TheLastRodBender

it also depends what part of the res you're launching from... if you launch out of Occoquan State Park... that opens up to the potomac and there's no restriction on HP....

Did some bank fishing on Lake Royal. Threw a lot but nothin goin on... the good news is I was able to get my little cousin out for a bit. She couldnt even catch any bluegills on nightcrawlers, but she had a blast.

Good luck findin clean water... this runoff is going to make it cold and muddy... I'll be on the hunt for it myself... shore fishing some local lakes in burke. Gotta get a line wet, when it's sunny and 60 in early march!

The only thing that the storm are doing to the fishing is keeping me off the water.. the bass have been great!!! The first one was on a frog at about 6:00 on the potomac The second was in the same area of the potomac on a fluke. Caught about a week apart.

Good lookin little spot you got there... Where's Wolf creek at? South East Va? I bet a craw bait would kill in that hole.

Is that the small lake over by Lake Braddock?

Very easy! 1. Preheat vegetable oil, just enough to coat the bottom of a skillet. 2. Take filets, dip them in beaten egg, then in Italian Breadcrumbs. 3. Saute both sides until golden brown

Grew up fishing that lake.. still live in the same house but havent fished it in years. I'm sure you can still catch a few decent fish in there, but there are MUCH better fisheries in a very short distance. Lake Braddock, Lake Royal, Lake Mercer, all produce a lot better fish, as well as consistency.

The only VA citation i have came out of that lake... 12 in sunfish... little hawg weighed just over an LB. it was HUGE!

I havent been there in a while, but i can remember when there were NO houses or ANYTHING around it. Kinda tears me up a little bit cuz i used to LOVE goin out there.

Hey guys, i'm gonna be fishin a tourney out of Leesylvania in a couple weeks and am wondering if anyone's got some info for me. I will be a 'co-angler' so i'll be on the back of the boat and not in control of location, but i talked to the boat owner and he said we will most likely be targeting grass mats. I know the basics of grass (baby 1 minus, wake baits, buzzbaits, flukes, etc) but am curious if anyone has been out on the grass on the potomac and what's been working. Since i wont be in the front of the boat, i'm gonna need an edge. Any info is appreciated. Tight lines, Derek

I'm in Nova so i'm not TOO far from you. I believe bass are in their transition period right now. The earlier 'spawners' are moving off and another wave of bass are moving on, which makes the bass fishing tough. You've got 1 wave of bass on the beds themselves, and another wave tightly protecting their fry. I looked at your pictures and in the first one (the one with the fountain) i see an area across the pond from you with overhanging brush. I would be POUNDING that with buzzbaits/cranks/spinnerbaits as well as stick baits rigged weightless. Depending on depth it also looks like an area that would be good for spawning since predators would not be able to reach the waterline real well from the shore (ie. birds). Off to the left of the picture i see an area where you might be able to stand and cast parallel to the shoreline which looks good. In the second picture i see an area behind you with overhanging trees. That looks promising to me as well with similar techniques. This time of year is frustrating because of how pre-occupied with other responsibilities the bass have with bedding/protecting so unless you target these bass specifically, it makes for some slow days.

it looks like it chased a bait a little too hard towards a dock or boat

I fish lake royal ALL the time. I dont know when the last time you were out there was but they've really started moving up and getting fat. I've attached a few pics of bass caught from the bank at Royal. That being said, this area is VERY finicky when it comes to bass fishing. Like another guy said before, i've got some secrets that flat out catch fish, but even those aren't 100%. Around here you have to simply get out and fish. I've done HOURS upon HOURS of research and none of it has held an ounce of water. I used to live on lake braddock... there are a few decent fish in there, generally on the shoreline across from the boats. Burke lake is not a go - to for me, i just dont have much luck there. Huntsman, i will stop by there on my way home from work if i've got an extra hour or so to kill, but not really a lake i like to frequent. Saw quite a few dead shad so far this spring and havent had much luck there either. As far as your senko's go. There's no WRONG cover to fish them. I've pulled bass out of grass, trees, docks, rocks, ANYWHERE, those things work. Color wise, i usually go dark no matter what, but in muddy water, the darker the better. My fav muddy water bait is a Junebug colored stick bait, but any dark brown/black/blue/purple color will produce strikes.

Unfortunately its not only boaters...i've had bank fisherman do this, where they walk up next to me and just start fishing. A few weeks ago i was fishing a lake here in Nova, positioned myself to the side of a brush pile and was casting over to it, so i could work it from the outside in. A kid walks up, and asks if i caught anything, then proceeds to cast RIGHT where i had been casting, AND HE SAW IT THE WHOLE TIME! i was fuming, but i kept my mouth shut since he didnt know what he was doing and i KNEW he wasnt going to catch anything. Let him fish for about 10 min, spacing my casts out so i would hit the SAME SPOT he was hitting during his retrieve, and let him go about his business.. then pulled one out as he rounded the bend

Flippin/Pitchin - never really did it much, want to get better at it Jigs/creatures - this kind of goes hand in hand with the first one, but these are castable as well

hit royal a couple times this week and got decent fish... biggest around 3 lbs, would have only been 1.5 had she not been ready to settle on her bed, that girl was a PIG

I LOVE the way smallies look when the sun hits em.... Hadnt made the connection before, but i just looked at my dog... she's a boxer, and has the same Brindle pattern... maybe that's why i like that color on dogs too!!!!

When i started fishing stick baits i got a LOT of gut hooks. Here's what i did to help the situation... and i still allow slack in my line on the fall. 1. Learn to line watch. ALWAYS watch your line.. watch the line fall and if it speeds up/slows down/goes to 1 side or the other, set the hook. Even if you set the hook and there isnt a fish there, if your setting the hook correctly with your wrist and not heaving that thing back toward the boat, the bait will only move a foot or 2 so you dont lose your cast. Another thing i look for is a little 'tick' on the line. A lot of times it's VERY subtle, but it's there. 2. Change line to a more sensative line. I throw flouro now and even with slack on the line, i can feel the fish bite them things, as subtle as they can try to get. 3. Bigger hook. I dont know what gear you're using but you can move up a size or 2 on your hooks and see if that helps. A bigger hook will cause a bass to bite down a few more times before they swallow it. 4. Reel down. When you THINK you have a bite, real down til you feel resistance and pull back a little bit before setting the hook. When bass inhale something they generally have to give it a couple shots, so when you add resistance it'll pull that bait back towards the front of their mouth before you set the hook and turn it sideways.

I gotta get out to mercer, and havent had much luck down at Huntsman... Lake Royal however has been pretty productive for me

This time of year will test your confidence in your fishing. Weather conditions are like something out of the movie "2012" and water levels go up and down more often then you can imagine. I've been out a lot from the bank so far this year and it's been spotty. 1 day their hitting slow, the next day its fast, the next day they wont hit anything. Just keep at it. When you go out, vary your speeds EVERY cast. 1 cast do a faster retrieve all the way back. Then cast to almost the same spot, and do it slow, til you figure out what they're after.

thats awesome man!

Nice fish man... and it's so funny you use that line "that'll about stop your heart" cuz it's so true... that explosion is priceless.

I start out the day going for size, then punt it and go for numbers after a certain amount of time with nothing going on. I get impatient

I'd say it's PRETTY accurate... i've been going out as often as i can since the end of Feb and this past week i have noticed A LOT more bass caught up in the shallows right near bedding areas. Prior to this i had seen them stuck to structure off the shoreline... caught on slow presentations. Then i went out Saturday and Sunday, and noticed a lot more activity closer to spawning areas, hitting more baitfish style baits. So i would say i somewhat agree with the map (i'm in Northern Va by the way)