mudkart

Ahh....I've been to your site recently and wondered where the * went. Good thing I got some before they were gone.

We had some great outings there last summer/fall, basically from Bixler's Ferry road bridge up to the last mile marker/takeout used by the canoe outfitters. The bite went away w/ the cold weather, however, so it may not make a difference what you throw. Some days we used nothing but 3, 4, or 5 inch Yum dingers/senkos: the bite was so good at times there was no need to use anything else. Rig them weedless and weightless for the shallow, weedy areas, and try wacky-rigged in areas w/o weeds. Also had success w/ power worms, fat ikas, and tubes.

Maybe. That dredging was only finished last year, no? Give it some time. We found some honey holes there last year for quantity, (LMB) but not exactly quality. Mostly under 2 lbs, but, those fish may grow given the change in structure to the lake. Maybe not. Anyway, Andrew was joking. Accotink is not suitable (IMHO) for a get together of this size unless everyone is on the water. It lacks the long, open shorelines of Royal or Woodglen, unless you want to fish the dam, which has never been a good spot at Accotink (at least for us, just some small sunfish caught by our sons). I'd say Mercer probably has more fishable shoreline than Accotink. If you want my advice (always free and worth what you paid for it), I'd go to the rez like you suggest.

Yep, no biggee launching from Mercer.

Woodglenn would be another option, nearly the entire east bank is fishable from shore this time of year, as is the entire dam area. I've got to stop thinking about this, I'm bummed I can't go.

Or you could get a pair of stockingfoot waders, then use the footwear of your choice. I've gone this route and like it. Using wading shoes or boots w/ stockingfoot waders is much lighter to me than buying waders already having the boots. You can also use a beat up old pair of sneakers for your wading shoes for certain environments. Stockingfoot are cheaper upfront if you've got something to use for shoes or boots. I just got some neoprene ones which correspond to those listed above at Dicks for ~ $60.

I can attest that Andrew's kayak is stable, even in "windy" conditions. It kept both of us afloat (almost) on Mercer last November, and I'll wager I weigh more than Dan . Never felt like we were going to tip, but your backside will get wet, so use the waders. I just got a decent pair of neoprene ones, only $60 at Dicks. You'll like those alot more than the rubber ones Andrew has (I could barely move in them, but then again, Dan may have more room in them than I did ;D). I'd go w/ you guys but my wife and I have a cabin reserved at Algonkian that weekend . I'll try to get some fishing in, too.

I've had the most success c-rigging them, but that is by no means a limitation. These are very versatile baits. Try'em t-rigged or weightless; use them as a trailer on a chatterbait; use your imagination. Perform a search on this site and you'll get ALOT of hits regarding how to rig and fish these.

Warm enough for the fish to bite!! Some hand warmers and a wind breaker and you'll be straight. 440 F Sunday at L Royal and if anything its gotten colder since. That's a downward trend in water temp over the past couple weeks. Good luck.

Nice.... I'd really like to hear about that Prodigy spinning rod. There is not much to be had in the form of real-world reviews on these. I'm going back and forth between a Prodigy, Magtouch and a Mojo.

X2. Mostly the local ponds/lakes in Burke/Springfield that are only minutes away.

Bandit's "mistake" color is a perch/bluegill pattern

Dan, there are some "primitive" sites along the Shenandoah north of Luray in the GW National Forest. We talked about these last fall, I think. As far as I know, many are first come first serve. We went back this past November and fished alot of these sites and didn't see a single camper. Lots of smallmouth, some LMB, nothing over 2lbs though. Some crazy guys were rafting in that cold water, but they were camped on the opposite shore (eastern bank).

I've got the same XR50 as in your third pic. I just got it and have only thrown it once though (no takers).

It seemed high to me considering it was ice not long ago. But reading Wayne P.'s reports on Briery Creek, w/ a temp of 53, makes it more believable.

Tried Royal again today for only an hour, got one crappie on a roadrunner. Water temp was 47 on the surface.

We typically catch our own w/ a minnow seine. It helps to have young sons who like to wade and do the wet work. Boaters World sells a variety of live baits, but I would call first. Its near the Springfield Mall.

Royal, Woodglen and Accotink are all thawed. Given this, Braddock probably is to, and Mercer. We tried Royal yesterday, mostly along the rip rap. Nothing. Lots of active minnows amongst the rip rap, however.

I'm green with ***.....

I'm wondering whether you were using braid with a heavy rod, and what bait you were using. For treble hook baits, #3 Duo-Locs are as strong, if not stronger than any split ring. They also allow you to easily tie a Palomar connection, which is a very strong knot. Sometimes its the wrong "mixture" of gear that causes the issue, not opne individual piece of tackle. Could have been too light a clip, or a bad run. Same thing can happen with split rings. X2 on the Duo Locs and a Palomar. I've pulled snagged logs out of the water that weigh more than any fish that could reasonably be caught with this combination. Sometimes the Duo Loc will bend a bit, but I haven't had it fail. More often the line will fail before the Duo Loc.

Lazy Ike, my first crankbait.

Is that the Richmond BPS? We were there last weekend and it looks like the same NASCAR display in your pic next to the restaurant. The shooting range was FREE, I had to drag our sons away from it.

42. Your non-Italian friends look at you funny when you pronounce "mozzarella" correctly.

This happened to us (myself and our two sons, 5 and 7 at the time) the past fall coming home from a fishing trip on the Shenandoah River. The guy had a dead buck (uncovered) tied to an ATV he was towing. It didn't bother me so much, I've done my share of hunting in the past. However, it pretty much turned our sons into anti-hunters.

From an email from my Uncle: I make no claims as to whether or not this is true, but the pics look OK to me. "This is a new record Northern Pike in Canada. He caught it on Rainy Lake. Check this thing out. The man (in the photos below), was fishing and caught a 36" Pike. As he was reeling it in, a 56" - 55lbs Pike tried to eat it!!!!! He landed them both in the same net. The last picture is unbelievable."