Bigbarge50

After Fountainhead on friday, went to huntsman on sunday.... and got skunked. Got out around 830 am.... and think I was a little too late. I also think the water was cooler than has been, due to the rains, but the water was very very stained. Tried to stir up some action with some noise makers (cranks, double colorado spinners, ect) with no luck. Would have been a day I could have really used electronics. Has Burke cooled down from the ridiculously warm water it was like 2 weeks ago?

I too went out on Fountain head on Firday.... got on the water about 8am. Caught 5, two on jigs, two on Spinners in deeper water, and one on a tiny torpedo. The top two were 3lbs and 2.5 lbs. I had pictures but after seeing that Flathead.... well everything would look small besides that. Heck of a catch...... have to ask..... what test line was that caught on? No matter the answer, beyond impressive.

Dan, I have the edura 55 and run it off a deep cycle I bought at Walmart and happen to live in NOVA too. I bought the Minn Kota at Dicks on Columbia Pike in Arlington. They had a 50 dollar rebate like a month or so going on it...so it cost me actually $200, not the normal $250 from "fishing" places. The battery was like $70, and I got it at Walmart just because I had trouble finding other places that had deep cycle batteries. It is a trolling one without starting. I charge it with a easily 10 year old charger, though I did look heavily at the one you pictured. That dicks was selling a edura 45 with a free charger for like 209.... I figured I would just spend the same amount for the extra 10 lbs of thrust. To be frank, I like the edura, but all things being honest, I wouldn't mind moving up to the traxis. On the bigger waters I fish (burke, Foutainhead, ..ect) I wouldn't mind the extra juice of a traxis 70... and the battery meter and digital optimizer. Then again i could just buy a meter or get the minn kota power center box. Drop me a PM if you want to talk some NOVA fishing or more specifically some deals on stuff in the area. Always looking for a bargain and sure they will have some good ones with hunting season around the corner in the rapidly approaching fall.

I obviously need to get out on fountainhead. ASAP.... Haha, well done, some good looking fish, and a lot of jigs I see.

I have looked at those a lot and seen they have the side scan feature....which looks interesting. Do you actually twist the pole part of the fish finder around to scan or does it stay stationary the whole time? What model buddy do you use if you don't mind me asking, because those have been near the top of my list, the reviews are good on them.

one word..... impressive.

Went to the Pohick Bay on the Potomac yesterday for the whole afternoon (11am to 5 pm). Just a few small ones that were aggressive. The water was crystal clear and warmer then I expected, not as warm as Burke or even close, but still rather warm. Water temp made the fish real lethargic... I know because as I was drifting in the current I saw a bunch of 2 and 3 lb looking fish..... and they would not take a thing. I even literally hit one in the face with my Carolina rigged senko .....Saw him in the water holding, reeled my lure in nice and slow...right to his waiting mouth.... and bumb...right off his face. I also pounded the pads with frogs (hallow and solid) with no luck..... not even a snakehead.

great post...... What about scent..... I have used a craw scent spray and the coffee rage tails..... but what about garlic ? Anyone have a lot of luck with that?

Thanks ..... I was looking into that, but have heard that a mount on a motor, especially a TM, is not really an ideal set up....lot of vibration messing with the transducer. Have you heard of this? Have you experienced it at all? I think that might be my best option though...

I just started fishing these too, both the craw and the "chunk" (which seems to just be a small craw). Mine are the coffee ones.... you guys have a lot of success with that scent? I have been using em as a trailer and was using one at night on a carolina rig. One thing is a sliced my finger something fierce on the edge of the package.... I keep em in there to help keep the scent. So far they have been more dangerous to me then the bass, but I think that will change very soon.

Did an overnight at Burke Monday into Tuesday morning. Was out there a long time, the weather was so much nicer not being 95..... heck just before sun up was actually a little cool. Nothing worth reporting really..... lost what felt like a good one and caught a small bass and a small walleye. The most notable thing was the water was like a bath. Still seemingly way too warm.....

Are the regulations the same on Mercer? Drove right past the sign and pave driveway to it. I hope the boat launch would be easier..... lugging my gear and boat up and down that hill at huntsman was not a joy, especially at a sprint as I barely avoided the thunderstorms Sunday.

Was in this...... I run a 55 lbs thrust minn kota on it. Was a little off a point.....more of a channel between some shallows and some deeper water it seemed. Without electronics kinda "felt it out" with a Carolina rigged worm. I was surprised how cloudy the water was. Guess the two "creeks" that run off into each end will do that.

I have a 10.5 foot semax inflatable boat...... mainly used for diving I think. Has a 1.5 inch transom and can hold up to a 15 hp outboard, though I am running a minn kota 55 lb thrust on it. I am trying to figure out what is the best fish finder I could hook up to it. I am a little shy about drilling into the transom to mount a transducer. I have a 12v deep cycle battery for the motor which I figure could work for some of the non battery powered models out there. Been looking for months..... really been batting around many options. Not afraid to spend a few buck for a quality unit, but do not think I need GPS or anything too crazy, as this will be my first fish finder. Been looking at the color garmin and some of the more standard ones (hummingbird, lowrance...ect) with a possible suction cup mount. Thoughts??? included picture of boat.

Like that school of thought Dan. Will give it some effort when I try Pohick again later on this week or next week. The grass at low tide seemed SOOOOOO thick that a fish could barely move through it. I also struggled to get really far back in there with the lilly pads due to the weeds. I do love some froging though..... so will bust out both the hollow real looking frog from snagproof lures and the new solid bodies I got with some paddle tails.... can't remember the company name. The legs stir up some action, but that snagproof frog with normal frog legs (not the skirts) really killed em for me in NY with such clear water. You have a preference in your frog choices?

You guys are gonna laugh at this..... After having to work some long hours on Saturday, I didn't hit the water at huntsman till about 10 am. I caught 4 bass, one very nice one at the 12pm mark in about 10ft of water. Was a good day on the lake and enjoyed my first time on it, just as hot as hell out there. Here is the pics of the nice one.... just around 3.5 lbs and just about 19 inches. Guess it is a good one when you can't fit the fish in a picture holding it straight out in front of you. Hurts the perspective though. Threw in a scale picture to confirm the weight. Think with the cooler weather when I leave work today I will go hit Burke, report to follow.

Was also thinking huntsman possibly on sunday.....or burke. When I scouted Huntsman, looks like I could launch my inflatable but not use the trolling motor...... am I correct there?

Thanks mudd on the launch tip. Might get there this week. Here was the nicest of the lot from my trip to Pohick bay last week. Water was real warm, I went at low tide, so the weeds were like salad..... had to pull up the trolling motor and row. Didn't weigh him, but slammed a tiny torpedo. Was a really nice, clean fish. Will be back in the bay sometime this week too, (with new booyah jigs) preferably with a higher tide so the weeds are not to bad.

Ok I have a confession...... never caught a bass on a jig. Tried em a little, but when some fish a jig, I go Texas worm, grub or kreature on a jig head, or some sort of minnow imitator on a split shot. As someone who had a good 5 year layoff from getting the Bass Pro Shops catalog sent to me..... now I see finesse jigs, shaky head jigs, football jigs, brush jigs, and rattlin jigs. I do not remember so many types just a few years ago and everyone was using pork trailers then it seems. Now I do not even see em, and I still have some jars in my box. Can someone maybe shed some insight into some of these head differences..... I just starting fishing a body of water with real thick vegetation and think pitching the jig might be a good new option to use far more then I have in the past. Also where did the pork trailers in the jars go? Just not as good anymore?

I must disagree with the original rattle trap argument too... I have done great in deeper water with that lure. The plain silver with a black top has been the best. I think in clear water, mid day, deep fish that is one of my go to lures. Either a steady retrieve after a few seconds of letting it get depth or a raise my rod tip and let it really rip that rattle you can hear clear as day, then let it yo yo back down as you real in the slack. I have even caught on the floater version of the original rattle trap. I have gone to other lip less cranks....rapalla included, and caught nothing. The only other one I have liked and fish is a Berkley one that has a normal lipless head and then had a power bait tail. Think they are way out of production, but that has caught em too, also is just silver. My worst bait ever was the rapalla weedless spoon. They had it come out in the late 90's and thought it was gonna be a killer..... it was not a good spoon and it was nowhere remotely close to weedless. I know people swear by this company.... and I own a ton of em, but I have NEVER caught a fish on one of their products. I still fish em, they look good and are well made, just do not bite for me.

I might be a little too old school, but nothing has caught me more fish than a Bomber Model A in the Tennessee Shad color..... Granted that has been mostly in clear water. There are "sexy" lures now, "fat free", and "pro Models".... but that bomber has been so productive for me. Might be too old, but if it works, why change. I do like the wiggle wart too

Hit Burke last night from about 830pm to about 2 am. The sole positive was I did locate a bunch of brush and timber off a point with my carolina rigged sluggo. The bad..... 1)- Boat value had an issue, so got on the water an hour later than I wanted. 2)- No caught fish. Got three within 10 feet of the boat, one looking like a nice fish. I also had one throw my jitterbug about a yard when it missed. 3)- I have not had a backlash seriously in 2 years. Last night I had like 4 huge ones, all in the dark of the night. Throw in I had one pole keep fouling for some unknown reason and I was down to three for the night. 4)- The bushpiles produced nada...... 5)- I did catch something..... I sunken beer can from the 70's. I took a pitcure of it to post on here for a laugh.... but my batteries died as soon as I took the pic. Just one of those nights. So all in all it was a bad trip. Just one on those times you really try to squeeze in some fishing and it backfires. Then you try to make some positive so bad you stay out till 2am when you have work at 8 the next day...... Last week Lebron had "the decision"..... Today I am going for "the redemption" .... going straight from work with the seamax to Pohick Park and going for some of these lilly pads I heard about..... Anyone on Burke lately too?

Where you launching for the Occoquan River bigbass..... I have been really interested in trying it out, but thought I saw a launch fee for the place I found online to launch from. Burke was not happening last night, I'm posting about it in the Burke Lake thread

That is one heck of a rig. Are both your MK's the traxis model?

Do you have to twist the thing around or is that only with the one that has the side scan? Been thinking about one too for my set up.