David Russell

Thanks for the kind words everyone! It's great to have such a solid community surrounding bass fishing. The fish was caught out of Lake Purdy near Birmingham, Alabama.

I got back into fishing a few months ago after a long hiatus. (I was a mere kid the last time I fished prior to this year.) After several outings, so far I'd only managed a dink LMB (Lake Royal, VA), a decent rock bass (Chesapeake Bay) and a smaller spot (neighborhood lake). Last month, my wife and I moved from DC to Alabama. Bass nirvana. The move had nothing to do with fishing, but it sure is great to be here. I finally got a shot to hit a good local fishery, Lake Purdy, about 10 minutes from my home. I killed my alarm at 5:30 and thus showed up to fish about 7:45. Not a good start to the day. But the fellow behind the counter (was it Greg?) allowed me to keep the boat rental an extra hour for no added cost. Nice! In the end, that extra hour was exactly what I needed. The fellow in the tackle shop recommended several baits and several points for me to hit. I gave that a shot first. I had one or two close calls, but didn't land anything. By 10:30, I was growing impatient. I REALLY needed to catch something, bad. I know I'm new to this, and I need to learn patience (boy, do I need to learn patience.) But I just needed that confidence boost. I said a prayer and then told myself I should pray for more important things rather than asking God to give me a fish to catch. But it had already been prayed, so I didn't take it back. After another half-hour, I was nearing my noon boat return time, so I decided to slowly scout around and use the last hour of the day to get a feel for more of the lake. (I'd only fished a small portion of the lake thus far.) I scooted back past the dam and noticed a few good laydowns spread very sporadically along one shore. I didn't even want to fish it. But at the last second I decided to hit it. I had been on finesse baits for most of the morning (at the advice of the tackle shop manager) and decided to go back to my standard: jig with a craw trailer. So far every fish I'd caught, though small in size, had been caught on this combo. In fact, I learned about setting up a jig this way by reading these forums! Normally, I roll with a black and blue setup. But I changed up to a bright orange jig (not that I know what I'm doing, I just thought I'd try it) with a green/orange craw trailer. I had no trolling motor, but the wind was favorable and was scooting the boat along the bank at a steady pace and mostly steady direction. About half-way down this short bank, I threw near a small laydown and started pulling it back to me. About 8 or 10 feet out from the laydown, I felt a tell-tale vibration. I'd been hitting brush along the bottom all day and thought that was the case again, but I set the hook anyway and to my astonishment, there was a fish returning the tug on the other end! WOOHOO! And, thankfully, this was no dink! This spot was mammoth! Okay, not mammoth to most, but to me, it's mammoth! I needed this BIG time. Thank you, Lord! I was so stoked, I reeled way too fast. Then I remembered I needed to let the fish fight a little and enjoy the process of catching one. My adrenaline was max and I had a blast. A few moments passed and I lifted this well-hooked beauty into the boat. Thankfully, my phone was nearby and I was able to snag some photos of the event. More than anything, I'm glad I wasn't skunked. And I'm also glad I got my money's worth out of that boat rental. But I also learned some valuable lessons that I hope to carry with me on the next outingwhere I hope to catch many more fish. Wow. I love bass fishing!

Michelle: I was sort of amused by your post. I just started fishing again a couple months back after a 10-year hiatus. I also caught one turtle. So I know how you feel. Since then, I've only been able to catch one largemouth "dink" at Lake Royal in NOVA and a decent-sized rock bass in an inlet of the Chesapeake (on a weekend getaway.) I'm really hoping to learn as much as I can to help me catch fish. Most folks around this forum are great.

I was at Fountainhead last weekend and nothing was happening. So I went and tried at Accotink today. I came here last week and heard great action was happening at Burke and Accotink. Now I come here this week and hear great things about Fountainhead. It appears I'm in a lose/lose pattern.

Fished here with a friend on Saturday morning. Hit the reservoir about 6:30 am with a rented jon boat. The water was very muddy and there was a large stream of debris down the middle of the main channel. It's my first time fishing here and my first major fishing experience in the last 10 years. We caught nothing and I only had on bite the whole morning. A fellow trolled up to a point outside one slough we were fishing and reeled in a small LMB. He said he saw the fish hit it. I asked him what the fish bit on and he said "worm." I was on a crankbait at the time, so I shifted back to soft plastics to see what I could get. But, alas, it was not meant to be for me and my buddy. We left around 11 and walked past the dock and pier. No one there was seeing much action on the small stuff either. I think the inclement weather over the past week was just a little too much. Headed to Burke Lake today (late start since I am taking the whole family.) We'll see if anything turns up.

Consider the D60 to be the upgraded model Nikon replaced the D40 with. I wouldn't buy the D40 anywhere new today. (While snagging a deal on one on eBay or craigslist is certainly an option and would probably be cheap!) As far as I know, Nikon replaced the D40 on the shelves of stores with the D60.

Made it to 10. Here are a few example images I've shot on the D40, most with the kit lens. Here is the link to the book, Understanding Exposure. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0817463003?ie=UTF8&tag=davidrussell-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0817463003 Here is the Canon G10. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001G5ZTPY?ie=UTF8&tag=davidrussell-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B001G5ZTPY

Maxximus Redneckus I appreciate the suggestions. roadwarrior Holy cow, that is a great thread! Thanks. I've started marking favorites as well. Hopefully, that will keep things organized for me. So many treasures on this forum.

If you can afford it and don't mind a little extra bulk, a Digital SLR (DSLR) is a great choice. I am not personally familiar with the D5000 from Nikon, but I have shot on the Nikon D40 (similar low-end DSLR) for the past couple of years and I have loved it. For something a little more compact, but still very feature-rich and flexible, the Canon G10 is terrific. I know it's above your price point, but it's a great camera in the point-and-shoot style. If you can't go $500, hit eBay or craigslist for a Canon G9, the model before the G10. Regardless of what camera you get, you should learn how to shoot good photographs. Marty said: That is completely true. I'd recommend this book for learning all things photography (which really means learning mastering exposure.) Good luck to you and happy shooting! EDIT: Apparently I cannot post links until I hit 10 messages on this forum. I have to be close, so I'll try again soon. EDIT TWO: (Sorry.) For the racing photos and the wildlife photos, you should consider the DSLR over the point-and-shoot. You'll need to then purchase a good telephoto lens (at least 200mm, better to 300mm or more.) That is going to cost you quite a bit. For now I use the Nikon 55-200mm VR and it works really well for most applications. I'd still like a 300mm, but in a pinch 200mm will get you much closer to the action than a stock 18-55mm lens.

I'm enjoying tracking this conversation. My parents-in-law live in Lanett, AL near West Point. I'm just getting back into fishing and I'm looking forward to giving West Point Lake a shot when I'm back in the area.

It's great to see a few others chime in. I went over to BPS today with my 20-month old son (found a rig for him too) and I spent a couple of hours browsing through the fishing section, especially the reels. That Shimano Symetre is one sweet setup. I liked the Saros and Stradic, too, but I liked the value of the Symetre of them all for me right now. I also checked out the Pflueger line and put my hands on all the other competitors as well (Daiwa, Quantum, etc.) The Shimano definitely stood out to me from a quality standpoint. Who knows if my opinion might change down the road with experience? (In fact, I'm almost sure it will.) But for now, the Symetre feels like a great reel. I scoped out the rods as well, but quickly found it difficult to really "feel out" what I was looking at (where the reels have more components to gauge quality by, I was a bit lost with the rods.) But I managed to get my hands on a few of them and I liked the St. Croix rods, from a price point and a "what I could tell" point. The BPS salesman told me St. Croix sold well, so that helps, I suppose. Fast action, medium power and 6'6" is the consensus here and that's exactly what he recommended as well. Now where I was really lost was in the lure aisles! Wow. There are a lot of products out there. I'm going to spend some time tonight researching that side of things. So I feel like my main rod/reel setups are for the most part locked in. Now for the rest of the story! Thanks again, everyone! If anyone else stumbles in the thread and has two pennies to lay down, go for it. 8-) ChiCityBasser Thanks a ton! I didn't realize BPS might cut me a better deal on a combo I create. I'll ask. roadwarrior Excellent. Thanks for the follow-up, especially on rods vs. reels. You seem to have a great perspective on all things fishing. bigfruits You dialed in a formula I like on the rod/reel setups. I really appreciate the advice on lures as well. That's where I am most lost at the moment (but rapidly fixing that.) At this point, I'm probably going to get your lure list verbatim. I've read up on the senkos and trick worms and it seems like they work well for most others. The jigs and crankbait I don't know much about, even the techniques for fishing them, but I'm learning that as well thanks to these good ole Interwebs. I'll check out the Fenwick and Falcon rods. Good idea on getting different power rods between the two. I'm considering that. wrangler569 Great point about investing in the lures as I go.

I thought I'd jump in on this thread. I am re-discovering fishing after a 10-year hiatus and would love to learn of the great fishing spots around here. I was considering Burke Lake as a first stop and may still do that. But I've read a little about Burke as a high-pressure lake (or having an unreasonably smart or well-fed bass population. ) I'm into geocaching as well and have hit a number of these parks, so I am fairly familiar with them in terms of layout and acreage of lakes. But I know nothing about the fishing aspect of it since I am just getting back into things. Any advice would be much appreciated, especially along the lines of these "smaller ponds" in the area.

islandbass One other note, I've actually been considering a MH rod because a few other threads had mentioned similar reasons why it's a decent all-around starter rod. Much thanks for pointing that out as it confirms what I've heard elsewhere.

islandbass Wow! Terrific advice, especially about the bag and smaller boxes. I will certainly do just that. I'll hope for a similarly lax Wal-Mart staff and mislabeled pricing. We'll see if I can fare as well as you on that one... $29 isn't bad at all though. On the spinning reel, the price factor is part of the reason I'm starting there instead of going for a good baitcaster. I was hoping to get two spinning setups for roughly the price of one good baitcaster setup. Thanks again for the advice. Y'all are fast and thorough! Keep the ideas coming!

Hey, I should have asked my wife before posting here! My budget is now $500. Woo-hoo. Thanks for the feedback so far, I'll look into the suggestions but feel free to revise, roadwarrior and cart7t, as I'm sure you might have a different idea now. I definitely like what I see in the Shimano line of reels and I'm really open to the idea of investing more there than in the rod roadwarrior. (I had just spotted a different thread that advised the other approach.)

Hey folks. I've been perusing the boards here for the past few weeks, lurking in the deep water. I thought I'd breach the surface and get some ideas from you. I am re-discovering fishing after a 10-year hiatus. However, in my younger years, I really didn't learn much about gear. Reading this forum has been very enlightening, to say the least. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and creating such a great community to glean from. I realize now how little knowledge I actually have about fishing and especially about fishing gear. That said, I recently came into a bit of money and my wife is "letting" me spend about $200-$300 on fishing gear. (God bless her.) But I currently don't even own a spool of fishing line. I'd like to get a couple of good spinning combos, but understand what I really want is a couple of good rods and decent reels. I'd like to have at least two rods and reels so I can invite a buddy along with me on occasion and have the option to switch between baits a little faster if it's just me. However, I'll take advice along these lines as I know most good spinning setups are going to cost me at least $100 and it might not be feasible under my budget conditions. (I think I have decided to hold off on a baitcasting setup for now. But again, your opinion matters.) Beyond the rods and reels, I need to get a good tackle box (or backpack) and fill it up! Any advice on where to start with that would be much appreciated. (Admittedly, the I haven't quite tackled the tackle forum yet, so let me know if there is a good starter thread in there. In fact, I might even need to post over there to keep things organized. Let me know Glenn/moderators.) Right now, my main goal is to fish on the shore at public lakes in Virginia (and possibly Maryland if I spring for that license as well.) Except for the odd canoe rental, I probably won't fish much out of a boat. I am hoping to mainly fish for bass, but I'll probably also occasionally go in for some smaller fish types as well, crappie, sunfish, bluegill, etc. I have a really nice Bass Pro Shops nearby in Hanover, MD. So I'll probably go there so I can get my hands directly on some gear. Perhaps this type of question has been posed here in the past. If so, point me to those responses. But I did a fair amount of searching and general browsing of the boards and couldn't come up with any request quite like this one. ("I have nothing. Want to fish. Please help.") Thanks everyone! Again, I'm really glad I stumbled into this forum. You all seem like you know your stuff.

Hello folks. I found these forums thanks to Google after looking into a pastime I haven't known for the last 10 or more years. My grandpa often took my siblings and I out fishing, but in his late years and since his death in 2001, I haven't had a rod and reel in my hand. I recently have re-discovered the outdoors through the sport of geocaching and thanks, in part, to technology. (My GPS-enabled iPhone has spurred me to "get outside" with apps like Geocaching, Gowalla and Motion-X GPS.) It's great to walk into my local sporting goods store and feel like there is something there for me. I'll be reading up on lots of threads around here to try and work my way back into a knowledgeable place in fishing. From my past hour lurking here, I've come across some really great conversations, so I had to register and say howdy. Before I hit the lake, I'm going to need to gear up. I literally have nothing to start with. I'll dig in the gear forums, but if anyone wants to share a few favorites with me to get me going (on a budget of a couple hundred dollars), I'd be much obliged.