Johnsfolly

That was a great time! We caught a lot of fish even without having to resort to bait at least for the two of us spincasters.

They probably fish out of a kayak when they aren't in the trout parks !

When I went to fish western MD for brook trout last March, I must have hit the prime hook-up spot. There had to have been 20 or so condoms. Now I will pick up fishing line, empty cans/bottles, but there is a limit.. just saying as well .

I can hardly imagine how much fishing line is below the dams where I have fished. Lost that Doty special due to old line and that tailwater area here in Maryland is much much smaller than the below Truman dam .

I think that you meant to say that is only good after a certain period of time.. like 10 to 12 years!

I do hate seeing worm containers or empty jars of powerbait on the banks. I even see that in blue ribbon streams.

Or better yet their indicators and leaders end up dangling in the trees above the creek!

with no guarantee of a pay out. Talk about pressure to be successful!

That's because all of the fly rodders are out in chest deep water flogging away and their trash just gets dumped in the creek !

That's the gateway to booking Spa days for deep tissue messages or with a chiropractor ! Of course you'll take off work time for the messages so that you don't affect you weekend time on the water.

That was the time that my dad and I began our golfer PED discussions.

Used to discuss with my dad why golfers could consider taking testosterone or some other PED. I felt that if they could recover faster then there was an advantage to be gained. Not saying that Rick C is taking PEDs. The argument would apply to any sport where there is a physical and mental grind over several days. Any one ever suspect PED usage in fishing tournaments?

@Lance34 Listen to BilletHead in keeping it simple with half of that walleye. Will let you appreciate how walleye is different from those crappie. You had a great multispecies trip under tough conditions. Congrats!

Native American mixed with old English. There was a Kent Fort in a nearby town by us that dates back to 1631 when they kicked out the indigenous folks.

About 70 miles from the house. Seems like it gets a fair amount of pressure. Definitely not a backwoods stretch of water. Fortunately some parts surrounded by state park lands.

Where I was fishing yesterday one hole was that same size and I felt crowded fishing it with three people 😌. Good luck to you guys fishing the opener in the parks. Makes for good memories, good or bad ones.

My Betterhalf and Livie wanted to meet some friends at the Savage Mill, a cotton mill converted to an indoor mall and antique center. The old mill is on the banks of the Little Patuxent river in Savage Maryland. The antique center had some great finds. Only got through a small part of the shop. There were a couple of eclectic shops, a couple of restaurants and a French style bakery and coffee shop. Also there is a fly shop. I only saw it after my fishing trip. Though my Betterhalf did talk with the owner and got the scoop on the river fishing while I was out on the river. The river is one that is stocked with rainbow trout, which occurred earlier this week. Looking at the regulations, it looked like fly gear and artificial lures including non-scented soft plastics are acceptable baits. I started fishing a tri-olive Zig Jig in some fast water at the head of a pool next to the mill. No luck. Moved upstream to a longer hole. There was a guy fishing on the opposite bank, He was telling a couple of guys up stream that he had caught a dozen today. I put on a 1/32 oz tube jig head with a green pumpkin slider body with a chartreuse paddle tail. I made a couple of shorter casts, retrieved with slight pulls on the rod just to get some action from the tail, and got nothing. I made a longer cast downstream in some deeper water using the same retrieve, and as the bait swung closer to the bank down stream I got a hit and landed my first rainbow. My first in Maryland. Not a very large fish, but I wasn't skunked. I went further upstream to a hole above a narrow and fast run of water. There was a 4 to 5 foot waterfall at the head of the pool. Also a couple of guys fishing. So I started at the tail of the pool and switched to a white/chartreuse trout magnet and caught another rainbow. The two guys left and I moved closer to the falls. I also switched reels to fish with 2# line instead of the 4# I had been using. I also switched to a black back and green bellied trout magnet body. I got a good hard bite. The fish fought much harder that the rainbows. It was a nice heavy fallfish my first of the year! Only caught three fish in just under two hours on a new body of water. The wind picked up and I head back to meet my Betterhalf and Livie to grab a hot tea. I will definitely be back to explore this creek some more.

With all of the discussion and nostalgia going on around the trout park opener, I thought that I would post about a March event that I enjoyed for many years while living in Columbia, the Missouri Deer Classic. To be honest I'm not sure that this event is still ongoing. I saw a posting that the 2019 show would be postponed. This to me was an event that I looked forward to every year. It was something to do in the early spring, hunting seasons were still in my mind, and it was near my birthday. I knew a few of the vendors from seeing them year after year. There were many hunting seminars that the speakers went on and became big hunting channel celebrities. Me and my kids would walk through the deer mounts and antlers and guess the scores. All my kids shot BB guns or kids bows. Lots of jerky was bought and eaten. Many turkey calls were tested. Lots of dream hunts were thought about while going through the vendors areas or looking at the animal mounts. Hopefully it's not but it looks like it may be done.

Duane those look great and knowing you I am sure that they work great as well! Congrats on keeping alive that tradition. Now you need to pass it on.

Very Nice. Congrats on some great brown trout fishing especially on landing a 20+" fish!

Seth - I may be back in MO at the end of March. Wonder if your offer would apply to others. I have caught one blue catfish and "bumped" a couple of spoonbills.

The fish in those photos were caught 5 mins from my house. Not an issue😁.

We don't have white bass out this way. We just have their smaller cousins, the white perch, and their larger cousins, striped bass. Been easy to find so far. Might even be able to put @snagged in outlet 3 on some, of course it is about 900 miles to get out to me. So it won't save him any gas !

Honestly there are so many different fish and each have their positive attributes. If it boiled down to a couple (I know I just can't pick one ). I have a preference more often than not to gravitate to more predatory fish. For streams and clear rivers I will always go for smallmouth bass and brown trout. They both fight hard and can be found in some of the nicest places to fish. For sheer enjoyment of abundance and also their spunky fighting you can't beat bull bluegills during the spawn. For saltwater, if we are talking about bucket list fish then possibly roosterfish or big yellowfin tuna. As Daryk pointed out micros are always a passion and they are in every creek or river or pond and you have to like that!

We had leftover crab imperial form the Superbowl and fresh asparagus. So naturally it was time to dig out the Omaha Steaks Xmas presents. Thawed a couple of the filets. Nothing special just Montreal seasoning and garlic powder. A couple of minutes on each side in the grill pan (my 20 yr anniversary gift from work). Also heated up a couple of twice baked potatoes from the gift pack as well. served with bernaise sauce drizzle.