BassShephard

Well I actually dredged up 2 small pines that the beavers cut down and sunk. I used a 6-9 foot diver around nearly 3/4 of the pond (lot of good it did me.. since I caught the 2 within the first 40 mins, total of 2 hours fishing) This is one of my main fishing holes so I know the depth around it. I also know were nearly all structure is in the pond, or at least within casting distance from the bank and the exception of the curve balls the beavers through at me. In the deeper area I retrieve it normal, then once I get near the swallows, I just stop and lift up on the rod without reeling (this keeps its action without it wanting to dive deeper) repeat and it never hits bottom. I did try other baits, but by that time I was just to cold to actually care or use them right . Oh and the bait color was Sexy Shad, my new fav color from useing it this summer

Defiantly going Wed! I went yesterday, temp 38, 2-8 mile per hour wind and sleet, felt more like 28... could not feel my hands/nose/toes the whole time. Caught a very little bass and a crappie! I'm happy considering.... I doubt I'd catch anything, its my first time fishing in the winter, I'm lousy at fishing deep and not to mention the pond I fished is still recovering from being over fished. Caught them on a deep diver with very slow receive, actually snagged the crappie. Not much to look at but it's a bass didn't bother with the crappie since the bass was enough proof.

Thieves are up there with killers in my view. I wish they would bring back what they use to do in parts of Europe/middle east, you steal something and you get a finger cut off... a repeat offender would get their hand cut off.

Never seen it, but I looked it up (its late and I can't sleep ). My best advice is to 1. Find the original film crew/host and ask if they could do more shows. If they liked doing the shows they may op to do more in their spare time, of course they would have to put them on YouTube or something, but better then nothing? 2. Make your own fishing video, send it in and ask other fans of the show to do the same. Tell them you're a big fan and would like them to bring the show back, If you had enough people.. it may convince them. I say make a video cause letters and emails just don't cut it any more, videos make much bigger impressions.

I took it as.. he has used Saltwater gulp for saltwater applications but was wondering if the fresh water version works well for freshwater. If your correct in what he meant then I'd say yes since I use the saltwater gulp for Freshwater fishing, or at least it wont hurt to try. Personally I like the Saltwater version cause the baits appeal more to me, a lot of the fresh water stuff (least what they sell local) is boring and doesn't look like any thing a fish would want to bite. Also they have a broader selection and most of it is cheaper then the freshwater.

I've had days were fish wouldn't bite any thing but a gulp product (other then live bait of course) though this was only 3 or 4 days during the summer. So far I only caught one decent bass with it 4 pounds, the rest were puny. I use only the salt water gulp (for fresh water), oddly enough with the fresh water baits... I haven't had any luck.

Maybe but I've heard there are contaminants in some parts of the river and you shouldn't eat large quantities of fish. Could use them for fish food, though the contaminants could still be a problem...

They sorta are, they already have Tournaments for them. Wouldn't labeling it a sport fish have bad results? People may be more incline to release or stock their ponds with them....never know!

How much is the 12 footer? I'm renovating 2 Jon boats and plan to buy a larger Aluminum V hull boat (If I ever I get the money) but this boat looks like a must have for small bodies of water. I thought my 10 foot Jon boat was portable, however dragging it across the ground and rocks to get it were I want doesn't help its durability.

Any one fish these ponds? I emailed the manger of American family fitness but never got a email back

I consider any thing under 10 acres a pond but I'm not sure what defines a lake from a pond, I think if a creek runs through it could prob be defined as a lake. Structure is easy, you can use all natural structure like Logs (may need to tie some cinder block to it so it wont float) rocks, stumps, Christmas trees etc or you can make it out of PVC pipe. Far as Stocking I'm not sure, you can try Fish wagon, they are based in AR but I've seen them around here selling fish. I think they work along side Southern States store (that is the company they give me when I asked for stocking ponds) so maybe go to your local store and ask. http://fishwagon.com/Fish_Wagon/Home.html here is another place that stocks for the VA area http://carolinafishhatchery.com/ and here is a list from DGIF Virginia. http://www.dgif.virginia.gov/fishing/pondmanagement/commercialfishhatcheries.pdf

I use small tubes exclusively in the creek I fish, I catch herds of Redbrest some blue gill, Crappie, other bream and creek chubs. For a added measure I add a propeller, it seems to drive them crazy compared to the normal tube, I fish it close as I can to rocks and submerged trees. I'd try putting a propeller on it for Smallies and working it in a fluttering motion (it will sorta imitate a bait fish) maybe let it drop once in a while, I've never tried it with Small mouth but I'd bet they would love it. Tubes for ponds and lakes don't work well in summer imo, I have more success in early Spring and Fall. At very least you can catch some redbreast or other panfish on small tubes

Had to take back what I said about Large Jigs, I've had fair success with Large Tube Jigs (lot of success on small tube jigs).

I have a few that look like they would catch a ton of bass but not the case. I have some that didn't produce fish before, now I found out that they only work in certain conditions in my area. Most of my bait tends to be something simple or something I homemade and rigged up, which will catch more fish for me . Here is my rather large list of no luck baits, granted some of these I've recently adopted and its been a slow year for fishing. Deep divers: I have no luck with these (more apparently no skill I suppose). Large Spinners I' catch a few fish on small spinners but not large ones. Buzzbait:With buzz baits I've never had susses expect once, a spawning bass wouldn't take my bait so I kept rammming it in the side till it got ticked off . Large Jigs: Catch many fish on small jigs but not big ones. Swimbaits: No luck with these, really they look like a bass would love them. I hope the BBZ-1 changes that. Flukes: I've used these 2 years with little success after many poeple told me they are the best for bass, however a few weeks ago it produced a 1 Ib and 2 Ib Fish were nothing else would so we will see how it goes in the future.

Things still aren't ideal, I caught a 13 inch bass today unfortunately I ripped a chunk of its lip off reeling it in (barley hooked and I tried swinging it) so I wanted to return it as fast as I could. Didn't catch any thing afterward so I resorted to catching bull frogs with a crank bait lol.

I take its a community pond, or is it public or a private pond? How big is it and what exactly are you looking to do for it, just stocking it or revamping it? When its drawn down my advice is to add fish structure to it if it has none, brush, stumps, rocks etc. Fish structure gives the fish place to hide and can improve a pond 10 fold, though you don't want to much or it can be hard for bass to find food. Rocks can give crawdads a place to hide and reproduce which bass love but.. if you have borrowing type crawdad present don't add rock, they can destroy dams. Stocking can be expensive depending on the size of the pond but if its small and no fish are currently present (after the draw down) then fingerlings can be placed for less. If its a community pond just ask people to chip in with some labor or money to help out, most will be quite willing and maybe have a meeting on what can be done for the pond to make it better for the community. There are a lot of articles on here and at Pond boss that can give you some info/Ideas on renovating ponds. http://www.pondboss.com/forums/ubbthreads.php

Is the Club still running? the site seems to be down.

I've been searching around and I think they are Fresh water jellyfish, Their not really jellyfish but similar. Sounds bad cause they eat Zoo plankton and tiny minnows and its only predator is Crawdads. http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/jellyfish/freshwater.php

I fixed a broken rib on the old 10 Foot Jon boat and wanted to take it out on the pond. I haven't been in a boat since 07 so I really wanted to try it out, Sprung 2 leaks sitting in the back but... that is why it has front seats lol. First time in a boat by myself so it was a fun experience least after I figured out how to oar it around and get balanced, hadn't had that fun in a while especially this year since its been a bad year of fishing for me. Just paddling the boat around was fun but catching a decent size bass made it even better . This crazy bass came out from under the boat as I was reeling the bait in and hit it at the boat, I thought it was a small fish, I tried to pull it out of the water and found out fast it was slightly bigger then what I thought . Only other thing I caught was a small bass but I had a lot of fun. Few pics of the pond, took them to post at Pond boss trying to get this place back in shape, awesome pond but bad fishing. I've been working on getting it up to speed since most of the greedy people and poachers have been chased away. Lot better off since 08 and last year I've been adding Blue gill and larger bass. No clue what kind of Lilly pads those are but they are insane at over 2 feet wide and stick 3 feet out of the water. BtW you may think I'm crazy but I saw Quarter size jelly fish looking critters in the water, any clue what they are? They were Transparent and moved just like a jelly fish.

The lake is in bad shape, I went to the pier at the bam Mon and it looked to be about 3 or more feet Low. Saw dead bream and minnows on the bank lots and lots of Heron mopping up whats left. Didn't catch any thing, I did see some bait fish jumping. Edit: forgot to say was in bad shape I'm sure the storm that hit had to raise the water level up.

Another Dinwiddian! Nottoway river is the best place as far as Dinwiddie goes, We go to Cut Bank and head up river, though down river may actually be better cause it has a bit more rapids. All the smallies I've caught have been in the rapids but its pretty uncommon to catch them.. I usually end up just catching rockbass by fishing the rapids (which I are pretty common to catch). 07 I managed to catch a 3 pound Smallie up river, biggest small mouth I've caught and very rare in the nottoway there are some much bigger in the river but nottoway inst known for large populations. My dad said he has caught some in Stoney Creek when he was younger, so far I haven't caught any in it but I just started last year. We should get together to fish sometime, if you don't mind walking through rough vegetation/terrain to fish we can fish the banks of Stoney Creek my new Fav past time, plus I know a few ponds here and there.

Had that happen too me once, I used my brothers tackle one day, he had a purple crank bait which I kind of thought was a weird unnatural color for bait. I tried it to see if I'd catch any thing, sure enough I was catching them on every 3 or 4 cast went tru diff color baits (same type and size) and wasn't catching as many as often as the purple. I popped the purple back on and bam I was catching them left & right, didn't happen any more after that day, I'd still catch a few with it but no were near what I caught that day.

I think it matters, at very least Bright and dark colors do. I'd say my favourite colors for bait is Green/brown, shad, black/sliver, red/white.

**** those fish are Healthy! Nice bass, wish I had money to travel down there lol

I'm waiting for that warmer weather too, I have a feeling the ponds will still be frozen though, maybe time to hit the creek... just hope its not to high.