Chaz Hickcox

Hey I am looking at a boat with a 2004 Murc Optimax. The Optimax has 140 hrs, that's low right? It may sound dumb, but my last motor was a 93 without an hour meter.

Yeah but does the bait in the pots attract fish? I realize they can't be in the channel, but I also see them elsewhere too, like in Back Bay.

I fish the brackish waters of the intracoastal in Virginia Beach a lot, and during the heat of the summer have some issues with finding the deeper ledges that hold fish. I was in a tournament recently and found some fairly clear water and that was when I began to fish a c-rig on a rocky point. Now the rip rap was the only reason I went to that spot, but now that I think about it the edge of the pile was covered in crab pots where I wanted to fish. After thinking more I always notice crab pots lining the main channel in the intracoastal. Do crabbers focus on ledges like we do? If so has anyone experimented with fishing around the pots with c-rigs? If so again, was it productive? It's seems to make sense. I will mention that the rocky ledge was the only darn place I could find fish while out there. Thanks to Big-O and his Eeliminator.

DON'T GO!! Too many crabs. I have a Rage Tail Eel that only caught one fish, but is now useless due to crabs (Most products from that rage series are good for 3-4 good fish more if things work out, i.e. the nose doesnt rip through the line during the fight).

X2, but make it a rage shad in pearl. When they miss it STOP, they'll come back and get it. I watch it happen all the time. Its real cool when it happens right next to the boat.

X2 I used to lose a lot of fish using a 7' MH Spinnerbait Rod, but since then I have started throwing my spooks and Pop-Rs with a 6 1/2 ft Medium power with a moderate/fast tip. Not to mention I have braid on my MH and 17lb mono on the M. The stretch actually seems to make a difference for the little trebles to keep their grip. The rods I have been using have been either Berkley Signature Series or the BPS Tourney.

Has anyone ever fished the Yeopin? If so where to the manhaden spawn this time of year?

Today I came upon a method to working fat finiky bass. I started the day off with the Rage Shad and had a fish on in the second cast. Then things slowed a bit, didn't get another hit for maybe a half hour or so, then I move a little (an exploratory thing). Caught one more then went back to where I know the bass stack up. Third cast with the shad another bass on. Then a few more casts later another. After that the bite stopped. So I had some Rage Toads with me too so I decided to see if they wanted something with a slightly different presentation. First cast fish on. When that died down I grabbed the rod with the shad on and again within the first five casts or so they nailed it. So keep in mind to keep similar yet different gear tied to multiple rods and when the bite gets slow on one, switch. Also when fishing any Rage products on top, if you get hit and they miss your bait STOP, let it sink, 9 times of 10 they will come back and swallow it. Just a tip y'all. Tight lines!

This doesn't have anything to do with grass, but I have a lot of success when I toss a bronze eye against a cypress tree and they will nail it as soon as it hits the water. This is best used in an area where there is a lot of shade. Just my two cents.

The grass is back and the bite is AMAZING! Lots of dinks, but there are a bunch of good quality fish to be found too, some up to 8 1/2 to 9.

What part of hydrilla should I focus my pitches or flips on? I'm used to focusing on wood, but I want to be able to punch mats well too. Oh, and the water I fish is primarily brackish, I'm not sure crawfish live in that water. However, the blue crabs are all over the place.

Just out of curiosity, I'm wondering what presentations everyone finds the hardest to switch between. This comes to mind because I have been flippin and pitchin A LOT lately, but this morning I was bustin bass on frogs and Rage Toads & Shads. I lost a lot of fish today because of the muscle memory of wailing on the fish as soon as I feel/see a strike like you do when you're pitchin. I finally had to force myself to actually look at the floating house and find the door before allowing myself to set the hook. It was quite funny. I had a nine fish morning, but It should have been a 20 fish morning if I wasn't being retarded. Anyone else have this sort of issue, if so with what presentations?

1/2 oz white roostertail. I will burn it just under the surface when I see them chasing shiners on the surface.

I have to agree with pretty much everyone, but one thing to add is the number of blades. There have been some days where I have been throwing a double bladed Cavitron and the bass wouldn't touch it, then I switched to a tri-bladed strike king and they nailed it like it was candy. The same has been vice versa too. I keep both in the tackle box because of the fact they both make different sounds on the water. I have found in smooth water the Cavitron is much more productive with its loud squealing sounds, and on windy days the constant bubbling of the strike king is the ticket. I know kind of contradictive if you think about it, shouldn't the noisier one work better with chop? Unfortunately the bass haven't read the fishing rule books so they forget that sometimes.

Just to reitorate what a lot of folks had said, get a good used one. Last year I was almost in your shoes (my dad had a ranger when I was a kid). Then I finally got to a duty station where I had the time and got one. It has been worth it. Look on craigslist. That's where I found my 93 javelin 379DC with a 150 johnson for 3500.

So the picture is of sludge coming out of my exhaust on my boat. This is becoming a normal occurrence. Right now I am having issues starting the motor. It will kick over if I fog it, but it will not stay running. It seems like there is a lack of gas going into the system. I pulled one of the intake manifolds off of the carb and it seemed clean enough not to have to check the others (not saying that's not an issue, there are five others I did not look at). I checked the float in the central fuel system and that is good. There is fuel going through the system because I tested it by removing the lines to see if it would flow. I am thinking it is some gunk in the carbs, but I am currently at a loss. The sludge looks to me like burnt oil, but... The last few times I had it running on the water the engine would randomly overheat. Water pressure is good (20-25 PSI) and it has plenty of oil. The engine is a 1993 Johnson 60* V6 Loop Charged 150 HP Silver Star Series. I working on it myself because the local shops are backlogged for two weeks. Thanks in advance

Interesting thought, what about a bucktail instead of plastic with a fairly quick retrieve for stripers?

So I have been watching a lot of gar slapping the surface, and I know they're on schools of bait. So I was thinking about a modification of a technique I read about here. I got a popping cork, usually used for redfish, and tied a 28 inch leader on the back of it. On that leader is a 5" senko wacky rigged. Now I haven't been able to actually give this some time on the water (my outboard is down). The theory sounds good to me, make a commotion on the surface like gar on bait, then let the senko sink. Once sunken, repeat. Any thoughts? Ok apparently the point was missed. A lot of times bass will school up under the gar to pick off the injured or dead baitfish that the gar produce while bowling into the schools. The idea is for the senko to look like one of those dead fish. Maybe I should use a fluke instead, hmmm...

I use megastrike, my tournament partner uses Gulp! Alive and we both catch fish. IMO it's about NOT smelling like me and smelling like something that lives in the water. As far as a best one, the smelly stuff you have on your bait as you throw it in the water is the best (In otherwords, just use whatever, they all do the job). I forgot to mention, another thing I have done is use a Gulp! Alive minnow on the trailer hook of my spinners. Seemed to work really well for white perch, for some reason the bass weren't all that into it. Mayber it was time of year, who knows?

I was wondering what it would take for my club to sponsor an event in southeastern va or northeastern nc. I brought it up to our president, and he would consider it, but I would clearly need to be able to speak intelligently on the subject. Thanks. By the way I don't know who it was but I heard about it on WFN where a member of this site was a guest on the show. Sounds like a cool program. We would just need to see what our guys are willing to do. Its a new idea so there's been almost no talk about it amongst the members as of yet. Again I just want to be able to speak intelligently about it when we do. PS - I forgot to mention the club is Stateline Bass Anglers Club (formerly Back Bay Bass Anglers Club).

Well they're here! Today was hot and muggy until the thunder started. And the fishing was SLOW!! A guy frm my club and I were prefishing the North Landing River in Va Bch and it was a slow day today. We had two fish in the morning and two small dinks in the afternoon. I guess they knew the front was coming in too. We tried everything, topwater spinners, t-rigs, c-rigs, only four. Any advice?

I have a '93 Javelin 379DC. Since OMC has gone under it's kinda hard to find the schematics for it.

NEVER TURN OFF YOUR TRUCK IF THE TAILPIPE IS UNDER WATER. I used to do this all the time when fording rivers and what not in Arizona. The problem you can run into is if you turn it off the water has a chance of getting back to your engine. If you leave the truck on the pressure keeps water out of the pipe all together. It definitely won't hurt anything unless while you're running you get some water into the air intake, in that case you're screwed.

Any of the Hawgs; Rage, Brush, Game, Power, etc...

I thought I was doing good being in the hundreds! Holy cow. Spend a lot of time on the border region either Buggs or one of the border rivers, doing alright, nothing bigger than 4lbs.