retiredbosn

You could float that in a long, long day. It takes me about 12 hours to float from Ronceverte to Ft Springs, then I stop a fish every likely area for a while. It can take me 8 or so hours to float from Caldwell to Ronceverte, but if you put in and just float and don't stop you should make it to Ft. Springs in 12. If it were me I would put in at Caldwell float to Ronceverte, take my time, pull out in Ronceverte, then drive the 8 miles to the campground. I think the fishing is much better between Caldwell to Ronceverte than from Ronceverte to Ft. Springs. If you decide to float from Caldwell to Ft. Springs start early, spend a little time around the islands, and then float down to where Spring Creek dumps into the river (can't miss it between Ronc and Ft Springs) spend a little time there, and then float to the camp, should be able to do it in about 12 or so hours. It is 14.5 miles from Caldwell to Ft. Springs, 8.5 from Ronceverte. Good luck, if you need help ferrying between put in and take out let me know, be glad to help, can't do any float trips anymore so I wouldn't want to tag along, but if you need a ride from put in to take out or whatever just drop me a pm.

Cup, Depends on how you want to fish, you can put in at the pump house in Ronceverte and use your trolling motor to go upstream, there are actually submerged islands right in front of the pump house. The pump house is not an official put in spot, but isn't hard to find, but you will have to carry your boat over the bank to put in. Or you can put in at the Caldwell bridge and start floating down, hit the few holes on the way down and start getting into the islands about half way down, and take out in Ronceverte. The first few islands on the way down are all visible so you will not miss them.

Burley it was the weather, the first part of the week it actually snowed and by this weekend it was 90 degrees. I know the fish here (Greenbrier County) not to far from where you are, just plain disappeared this weekend. I was catching fish all week long, and this weekend with the blue bird skies and unseasonably hot weather, nada.

There is a small local impoundment that is electric motor only, it is a very popular lake with trout fishermen as it is stocked bi weekly. The bass fishing is good and is all catch and release on bass. The lake lays north to south, the dam is at the northern end and the feeder creek at the southern, lots of flooded timber. The eastern end of the lake is typically loaded with bank fishermen after trout, the western end bank is the bottom of a steep ridge and basically inaccessable to bank fishermen. I have drawn a crude map of the lake, the northern end where the dam is has a broad flat in front of it, then it has a two to three foot slant and another flat. The southern end is silt covered, quite a bit of underwater grasses,etc. the eastern end is out due to the pressure I would think, and the western end although probably the best bet, I don't think is where they will spawn due to the lack of sun, (a couple of hours in the morning). So what do you think, where would the bass spawn. BTW the green on the map is the flooded timber, the round circle is an island, and the long line with a box is the handicap dock.

The lightin was built for speed and looks. Don't know how it would do for towing, a bass boat should be fine though. Do a carfax on the vehicle, and find out if you can the owner history, many people try to hotrod these trucks, it would be a car to keep as the resale in the future will be higher, limited edition and there will be a market with collectors in the future, like 20-30 years.

Nothing wrong in the change of line, the weather and water have warmed the bass are now using deeper water during the day. Bass' eyes are very light sensitive and if they can escape the bright sun they will. Earlier in the year the fish were shallow due to the shallows being warmer, now that the entire pond is warmer they are free to move around. Follow the bait and you will find the fish, another possibility is that the fish have spawned and moved off the shallows. Irregardless the fish are still in the pond just in a different place. good luck, btw I would called the base's activities center and see if they have a morale boat or canoe and take it to the pond.

Congrats. Nice fish

Definitely a good start, can't wait to get back out. Also wanted to note that the fish was released unharmed. I had my car at the pond, which is less than a block from the house and rushed back home for a quick pic, and weight, forgot my scales. Put the fish in the aquarium, didn't make the wife to happy, lol, and took her back. Time out of the pond was about 5 minutes, out of the water less than 2 total.

congrats on the bass, she is a fattie.

Texas rigged, 1/4 to 1/2 ounce weight, I use everything from the little 4 inch to the 10.5 inchers. they will slay the bass

Finally got to wet a line today for bass. I was only able to get a couple of hours at the neighborhood pond, but it was better than nothing. Caught 8 bass in about 3 hours, the biggest went 5 lbs, which is a good start to the season for me.

Still made, still work, throw them. The manufacturer of zoom doesn't do a lot of advertising, but they are great baits. Put some mega-strike on and start fishing. They work great.

The biggest mistake I see people make is using to big of a lure and too heavy of a line. I would reccomend dropping the line size to around 8lb test, if you are fishing really fast water try using a 1/4 to 3/8 jig head with a four inch grub tail, or tube, keep the lure low. Also any eddies within the fast water hold smallies, drop a senko or fluke into those, they imitate a wounded or dying minnow. The smallies main diet here are creek chubs and crayfish, any minnow imitator and crayfish imitator work great. A hair jig with a baby paca trailer is a top producer, but really fast water isn't a good place to throw it. By really fast I mean water moving above 10 mph, the type you find in rapids. For slower waters your typical crankbait will work, just go a little smaller in size, jerk baits are awesome. In short there isn't any shortage of techniques that catch smallies, and most mimick the same techniques used for LM. BTW smallies are called Bronzebacks a brownie is a brown trout or a young girl scout, ;D

War?? Now that would be down right mean. A church service in Jolo is enough to scare the crap out of anyone.

I dunno Jimzee, I'm thinking a road trip down to Jolo, Matewon, or Logan would do a world of good for these boys. >

The long buzz baits work fine, most people don't use them and the fish aren't used to them, yet. The Dancin Buzz's jig head swims farther under the water than the typical buzz bait, which I believe results in more strikes. The fish doesn't have to break the surface to get the hook. I really like to throw a buzz bait and if I'm gettting a lot of short strikes and not true blow ups I'll throw the longer one and catch fish. Like most other lures it has a time and place. The Dancin Buzz and the Dancin eel are not in the same category as the eel is a piece of crap and the buzz actually works.

those islands are completely man made, they are from the days when they floated logs down from Cass to the saw mill in Ronceverte.

The trip from Caldwell is a great float, after you pass the first trussle in the small set of ripples pay attention to the back side of the islands, there are several islands that are visible and many more that are not. Most people stay to the left of the islands (heading down river) go in behind them and work them over with a 1/2 ounce jig and craw trailer. I typically catch at least one three pounder off of the islands per float. Some friend had a phenomenal day last year and caught four over four pounds all off of the islands. Also if the jig and trailer are not working try a four inch finesse robo worm on a drop shot (green) the jig and trailer can either be black blue or watermelon green with a green/chartreuse trailer. The float between Caldwell and Ronceverte has been improving with the slot limit placed on that stretch of river. When you get close to Ronceverte, north of the plant and water plant there are several submerged islands on the right side of the river and they will normally always produce the biggest bass of the day. From Ronceverte to Alderson there are several places there that are phenomenal, but I don't float that way often enough to give any advice. The reason I didn't suggest grubs is due to the fact that on the stretch from Caldwell to Ronceverte the fish are heavily pressured and as a result you hardly catch a decent bass off of a grub. 1/4 ounce Rattl Traps work good, jerk baits, inline spinners 1/4 ounce or bigger, spinner baits, etc. FWIW the main forage for these fish are creek chubs and crayfish, especially as the fish start getting some size on them. Good luck and have a great float.

I actually have the top half of a spinning outfit at the bottom of my local lake. The line broke and the top part of the rod went flying!!! I still have one two piece spinning rod, but am thinking of getting a one piece as I never want that to happen again. BTW my hands are pretty dead due to neuropathy so I can't really appreciate a sensitive rod >

set up one Abu Garcia EXT Pro 6:5:1 set up two still looking for mine, thought I found it but when I changed the gears out the spool sizes weren't the same. Probably will end up with a Revo Winch, although I am really infatuated with round reels right now and may find a EXT 5600 for that set up.

Here is an animation on tying the palomar and several others are there as well http://www.netknots.com/html/palomar_knot.html

most anyone who has lived with the watermoccasin hates them. I have seen them come up and sorta challenge you when you get near the water. Most snakes run, but a moccasin will come after you. I remember watching a show on Nat Geo lately where they were purposely trying to prod a wm into striking and the snake wouldn't from that one encounter the "snake man" declared all moccasins harmless. Don't believe it for a second, those little bugers are nasty, aggressive and sometimes down right mean.

Congrats awesome fish, I need to hit the river soon.

Bingo, IMO crayfish are the main source of food for smallies just about everywhere. If you are not throwing a jig and trailer, try it. I catch more quality smallies on jigs and trailers 3/8 ounce, than on any other baits I use period. I can float the river using tubes and grubs and catch close to a hundred fish, and the biggest may be 16 inches. I can float the same river using a jig and only catch 10 fish the difference is the smallest fish will be around 2lbs. For me it has always been a quantity versus quality thing. FWIW I have found that using smaller jigs 1/8 to 1/4 ounce will result in more fish, better quality than what I catch on grubs but not the quality I get when using larger jigs. good luck

Every time a large fish is kept there is the inevitable discussion on it should have been released, I agree. However, we never stop to think about why it wasn't released. I would lay 50 to one odds that the young man in the picture didn't even know that an accurate fiberglass replica could be made. I am continually amazed how many sportsmen are unaware that quality replicas are available. I was talking with my doctor the other day and she was relating how her son is now consumed with fishing, and that he was distraught because their freezer broke and he lost a fish that was waiting to get mounted. I told her to just get a replica made, she had no idea, that wasn't too suprising as nobody outside the child fished, but when I tell my uncle that he should have released his 10lber (LM) and got a replica he had no idea they were even available. I have had other people think that the replica wouldn't look like their fish or that it would look "fake". After a quick web search and pictures they quickly change their minds. I honestly believe the reason fishermen keep trophies to mount do so because they are unaware of the alternative available with a quality replica, even to the point of custom painting the fish to match pictures that you provide. I think we as sportsmen can and should do a better job at educating the part time recreational fisherman about replica mounts. Tight lines