acwatkins

Fished one of the local Maryland reservoirs Saturday in the chilly rain all day (reminder to take a poncho at minimum if rain is in the forecast). Had some followers and a few takers on the Paperweight but being wet and cold made it less enjoyable than it should’ve been. It was still fun nonetheless. Sunday’s forecast was sunny and 80 so we figured that might help push them shallower and turn a pretty decent bite even better. Well that was completely wrong. The weather was beautiful but the bite and interest in big baits became almost non existent. We saw the buck bass push shallow like we thought but they seemed to only want a senko, and even that was hit or miss. I decided pretty early on that I was sticking with the paperweight and other swimbaits all day. Made a shallow cast to a feeder creek, chopped the reel a few times, and saw a gigantic streak come from the channel to annihilate the glide. After a pretty epic battle my buddy got this 35” northern in the net and into the boat. Possibly my pb, if not it’s damn near a tie. The rest of the day stayed slow and the bite just never picked up. Still, I had just enough confidence that the glide or another big bait could put something decent in the boat. Ended up catching another smaller pike on the magdraft and a 3lber on the bullshad. Not the best of days by some people’s standard but plenty good enough for me. Gained some good knowledge, rashed up some baits, and got some fish slime everywhere.

I’m in Maryland, so kinda northeast kinda not. I personally just don’t have the confidence in bigger glides like the 250. I’ll throw them for a while but without any followers or bites I have a hard time sticking with them. I know the fish will eat it. I’ve seen dead floaters with gigantic gizzards lodged in their mouths. I just have a hard time sticking with big baits when I can throw a smaller glide or crankdown and (hopefully) get multiple bites or at least followers. I actually just traded my 250 for a 10” dockrat shad. I’m hoping that will boost my confidence with a big bait. I didn’t get to fish the summer this much and really plan on hammering the fall bite, hopefully with a few big glide eats

As a fellow Marylander I can respect the work it takes to get a fish like that. My pb went 7-0 about 10 years ago. Haven’t even broke 6 since, but have 2 at 5-13 lol. Congrats man you earned it!

If you can afford it i would highly look into lithium batteries. I made the switch this year along with the ultrex and it’s a game changer for me. I fish electric only reservoirs alot and was putting a hurting on my interstates. I went with 2 ionic 100ah for my tm and a 125ah for cranking/electronics. I can fish trolling motor only for 10-12hrs and still have over 60-70% battery life at the end of the day. If you fish regular lakes and not electric only the popular choice seems to be 2 50-60ah batteries which are significantly cheaper. The upfront cost is high but they’re supposed to last over 10years and have a very solid warranty. I got mine from Drewcraft. If you’re a bassboatcentral forum member you’ll get a discount too. It’s something I’d recommend at least researching.