Matt in NOVA

Best I can do. I'm not sure it's actually useful. http://www.sklog.labs.gov.cn/atticle/A08/A08055.pdf

Here's the Virginia Dept. of Health advisory for the Potomac: http://www.vdh.state.va.us/epidemiology/dee/publichealthtoxicology/advisories/PotomacRiver.htm PCB city. Little snakeheads lots of PCB-containing fish on the road to becoming big snakeheads.

Awesome! I've been out of town for a couple weeks and was wondering what I'd find on the fishin' front when I got back. Looks promising! (I spent some time fishing for stripers during the vacation, but that was a bust. )

BBH, has any of your success on the Occoquan come from areas accessible from shore? I'm stuck with dry feet, so to speak.

Ah, OK. I know exactly where you mean. I didn't have any luck there. Typical!

Hey, Steve, when you say the inlet do you mean where the creek flows in, or the little cove on the far side of the dam? Or the narrow part right as you come down the path near the dam? The far side of the dam is where the guy I saw on Saturday seemed to be cleaning up.

No, man, you're thinking of Raiden.

To name a few, Lakes Burke, Mercer, Huntsman, the Occoquan Reservoir from places like Fountainhead Regional Park. Do some searches for those. I don't know western Fairfax, but if you search the forum you can find stuff. There's a thread about Reston around here, for example.

Skunked by Mr. Bass at Huntsman this morning, which was especially frustrating because the guy down at the end of the dam seemed to be absolutely slaying them. > Was it one of you guys? However, the morning was partly redeemed by the fact that on my way out I stopped and threw a few casts with a chartreuse and blue spinnerbait from my ultralight, and hooked into a beefy 21" channel cat. That was kind of exciting on 4# line; he put up a good fight. Should be good eatin'.

OK, thanks. Good tips. Keeping them moving to keep them out of the cracks makes sense to me; I just wasn't sure if you could fish 'em that way.

Thanks, folks!

Thanks. I did go back and read some of the older posts before I posted -- I even read that one you linked to -- but I didn't see much specifically about avoiding snags. There's some good stuff on technique, though. Thanks again.

What style was I using? Hmm. Uh... lol! Man, I'm so clueless. Round head, brown and green rubber skirt, head covered in something glittery, weed guard of stiff plastic bristles. I think I got it at Dick's, maybe Wally World. I could give you more details when I get home tonight.

This weekend I tried fishing with jig-n-craw rigs on rocky bottoms, fishing from shore -- so I was reeling in uphill. I lost the first jig to a snag on the first cast, and the second one after about three casts. That's the first time I ever tried fishing with jigs, and it was a little discouraging. Can anyone give me any tips on avoiding snags with jigs, esp. on rocks? I'm wondering if my technique was the problem. I was just barely twitching them along the bottom, a few inches at a time, resting for a few seconds between twitches.

I'm probably wrong about the species. The only way I know to tell the difference is to look at how far back the upper lip extends -- well behind the eye for a LMB, about even with the eye for SMB. This guy's lip looked to me to stop right around the middle of the eye. But I'm really new at this, so please don't take my word for anything. If something I say doesn't make sense, it's probably wrong.