basscrusher

Well, back to our original programming... Before I started getting into high end rods, Lightning Rods were the best I could afford. Despite my affinity for upper end St Croixs and such, I still use a couple of my Lightning Rods, including a 5.5 ft pistol grip for topwaters and a 7 ft MH for C-rigs. Actually, my 7 footer to me feels better than my 7ft Croixs and Loomis rods, so I still use it a bit. I know the Shock is a different rod, But I truly believe that at that price Berkely makes solid stuff...at least they used to (my rods from them are at least 7 yrs old). And yes, this is coming from a guy with over 20 rods from Croix, Loomis, Shimano, etc. Try it out and tell us what you think.

First of all, this is taken from a user comment post (essentially the same as a blog). Those are about as valid and reliable as wikipedia when writing a doctoral thesis. Second, I am inclined not to put any credence into any person who spells that poorly. A basic grasp of the king's English is required to garner my consideration.

Reel - Curado E7. Best reel I've ever fished. Rod - depends on if you want a medium or medium heavy. Either way I'd go for either a St Croix Legend Tournament or Shimano Cumara. I like the 6'8" lenght, personally. Both are great rods.

Zoom makes a 3 inch swimming shiner grub I tried for the first time today. Caught 3 in a short time. The tail action is ridiculous. I also use Berkely 2 inch for perch, 3 and 4 inch for bass in winter. Also have some fat 5 inch Kalin's I use in winter for bigger fish. Junebug hologram is the money color for Kalin's.

they can also be deadly when vertically jigged in deep water on a 1/4 oz jighead. I've caught solid fish doing this around bridge pilings as deep as 20 ft.

If you're into flip-flops or sandals, try Crocs. Cured my plantar fasciitis within a few weeks after having the symptoms for over a year. I know they seem trendy, but they are for real.

Thanks dudes!

Anyone remember what the launch fee is at Leesylvaia on weekends? Thanks in advance.

A Zoom old monster bigger than 10.5 inches.

A basser from B-more? There are no bass in Baltimore, just drunks in the park who beat stray dogs. Someone get me a crab cake.

I'm also in the majority...haven't caught a thing on mine. Although I gotta say, mine runs true, and looks awesome in the water. It should catch fish... Now that I think about it, I might have caught a fish on one of these practicing for regionals on the Pasquotank river a few years ago. Can't really remember, but I know I was throwing this lure (we were desperate).

The original Texas rig setup works best in heavy grass, but otherwise the "other" way works fine. Especially if you want to swim a lizard or worm.

Guys- I wasn't trying to start a territory war here. I'm all for sharing info, but prudently. This is the type of place that deserves a code name, much like that other NoVa sweet spot that got a pseudonym last winter. And yes, it isn't crowded now. Wait until the meat fishermen, midnight drunks, hand-liners, teenage dope smokers, and other sundry losers find out.

Since this place is one of the few small lakes left in northern VA that isn't super-overpressured, how about we not mention it by name on here?

My friend caught a 43-pound catfish from the Occ Rez using that Powerbait catfish stuff (blood flavor I think) b/c that's all he had on hand. Having said that, live bait or cut bait is best if you can get some. If I remember, he caught his monster from a deep hole with wood cover up near the split.

In the case of Beaverdam, facilities would help clean the place up. For those that don't know, a decent number of "undesirables" and wannabe gang thugs hang around the Reservior Rd launch and the catwalk by the dam. Some VDGIF officials I spoke to have noticed that in such cases, making the area more public increases the "spotlight" on any shady activities and thus tends to keep the place neater. my guess is it would be a tradeoff. We'd see more used fishing line laying around, but fewer campfire remains and broken Corona bottles. But, nobody has any plans to change any of this right now, so I don't see it happening for some time.

I'll give you the same advice I gave to hundreds of customers when I worked in a sporting goods store...DO NOT get a cheap baitcaster to begin. As everyone knows, the difficult thing to master with baitcasters is the backlash capability on casting. Better reels have better casting controls. Ironically, it often takes a "master" to be able to control casting on low-end baitcasters. Do like the others said and get a Shimano Citica E. Great reel, great casting control, you will learn how to properly use a baitcaster and get a long-lasting one in the process. Hope this helps.

I have some. They work as well as any other lizard, but aren't anything unusually special.

a spinnerbait thrown with my E7 isn't really moving that much faster than a spinnerbait thrown on my old 6.2:1 Curados. You can tell by looking at it in the water. The old fashioned "eye test." Blades slow the bait down. I gauranteee if you watch a spinnerbait come through the water you will rarely say "wow, how are bass ever gonna catch up to that tasty morsel?" I've caught plenty of spinnerbait fish on my E7. Its my go-to reel. In fact, if I had money, I'd get about 5 more. Like KVD says: 2 ways to fish a spinnerbait...fast, and really fast.

Unless something has changed, their reels are just mid-level Daiwas with a St Croix logo on them. You can pretty much figure out which reels exactly by comparing the price points.

I don't know of any bass places around there, but if you look on Google earth or something, you'll see that there is a small inlet feeding into a salt marsh near North Myrtle. I've fished there, and bass gear would work, might wanna buy some shrimp or something for bait. A few years back I was fishing there and the guys next to me hooked a 35 lb black drum on light tackle. Lots of species run through there.

some very good tournament anglers and friends of mine have unanimously complained that the points bend ridiculously easy. For the price, they should be able to hook a blue whale.

a friend of mine took big fish on our Potomac tournament 2 yrs ago throwing a $1 Walmart spinnerbait (it was a little over 6 lbs).

like the previous post said, there's no wrong way, experiment and find what works for you. For me, the best retrieve is a slow retrieve with long, hard rips of the rod. Stikes almost always occur on the rip. Side note: the chatterbait only works for me in stained to very muddy water. In clear water it seems to be too aggressive. But see if you get the same results.

Wannabe: yes I have used them, and they work. So light they require a spinning rod, but you better use braid for a good hook set.