71Rig

Very nice fish and great report. I think I may have to change my plans now I know one impoundment that is going on the short list!

Thanks for the info. Thought that was a little strange but then again you can never tell when the safety police are around. Might give this a shot this year. If anyone is looking to occupy a back seat shoot me a pm. Have a 14' jon and can run all 3 trolling motors at once and get reckless ;D

Don't mean to hijack your thread but I was just checking out the rules of Motts Run and read the following: http://www.fredericksburgva.gov/pr/Our_Office/policies/reservoir_policy.asp 10. "Reckless boating or standing in boats will not be tolerated.Any offender shall be apprehended and removed from lake area and subject to the full penalties listed in violation section." If I have a deck on my boat am I not allowed to stand on it? Any help from the locals would be great. Thanks.

So when we going? I like most certain death. Oh, and catching smallies too! I fish the portion going through Frednecksburg now and again. Mostly short fish but a few bigguns here and there. And you are right, people in Remington don't have the world wide internets yet.

Don't wade in the Rapp. It's full of biomedical waste and pathogens not to mention mercury, arsenic, and PCBs. You will most certainly die. Tight lines.

Thanks for the heads up Dave. Stopped by early this morning as was surprised at all the people there. Didn't really need anything but managed to get a deal on some nice older top water plugs (you know the good ones that are hand painted and made of wood), a few cheap bags of good plastic, and a few blade baits. Guess I spent $13 + $2 to get in and covered that with the one Highroller I walked out with. Will be back next year...but maybe to off load some of the lures I collected over the years. Thanks again.

Just saw that a 11 pound 2 ounce LMB was caught on Saturday in the Potomac just above the Woodrow Wilson Bridge. It crushed the MD state record in a tidal water by over 2 pounds! Here are the links to the articles: www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/31/AR2008013103260.html http://sports.espn.go.com/outdoors/fishing/news/story?id=3222260

If you have a seat open give me a PM, I live about 3 mins away. I was thinking of pulling the boat out of storage (in Gainsville) but havn't had time to deal with it lately. Maybe in a few weeks when I get more time and less work. I will give you a yell if I do plan on launching.

The Lake Ridge Park ramp is open. Looks like we are back to full pool levels too!

The reason given on the VDGIF website states that the Ryan family, who's property was used as an access point (they had a ramp and parking with concessions), did not renew (or couldn't come to terms with) their contract with the City of Manassas. They looked for access adjacent to the water treatment facility but Prince William county nixed the idea. Then they threw in the "fear" factor of terrorism and zebra mussels. The latter of the reasons (terrorism and zebra mussels) holds no water (no pun intended) since the Occoquan and Potomac are open to access. As for the zebra mussel issue that too is a long shot since the quarry in which they were found would not hold boats big enough (for either water) or long enough for their propagation and ultimate transfer. So in essence you are getting the shaft from rich people who don't want to see "beer guzzling rednecks" from their Corinthian leather sofa's or Brazilian teak decks.

28 north after you cross the bridge the parking is on the left; southbound it is on the right before the bridge. Good fishing both up and down that stream.

There is an advisory for the Rappahannock from I95 Bridge south to the mouth. The link for the Virginia Department of Health is below. Another item I seemed to exclude is that if you eat smaller fish they typically have lower levels of contaminates. Statistically a 25 lb catfish will have higher concentrations of PCBs and mercury then a 2 lb fish. http://www.vdh.virginia.gov/epidemiology/publichealthtoxicology/Advisories/RappahannockRiver.htm Here is a link for all Virginia waters (same website). Look how many of our waters have been effected. http://www.vdh.virginia.gov/epidemiology/publichealthtoxicology/Advisories/index.htm

I prefer an ultra light setup for stockers that generally don't get over 20 inches. I usually spool on 2lb or 4lb with a lighter leader of at least my rod length (5'). Depending on the size of the stream I will sometimes use a 6'6" rod to get a little further reach and better presentation when fishing natural baits or float-n-fly. If you really want a challenge go into the sewing kit and pull out some clear thread and tie that on. I have measured some brands to break at 1-1.5lb. Get a 15-inch rainbow on and land it. Talk about learning to play a fish ;D.

Most of the waters in NOVA (and most highly populated areas for that matter) have consumption advisories on fish. Most of the fish advisories are large lethargic fish like catfish and carp. These fish actually accumulate contaminates in the fatty tissues over their lifetimes from consumption of smaller fish and vegetation. The main contaminates are PCBs and mercury. Since these are accumulated in the fatty tissue a lot can be avoided by trimming these areas off of your catch. These areas are mostly the belly and around the fins. If you don't make your entire diet out of these fish, trim them correctly, and limit it to a few meals a month you have no worries. As for eating out of the Occoquan you should be fine while observing the aforementioned guidelines. I would however strongly suggest consulting the VADGIF website to see what advisory is on which portion of water body you are harvesting fish from. Roll that fabulous bean footage....

You might want to check out moving waters tomorrow. Unless it gets real warm real quick the water will be a little hard. Almost all the ponds I passed today had a roof on them. The Rapp was flowing nicely but smaller creeks were iced in. Albeit not thick ice but ice none the less. Just thought I would mention it.

ado124 - Depending on the presence of deer at the end of my rifle tomorrow afternoon you may see me on the water if you go to Bull Rum on 28. That or I'm going to try and hit the Rapp in Rednecksburg. If you do go to the 28 bridge concentrate on the deeper holes in this colder water. I was out last week and found most fish in at least 3 foot water. Don't know what they are on now but then they were close to wood and undercut banks. A word of warning: Prince William side of the river is "private" so you might want to don the blaze orange to stay safe (at least a hat) Keep those snoopy rods bent.

Brittle is pretty busy. but this time of the year i'm sure it will be a ghost town. I put my jon boat in there a few times this summer and it has one deep channel running down the middle toward the earthen dam. Most of the "near land" water is shallow. There is a pier there but I don't know how close it gets you to the deeper water. As for fish I've caught a few in the 2 lb size but nothing to write home about. Remember those VDGIF reports are based on electro-fishing so numbers seem high. Sometime the grass seems greener.... Sunken Bobbers

This is the last pic that turned out. Need to take the wife out fishing with me to take the pictures. (she's not afraid of the water!)

Think I got it . (shouldn't there be a hockey helmet on that smiley? Looks a little special)

Trying to figure this picture thing out :-/. But here are some pics of the smallies caught yesterday.

Fished Bull Run at Rt 28 today from about noon till 4. Not another person on the water. Guess they got the hint with the polluted water signs. I think I might put them up at all the places I fish. ;D I had my saranex coated kevlar waders with the nomex long johns in case there were any floating mines left over from WWII so all was safe (didn't see any mines anyway). Managed 5 smallies up to about 1.5-2 lbs and missed a monster in a log jam. All of the fish came on a 4' fluke in Baby Bass on a 1/0 EWG Mustad hook. Most of the fish were relating to wood but some hits and one catch came off a cut bank. Too bad you guys are afraid of the water. Lots of fish there for everyone. But I guess if you can cast around corners and drift a bait from a 10' bank you are set. Happy and safe Thanksgiving to all. Wet Bobbers.

Nope, not cub run. And not that place where slomoe drives over either... only a few bridges cross this water and that is why it's such a good place to fish. I would tell you guys but this place is way more polluted then anything you could imagine. I mean you need saranex coated kevlar waders to go in this water. I would actually suggest using a nomex coverall under just in case the water catches fire from your reel spinning so fast from the running bronzebacks. Maybe if you are good Santa will draw you a map. Till then, don't fear the water and get out there and catch these fish. Little pressure this time of the year.

Did I say there were fish in there? I meant to say that this place sucks and had lots of bad stuff in the water and you should all stay away cause it's going to kill you and no dink small mouth is worth that. You might as well stay home and chase chickens round the yard. Actually, the contaminates found in Bull Run are PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) and mercury. They are mostly in fatty fish tissue since they accumulate there in amounts measured in parts per billion (to give you an idea of how small that is it is equal to one second in 32 years). The mercury in water, if even present, would probably be measured in parts per trillion (thats equal to one second in 32,000 years.) The only risk to human health is through ingestion and unless you are eating the fish (which I do not) you are A OK. If you look at VA DEQ website you will see fish advisories for most waters in the area. As for where to catch these fish? I can walk about 1-1.5 miles in either direction and slay them. The farther you go the better it gets. Just pay real good attention to the deep pools and slack water. If you want some real smallie action you need to try another creek in the area that produces real pigs (up to 22-inches.) But they have a fish advisory on that stream too so I guess I will keep it hush hush.

That is a pretty good place to pull some sizable fish out. There are a lot more in there bigger then that. Catch them up to 19+ inches. You see the key is to put those waders on and go all up and down that stream. ;D But there may be a boogie monster or two lurking in the deep holes so be careful.

As I live down the road I stopped back at Lake Ridge Park yesterday. The water came up another 2 feet over night. About 10-15 feet of the launch ramp is covered and the rental dock was fully floating. Well, it would have been fully floating if it were not being anchored by two or three sunken boats that were tied to it. Did throw a stick bait for about a half hour with nothing taking. But I'm assuming another rain event will bring us back to an open ramp. Tight Lines