Bigbarge50

This is a great discussion because for years I NEVER fished jigs because I always thought..."Why tie a jig on when the texas riged weighted plastic I have on does basically the same thing". With that being said, in the last two years alone jigs have become my go to lure.... because once I said I am fishing this lure no matter that, well it started catching fish. In these cooling water conditions I do like the slow fall of a 3/8 once jig, especially a hair jig. WiIth that being said, I am in the place I used to be with jigs when it comes to shakey heads..... no confidence so I do not perfer them. I would imagine though a guy who is good with a shakey head and a go to straight tail worm would readily disagree with my jig preference. I imgaine both could be dropped right in front of a dormant fish and stand a euqal chance of catching it. I am not sure why jig would be superior to a plastic with similar action and presentation. I would throw the jig, but I could easily see a guy with a plastic catching fish while I got skunked. I think there would be plenty of days we might both get skunked depending on the weather and barometric pressure.

Ohh used em all spring and summer after a big first order, hence the Labor day order. Think it was the third cast of one that I landed a nice 3 lb-er. Can not say a bad thing about them since, quality product that really is a step above the others in my opinion. I used to really like Boohya jigs.... used to.

Black Friday sale??? I have not even gotten a chance to use any of the 13 jigs and spinnerbaits I got with the labor day sale. I better get using them in a hurry so I do not feel bad making another order. Anyone not using these jigs are missing out. Got one in the "bruise" color and am dying to try it out.

Yeah also trying to get out once or twice this week. Water temps have seemed ok. Have a new bunch of Northstar jigs and spinner baits that I am dying to use. Anyone having any luck on a topwater bite?

How to catch em is about all I think about in the traffic

Nice Eddie Water a little clearer? I would imagine down by the dam it would be clearer compared to up the bull run end.... correct me if I am wrong.

For the silent Nova guys on here...... got out of work early on friday, so hit the Occoquan about 2pm. The water was very muddy (I launched out of bull run) and was about 63 degrees. Shortly after getting out a realized my battery was dead, so ended up doing a lot of rowing and did not cover a lot of water (got to marker 21 I think). Got some tugs on a yum money craw, but nothing landed. As soon as I saw the water clarity I knew it was not going to be a strong day, but the weather was gorgeous and as per usual the surroundings were fantastic, especially with the turning of the leaves. Worst day fishing beats the best day of work...haha. I do need to work on my muddy water tatics. I went with a Blue Black jig with a KVD trailer (probably should have stuck with my go to rage tail), a White double Colorado Spinnerbait, a Purple senko (that got switched with a green pumpkin fat Ika) and a rapala version of a torpedo (which got switched to a strike king chat/black square bill crank). All that got no action. The keel weighted money craw drew some tugs. Maybe I was a bit too shallow too, was focused on hitting between 2-8 feet, maybe the pressure changes post storms had them a bit deeper. Had heard that they were real active there in the 5ft range. Anyways was a good day, hopefully the insanity of work will allow another trip somewhere soon. Hope all the other VA guys are getting out and catching some fish.

Lilly pads in a lake near mercer............ That not ringing a bell with me. Care to PM about it? Good ole Mercer..... always provides some fun fishing and a healthy walk haha.

Great fish....... and very light in color huh or is that just the photo? Maybe the fall is starting to heat up the action.

Yeah possibly my favorite place to fish in NOVA. Not a rip on you, because we all have our days where nothing works, but there are some serious fish in there. I have always had lot of luck with jigs in sunken trees there and rolling spinnerbaits down ledges. I know lots of other people have had a lot of luck with other techniques. I have never heard of someone not catching with a jig there. It must be frustrating to have the big engine and not let it rip on there. Some of us are puttering around an inflatable and a 55lb thrust trolling motor..... so some *** here. I imagine the river might still be a little muddy. Also maybe the rapid changing pressures with this weather moving through could have had some effects on the fish? I would say that body of water offers soooooo many different types of cover and depth that fish have lots of chances to move when conditions change. In my opinion it is body of water where fish will not always be in the same spots, they have lots of options and they tend to use them.

Think the smallie bite is picking up now post rain and some cooler temperatures? In general people still getting out in NOVA and the action picking up? Will actually have more than 5 minutes free here in the next 2 weeks and want to get out on the water..... the board has been rather quiet, so curious how how everyone has been doing.

Was raised by a father and grandfather who lived by the jitterbug. I have all their old ones, which is about a dozen or so. I keep hearing about how there is something "off" with the new ones....... anyone have a clue what that might be? I have no seen someone say they do not track correctly or the classic gurgle noise is gone...... so any have a specific complaint? I had a black jitterstick..... that thing was awesome. Lost it a few years back and only place I ever can find one is on ebay, and usually way marked up. Wonder why they stopped making them, it was great.

Nice fish, great work

Call me jealous...... I would have never dreamed of a stick like that pre college, hope it lands you some big ones. Secondly..... Sam Adams? While I love Sam now, in college there was one brand of beer I would drink before all others....... FREE After that, we were a Milwaukee's Best (AKA the Beast) kinda crew. It was next to free in the price scale.

Feel free to call me a dummy, and I understand cutting (though I have yet to experience it) but........... If you are going braid, wouldn't you want the smaller diameter? I understand going heavy (over 30 +) for working in the thick stuff ...... But if your using this for more open water applications, wouldn't smaller diameter be better for reduced visibility? Again I have never had braid cut into the spool..... so I may be speaking from ignorance here. I have been a big braid fan, and this question is coming from a place of concern that I maybe setting my self up for a big problem. I lost a 5+ LMB just a few weeks ago on floro and have really thinking about shifting back to almost all braid on everything. Braid has always been great to me. A guy who has fished with Tom Mann and caught more fish than I could dream of, told me that going with a lower test braid (2 lb diameter) would be great (even dropshotting) because it is basically invisible anyways like floro, but come with more strength. Sounded great to me, do not think I have ever lost a fish on braid. Am I mistaken here? Should I not put a 20lb test braid on a baitcaster because the equivalent diameter will cut in sooner or later or cause other casting problems? Thoughts? Again not disagreeing with anyone, more concerned with my own thoughts on braid.

Have a 6' BP bionic blade med/hv with a pistol grip...... It is probably late 90's, I like it for shore casting, pitching under stuff, top water, and some cranking. It does not make every trip, but it has made an appearance on several trips this summer and has caught some fish.

Anyone else get line twists with it? I got one this winter, used it in early spring, got some twists, and have not used it since, which can be a huge mistake, just have been always throwing a traditional jig (and producing) instead of going back to it. Might be a mistake. So Twists anyone? Anyone use a swivel with it?

Twist the prop on one end in one direction, the other the opposite way..... worked for me. It worked on a tiny torpedo I have had for years that has caught me fish from NY to Florida. That plug might have caught the most fish in my entire tackle box. I own several, different sizes and colors, but that one has always cleaned up. The color of that one is perch if I believe, but it has a great orange spot on it that looks like the orange on a bluegill, so guess it looks like a little bluegill struggling on the surface. That is the prop I had to fix because a fish wacked it and bent it up. It maybe a dink magnet (I actually like catching fish, especially on topwater, so no complaints if it is only a lb) but have caught some in the 3lb range when working real close to some pads. It is the only lure I have caught two fish on at one time..... which was quite the thrill. I also have the rapala version, a devil's horse, and a few other prop baits....... nothing. Sure not the lures fault, but I do like the action of the torpedo better. Has some squeak to it, nice wide V bubble trail, and I like to jerk down like I was walking the dog...... makes it dive a little. Have had a lot of strikes with a steady retrieve, pause, pop in down under quick, and then as soon as it move.... strike happens. I think it resembles an injured fish trying to get back to swimming normal..... but I do not have a fish brain, so who knows.

1) Booyha Squeeking Buzzbait 2) Northstar Jig with rage chunk trailer 3)- Senko

Landing some big ones out of the canoe...... nice. The water in those pics looks great...... some nice cover

One of the videos on here features a lecture where the speaker said bass have a memory of about 15 seconds........ so would seemingly make sense, especially around cover, to be able to have the same fish swim right back to the cover, shake his head once or twice, and then see something that looks good and forget something really strange happened to him about 2 minutes earlier. How true that is, well that is open to debate..... and could ruin our idea of "pressure" but from a biological perspective, makes good sense.

I fish out of this (though thinking about upgrading, suggestions are welcome) and I bought one of these...... the deluxe model (what I got) let's you set the pressure to whatever you want. I hook it up after I get my aluminum floor in, set it, start it, then set up a rod while it inflates one chamber. It auto shuts off when full, so I simply switch to another chamber, and do something else while it fills up. Eletric Pump I either use the rechargeable battery built in to the deluxe model or just attach it to my battery I use from trolling. No more sweating my face off pumping up a chamber or even topping one off in 99 degree heat. It was a great purchase I think, really makes set up far less painful.

KIllin it Dan, nice work. Think I in the same boat as everyone, would love details. The details I am interested in is less where or how, but lbs and how was the fight! Any end of summer sale happening at your store sometime soon?

Haha you sound like the guy to go out there on a trip with all that experience. My two biggest surprises out there (in summer #2, year #1) was last summer getting a backlash, working it on out, start reeling, and finding a nice fish on the end of line. Surprise #2 was this early spring working a fluke shallow and a bird swooping down and scooping it right up and almost all the way to a tree before it dropped it. I must say as a body of water it has a great mix of shallow structures, deep water structure, some of those great steep drop off right along the bank (and even some overhanging banks), man made stuff, and even some docks. Just about everything for whatever style or pattern you want to work.

If you got the gmco map then your going to love it...... it is very good. I have only been skunked there once, so no frustration here. I need to spend a lot more time on this water though, it is a lot to learn.