Sam

Wow! There are a lot of people in Petersburg, Hopewell, Colonial Heights, and Dinwiddie County who will never see this article and head for Wilcox. Glad they closed the lake and posted signs to stay out of the water. Scary situation and we don't know how many other small lakes and ponds are impacted.

Yes, and some are autographed.

DG&IF wanted the Florida strain bass to remain in the Chick so they could study and follow their growth progress. With tournament weigh-ins on the Historic James and Appomattox rivers the Florida strain bass are now in the Historic James and Appomattox River population, which is fantastic as far as I am concerned. Just remember that DG&IF is the group that introduced coyotes in the state and the coyotes are populating the state driving the farmers crazy. I live by the Historic James River in the City of Richmond and we have a coyote in our backwoods. Lots of deer for them to eat in my neighborhood so he isn't going anywhere, fast. Hopefully Snakeheads will stay out of the Historic James River system. I was told that Snakeheads and bass are coexisting in the Potomac without any problems and we now have Snakehead tournaments. Time will tell.

Saints!

After VDGIF successfully stocked the upper Chick with Florida strain bass about 12 years ago the Chick has become an excellent fishery. With tournament weigh-ins at Route 5, Hopewell, and Osborne Landing, the Florida strain bass have now been introduced into the Historic James, to the chagrin of VDGIF who is not happy with the tournaments releasing these large bass into the Historic James and Appomattox Rivers. We now blast off at Route 5 and race to the dam when in actually the Florida strain bass can be found on the main river and in creeks. But flying up the Chick to the dam at 70 miles per hour is fun to a lot of guys.

When prefishing for tournaments.

Fantastic! Did you live on the Willow Landing side of the road to Hope Springs? Lots of docks and piers on Aquia Creek in the area to the west of Hope Springs.

I was very upset when Feleipe Franks decommitted from LSU and went to Florida. After last night's performance, I am glad he did what he did and now LSU has Joe Burrows who is a much better quarterback along with Myles Brennan (family owns Brennan's restaurant in the French Quarter) who can really sling that ball. Things happen for a reason and I guess having Franks go to Florida worked out fine for LSU. Both teams look brilliant on a few plays and like middle school kids on other plays. Both teams should enjoy good seasons and go to a bowl game but both have a lot to work out, especially the mental mistakes. OK ladies and gentlemen! College football will be on the tube every weekend from now to the end of the year so get ready for some football!!!!!

Big Man and Rich, you need a boat, be it a kayak or a Tracker or a bass boat. Without a means of water transportation, you will always be behind the 8-ball. The Potomac is an excellent fishery but it can be extremely dangerous. When the wind kicks up the Potomac looks like the Atlantic Ocean. Always keep an eye on the weather when you fish the Potomac and have your local news weather app on your cell phone to pick up any warnings. Aquia Creek/Hope Springs east of Stafford, Willow Landing east of Hope Springs on Aquia Creek, and Leesylvania State Park are good places to launch and fish either up into Aquia Creek or near the shoreline on the Potomac. Hope Springs and Willow Landing do not have places to fish from the bank. Obtain a copy of "2019 Freshwater Fishing and Boating in Virginia" from your favorite sporting goods store and look at the places you can wet a line in Northern and Central Virginia. You may have to drive down to Ed. Allen's on the Chick Lake to rent a skiff to do some fun bass fishing: https://edallens.com/ Make plans to attend the Richmond Fishing Expo January 18 - 20. Check out this Internet site about the 2020 Expo and keep looking at it as we get closer to the date for speakers and vendors: http://www.richmondfishingexpo.com/ You can speak to the local pros about fishing and meet the movers and shakers within the Virginia bass fishing industry. Maryland has some great places to fish, too. Check out North River and other places along the Susquehanna and Potomac rivers. Get the GMCO maps of the Potomac River and Virginia lakes and rivers you can launch your boat or fish from the bank: http://www.gmcomaps.com/ And consider hiring a guide for a half day or a full day to learn the waters. We have tidal rivers in Virginia and it is imperative that you understand what the bass do when the tides move. Bookmark this page so you can look up the Virginia tides. You can do the same for Maryland: https://www.saltwatertides.com/dynamic.dir/virginiasites.html Read about tides and how they impact the fishing. You want a high tide falling and then the first hour of an incoming tide. Check out the YouTube videos on tidal rivers plus the past posts about tides on the Forum. Go to Woo Daves' Internet site and read all of his articles. Woo lives on the Historic James River and he won the Classic. Great guy and he still fishes tournaments to this day: http://woodaves.com/ Read all of his fishing articles. They are short and to the point. Print them so you can take them with you on the Northern Virginia interstates to read as you sit in traffic. Look up local bass fishing guides and they can take you out and discuss where to fish, baits and techniques to use, and answer your questions. Here is a guide to the various guides and outfitters: https://www.virginia-outdoors.com/fishing-guides.html So don't put down the area until you give it a try. You can read up on bass fishing in your area as you sit in traffic going to and from work. There are also other state parks and lakes you can try your luck from the shore. Just look them up and check them out on Google and Google Earth to make sure you have places to fish if you don't have a boat in addition to the free 2019 or 2020 Fresh Water Fishing in Virginia booklet. One last suggestion: join a local bass club who takes non boaters. Check out Bass Clubs under the "Links" tab at the top of this page for Virginia and Maryland BASS and FLW federations and send them a note for a list of bass clubs in your area. You can also note their web pages where they list a number of their clubs. Let us know what and how you do. See you at the Richmond Bass Fishing Expo this January! Tight lines and good luck.

Welcome. Are you actually in DC? I know a lot of people in the greater DC area but no one lives inside the beltway. Some really good fishing up your way from Potomac Creek to North, Maryland. Post reports and pics, too.

Your computer. Sign out and then sign in. I have had the Forum's print go to extra small and I had to check out and then check back in to get the proper print size. Also had the problem with the screen being just a tad too large and I had to check out and check in to remedy the problem. I have no idea what is going on but I agree with you it is a pain in the fanny.

Dumb, I gave up on finding exactly what G. Loomis rods I wanted via local retail outlets. Seems the G. Loomis rods cost too much to stock and then have a long turnover waiting period due to their price. Good luck in finding the G. Loomis rods in the greater Houston area.

Last night I thought about fishing the Rigolets area and going out into the Mississippi Sound and Biloxi Marsh via Pearl River so I looked up the areas on Google and Google Earth. i know it has been over 55 years since I have revisited the area and I was amazed at how much it has been built up. We would leave New Orleans on Highway 90 and go over the Rigolets bridge and turn left to the camps. We had a place to stay and all the live shrimp we could put in our skiff's live well. The 25-horsepower motor got us out of the camp area and into Lake Pontchartrain and then the Rigolets Bridge area. I think I found the camps lined up, at least that is what I think I found, and the areas we used to catch redfish, speckled trout, drum, sheepshead and croakers. Every now and then we would hook up with an alligator gar or big catfish. Lots of great memories. As for Mulatto Bayou off the Pearl River, I found the location where my uncle kept his 42-foot Chris Craft. The area is now sprinkled with many homes (or camps) but the big boat house and dock are still there. I also found the train bridge as you left the Pearl and headed towards the Gulf. Fantastic fishing unless we had to shrimp all weekend. I still have scars on my fingers from the shrimp. Anyone out there that can add to this please do so. I know Slidell has blossomed into a very nice place to raise a family and has spread out in all directions from what I remember Slidell used to be. Thanks in advance for any details about the Rigolets area and the Pearl River.

X2. Self-diagnosis is very dangerous. My cousin, "Leonard the Doctor," a very well known internist in New Orleans, contracted pancreatic cancer and died in six months after he was diagnosed. And finding cancers and other ailments was his specialty.

1. Politics. Lots of politics behind the scenes and BASS as gotten many of the pros upset on their practices. 2. Money. Some tours pay more than others. 3. Geographical locations. Do you want to pull or transport your boat coast to coast or stay in one geographical area for many tournaments. 4. Other reasons that come and go during the year such as family matters; work issues; boat repairs; entry fees; travel distances; season of the year; and you can add to the list.

Ask your family physician about what is going on and follow his/her advice. Stretch before going out. Try to find a sports medicine practice and get a consultation regarding specific exercises that will help alleviate the problem. Maybe Hahnamann ,Doylestown, Temple, Penn, or Jefferson have a sports medicine practice and they can help you. Call the local Philly colleges or universities' athletics department for a few sports medicine doctors or practices names. I am sure Temple, Drexel, St. Joe's, Delaware, Penn, etc. will be happy to give you names of sports medicine practices or physicians that can help you with your problem. You may find them on the universities' Internet sites for specific sports like football, basketball, and baseball. Check out if the doctors want to put you in Physical Therapy to get started on your treatment. You need specialized treatment including stretching and changes in the way you cast to avoid doing additional damage to your shoulder. All the best for a speedy recovery and many, many more years of pain free fishing.

Happened to me on my double secret pond. Was in my small raft with four or five rods and when I made a cast and my crankbait hook caught one of my favorite rod and reel and over she went. Water was 20+ feet so there was no way I could dive for it. It is still there, at the bottom of my double secret pond.

X2 but use a safety pin or a large needle.

Don't be too concerned with the drag. You can put the drag wherever you want it. Just be sure it is tight enough to hold the spool in place. Your goal is to set up the spool to avoid backlashes.

Suggestions: Balance rod, line test, bait weight with the reel. Stay within the rod's parameters. Use the "average line test" by adding up the high and low line test limits and divide by two. You now have the optimum line test for your rod. Set up baitcaster ready to fish while at home and go outside. Point rod tip to 11 o'clock and using the spool tension knob to slow or speed up the line coming off the spool, release the line on the spool. You want the bait to fall slowly to the ground (not carpet) and have the spool stop when the bait hits the ground. You do this a few times and use the spool tension knob and your drag to set this up. You do this every time you change baits while fishing. Then cast your lure as far as you can and pull out three arm-lengths of line off spool. Place Scotch tape or some electrical tape over the remaining line on the spool. This will stop backlashes from going deeper into your line. You don't need much tape. Just enough to cover a section of the line on the spool. The 11 o'clock trick will have your bait stop as it approaches or hits the water. When throwing your baits you can start your retrieve as the bait gets ready to hit the water on each cast. No worries about backlashes unless you hit a tree, bush, or the boat's windshield while casting. Always look up and all around yourself when bank fishing to avoid overhanging trees that can snag your bait and create the Backlash from the Devil. Adjust the bait's fall rate so you will maximize your casts and avoid backlashes. You will get the hang of it and never have a backlash. Good luck.

Yes, some tournaments have their own bags that you have to use at weigh-in. The BASS pros use a very heavy nylon bag with a PVC coating at weigh-ins to keep the fish calm and also to get good aeration in the tanks as they wait their turn. The big Elite series weigh-ins have the boaters bring their fish in a lighter bag in the live well to be weighed-in.

Lakes seem to be on the dirty side due to the rain. Rivers flowing nicely. Water temperature in the 80's so the bass are just hovering in place or next to cover waiting for a snack to pass by. Tough fishing. You have to hit all wood you can find with your crankbaits, spinnerbaits, Senkos, and trick worms. FLW guys may do well. Very interested in how they do this weekend.

Welcome, Conner. Isn't western Pennsylvania Steelers and Penguins country? As for clubs, please do the following: 1. Go up to the top of this page and click on "Links." 2. Look for Bass Clubs and open the link. 3. Check out Pennsylvania clubs. 4. Look up FLW home page and find clubs and look for FLW clubs in your area. 5. Look up BASS home page nad find clubs and look for BASS clubs in your area. 14 years old may be a little too young for most bass clubs as they may want you to join when you are 16. But give it a try. Good luck in your efforts and welcome to the Forum.

Run Easton, Run!!!!

This year its the Fighting Tigers!