VekolBass

I had to go down to Fredericksburg on Thursday, and your post prompted me to take a closer look at Ruffins pond. Bad news is that it is plastered with No Trespassing signs. There is even one on a post in the pond itself. Probably ought to go look for a different spot.

Just placed an order with BPS for some. Hope this works, I had given up using fluoro on baitcasters--as a matter of fact I just stripped off some P-Line from my new Quantum Energy reel due to backlashes. If this works It will pay for itself in two applications.

Congratulations Sam--you have always taken the time to help me out when I had a question. Couln'd have been given to a more deserving BR member.

JR, Don't get too depressed. You got all the sport out of the fish--the only thing you really missed out on was the getting a pic to impress the rest of us. But I think we're all impressed anyhow, so the picture in your mind of that fish is what really matters. The line probably got damaged during or prior to the fight from a sharp rock, barnacle, or some underwater junk. I've lost a couple of big catfish just before pulling them out of the water the same way. I talked to a guy on Sunday who said he caught an 8 1/2 lb fish. Last winter someone pulled out an 11+ lb fish--so they seem to be getting larger. It's all a numbers game, and with the time you and your dad put in on the water I think you've got a real good chance of catching another monster.

I've owned a Garcia Cardinal for 4-5 years. A good reel for the money, it has developed a slight wobble in the spool, but I probably can get another year or two out of it. I own two Pflueger Trion's one ultralight and one medium. They are good reels, as well--a little smoother than the the Abu, but then they cost a little more as well.

Nitroman, Just returned from fishing the river. Caught seven (not including a catfish and a non-keeper), the largest five probably weighed somewhere between 10-11 lbs. The two quality fish I caught were fishing the outside edge of main river grass with a 3/8 oz green/blue/clear spinnerbait with gold double willow blades. Actually, all but one of the nine fish were caught on this lure. The other one, a 1-1.5lb bass was caught on a 6" pearl Swimming Senko. The two qualty fish were caught several miles north of Aquia creek on the Virginia side. I started the morning on the MD side, but the combination of rough water and some of the nastiest vegetation I've ever seen ran me out after a fruitless hour trying to hold boat position while cleaning slimy green crud off my lures. Around noon I moved from the area north of Aquia to the mouth of Aquia itself. I found that as I moved farther into Aquia the more bites I got, but the size decreased. That has been my experience in Aquia since the spawn. All the quality fish I've caught on the river have been on the main river itself.

Don't know, havn't been on the river in two weeks. Fished on Quantico last weekend, and spent this weekend in the mountains fruitlessly looking for turkeys and fishing for trout.

I caught one on Sunday on a 3/8 oz spinnerbait. That never happens except during a spawn.

I've never been to Mattawoman. I understand it gets a lot of pressure. Can you compare the pressure in Mattawoman to what you find in Aquia?

Oh no, duck for cover. ;D 8-) Yes, I saw the thread. Different waters require different levels of secrecy. The thing about the river is that I could go back to that same place next weekend and knock it out of the park. The fish move in the Potomac, your job is to find them. So I can tell you that a certain area on the river was great for me yesterday, by the time you get there tomorrow the fish may be somewhere else. A good milk run is important on the Potomac.

I started out on the first cove on the south side of the creek after you go under the tracks. The cover in this cove is primarily spatterdock, but there is a band of hydrilla at the mouth of the creek. I had my hopes up because I caught 2 and lost a good one here before 8am. They seemed to be around wood. Then I moved farther out towards the river. This was about the time the wind really started to howl out of the north and west. After that I caught two more in the next 3 hours. After that, nothing. There was a lot of fishing pressure on Sunday, perhaps that had an effect. As good a thing to blame poor performance on as anything.

Dinkfest. And not much of a fest either. Caught four bass that put together might have weighed four pounds. Had a decent fish on at about 7AM, but it wrapped itself around some spatterdock stems and never made it to the boat. Wind, bright skies, and a funky tide probably didn't help.

Anchors, driftsocks, small waters, and patience. Really, when it is very windy I'll often go pond hopping with a spinning reel and some Senkos.

Good report. A lot of smallish aggressive fish, sounds pretty much like last year. Did you see any otters?

Wind. And I always know it is going to windy on any given day when I'm in a boat and have a fishing rod in my hand. When I'm at work it seems the wind is generally about 5-10.

Nice looking rig. That's a special woman.

Yes, the trees--at least the ones that are visible--are in the backs of the coves. I've only been on the lake in a boat once. It was a few weeks ago, and my TM died on me after about an hour. Also, when the lake was way down this past autumn I had a good chance to check it out as well. Most of the wood is not standing, it was cut down prior to the lake being filled. But there is a lot--a lot--of submerged lay-down wood that you can't see. In some places it is in piles under the surface. Pig heaven, particularly since the lake can get rather clear when it hasn't rained for awhile. My experiece last year is that there is a good population of 1-2lb fish in the lake. Oh, there is something else to keep an eye out for. There is a population of otters in Smith. I've seen them on the Aquia creek branch of the lake.

I fish it regularly. Try a drop shot rig on the shallow flat right by the Beaverdam branch boat ramp. A T-rigged Senko works well in the summer. I've always fished this one from the shore for some reason--so I can't give you any more suggestions as regards locations. You can pretty much see that the lake is full of standing timber, stumps, and laydowns.

Great story. Really, more like hunting than fishing.

Weird, we had carbon copy experiences.

The times I have been there I've been on foot. I've caught a few crappie. Looks like a real good crappie lake. Probably good bluegill too. Likely ok, but not great, for LMB.

The map didn't turn out like I had planned. None of my annotations came through. Sorry.

I fish Lunga on a regular basis. Can be good, can be bad. I was there last Friday afternoon for a few hours, and managed one dink bass and a pickerel. I did see a fairly large bass cruising the shallows, which tells me that the spawn is happening, or is about to. I did not graph any fish on the flats in the western arm of the lake (points two and three). There were still a lot of them in the main pool. There were a lot of fish near the submerged roadbed, point six. I think many of these where pickerel though. I caught one, and the vegetation that came up on my crank was covered with pickerel eggs. I ran out of time without going to my other favorite areas, but they are depicted on the map below for you. The water as of Friday was still a few feet low, but rising. This weeks rains may have brought it up another foot or so. The lake fills slowly. I was able to launch my boat though. Generally when I go to Lunga in the spring, it is to catch crappie. There is a good population in the lake. Try the fish attractors or beaver dams. Unfortunatley, I won't be able to go out with you unless you want to try Sunday morning for a few hours. Work is the curse of the idle class.

Go north on Poplar Road from Rt. 17. Turn right onto Kellog Mill Road. (You will see a radio tower). Drive past the radio tower a mile or so. The road crosses directly over Abel Reservoir. The access road is off to the left before you cross the lake. There is an unimproved boat launching area, not a ramp, just gravel. You may or may not be able to launch your glass boat there. If you do remember that this is a water supply lake and use of the gas engine is illegal.

I was pretty jazzed about fishing this weekend, I had not been on the water in almost a month. So I take Friday afternoon off, and go out to Lunga lake on Quantico. My first mistake, I believed the weatherman again when he said that Saturday would fearture 5-10mph winds. Anyhow, I caught one pickerel and one dink largemouth at Lunga (and I do mean dink--6" max.) I did however, see a 3lb bass shoot away in the shallows, leaving me to believe that the spawn was occuring on Lunga. So Saturday roles around, not feeling well--missed the alarm clock, and don't get to Hope Springs until 8AM. No place to park. So we go to Curtis Lake. Should have went back home to bed, nada. After a short break in the middle of the day we go back to Hope Springs, and get on the water at 3PM. I haul water all afternoon while struggling with the boat in a 15+ mph wind. My son catches one mediocre bass, and hooks/looses a big catfish. The bass have moved from where they were several weeks ago--something I should have figured on. If I had had more time, I might have been able to re-connect with them. But that's fishing. I never had have much success during the spawn, I think I'll take next weekend and go spring turkey hunting instead.