Book Reviews

flood vs low water photos

check out these pictures of dam 5 during the high water event last month compared to low-normal level last november.





simply amazing.

-

New guy on board

Hello,
Just a quick intro - Carp fishing fanatic from Baltimore (now in Lake Shore). Anyone here like to catch them besides me?

"The Manuscript" aka Fishing The Upper Potomac River - Ken Penrod

This book is what we @ MDfishing.org like to refer to as "The Manuscript". This book is hands down the best book around to help you learn to fish the upper Potomac. The night before I take any trip on the Potomac I always make sure that I read the appropriate chapter. More to come on this book later.

Amazing afternoon on the Reever

Can you say Wow!!!! Took my 8 year old for a boat ride today on a river near you. Water temp was 49 degrees in the AM, reaching 50.8 degrees by 3PM. Targeted walleyes first with no luck. Headed to a few known winter smallies holes with no luck. Started to wonder what was up because of the water temp and the fact that the water color was more murky than muddy. Found a pattern around 2:30PM that proved to be the cat's meow. I caught 6 bass in 20 minutes with the smallest being 15 inches and the biggest just shy of a "C" fish. The fish were on the feed hammering crawfish for 3 of the 5 fish we caught spit up 2 inch crayfish.

My son is now hooked on smallies! He had a ball reeling in those pig smallies after I would hook em. Crying shame that I left the camera at home.

Caught the fish on a Beaver and tubes in Green Pumpkin. I was really pleased with the quality of smallies today.

REB9

Broke the ice

Well goose season is over, come on warm weather!! Hunter and I got out last Thursday to a small pond we call Macks place. Its a cool pond with a lot of bass, mostly small but fun fish. There sometimes are a few surprises at this pond, Hunter and I were lucky to get a few on this day. We were throwing an XPS rattle trap type bait(identical color as on the early spring bass pro catalog if you rec'd it), and a frenzy of the same type. Imidiately we start catching the typical stuff. Hunter was a little rusty so I threw a big cast on his rod and got bit and set the hook and handed the rod off to my boy, and it was on!! it turned out to be a pig (for us at least). He got it in and we took pics and released it. I thought well that was the big one for the day. HA! was I wrong after several catches I threw near a submerged rock on the windy side of the pond and I got hit and I thought snagged but I it was on again this one I got in and it was a real hog got pics and released. A couple casts later another hook up and another nice bass a good bit smaller but at least 2.5 lbs. I am a real believer in these XPS extreme baits it seemed to have more action than even a real ratl trap. I will be buying more in dfferent colors for sure. I am sending the pics I hope they get in so you all can check them out.
Man it felt good to get out and get into them, I gotta get on the river soon
SEE YA Too Big

Cash Advance Loan - Collateral Free Fiscal Aid For Your Business

"Payday loans have turn out to be quite popular among employed Americans who are currently going through short term cashflow difficulties and desperately need money before next pay day. While these short-term payday loans bear a high interest rate with them, they are generally the best choice for consumers who need to pay other responsibilities like credit cards, rent/mortgages, vehicle payments, and bounced checks. All of these bills carry high late payment fees with them that can very easily be more costly than a finance charge on payday loans. Realizing where to find a legitimate payday loan company is very important as there are some lenders on the market who try to get advantages of worried customers.

Cash loans are minimal short term payday loans ranging anywhere from $100 - $1500 exactly where a lender work with the applicants next payday as security for repayment. Your credit rating has a minimal effect on obtaining this short-term cash loan and numerous companies do not perform a credit check at all. The main thing the company is looking for is whether or not you are employed or have a steady source of revenue. If you have a job and have a current checking/savings bank account then you should get very easy getting an on the net cash advance.

When searching for a short term payday advance you need to make certain that you will need to locate a genuine on the internet payday advance lender. The majority of online internet sites are entirely secure but there are always people in the marketplace wanting to obtain advantage of anxious consumers. When going to an internet site you need to initially appear and notice if you can find a verify assurance sign on their webpage. If there is one then the site is secure and you can be assured that all your information is entirely safe. If there is not a validate protection sign on the webpage then this really is a perfect sign that they really are not a legitimate on-line payday loan company and you should leave.

Tens of millions of Americans are living pay check to pay check and when anything occurs unexpectedly which leaves you short of cash, a payday loan is often the most convenient way to receive money quick. If you happen to be currently in need of a short term payday advance and want to get more than one quote from a legitimate on-line cash loan lender then I recommend you visit a website affiliated with many payday advance lenders as these websites have consistently proven to make sure the better interest rates for the consumer."

cash advance loan

Custom Lures- Does color really Matter

Like all Maryland freshwater feesherman, I am looking forward to slightly better conditions so that I can go out an enjoy the great fishing we have. Over the past couple months, I have cleaned up all my gear, inventoried my tackle, tweaked the boat, etc. I am ready for the spring season!

My Christmas present to myself this year was custom painted crankbaits. Like all feesherman, I have my favorite lures and color for river fishing.

My suspending stickbait arsenal is anchored with Rapala Husky Jerks, Smithwick Rogues, and Lucky Craft Pointers. My floating stickbait arsenal is anchored with Rogues.

My crankbait arsenal is anchored with Rapala Fat Raps and Manns Baby-1 Minus lures. I have a myriad of others, but I always return to these two tried and true lures. This year, I am going to throw more Rapala DT-4's and the old "Cordell Big O".

My rattle bait arsenal is anchored with Rapala Rattlin Raps and the venerable Cordell Spot. Last year, I hammered the bass on a red head/white body spot.

Now, lets turn to color. I read this month's IN-FISHERMAN article about Crankbait colors and the root of the article was that color really doesn't matter over the long haul. On certain days, certain colors seem to be better. The article highlighted the tried and true black back and silver sided crankbait seemed to always do well. My experience has been slightly different. I have lots of black back, silver sided lures. I have had good luck with suspending rogues in black back and silver and over the past year have done really well with this bait. When I am walleye fishing, I catch more fish on other colors. If I am not "suspending the jerk", I have caught more smallies on other colors also.

I have had good luck on crawfish patterned colors more than the old black and silver. I love throwing Chartreuse when the water is slightly stained. I also throw Red Crawfish with good luck.

This year, I decided to go with some custom paint jobs on my cranks and jerkbaits. I have recycled my inventory of lures that I don't use that often and sent them out for new paint jobs. Having a custom paint job done on one of my lures is still cheaper than going out and buying a Lucky Craft bait that has great paint.

Here are some links to view the pix's.

GiZZARD SHAD:

http://s59.photobucket.com/albums/g305/reb9/Custom%20Lures/?action=view¤t=100_1586.jpg

Potomac Craw:

http://s59.photobucket.com/albums/g305/reb9/Custom%20Lures/?action=view¤t=100_1578.jpg

Hughes Craw:

http://s59.photobucket.com/albums/g305/reb9/Custom%20Lures/?action=view¤t=100_1579.jpg

Blue Steel Craw:

http://s59.photobucket.com/albums/g305/reb9/Custom%20Lures/?action=view¤t=100_1576.jpg


So, which one of these lures would you tie on first this year? Also, who out there believes that fish are "dumber than rocks" and all that a fisherman has to do is find them and throw something for them to eat?

REB9

DEEP CREEK LAKE

Prefished for a tourney out of Deep Creek today. Got to run around in a 20 ft Bass Cat w/ a 250 Merc
Front was blowing through and it was about 55deg. when we launched at 6am
Ive been reading various reports on tough fishing and minimal results...it was tough fishing.
So here I found myself in a lake that has already started fall draw down ( down over 2 ft) and on a cold front day...= tough bite.

I flipped and skipped tubes ( my secret color) and had a 5 legal fish limit in a few hrs. I ended up with about a dozen fish today and the best five weighed in the 7.5 range. Defintely tough fishing, BUT a bag like that would actually score fairly well in a tourney considering how this lake has been fishing.

Wind blown shoreline, under docks, downed timber and grass beds in deeper water all produced.
A 12" yellow perch and small northern pike were also boated today.

Fishing Rivers and Streams - Dick Sternberg

No review available.

good trip 6/27

Hunter first bass

Well my wife was away last night so I took the kids to walmart on 26, not to shop but too fish. I had my cuo of corn and weights, hooks,cooler and chairs (we looked like, well you know). I caught a small carp right away, not like my wifes 33" and evry bit of 15-20lbs caught at the same spot a couple weeks ago. Hunter got bored so I gave him a senko that I had and he starts casting and he gets a long cast, which he was proud of ( hes 4). As he was reeling in he says he has one Iwas like yeah right. He did, he brings in a 9" smallie he grabs it unhooks it and I showed him how to jaw it and he throws it back, like hes done it 100 times. He has caught other fish but never unhooked it by himself and threw it back. He was proud of himself as was I. Urban fishing at the wal mart who knew seeya.

Is fishin over??

Hunting season for me has started. Its still cool to look here for fishng reports. Even though I didn't fish as much as most in here I had some of my best trips this past summer. I am looking forward to some good hunting trips this winter. I am sure there is another trip or two left for some of you especially the captain I hear them toothy critters he chases bite pretty good when the temps start falling. Have a great winter and hope to see you on the river in the spring.Unless some of you may want to go after some winged game let me know see ya BD(TOOBIGTOYAK)

Kayak Paddle???

I was looking over kayak paddles on eBay. Was curious, do you guys have any recommendations? I own a 12' Poke Boat. I've currently been using a single type paddle. Any suggestions will be appreciated. Thanks in advance for your help. Jack.

Lower Potomac

First time post but I wanted to let you know I fished Aquia Creek today. Lots of boats but managed 6 caught, 5 lost and my partner caught 3 and lost 3. 3 lbs was the biggest. Cinkos the trick. Main river was chocolate milk. Good luck Paul

Monocacy?

I might get a wild hair up my you know what and try the Monocacy out this weekend! The wind forecast is scaring me away from Loch Raven and I need to get out. I haven't picked up my rod since May 6th but it feels like I haven't touched it since April 6th.

Anyone have any idea how long it takes for the Monocacy river to clear up after the rain we got on Monday?

Anyone have a guess at the water tempature?

No Smallies...Too Many Fallfish

Went fishing on the Patuxent near Columbia, MD on Sunday evening. I took my fly rod and was hoping to get a smallie or luck into a trout. I had caught smallies there before, but I didn't see a single one in 1.5 hours of fishing and wading around. Did catch an abundance of fallfish though (15-20 fish). I need to fish a different stretch and figure out where all the smallies went.

On the Board,, X2

I had to go to our plant in Buckeystown today to do some work. I was done there around 1030 and was heading to Mt Airy, on the way I thought I would swing by the old damn and have a look at the river. Well I just could not help myslef, and look, there just happened to be a St Croix fishing rod in the back seat. I had a rattle trap tied on so I gave it few cast. 15 minutes later on the seam of a eddy I feel the TUG!!!! I set the hook like a mad man,, and sent the trap and trebble hooks flying right at my face. Being a person who does not like to waste energy I lowwered my head and took the hit on top of my hat covered head. Now knowing there is a fish in that eddy I go back to the same aim point, sure enough another tug. THis time I only tried to cross his eyes instead of riping off his lips. The hook is set and the fishing is heading for the fast moving current. I get his head turned and within a minute I have a nice 14" smallie in hand. My week is made. Work will not be a problem the rest of the day.
I made my stop in Mt Airy and then to the office in Millersville to finish up the day. Not much going on. I left about 15 minutes early and decided to hit a little pond about a mile from the house. Looking over the pond I do not see much clear water, lots of grass in there ths year. I decided to stick with the rattle trap and pick the least grassy areas. On the forth cast, 20 feet off the bank, another tug. I am thinking I hit some grass untill I get the lure about 5 feet from the bank. Then my line starts swimming away, I have another fish!!! It was a small 10" LM that did not give much fight, but it was a fish.
All in all,, agood day.

Phil

Piney Run 6/8/08

Fished Piney Run yesterday and man was it hot! Caught 5 LM 2x 16.5, 2x17, and 1x18.5" all on a split shot finesse rig. Rig is simple just use a 1/16-1/8 split shot 12-24" above the hook and a watermelon or green pumkin finesse worm.

Allen

Point of Rocks

Fathers Day me and my pal waded the Potomac by Point of Rocks on the Virginia side. We did not get out to the water until about 10. The water was low and clear, mid 70s. We entered the river by hiking through some private property near Catoctin Creek. We caught mostly smallies and an occasional large sunny. The fish were caught where there was a greater current. Pretty obvious in the middle of the day, the fish will look for the coolest water. Used a couple different spinners (agila 2, blue fox 1, but was most successful on old reliable, Rappala F-7 floater. We were able to walk about a mile up the river. Only got to fish for about 3 hours because my wife was having a hissy fit, even though it was my first Fathers Day. The 3 hours were definetely the most enjoyable of the day.


Biggie Smallie

Pursuing River Smallmouth - Ken Penrod

I've read this, review is coming soon.

Smallmouth Bass - Dick Sternberg

No review available yet

Stream Smallmouth Fishing - Tim Holschlag

I just bought a copy of this from e-bay and have yet to read it. It's out of print, so you won't find a new one anywhere. So far I've just skimmed through it and it looks as if it's going to move it's way to the top of my list of favorite smallie books. I'll update this post as I read the book.

The Boy can Fish!!

My almost 8 year old son Patrick and I headed for the reever this morning to try to catch a fish or two. Windy, cold conditions greeted us. Water temp was 48.5 degrees. The water was a nice color with good visibility. Point of Rocks gauge around 3.5 feet.

The fishing was slow to say the least. I got skunked, and Patrick got 3. Biggest was a tad over 19 inches. All of Patrick's fish came on a Rapala HUSKY JERK HJ-08.

The boy is hooked!!!

The river is looking great, now all we need is a few days of nice weather...

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g305/reb9/100_1590.jpg
http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g305/reb9/100_1592.jpg
http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g305/reb9/100_1589.jpg

The C&O Canal Companion - Mike High

This book is an excellent reference to all things related to the C&O canal. It offers an eye-opening reference to the history of the canal as well as mileages on the tow-path. This book isn't fishing related, but is a must have for anyone interested in both fishing and the history of our beloved Potomac River.

Yak for sale info.......

Hello,

Im trying to get some info on the Yak's you have for sale. When could I see them etc... You can call me at 410 646 2300 and ask for Geoffrey

Thanks

Knowing Bass: A Scientific Approach To Catching More Bass - Keith A. Jones, Ph.D.

This is the book I'm currently reading, as soon as I'm finished with it I'll write a review. So far it has been rather interesting and has opened my eyes to a few things, primarily the effect deet can have on your success. (more on that later) The books primary focus is on the largmouth, but many of the basic principles can be applied to the bronzeback.