Bigbarge50

Yeah Dan noticed that your store did not have any of these premium rods some of these guys have picked up. The sunday before last I hit these up..... 1 pack rage baby crawa 1 pack rage chunks 1 pack rage space monkey 1 rapala x rap 1 rapala shad rap 1 red eye shad lipless crank 1 strike king burner spinnerbait 1 pack of bass magic swimbaits 1 pack gamakatsu weighted swimbait hooks 1 pack gamakatsu oct in line cirlcle hooks for drop shots 32 bucks total cost.... pretty sweet seeing the rage tail stuff is ussually more than half that. Dan this sale going to go on with any restocking in your place? Can give away some more of my bucks for a good deal. Some of the stuff I got, the red eye shad and one rage tail pack were not even on sale, but was there so went for em.

This is my boating option. Live in an apartment in the D.C. metro area and did not want pay for a storage unit, drive there, get a canoe or yak, throw it on the roof, load up and go. It is a seamax, Canadian version of a zodiac. This deflates, goes in a bag, and goes in the backseat with room to spare. Keep it in there for when I can get outta work a little early and want to hit the water. Can have it inflated and on the water in under 20 minutes. Aluminum floor is unbelievably steady (stand for as long as I want with no issue) 10.5 feet long, I run a 55lb thrust minn kota on it, this season I will also will add a lowrance downscan. I could not be happier with the purchase. Can handle a 15 hp outboard which i would love to upgrade to in the future (some lakes I fish are electric only while the Potomac river needs a outboard to handle some of the places further out there.) Has a 4 person capacity, but have not had anyone go with me yet..... more fish for me. Company was great to deal with and the price was great. Will maybe repost pics with the sonar and new chair for this year in there.

BTW anybody fish the trillionaire? I read a bunch on it after the fact and heard mixed reviews..... but it seemed to be mostly negatives from "reel snobs" (you know, if it is not $500 dollars it is not that good of a reel) The main complaint I heard was it was "heavy" but felt real light to me with a small profile. Never really ever worried or thought about the weight of a reel..... in my 30's I am still strong enough somehow to hold up a big heavy reel somehow..haha. I did a search on the forums and everyone compared it to the older black widows. It has 12 total bearings in it (which is a ton to me) and was as smooth as can be. The diawa rep really talked to me a ton about it, (needless to say he had all good things to say about it) but the deal was great and I liked it so I went for it. It is a diawa, it has to be pretty darn good right? Anyone else have some stories or feedback on the expo (besides my questioning of the trillionaire).

I got a trillionaire diawa for $60 from the diawa rep at greentop. Normally $100 bucks. In terms of new.... I got this jig from Susquehanna...not so sure how "new" it is, might be over a year or so old. http://sfttackle.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&product_ID=1055&ParentCat=18 Looks real promising though.

I also went tonight, expected a lot more in terms of vendors, but was very happy with it. Denny was awesome.... I was the guy who got in a few minutes late (darn DC traffic) but took 3 pages of notes.... his discussion about temperature and presentation specifics was really good I thought. Was specific about colors too. I did do some damage to the wallet. New Daiwa reel at a very very good price from greentop. Topo map of the occoquan res. was an awesome pick up for me, maybe the best pick up of the night. The rest was some zoom flukes and worms on the cheap, Some jigs Denny talked about and the trailers he talked about for sub 55 degree water, This really cool jig that looks just like a bluegill and flutters on it's side on the decent ( from Susquehanna ) as well as some other stuff from them too. Only caught the last two speakers, so might go back on sunday work permitting. I was hoping for a little more variety in terms vendors (they had all had very similar stuff but greentop and Susquehanna were way ahead of the rest, though if you love zoom like me, then jack's bait was great) and i really was hoping for more in terms of boating stuff, not just boats. Was hoping to see some more stuff like seats, anchors, ...ect. How was the "location location, location" talk, the potamac talk, and woo daves? Woo was awesome, but his stand was pretty weak. He was still selling vhs tapes ...... tapes. Might have gone for a dvd, but not quite ready to bust out the old vcr.

I might have to do Friday now post work..... which is not ideal, but mid-day Sunday is not ideal either, especially with football on too. Anyone going to be willing to trade notes and or comments on some of these tank demo's?

I use one. Caught my PR on one using a johnson baitcaster. That is a medium action rod and it handled an 8lb bass in heavy reeds..... was beyond impressed with the strength of the rod. I read an article a long time ago by woo davies about using a spincaster for texas rigged worms. He suggested using a light tip rod, and the berkely lightning rod fit the bill so gave it a shot and worked often like a charm, so have stuck with it. When I hooked the 8lb-er a few years ago, figured should not stop now. I do not know a lot about Berkley rods, and got my as a present, but I have always been impressed with the tip's sensitivity. Can let the worm just sit and twitch and can see a bluegill nipping at the tail via the tip. Again it held up to an aggressive 8lb-er that run under the boat and bent it to a "U" and still pulled him up and out. Seems they have a bad reputation.... cause of price? Bad experiences? Have only used a handful of Berkley products, and they have all produced well for me.

Because of the customer service Sam?

I have to work Friday, Saturday, and just early Sunday morning. Looks like I will be down on Sunday.... I really wanted to watch the tank demo about swimbaits too, but Sunday seems to offer everything else. Any demo's, speakers, or exhibitors you guys are really looking forward to specifically?

Sounds like i better go stock up on rage claws and chunks. I am going to embarrass myself here. I am a 31 year old man fishing since i could stand. I own maybe over a dozen different rapalas, some of which i bought myself when i was like 12 years old. I even own the rapala weedless spoon (which was nowhere remotely close to weedless) I have never caught a single thing on a rapala. Not a on a minnow. Not on a shad rap. Not on that stupid spoon. Nada. Zilch. Zero. I can say I threw a rapala once last year at burke.... and after about 20 minutes said to myself, why am I even doing this. Is this the time now i go buy clearance rapalas and use this new downscan to break the streak?

I Got the DSI.... will report in after a test run. The test run will occur when it stops snowing....haha

Dan, as always, your the man. Will definitely add this to my spring hit list. Your dicks got any good deals going on now? As much as I do not need them, always on the look out for more soft plastics. Heck I'll go for anything good on sale..haha. Mud... I run a 10.5 ft zodiac (seamax actually, candian version of a zodiac) with a 12v marine battery and a 55lb thrust minn kota I got from Dan's dicks. I could get a gas engine and hook it up, but I live in an apartment in arlington (hence the inflatable) so not really practical. Thanks for the tips about going around the "dam"... not quite ready to fish the lakes in the clouds yet. The old dam good structure that holds fish?

Thanks Mud the is a really helpful post. My trolling motor never allowed me to get down to "the dam" i had heard people talk about on here on the reservoir.... which I never thought of it before you posted it, but would make sense that above the dam is the reservoir but bellow it is the river.... Just checked out out with satellite on google maps.... the river looks a little tight with all those docks. In a smaller boat do you get rocked a lot with a lot of wake? If you have any tips on how to gain patience for those burke monsters, will happily take that too.

Anyone think that by going with the tough, durable, marketing approach that Ugly Stick has done their product a bit of a disservice? People seem to have a down opinion on them, that they can not be "that good" because they simply are tough.... which is what they sell themselves as. I have seen God knows how many Bass caught on Ugly sticks by some very good anglers. While mostly on cranks, have seen a lot of guys have success fishing worms with em too. Anyone think they are a better rod then their reputation?

Sam you have any idea what the water temps are like out there? You think they might be a bit too cold or might not be too bad? Or you a warm side guy on Anna?

Mud, I have always launched at Pohick and made a left in the shallows. I am interested in heading straight across to where I thought I saw some homes and a larger bay. Then working my way down towards the river proper. Of course I would have to avoid all the jet skiers in the summer (annoying) but think it could be well worth it. I am most looking forward to my first spring fishing here with all those flats you mentioned. Also looking forward to my first snakehead (which is supposed to be a can't miss there right?) I totally agree about the occ. river. I have only been out of fountainhead twice last summer (which was dumb because I really liked it) and will be scanning up a storm there, just not familiar enough with it to know where I have felt a hump here or a bump there to scan. I will definitely spending a lot of time on Burke..... I know lots of people hate it, and I can see easily why, but it is so close and you can fish at night, so huge pluses there. People seem to occasionally pull a monster out of there, so maybe getting skunked 2,3, or 4 times is worth finding a 9lber.

And carrington.... I would actually go to Burke first to scan the bottom and identify some of that deep structure I have spent the summer feeling out with a carolina rig. I have been there a dozen or so times this past summer, so not all that new, but I expect the downscan to reveal all sorts of stuff I have never known about. I also wonder if I could find this airplane fuselage I have heard resides deep in the lake.... any confirmation of this? I am really looking forward to getting out to some of the deeper waters in Pohick bay and seeing what I can find in 10+ feet of water..... will come in handy this summer when the water there goes to full blown bath water.

Double Colorado blade white spinnerbait Rat-L-Trap (chrome) Heddon baby torpedo Not sure why, but those where my big producers this last year

I must say my best frog lure has been a snag proof original frog...... not the one with the skirts, the one with the realistic looking legs. The little BB in the back made it "sit up" in the water..... yet the air in the body let you stop and pause without any sinkage. Another pond favorite of mine while i lived in NY was the meadow mouse by heddon (no idea why they stopped making these) but weeds became a problem. They then had a zara mouse..... same body as a meadow mouse but one single weedless hook and no plate on front. That thing could go through any cover but could also walk the dog with it. Wish they still made both those lures, stocked up on meadow mice for my dad on ebay years back, but have not seen a zara mouse in forever. If you looking to make some commotion on the surface, the weedless jitterbug is always an option.

really ben? They literally just put this model out on saturday.... as in the were adding it to the display models and had only had them in the store for about 2 hours? Is there a newer version of this model expected to come out soon?

This post and thread are great. Just got a brand new lowrance mark 5x dsi which is a brand new only down scanning unit....no regular sonar. It really made me nervous to buy a unit (my first one) that lacked a "traditional" sonar, but it seemed just so good for the price that I had to go for it. This picture is really making me far more confident that I made the right purchase, because that image is simply awesome. It is great also to see what a fish looks like on this type of scanning unit. Will be testing in the next few weeks and will keep studying your picture to make sure I do not miss a school like this. Great stuff.

After my first real summer here, I am so eager for the spring made a little trip up to the Bass Pro Shops in MD and took the plunge on a fishfinder ( took a real risk and went with a lowrance mark 5x-dsi..... not a traditional "sonar".... it is a downscan imaging model) So needless to say I am dying to test this thing out, but needless to say not when it is like 20 degrees out. If I go out in the next two weeks, should i leave the fishing gear home and just try the fish finder out or would there be some chance of actually catching something? Can not wait till spring. Also if anyone has this model any tips would be welcome, as well as general fishfinder tips.... my first unit I can call my own.

And any day with fish in the boat is a good day..... Sounds like your still on the pattern too....

Great post and x2 on the chrome rattle trap with black top. Will throw that thing all day and all night.

Diesel.... I got office spaced..... Walking to the door and my Lumbergh shows up and asks me to stay and help with some stuff. So by the time I got out it was much closer to darkness, and there was a supposed to be rain for about 30 minutes over huntsman, so I went to dicks and shopped for lures instead..... if I can't cast em, might as well buy em. Still curious if people are fishing fountainhead and if it is producing.