quanjig

Thanks guys! Fishing and catching in December is a beautiful thing!

Biggest of the day, caught 6 total today and lost a hammer at the boat! It was a beautiful, fun day. Last spot could have filled the boat if I had some more time!! 4.6 on the hand held scale!

I think all of this has been blown way out of proportion by both sides. It's a car! Has it been damaged to the point where you can't drive it?? Have you been inconvenienced by minor body damage?? I would give your girlfriends family reasonable time to get funds together and get the car repaired. Stress in a relationship at your age is magnified by quick decisions that have not been well thought out. Your position of wanting the work to be performed by a professional is a good one, her parents sound like they want to get the work done correctly, just not want to spend more than they have to, which we all want to do in this economy. If you truly love this girl and plan on being together for the long term, you need to talk with her parents and just let them know you just want the repairs done by someone that can offer a warranty and in a timely fashion. Not that the father is not competent in auto repair, but it is your car and you should have that choice!

Small jigs with a finess worm on the back as a trailer has been my go to for years while pond fishing in winter. 3/16-1/4 oz bitsy bug with a small RI flirt worm is deadly! Small hops and boom, fish on!

I think this question has been asked by all of us at one point or another and each time, I find nothing but more positives for my general state of being! Some of the things that immediately come to mind are patience, grounding, calm, the list goes on! Fellowship on the water and friendly competition keep me coming back. Like Nitro said, it's my church on Sunday! A chance to reflect, be introspective. I learn a lot about myself when I fish! I think if I wasn't able to "wet a line" from time to time after having the ability and opportunity to do so, the life I have now would be worthless! We are all truly blessed to be able to enjoy what we do with fishing and the happiness it brings we should embrace every moment we have on the water! Not a sermon, just a thought!!

If you can find some warm water discharge areas, they will be there!

Pohick, take a left and go skinny, weedy and they are there!!

I have yet to catch anything over 3lbs with the RC STX baits. The bait in the first pic is a pointer 100. On the res I have the most luck with the pointer 100's, walking the banks at Hmtsman, Mercer and LB, I do well with the 78. I just think I news more time with the RC and plan on picking up and Ito or two in the future.

First off, thanks but Dwight has written the book when it comes to the jerkbait. I would look for his reply to Shimmys question about a "how to" fish it! I fish it differently from most, I prefer mono over floro and I want my bait to be exactly neutral or ever so slightly rise. Guys on the res would punish the field in early spring tx's and I vowed to not let that happen again!! I started reading about it and there was a great article in bassmaster about 8 or so years ago and it was my guide to learn. I like a 7' MH fast rod and a low speed reel with 10-12 lb mono. Cast the bait along a break or over a hump you think the fish are holding. Crank the bait down about 7 turns of the handle. This should get the bait down to its running depth. I try to keep the slack to a minimum and start my count to about 12 Mississippi. Then two small twitches with the slight slack in the line. Bite can range anywhere from long jumping a foot off the water to a mushy feeling on a twitch. Once you get the cadence right, it can be lights out. I've caught ten fish on twenty casts with most of them from 3-5 lbs!! Once you start to get confident in your presentation, you will want to throw it all day long when the conditions are right. Good luck and let me know if that helps!!

Got out today in NOVA and caught 7. Nothing huge but I did miss at least 5. Here are a couple that I took pics of.

Sideways. That movie is awful.

Wayne, super nice fish,7.5lbs?.Troy, you are funny, you and I have gone head to head and have much respect for one another. CP, listen to this man (Shimmy) he only wants the best from you! Get a scale or when you post a fish without an honest weight, just label it "nice fish last outing.". By the way, that's a nice fish!

Wow!! You were not kidding! Looks like a flat screen on the front deck!!

Huntsman.......... There are no good fish in Huntsman!! Lol! I fish the lake a lot and have had some very nice fish from there. It is my own little test area, new lures, new techniques. You could do a lot worse than cutting your bass fishing teeth on that body of water! I usually have a lot of success around the dam area. The kep it simple mantra holds true on any lake around NOVA but don't be afraid to try new things and don't get discouraged if you don't catch fish. Everyone on this site is more than happy to give beginners tried and true advice when you need it. Good luck and we look forward on reports of how you progress as a bass addict!

Shimmy, the res is truly one of my favorite places to fish and one that I have put a lot of time and effort into much like your beaver dam exploits. I have a more difficult time showing people the "spots on spots" on the res because in this area of NOVA, people wil literally dessimate an area known to have a large group of good fish! Burke lake is another place that got a lot of my attention when I got my first fishing vessel, the bass pro shops bantam 3X plastic pontoon! But back to the original question/mental approach that nitro has brought forth. I think in the last 5 years that I have been fishing, I have realized that if you are not keeping up or adapting to how the fish change from season to season, you are going to suffer with poor outings and disappointing results. The biggest changes I have made have been to concentrate on making good decisions while on the water. When to move what to throw and what I need to do to get the results I think should be resonable for that day of fishing. At times, we all need to take a step back and analyze how we approach fishing certain bodies of water and understand "we have a limited amount of time on the water, how can I make the most of it!" I have also had many much better anglers than I help me learn this great passion and I would be lying if I told you I figured all of these things out on my own!! I try to learn a little bit on each outing and never go home feeling beat or bettered by that little green trout!!

That means we have lost an entire food group!!

Looks like giant rolls of squishy, comfortable crime scene tape that is being exported to France so they can just lay down and give up without the danger of injury!!

Scrounger. Cast past, count down, swim thru, hang on

Should have been a gene pool correction!

Now Santa is going to be sooooo uncool. Everyone knows he started smoking because all the elves were doing it!!

Hells yea!

Your boys need to be the point of your focus now. They are going to have lots of questions and you need to be able to answer them! Not thru an alcoho induced haze. I know they are the center of your world and you need to show them that they can always count on their dad. I feel for you. You have to be everything to them so grab ahold of the big boy pants and make sure you have all of your information correct. Unfortunately, details matter in these situations so you need to have them all meticulously recorded. Good luck, get home safe. KTF

Thanks Nitro, offer still stands if you are interested!!

Got out on Burke before Sandy. The lake was about 6ft down and lots of new things to be seen. Bite was tough, caught 5 bass and this nice walleye!

NOVA here! Just a bunch of rain and gusty wind. Just hoping and praying it passes quickly and my big dead tree holds its roots! I'm hoping since it has no leaves, it makes it less likely to catch the big winds later!!