shimmy

yeh its a fish hunter raft. I'd rather have a john boat but don't know where i would put it. Wife doesn't think it will look good in the apartment.

that is just awesome. That's how it should be

Well, second time out this year and beat my prior 5 pounder i posted on the site here Saturday. The wifey did not join me this time. Went fishing today from 11:30-7. Gave it a full day this time, but still barely caught 5. It was slow fishing up here in northern Virginia. The water temperature went down from last week and the water was 51 degrees all day, in every cove and the main lake. It was slow, but, nevertheless, i found em! Just me and the rubber raft causing chaos on these lakes! Aside from 20 shore fisherman (probably without a license) , i was the only boat on the lake. Rip'n'lips. Well, next biggun, i'll post again. When i head to southern Virginia where the water is much warmer, i might be able to post some bigger fish. Let you know when i head down. CTR Choose the right and catch then release

Great fish! Well done, over 7 pounds, but maybe 6.15. Get a scale, solve the problem, not sure why people don't keep em around

goodness man, well done. Those pics will be hard to beat the rest of the year. Not sure how many Virginians will post something close to that. Well done

Fat G, i am not sure about exporing new waters...not the best idea for getting confidence back, cause if you get skunked on another lake, this could further solidify your feelings and just make fishing no fun. Pick a pond/lake that you have caught them before, try different depths, and use what you use best! As mentioned several times, when the weather is cold, stay confident and use what you know produces, that way if it doesn't produce, you know that the problem might be location and just a bunch of confused fish with the weather. Confidence, stay with what you know works

The most important thing a man can learn when trying to get his wife fishing...Do not let her get skunked her first time! My brother made this mistake, i didn't. I made sure i took her to my best spots when we got started so she was catching and not fishing. She use to hate fishing until i took her the first time and she started whacking them. The first few times they are on thin ice, if they get skunked, it doesn't really matter how they do later on if they go. That first time fishing has to be good. So, BigEbass, next time you take that pregnant girl fishin, make sure she catches a pregnant girl.

Hey, you should start checking out the posts in "southeast" location on this website. There are plenty of Northern VA fisherman here who talk about this issue more specifically. You'll get great answers in general. Keep in mind, slower is better right now, and if your not in the right location, your not gonna catch a thing regardless of what your using. Go finesses, go slow, and most importantly find, fish the places you know have fish.

thata boy. Way to start smackin em around out there. That last pic was a fat chunker. Well done, keep us posted. You probably know the potomac as well as anyone on the site, i expect to see you pull up an 8 pounder from the river this year.

thank you sir. She is amazing, and the little wiglet girl growing inside her be a great fisherwomen

Went out today first time this year for an hour to test my new depth finder. Since i am new to the area, i have a lot of learning on these lakes. But as luck would have it, in just an hour, i caught a 5 lb. and the pregnant trooper wife caught a 4 lb. Public lakes are hard to fish with from a raft, but looks like we will do just fine. As i learn the lake and catch bigger ones, i'll post more. Comes to show, 1 hour of fishin, lake you don't know much about, still fun. Rip'n'lips -the fishtickler Great pics of the fish coming out of the water. Just love it.

Congratulations!!! Anyone here will enjoy a 4 pound bass. That is great. No better feeling, you may be new, but once they get around 4 pounds, it takes skill to reel them in. I have seen very few exceptions in my life of horrible fisherman catching big fish. Your not one of them. For instance, this lady who catches this giant bass just angers me. I am jealous, but just angry this big'ol bass let her do this to her. Big fish should not be caught like this. Nevertheless, they let it go, i can calm down

pointless argument. If tournament anglers are told to no longer lip them by the jaw and it is demonstrated on big stage events like the bassmaster classic etc, then it would probably be due to some serious concrete evidence. But, they don't and never will because it is sheer speculation. Since they are the ensign of the sport, they would probably know best. Since it is not an issue and never will, it's a pointless argument. Now if a fish is out of water for 5 minutes, and getting it's slime rubbed off raw, then that would be a problem. Way more important issues at hand. First, anglers not abiding by the slot limit, 2nd anglers keeping fish without a license, and last of all tournament fishing which is far more impacting on a lake than grabbin a fish by the jaw. Just simply a silly argument

Every summer i take my fishing vacation to MN. I absolutely love it. While there is not much size, there are numbers and most of all, it is beautiful and never crowded. It depends on what lake your fishing. There are some lakes in MN that i have fished that you are lucky to get a bass bite. I don't fish those anymore. One trick i learned in MN, if your using green or chartreuse color on anything, you will hook ten times more northern. While chartreuse is great for bass in other lakes throughout the country, stay away from this color in MN. It just isn't needed. The standard white color works just as well and solves a lot of problems. Green is a bad color when your fishing heavy populated northern. I know the pain. I lose 5-10 lures on 20 lb. fluorocarbon line a day out there. They just snip it like scissors. And like i said, if it's not the color, which i doubt, switch lakes. Too many lakes and not worth it to pound one out with snake infested waters. There is always a better lake near by.

Hmm, man without seeing what was on the shore and knowing if there was a creek channel, this is tough. Given your conditions, i would start at the point where it drops 50' to 20' (the middle upper part of the picture). Then, i would fish the point where it goes from 20' to 10' (middle-middle portion). After fishing all edges of that point, i would then fish the lowest point on the map where it gradually goes from 10' to 30'. Since the whole lake looks like a nice drop off, it is too hard to tell what portions of the bank will be nice. Once the weather gets warmer i'd of course venture off to the shallow. But for this prespawn, if you don't know a lake that well, and it's cold, by hitting all three points (fishing around the ten foot region, not shore line) i think you have a chance. Fish painfully slow. Good luck

Well, the old "Day on the Lake" was an incredible show. Not sure if it is still on, but this was when the pros go fish public access water and you get to see what they used. By far the best show for knowledge. I heard the comment that "a bass is a bass"...anyone that has access to private ponds will disagree. Yeh, you can be skunked even on private ponds, but they are consistently better producing lakes than heavily populated ones. Every lake requires a little different approach. I use to love watching Bill Dance shows until i hit the stage of wanting to become a better fisherman. However, he is not as bad as watching Roland Martin. I can't watch his shows anymore because i feel like he is invading my privacy and is worse than a car salesmen. Bar none, "A day on the Lake" was the best show. By far the best info.

those are amazing. incredible trout color. Haven't seen that before

It's nice to read an honest story for change. Problem with this manly discussion is people tend to stretch their story like their on some fishing website or something...

*** just upgraded all of their skrit colors and combinations. It is amazing. Just within the last week they have started to sell the best skirts unlimited. It's about time.

your website says www.megatrike.com I assume that should be fixed??

I wouldn't get started with swimbaits unless you have the money to keep tying on new ones. With the cover that you have in VA, the swimbait will work best hitting structure or cruising in a creek channel. It's a big investment and with as nasty as some of the cover is, your two swimbaits will get snagged before you even learn a pattern with them. Plus, if your going to use the swimmys, i advise taking nothing else with you on your fishing trip. Thats what it takes to pull some with it. A lot of time, patience, and money for losing them. I have lost some just by breaking off on the cast. It's a nightmare. I'm not rich enough to toss em full time

absolutely amazing. Truly remarkable how good some of you guys are on the site.

amazing! but, when and where would you use the oj cats?

tossin a 3" senko into my money timber and free lining a live 2" worm next to a log.

I think you summed it up