DanMarino  01/28/2012 - 09:49  Trip Reports  River    It was 62 degrees out this January day and I was off from work. After talking to CaptWalleye on the phone at lunch, I had the itch and hit a small river near my house. I had a particular hole in mind to fish from shore. I fished from 3:45PM until 5:00 PM. Nice day out. A little breezy. No takers on a small tube, gulp alive minnow, or 3 inch worm.
I'll give it a try again this afternoon, but at a different spot.

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space inwaders  12/14/2011 - 21:40  Trip Reports    I found higher water levels this year through the fall season, but put in far too much effort for any sane person. During October i had a few decent trips producing a few walleye from 22 to 24 1/2 inches, but couldn't get a decent picture. As November approaches I keep on fishing, but high water levels made things difficult and most trips were unproductive. Toward the end of November with only a few hard earned 18 month (15-16"ers) old fish so far from my usual fall areas, I realized I had to find new spots to fish. I put in a lot of thought, and some exploring, eventually found some new areas with new lures to try and soon found a few good fish.

Captwalleye  11/27/2011 - 19:57  Trip Reports  Liberty    I finally got a chance to go fishin'.So...I got up this morning and went looking for trouble.I went to a place that has to be hit when conditions are just right.I got the there and it was actually a bit high for what I wanted to do and the place I wanted to stand.I managed to get to a spot to try casting from and worked a 3" Swimbait and a suspending jerkbait.I got one confirmed hit on the SBJ and hooked a 7" Yellow Perch.I got one other possible hit but no hookup.Put probably forty cast into that spot and decided to move on.
I moved to another place and walked and climbed on in.The "Honeyhole" as I call it.Is a place I preferr to fish before and into daybreak and before,into,and beyond dusk.I was late but just really wanted to see what was going on there.I cast some and also moved some brush and branches around to give myself some casting room.It is a spot on a spot.Steep rocky bank with deep water right up to the shore.This place has BIG FISH potential,and has produced in the past.

DanMarino  11/21/2011 - 09:47  Trip Reports  Essays  Potomac    I hit my usual portion of the Potomac in the jet. Air temps were very comfortable and water temps were 46-47 degrees.

I'm trying to learn where the smallies go in the fall and I tried to focus on deeper water.

I found this 14 inch smallie. He hit a beetle spin with a curly tail grub on it. I lost two other fish on a tube and a fish bit the tail of the grub off.

It started raining and getting dark, so I called it a day.

DanMarino  11/06/2011 - 08:33  Trip Reports  Potomac    I met up with a guy named BigPat100 and we fished the upper Potomac on Saturday morning. Pat's boat has a 40 HP jet and it ran much faster than mine with the 20 HP engine so it was fun and CHILLY. Water temp was 48 degrees. Pat caught his healthy 12 inch smallie on a tube. I caught my 14 incher on a spinner bait with a grub on it instead of a rubber skirt. Fishing was slow, but we were both surprised to see 2 other boats fishing as well. We fished for about 3.5 hours and called it a day. Pat also caught a largemouth on an in-line spinner. I almost caught the largest fish of my life. I decided to put a crank bait on and began throwing it along the river bank as we drifted along. I thought I got snagged on something, but then my line began to move and my fully tightened down drag began stripping away. I should have loosened the drag. Pat thought I had a muskie or a big smallie. I wasn't sure. Whatever it was pulled like a horse. I eventually made some ground and got the fish to the surface after what seemed like 5 minutes. My crank bait had snagged the tail end of a HUGE carp! It was around 3 feet long and it was very broad with huge scales. The thing was a horse and probably wouldn't have fit into the net. We got it within arms reach of the boat and it made a frantic get away attempt. Then the knot on my lure slipped and the fish was gone with my crank bait still in its tail. I was using braided line and it seemed like the end of the line just sorta came undone and slipped through the palomar knot. It was a fun experience and would have make a very cool photograph. I could definitely get into carp fishing!!!!! Had a great time fishing with BigPat.

DanMarino  10/09/2011 - 08:18  Trip Reports  Potomac   

I took my kayak out on the Potomac Saturday afternoon. This weather is fantastic for fishing! The river was coming down from last weekend's rain and the water was pretty brown. Not much visibility at all, so I threw a beetle spin with a curly tail grub on it. I put in and paddled up river to get to some rocks and ledges. I fished up there for a while and caught this fish. It ambushed my lure from behind a rock as the current went by. It was an old looking fish and around 16.5 inches.

DanMarino  10/06/2011 - 07:15  Trip Reports  Essays  Potomac    I've got a 4 day weekend and the weather is looking splendid for a change!!!!

Is anyone planning to hit the Potomac this weekend (October 7-10)?

The river looks like it's coming down from being up from last weekend's rain.

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space inwaders  09/26/2011 - 19:10  Trip Reports    we had debated going due to rough weather for most of the week and higher water levels. We gave it a go anyway, 10 hours and many miles covered.

In the end I had one miss early on, then 2 muskies in the boat around noon- a 35 1/2" and 40 1/8". The 40 was a new PB for me=)and the fish was tagged.



Several hours later my partner landed a 34 1/2" musky, his first in a while and he was overdue.

Captwalleye  09/23/2011 - 17:44  Trip Reports  River    My enthusiam for fishin' which has dwindled a bit,has finally returned.I've been talking to DanMarino and we finally got it together and went for it today.Met about 530 or so tranferred his yak into my truck and up the road we went.
We went to a place I'm fairly familiar with and proceeded to have a pretty good day.Of course it was suppose to rain and it did.Started off as foggy to light drizzle,and finally plain old raining.Never got really bad,and when the wind finally started blowing it was upstream and as we wrapped the day up blew downstream.So weather wise we had it good it was warm enough to be comfortable even though we were wet.

DanMarino  09/05/2011 - 16:35  Trip Reports  Potomac    I was inspired to drive out towards Hagerstown/Sharpsburg this morning in search of smallies. I read some info in Penrod's Potomac River book and Taylors Landing sounded interesting. Water was pretty clear with an overcast sky. I fished for about 2 hours and caught 3 smallies, a big rock bass, and a sunfish the size of my outstretched hand. All fish were caught on a beetlespin with a curly tailed grub. I tried fishing tubes, but kept getting hung up terribly on the underwater rocks and ledges. The smallies were around 12 inches and fought well. One possibly bigger smallie was on, but came off half way to the kayak.