Micro

Richmond go hit harder than we did in southeast Virginia. I was up in Richmond on wednesday after the storm and the number of trees down looked a lot greater than in Newport News, Norfolk and Virginia Beach. By the way, I can tell you are a long-time Virginia resident. It hasn't been VEPCO in decades. LOL. We have a standing joke down here... there's only one thing that is absolutley certain regarding hurricanes, that Dominion Power is absolutely unprepared for one. For more than a week after the storm, we saw not a single Dominion Power truck. Everything was from Ohio and Kentucky.

Remember the Gap Band? Any white boy could dance to the Gap Band. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KL3mHPmNKRE&feature=player_embedded

A very worthy effort to remember and commemorate these dogs... http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2033628/Surviving-9-11-rescue-dogs-scoured-Ground-Zero-bodies-commemorated-decade-difficult-mission.html

I don't own a Hi Point and can't add anything to the discussion. Except that some of the videos on YouTube of people trying to destroy them are fun to watch. It seems if you can get past the butt-ugly appearance, they are tough, reliable, nearly indestructible guns.

Do I see a Les Baer in there? Les Baers are great. I don't own one, but two of my shooting buddies do. One of my buddies availed himself of Les Baer's offer to hard chrome a newly purchased Baer 1911 for $200. It turned out super. I've begged him to sell it to me but he won't budge on it.

In the years I've been using YZ Hybrid, I've only have one break off - lifting a big blue catfish over the side that weighed WAY in excess of the test of the line. Otherwise, it's the only line I've never had a break off on. I always use a palomar knot.

Pac Bay SS304 guides are hard chromed, so your line isn't running over pure stainless steel. These guides have been used for years on Fenwick HMX line of rods (until recently). I've used them with mono, copoly, fluoro and braid. They hold up just fine. They are supposed to be lighter than guides with ceramic inserts but I never really noticed. Good guides. If you like the rod, go with them.

I live in Virginia. Virginia is a "shall issue" state. That means one need not show cause to have a concealed carry permit. But rather that the city or county in which one lives must issue the permit if the applicant meets the minor criteria. In Virginia, we can carry concealed in municipal or state parks, state forests, the Virginia Capitol and Legislative buildings, and most other public areas, and private property unless the private property owner has posted a sign restricting carry on the premisise. Virginia has a pre-emption law that prevents localities from enacting their own gun laws, so state law applies uniformly across the state. When I'm out and about (but not on my boat), I usually carry a smallish semi-auto of some kind. When I fish, I usually open-carry (if I carry at all). If I'm on my boat and I'm carrying, it's almost always a Ruger GP100 .357 Magnum loaded with .357 Magnum 158 grain gold dot hollow points. The only threats I've ever had while fishing was a snake that crawled up my engine, and a mad, myopic muskrat that thought he was going to get in my boat. I felt a bit overgunned for both, and my emergency boat paddle was enough gun to take care of them.

That Smith and Wesson is a sweet gun. Smith 1911s have stellar reputations.

Yildiz has a pretty good reputation. Turkey has a good gun industry and can produce quality guns. CZ shotguns are made in Turkey by Hugli. Hugli and Yildiz have about the same quality. And Hugli guns are very good. In fact, I think Yildiz produces guns for Stoeger. If it's got a good price and you like it, buy it.

What Ruger is it? I Googled it and it looks like Ruger currently (or in the past) chambered their M77 bolt action and No.1 single-shot in .250 Savage. The M77 is a reasonably priced rifle. The Ruger No.1 is a pricier gun. If its a custom Ruger (and they probably exist) they could be very expensive, indeed.

I still haven't bought an AR, but have pretty much decided to in February or March (bonus time at work). After shooting some, and talking to folks at shops and my gun club, I've decided to go with an M4 sized gun with DI system. I think it will be a Smith and Wesson or a Colt.

I have an Ithaca M37 Featherlight that I have had since I was a kid. I love that gun. Maybe a gun exists that I would like better, but I've never held one I like better.

If I could find a Mauser in 6.5 x 55 Swedish, I'd buy it in a heartbeat. That gun in that caliber is very high on my must-have-before-I-die list.

I carry either a Sig Sauer P229R in 9mm, a Ruger SP101 .357 mag, or most usually a CZ75 Compact in 9mm. I have a CZ83 in .380, but it's as big as my CZ75 9mm, holds 12 in the magazine (versus 13 in my CZ75), and has snappier recoil. My CZ75 Compact is very concealable in a Bianchi Black Widow holster and a long shirt. I don't have any real subcompact or pocket guns.

I have a 1548 Tracker Grizzly with a 15hp outboard and 55# trolling motor. BTW, anything that eats a few white perch can't be a bad thing. I'm not sure if white perch are overpopulated on the Potomac, but I tend to think there are more of them in my neck of the woods than there ought to be.

Red, especially red shad, does well on that lake. It's my second favorite color next to green (green pumpkin or watermelon).

The latest issue of Virginia Wildlife has a short article on the Northern Snakehead. It seems largemouth bass, bluegill and pumpkinseed each comprise less than 1% of the diet of SHs. Killifish seem to be the preferred food. White perch also seem to represent a decent portion of the diet. The article also has a far less alarming tone than one heard a few years ago. Seems the Northern Snakehead aren't the plague once feared. The size of the fish in the photos must provide incredible action on bass rigs. The fish LOOK awesome. And I understand they are delectable. Maybe a snakehead trip is in my near future.

I don't look the way I looked 25 years ago either.

Mmmmmmmmm. I just don't know. It's been bugging me for 25 years.

Pia Zadora??????? Come on, with all the useless pocket trivia people have, someone must know. No more joking around Glenn. It's not Cindy Lauper, either.

Who is the blonde girl in Eddie Money's video I Think I'm In Love??????

There are different types vegetation cover on Chick Lake. I'm not really sure how to describe it. At the beginning of the year, there isn't much of anything except the brown floating mats that drift around the lake and the ones that stay attached to the bottom that keep the boundaries of the creeks about the same from year to year. Around the end of March, April and into May, things start to green up. By May, the lily pads have popped up and are at their prime. The brown mats described above are turning green. The cattails are coming up, the pickerel weed, arrow head, and pond grass are at their prime. There are open, highly defined avenues through this stuff. Fishing is at its best on Chick Lake at this time. By June, the spirogyra is getting thick and the coontail grass and milfoil is getting thick. By July, the open avenues described above are nearly closed up. By August, they are closed. The milfoil and coontail grass is so thick that it makes areas that were extremely productive in May inaccessible. It stays this way through October. In November as days get shorted and water cools, the vegetation starts to recede. Fishing Chick Lake when at the height its weediness is a challenge. I have no fear of going into thick stuff. But understand that when I say think, I mean thick. I never seen this extent of "thick" on any other body of water in this state. Getting back into inaccessible area often means standing on your bow, holding your trolling motor up so the prop is buzzing the surface, and trying to crawl through it. Poling is another option. I have a 15' jon boat with a 15hp outboard and a 55lb bow-mount trolling motor. Even I have trouble getting around in this lake in mid-summer. Guys with bigger boats often give it up until later in the year. Or they resign themselves to the middle of the creeks that are still sort of open and try casting across the grass. You can pick up fish that way. But 4-wheeling it back into the coves and punching next to the above-water green weeds will yield bigger and more fish. It's not easy. But it's the difference between a 10 fish day and a 30 fish day.

You will find bass throughout the lake. But when you fish it, think two things: food and oxygen. You will pick up the occassional fish around the cypress trees and duck blinds, and occassionally in the lily pads. By far, though, you will find the most and biggest fish next to green vegetation. If you are in a creek with lily pads on one side and mats of pondweed/pickerelweed/arrowhead/etc on the other, fish the side with all the weeds. That's where the small fish are seeking cover, and thats the side that will be the most oxygenated. Lily pads just don't provide enough cover for small fish compared to the other types of vegetation. Keep that in mind, and will pick up fish. When I fish the lake this time of year, I find the strike zone is usually from the edge of the weeds out to about 20 feet. I position my boat outside this zone and cast diagonal into the zone so I can maximize the time my lure is in the zone. Once I'm out of my zone, I reel up and re-cast. Like I said, you will find fish throughout the lake. But I fish this lake a lot and I know it very well. Green vegetation in the water is where the most and biggest fish are. This is the type of vegetation I look for...