Bigs

u live down in dumfries but youre wasting time at burke lake ? Do u own a boat and if so what do you have ? I been goin to the potomac every other day lately and catching 3-5 pounders every time out. Thats where it's at. Lemme know if you need any help, I can get you on some of these monsters like this one caught last night

why couldnt I get a fish like this the other night when I needed it to cash a check > 5 pounds 4 ounces taken on a purple swim jig wth a pb'nj trailer of all things

Ya Marc I was made aware of that right after I tried to weigh the two small ones. It wouldnt have changed anything tho, we just werent able to get a couple medium bites to set ourself up for a check. All we caught were real small ones and the 3 big ones. Its strange cuz usually I catch a bunch of 15 inch fish and maybe one or two 3+ pounders. Thats a typical day for me out there. Once I do well in a few of these maybe I'll start to fish the weekend warbirds and LAPR events too. Baby steps for now.

Thanks for the words of encouragement Eli. I know you know how hard it is to compete with the locals on the Potomac. And yes there was twenty boats I think. Right before takeoff we counted 18 other boats around us plus my boat but might have missed one or two. So def 19-21 or so. Most ppl dont sign up till right before at the ramp. Nobody wants to commit and then sit in rush hour traffic only to miss launch off. Its tough for alot of guys to make it for a 5pm launch on a weekday. Also I forgot to mention we went to only two spots. First spot was choppy and windy so I left within twenty minutes. Too bad cuz its a great spot. So then we moved to another new spot I been fishing about half a mile away, totally calm. We never left that spot and stayed within a 300 yard span goin back and forth working the same area methodically. Thats my style, I fish an area thurough once I start to catch fish. Had we more then 4 hours I likely would have moved around some. It's a learning process but Im eager to learn and get better. Next week I wll be fishing the same tourney with someone I met on here recently. Im confident we will have a respectable limit this time. Bought myself a culling system and a weigh in bag today at BPS so Im ready to go. Now I gotta figure out where his rods and reels are gonna go, I had 14 of my rods n reels on the deck last night

Its funny how my lady outfishes all my buddies when we go out. All those same guys been asking me if they could fish tourneys with me. I told them she flat out catches big ones every time she goes out. And she does. She got me that big kicker I was hoping for. I just couldnt handle gettin the livewell full from there. Each and every time she has went out with me this year on the potomac she has caught at least a 3 or 3.5 pounder. Always with a spinnerbait or a senko. Shes better with a senko then I am even.Not to mention she makes me pancakes, bacon and eggs almost every morning. I guess I got it made. She cooks and catches bass. Amen

Next time we will def do better so no worries there. This did infact gimme the confidence boost I needed to start doing more tourneys. Just sux I caught my PB which weighed 4.55 pounds and I didnt even get a picture of it, I was so focused on gettin a limit that I dropped her in the livewell and went right back to fishing. By the time weigh in came it was dark out and no flash on my camera phone but no biggie. I'll catch more 4+ fish this summer and get all the pics I want.

So my fiancee had a bright idea today at noon that we fish tonites local tourney. So I plugged the 3 bank charger in and started gettin ready. Went down to Warbirds tackle shop and paid my entry, 50 bux . I honestly thought me and Tammy had no chance whatsoever but its only 50 bux so I figured why not. Not bad for a first tx being it was only four hours that went 5-9 pm tonite. We brought 5 fish to the weigh in, little did I know it was a 15 inch minimum and two of mine were just under that. My other 3 however weighed 11.9 pounds. So how bout that 3 keepers that averaged 4 pounds a piece. Thought we had more like 14 pounds with 5 fish, but oh well. If only I could have got two more like that, the winning bag was 19.7 pounds ! All in all we probably caught 14 fish but most were around 11 inches long. My ole lady only caught one keeper but it was good for almost 4 pounds so I wasnt mad at her Overall a great experience with zero problems other then not being able to get a limit. Plus out of twenty teams we finished somewhere around 7th place or so. Most of these guys were older and way more experienced fully equipped with big rigs and power poles. My old stratos did just fine. Would have finished a lil higher had my two small fish counted, Im lucky I didnt get penalized so Im grateful none the less. Just thought I'd share my first experience with you folks.

Im curious how anyone gets ambushed on a lake ? Arent these pirates on boats ? I can see a boat from a mile away on the water. Its not like they are popping out of the water like Rambo. Common sense would tell me to stay away from any boats that looked suspect. One cool thing bout the guy in his Ranger boat, those things are near impossible to sink so if I was gonna be shot at then that would be the best boat to be in ;D

This thread is entertaining to say the least. How can anyone even mention vendetta in the same sentence as cumulus , steez or loomis glx ? I own a 7'mh vendetta spinning rod and it isnt all that great. It is stout tho but very very heavy and unbalanced which makes it feel even heavier. I got lucky and only paid 40 bux shipped for it tho and it was new so I cant complain, I let my fiancee and guests use it. If you are on a budget I can think of better rods for around a hundred bux.

sold my 7'5 cuz it was just too big and didnt have the action I like. I dont throw senkos much anymore so I dont really miss it at all. If I do throw them its wacky and this isnt the rod for that imo

I agree with this totally. And I think your boat is on par for for where it should be . I used to have an '05 tracker pro guide v16 with a 60 merc on it and it did low to mid 30's with two people in it. Just remember you cant catch any fish when youre goin that fast anyways so it doesnt make much of a difference.

I agree on the war eagle spinnerbaits, that is the only one I ever use on the river. I have dozens of others but none ever get any use unless Im fishing somewhere else like Lake Anna. 55 pounds of thrust just isnt enough. Get a 70 or 80 pound, I seen some on craigslist lately used. As far as sharpening the blades it will help a little but once stuff gets wrapped around in clumps it doesnt matter how sharp they are esp if the wind starts blowng u up into the grass at low tide when ur just tryin to fish the edges. And I think Hope Springs is twenty bux to launch btw. Pohick is only 8 bux during the week to launch, not sure bout the weekends tho. Problem with pohick tho is that it is very shallow around low tide in that area so u gotta know what ur doing. It can be tough to get on plane during low tide back there. Leesylvania is a nice place to launch due to the fact that mattawman is less then two miles away and its not too shallow or dangerous to navigate around there.

operating a trolling motor out there is grown man business. I have a brand new 82 pound thrust and once my batteries have a few hours of use on them out there then the struggle really begins. Only on full charge can I cut right thru everything. Thats just part of fishing out there. And leesylvania has just about as good of a ramp as ur gonna find on the river. Flukes have been workin well out there lately.

you should def consider a daiwa fuego 2000 or 2500 instead if you dont mind spending a lil more money for a better reel. Also consider the stradic 2500 mgfb as well, its smoother then the ci4 and only weighs a lil more. Are you buying a ci4 for the looks, its weight or cuz they are popular and other people are telling you to buy one ?

400 dollar retail, they done lost their minds at Daiwa. This reel should weigh between 5-7 ounces to even come close to being worth 400 bux. Only thing they did worthwhile was beef up the drag to 15 pounds which I applaud. This will not be a hot seller at all imo

The amount of drag is more important for pulling hawgs out of thick grass and heavy cover then the speed of the reel. Lucky for you tho the curado has 11 pounds of drag which is where it shines compared to my daiwas which only have 8.8 pounds of drag. Makes a difference imo

If you're interested in a custom I'll make you a good deal and you can pick components. That SR705 blank's not a bad choice for a crankin' stick. I will keep you in mind, gimme an estimate via pm.

Theres someone on ebay selling custom made rods from lamiglas skeete reese blanks. They look pretty sweet and are around 165 bux minus bing cashback which is currently at 8 percent so around 150 shipped. How does it compare to the XL ?

Someone else suggested the same rod. I have been considering one but no local shops have them so I cant handle one before I buy.

St croix avid series are a good choice if u want american made quality for cheaper then a cumara. Crucials are decent but not much cheaper then the avids. Powell , lamiglass, daiwa light and tough, take ur pick.

I always fish from the front of my boat and I always outfish the person in back. I think fishing in the back is alot easier tho , running the trolling motor all day is alot of work.

Not nice I have a '99 Expedition with a 5.4, I did have a coil pack go bad a few months after I bought it but so far so good and it has 98k miles on it now. I have put 3k miles on it since I bought it in August, I pretty much only use it for towing my bassboat. My next truck will be a new Toyota Sequoia which I know no one can say anything bad about except for maybe the price :

I don't throw alot of deep divers so is it worth it ? I have a crucial tc4 crankbait rod which works well for the minus ones I usually throw but sometimes I throw a lipless too. Who makes a good one for 150 bux or less ? I dont wanna spend a ton on a rod that I know I wont be using alot. I was lookin at the powells on TW.

No one has mentioned George Welcome, he's at the top of my list and Wayne P is no slouch either.