in sadder news, there was a fish kill at the pond I saw all those frozen fish that I posted earlier.  I went there the day after it started thawing and there were dozens of nice sized sunnies floating and I even saw 2-3 nice sized dead bass.  It's a tiny tiny little spot, so I hope there was not a larger kill-off then the fish I saw.  

 

36 minutes ago, fishwizzard said:

I managed my first bass of the year today.

 

Congrats on getting the year started! I had been running down to Lake Anna on the weekends to find open water. Fortunately my local lake was ice free except for some of the shady shallow coves so I was out there yesterday in the rain. This one was skinny but I was happy to be fishing in Maryland again. Black&Blue jig in 25'.

 

Yea, seeing the baitfish moving around was more exciting that then little bass.  Did you get a water temp reading by any chance?  I bought one of those little fly fishing thermometers the other week, but have already lost/abandoned it.  I am itching to get my yak out, but I have no desire to wear the waders/dry suit anymore.  

 

 

Hey Marylanders -

 

Where can I find a rod builder nearby my house

 

One of my rod is having issue with the locking the reel in. It's kinda of slipping. It appears that I would need to have the handle grip replaced as I tried the plumber tape to see if it would hold but nope. 

 

Want to have someone near PG or AA County so that I can bring it in and have it replaced. 

What part is slipping?  Like is it unscrewing itself or is the reel seat moving?  

 

I have heard good things about Backyard Custom Rods in Walkersville, but I have never used them for anything.  That is a bit far north though.  

 

1 hour ago, fishwizzard said:

Did you get a water temp reading by any chance?  I bought one of those little fly fishing thermometers the other week, but have already lost/abandoned it.

 

Temps over the weekend had me scratching my head. I was on the same lake on Saturday (the windy day) and the surface water temperature was 39 degrees. I go back out on Sunday (dead calm and cloudy) and the water temp was 42 - 43 degrees. I think what was happening was that the strong wind from the south was rotating cold deep water to the surface.

Interesting.  The lake I was at on Saturday was around 40' on top and maybe 37-38 at ~7', the deepest straight drop I could find.   I was behind a tall dam however, so the spots I was measuring were very sheltered from wind.  

 

I found a warm-water discharge a few weeks ago that had thawed water when everything else was still inches of ice.  I am going to try to head back there next week with a new thermometer (that I will teather to myself so I don't walk off without it again) and see what the water there is up too. 

Soft water again, and big pickerel again.

How muddy is everything? I am out of town until Wednesday, but have all day Thursday free to fish.  

Think im going to try some brackish action during this warm up period later this week/into next.  Hope to get some pick and maybe a resident rockfish. Will let you all know and good luck.

Yea, I have been delaying getting my yak out until I can safely ditch the drysuit, but the lure of pickerel is getting stronger. 

Anybody in here have a kayak or Jon boat for sale for under 2k? Message me if you do or know of anyone who does.

17 minutes ago, Michael Robbins said:

Anybody in here have a kayak or Jon boat for sale for under 2k? Message me if you do or know of anyone who does.

Sent you a PM. 

7 hours ago, fishwizzard said:

Yea, I have been delaying getting my yak out until I can safely ditch the drysuit, but the lure of pickerel is getting stronger. 

I used to love cold water pikein. My 2 favorite ways to catch em were a 1/4oz ruby lip buck tail trimmed and tipped with the biggest bull minnow you can get, and a j9 rapala. The head waters of the Magothy river tributaries have loads of nice fish. Many lures that will catch them good but the 2 above were $$. 

Was testing some spinners I made for a May Canadian trip on a local pond, fine tuning and catching some pickerel, saw what looked to be the beginings of bass nest clearings, but talked myself out of it with "too early". Well, a particularly good looking  double blade black/gold with some bucktail and hackle got stopped cold 10 feet in front of me by what I thought was the pickerel I was looking for, nope a fat 5 1/2 lb LMB. The cool part is I was looking right at the spinner, and she was sitting in about 2 feet of water and just turned her head and swallowed. Gonna go try to go do more of that on purpose today. (and build a couple more of those).

Anyone have any Potomac news?

My 1st trip out is March 17th. All my tournaments are on the Potomac this year so I am fired up to get started. 

At long last, a bass of reasonable size;

 

This one is going threw a rebellious phase, thus the black lipstick;

 

And, this is my best pickerel so far for the year;

I am longarming it big time, but it was still a monster.  I got him on a little sjr 6400 imx and 4lb mono.  That little rod is a beast, I am going to respool with 6lb mono and that is going to be my new Ned Rig rod.  

9 hours ago, reason said:

Was testing some spinners I made for a May Canadian trip on a local pond, fine tuning and catching some pickerel, saw what looked to be the beginings of bass nest clearings, but talked myself out of it with "too early". Well, a particularly good looking  double blade black/gold with some bucktail and hackle got stopped cold 10 feet in front of me by what I thought was the pickerel I was looking for, nope a fat 5 1/2 lb LMB. The cool part is I was looking right at the spinner, and she was sitting in about 2 feet of water and just turned her head and swallowed. Gonna go try to go do more of that on purpose today. (and build a couple more of those).

Awesome. I’m not totally surprised. I clocked 61F at a farm pond last week. Kinda crazy  

Jerkbait was killing it yesterday. The bass liked longer jerks and hit on the pause. Pickerel liked short rapid jerks with no pauses. Pickerel are fat this time of year.

MD representing! Its gonna be a good spring.

48 minutes ago, reason said:

MD representing! Its gonna be a good spring.

Just in time for my work to pick up so I don't have time to go fishing!  

 

Night vision goggles are getting cheaper, lots of time at night.....

 

Hell yeah