heyitskirby

Played around with again today with these tips in my mind and I think I have the hang of it. Now just to fine tune it so I can catch something. Thanks for the advice.

Wait a year before buying. Granted this advice can always change...but I bought a Nitro X-4 because of the price and now the X-5 is the same price with a larger motor. Always consider whether or not you plan on tournament fishing, though. While I would love a bigger motor, I also don't tournament fish. Which means I'm in no hurry to get anywhere. And just because...consider how many bodies of water there are around you that you can put a larger boat in. I have recently wish I had a SMALLER motor/boat due to the fact that there are good bass lakes around me with motor restrictions.

Read the "buzzbait tips" topic from the best of thread, but it still leaves me with a big question... I was fishing a small lake today and quickly realized that there was a lot of topwater action going on, so I tied up a buzzbait I had bought on a whim. It was the first time I had ever used the lure and I quickly realized that I wasn't entirely sure how to crank it. It took more than a few turns to bring it to the surface, which is where I always thought it should run. And even after it was working the top, it appeared to lilt to one side. The buzzbait thread seems to mostly focus on adjusting your lure, but I'm curious as to whether or not it matters what depth it is at.... Do you cast and crank immediately to bring it to the surface? Do you cast and let it drown and let it come up on its own? Slow roll it and, again, let it come up on its own terms? One thing I noticed was the positioning of the rod...hold it up and it comes up(ok...obvious)...is this a a positive or negative affect? It was a fun lure to listen to...but I definitely have no idea how to use it. Definitely need some help. Apologies if I missed a previous post, but I saw nothing. If it helps...I always assumed you treat it like a spinnerbait and therefore cranked it like one.

Fished the upper Powhatan Lake today off the pier. One small crappie hit a spinner bait and one bass on a white senko. The bass was on the light side of a pound. Something was spooking the bait fish, not sure if they were jumping in the choppy water from all the wind, but I do know a couple of times there was a sizable splash. Couldn't get anything to hit on topwater. Some guys came up to me and were talking about how awesome the lakes used to be. They mentioned muskrats were boring holes in the dams and thats was caused the failure. Its a shame they were allowed to fall apart. Hopefully these two lakes continue to grow and everyone continues to follow the catch and release signs posted.

Put in at Dutch Gap last night around 6 and fished near the Varina Enon Bridge until about 8 this morning. One 40 lb blue cat and one 20 lb blue cat. Around 6:30 or in the AM we started getting passed by crazy numbers of bass boats. I've always wanted to try bass fishing the area and after seeing that I know its time. Anyone got any pointers? Should I stick to the original bends in the river since they seem to be loaded with structure? With the high gizzard/mud shad population, are shad colors popular? And how do you work the tide?

Since I keep hearing Powhatan Lakes is picking up, is it good for bank fishing?

Is Powhatan Lake actually producing now? Or are you guys talking about the ponds?

Yeah I wouldn't be real excited if I ran out of fuel on the water. Since I hardly ever have to fill the thing, I don't want to have to go to the gas station every time. So it would be nice to know how much is in there before and after every trip. Thanks for the tips.

Gas gauge stopped working today. Anything quick I can check before dragging my boat to the shop? This is about the only gauge I care about and would obviously like it to work. If necessary...its a Nitro X4.

Just an update...was out there today and ran down to see if they had posted anything. Still nothing, so please remember to stay away from it. Fishing report...one little bass. Too d**n hot and hard to fish deep with all the ski boats.

I haven't really had much time to fish this year, but a PB crappie, a good year on the shad, some 5 lb catfish, and other than that... NO BASS. Shameful really. Just been working too much...

Skunked. Threw everything we had at them and all they gave back were a couple of bites. Did see a bear swimming across the lake at one point and great scenery, so we still enjoyed the trip.

Coming up next weekend! Got a couple of those swimming image lures. Any new info on activity, what to expect?

The Swimming Image is a brand then? Not something I've heard of...

A dude I work with was talking about bow hunting for gar the other day. I asked him what he planned on doing with it after he killed it and he tried telling me it was all about the sport. What a waste.

You mention poppers, will stickbaits get em goin too?

Good tips, thanks again for the advice.

Since about the easiest place to stay the night before appears to be Covington, we plan on launching from Coles Point. Thanks for the info.

Taking my dad to Lake Moomaw for Father's Day. Got two questions.... 1. I can't find a map anywhere...anyone know where I can find one? 2. Obvious...anyone have any suggestions? Should I target one particular species? Throw for whats biting? Bass or trout? Any suggestions are appreciated.

I'll mostly end up using it for spinnerbaits as I pretty much only use those and soft plastics and prefer the placement of spinning reels when I'm using worms. It would seem that I will do best with an all purpose. Not much clear water where I fish either. Thanks for the info. And as far as Gloucester is concerned...thats down towards the tidewater area. I live about 30 minutes west of Richmond. Gloucester is an hour to an hour and a half east of Richmond.

Can someone help me understand them or point me to a thread that explains them?

My dad spoke with someone with the county who at least acted concerned over the phone. They are going to check and see who the pump house belongs to and add signs to it if it is there's. They believe that it was indeed a clean out system for the pumps. I guess we'll just have to wait and see if anything comes of this. Keep in touch. Only planned trip I have is taking my dad to Lake Moomaw for Father's Day weekend.

Don't know much about the update. Just started using it last summer. Won't complain anymore after seeing Ancarrow's during the shad run. Would be nice to catch up, you seem to know what you are doing around here and I need help. Been hard fishing since I finally got to the other side of the bank. I guess the Ike quote works for me, though, as cheesy as it is...never give up.

Sam, There was a marker buoy of some sort, but nothing was written on it. One area of blowout was right at the buoy, the other was about 50 ft downstream, which is where we were. It definitely stopped, so I'm fairly certain we did no damage. The sound I mention actually came from the pumphouse itself, so I'm fairly certain this was normal. Our thought was that it could be blowing sediment/silt off of the pumps in the river. When it happened the fish finder went black and a cloud of dirt floated downstream. I'll let you know what my dad finds out when he gets back into town tomorrow. Thanks for passing the info on. As far as fishing when the ski boats and jet skis aren't there...it was real quiet Saturday and the boat association was just putting together their docks. Would have gone out before if I had known it would be this quiet right now. Real easy for me to get to since I'm in Powhatan.

Fished the stretch between Watkins and Bosher yesterday and found an interesting and scary spot down near the boat association. My dad had just caught a 3 - 4lb smallie off the rocks at the pump-house(I think Henrico's) above the boat association. I decided to set the anchor since the wind was pushing us quick and I wanted to see if anything else was there. After about 15-20 minutes of sitting there I heard a noise and all of a sudden the water next to the boat is "exploding" and blowing 3+ feet in the air. I assume this is some sort of blowout/cleanout feature for the pump house, but there is no warning sign. The wind was causing the tail of the boat to move in several directions, including one that would have had us over this spot. Luckily we were not over top of it, otherwise we would have more than likely flipped. My dad is going to call the county tomorrow(his name and title have a little more pull than mine) and discuss this issue with them, but in the meantime I figured I'd pass along the info. Scared the crap out of me and I'm sure it could have done more than that given just a slight difference in where we were anchored.