Bigbarge50

Sam, always bringing it. I would search the old threads. So much good info in there, will keep you reading all night long.

Nice fish! Keep working for that 5lber..... though nothing wrong with the 3lber's....... they are way under rated. 3lbs + are a quality, quality fish. Well done.

Welcome aboard, type NOVA in the search function. WIll get several threads that are loaded with info.

I buy from a guy on ebay who is very solid and sells a lot of good quality stuff. I also never look at a LC not in a box. I do think some LC's are very, very worth it. The cranks, wake baits, and pointers are well worth it. Sammy.... it is a matter of opinion. Is it that much better than a spook or other walk the dog type lures? Not so sure. I am undecided myself, but I know many like both. When it comes the prop baits, poppers, and lipless cranks.... I would say no. I think the prop bait is not as good as a devil's horse or even a torpedo. Simply see no advatage there. Popper..... would go with a chug bug well before the LC popper. Would go with a a Pop-R before theirs as well. Heck even a hula popper seems to provide as good of a pop and splash. The lipless..... again would go rattle trap, red eye shad, and a rapala one knocker before I would pay that much for a bait that (outside of hooks) that does not give something better than those. I change out all hooks except for LC's (some would disagree) so hooks are a big part of the value, but I would contend that the three I mentioned (lipless, popper, and prop) I think their product is not superior to much, much cheaper lures (assuming you go with good hooks). The cranks, while I also like Bomber and Norman, bring their own thing to the table, much like the pointer, so if your curious it is worth checking out.

Great fish and an amazing story..... the stuff of legend. That last 20 yards must have been intense. Congrats.

drive a honda civic and live in a dc area aprtment, and went with a seamax 10.6 inflateable with a 4 piece aluminum floor. Standing is no issue. A heavier duty boat might be the way to go. It fits in the back seat of my car and my trunk. I also have a pedestal, seat, 55lb thrust trolling motor, and downscan. Almost as close as I can get to a bass boat without storage or a boat slip.

I have lost three Calvitrons and never caught a thing on them. Boohya pip squak consistently lands me fish, I love it's noise, and it works through cover very very well. I have also tried the Boohya counter spin double blade, it made a great and very different noise. I would recemond both highly. I did not find the calvitron to be too expensive, very comparable price wise. On the other hand, I did not find it so vastly superior to other buzzbaits like some feel. The noise and bubble trail is rather standard issue and I think a boohya can be workly just as slow and if I am looking to go very, very slow.... then the sputter buzz comes out.

As some follow up as people have written on here lately, the downscan has done a lot better for me this year so far. I feel like with a lot of work and playing with it, I have it dialed in some. I think I am a lot closer to the "picture" quality advertised. It is annoying there is not a specific manual for each unit, think it could really help people dial in these units to their needs a lot faster. I also have learned the one needs patcience and water time to get good with these things and it is a continous process.

Here's hoping for a speedy recovery Sam. Sending some positive thoughts your way.

Good point Wayne, guess I shouldn't assume. Went with the easy idea. Just drives me nuts when fellow fishermen discard plastics. The non fishing people typically cause enough problems, we do not need to add to it. Glad to hear about the fish, hopefully it is currently filling it's belly on its way to being another Briery citation.

Water temps might help keep some fish pre spawn with the weather..... I am going to bust out the drop shot rig for the first really solid attempt at it and see if I can wiggle enough to lure in a bedding bass. If only the weekend weather holds.

What a shame..... hopefully the fish was ok after removal. Wish we could smack people in the head for tossing plastics in the water. Glad to hear fishing is going well for the Virginians down south. Am trying to make a trip down to Briery in late May-early June. Tight lines fellas.

I will go with two..... Red Eye Shad...... have alway loved the rattle trap, thought the red eye shad was going to up the ante the way it is touted..... and have not caught a fish while I lose em left and right. By the way, I have NEVER lost a rattle trap..... sure the lure is great, just not for me. Chatterbait....

Buy a rattle trap...... JK.... but serious try the mallet

Great memory...... 5lb-ers are always special.

Hit Lake Frederick Today in out in Front Royal...... And the wackiness continued. I thought I was going to see fish on beds all over the place with the weather, full moon, and time of year...... Instead I saw only one fish on a bed, and it looked like a male (small and skiny) ...... I know Frederick is known for being tough, but today was really rough. The wind was absolutely brutal. My red face is proof. About 8 hours of fishing did not produce a fish, and almost everyone else seemed to be having very similar results. WIll be sticking closer to DC and trying to get a pattern going before another journey like that...... The lure of big fish, and then big prego fish was too much to resist.

Yeah been tough sledding out there. It is great to see so many guys talking about such a great body of water...... SPinners on the ledges and jigs in the trees have always caught me fish in my "rookie" years ( I have nothing on quan). I keep trying flukes, carolina rigs, and other things...... but those two are the only things that seem to work for me. Anyone been doing some cranking?

Good luck, rough day

Yeah as a fellow nova guy, the sutuation here has been a bit strange. The dogwoods bloomed (was eagerly waiting based on your advice last year on that Sam) but everything seemed to come out early (dogwoods and cherry blossums). I have not seen fish on beds and the fish seem to be moving a lot, and not necessarily in the typical staging areas between deep and shallow areas. I think a major factor that has come with the wind and temp changes has been massive pressure changes...... that barometer has been up and down nearly every day. I know this has confused me and think it has done the same thing to the fish. Hopefully the weather gets a little more consistent and I love Wayne's advice about the full moon...... everyone I know is saying those should be some great days.

Maybe check the bar that keeps the prop attached to the shaft. I just broke mine last week, and it caused very variable prop spinning..... Could be your issue.

I have caught 2 "big: fish .... and we are talking in nature, no some guy's pond....... In NY my best came on a chug bug right next to some lilly pads with rock piles underneath..... In FL my best came on a texas rigged zoom worm flipped into some reeds...... Think presentation and location trump lure..... and would really help if the fish is actually looking to feed.

Have one, love it, looking to buy more. Never understood the hatred of em by some on here.....

Hey WdyCrankbait..... make sure to keep checking in with we VA guys...... always liked your contributions...... hope your enjoying the new zip code

I was also very let down by the "new" Bassin...... No KVD, No Hank Parker, NO IKE..... but all the adds you can want......... For what you are paying for a 4 times a year magazine, I expect a lot more than that. I really hope the long time contributors they list in the fron of the magazine continue to have articles in there, otherwise the purpose of the magazine is simply not worth it at all. This was the spring issue, so should have been massive gear reviews and all sorts of stuff on pre spawn and spawning techniques...... not how to release a fish or how to get a boat on a trailer...... that is better stuff for a winter issue when the action is way down. Hopefully this was just due to the transition to new ownership and not a permenant change.

Thanks guys. I fish alone, have for the least few years (trying to get some partners now) so hence I need the feedback, because like you pointed out, having someone else on the other end of the boat sure helps. I also have thought because I was a decent enough pitching years ago I would be right back and my patience is not there right now. You know how it is, you really want to be good and think you are where you were, and that is simply not the case. I have a new BPS PQ now myself, was using an older shimano as my pitching/flipping reel, but maybe I will switchthe PQ over to that set up. Have a bunch of different diameters of spiderwire, BPS Floro, and some Yozuri Hybrid...... so will test those out. Good suggestions.