Sam

And I love the Poconos and Bucks County. Have you been to the Bryers Club place on the way to New Hope? Great day trip for you and the family. Would like to visit New Hope once again if my wife is up to it. We stayed at a B&B in Lambertville last time we visited about 10 years ago. Take care and go fishing.

Do not have a security camera. Have a field camera to catch pics of the deer and fox plus others walking their dogs in our field. My wife and I are too boring to have anyone have any interest in us. Maybe if I ride the lawn tractor naked when cutting the field someone will notice. Then again...........

My American Legion Post places American and service flags on the graves at the Amelia Veterans Cemetery every veterans day along with other service organizations and the Amelia High School and Amelia Academy students. The cemetery looks beautiful with the thousands of American flags on the graves. A sea of red, white and blue. We are going out on November 28th this year to continue the tradition.

JB, it would help if you would add your geographical location to your avatar. As for the Cabela's in Richmond, VA, it is the same. Nice store but the sales people really do not know bass fishing. I purchased a .38 revolver a few years ago and had to show the salesman the gun, a flyer with the sales price, and it took me about 45-minutes to clear the paper work and get the OK from the Virginia State Police as the salesman and his assistant had no idea of what they were doing. Have been to this store only six or seven times. Not worth the time or energy when we have BPS and Green Top in our back yard. Not planning to go in the future. Thanks for telling us your story. I wonder if your Cabela's will be closing in the near future?

Harold, there are also other benefits of a kayak. No gas - save money. No oil - save a lot of money. Easy to put in and take out. Easy to transport. Can get into tight spots that bass boats cannot. No motor maintenance. No motor trouble. No reason to dress nice - shorts and a tee shirt will do. No high personal property taxes on boat, motor or trailer. No reason to install a costly trailer hitch on your Kia. No trailer problems. Who cares if the lights don't work? Can launch at places bass boats cannot launch. Since no motor, no reason to take boater's safety course. Can use on lakes and ponds where it is forbidden to use your big motor. Initial investment is very low when compared to a bass boat. No reason to purchase all the accessories for your bass boat when you have a kayak. You can actually meet and speak with others while on the water. You can't go 100 miles per hour in a kayak, thereby not killing your self. You can't wreck a kayak by missing the creek turn and going into the woods. No pollution from a kayak. Lots of colors to select among. You can't fall out of a kayak while fishing unless you are really uncoordinated. Should I go on???????

Northeast PA? Does that mean New Hope? Great having you with us. I lived in the greater Philly area for 8 years and enjoyed the Flyers, 76ers and Phillies plus the cultural events were outstanding. Wife is from Indiana, Pennsylvania and grew up on a dairy farm. Nice having you with us.

Hello back. Great having you with us. My blood type says I have a strong Basque heritage I inherited from the Cajun side of my family. Never been to Spain but people I know who have visited loved the country. Now lets get down to some serious fishing in Europe and let us know how you do.

I learned a few new places to fish on the Chickahominy River in Virginia. Also had good results in some places that always seem to hold fish on the Chick. And last, it was reinforced that even if the weather conditions favor topwater, the bass may not hit any topwater.

With the temperatures dropping the bass will start to fatten up for the winter. So note the temperatures in your area to see if they are going down. If so, the bass will become very active as the water temperatures drop. May I suggest trying a Senko rigged wacky on an 8-pound fluorocarbon spinning set up? Depending on the water color you can go with watermelon, green pumpkin, Junebug or blue/black. Add red or black flake to the watermelon or green pumpkin and see if those work. Then, go to the other end of the spectrum and throw a small 4-inch worm in the same colors as the Senko, with a 1/16 ounce sinker. Throw all plastics to any wood or rocks you can find in your pond. Good luck and let us know how you do.

As my doctor tells me, all men will get prostate cancer if they live long enough. But most of us check out via heart problems. You think you had a bad day. In my club tournament this past weekend, we had one guy fall out of the boat during the tournament and a second fall out of his boat in the parking lot. Lucky for both they were not injured. We could have lost two members in one day at our tournament. All the best for successful cancer treatments. Keep us posted on your treatments and progress.

As stated above, it is OK to experiment with spinnerbait blades. So how do you know what line test is best for your rod? Take the low and high line test ratings, add them together, divide by 2 and you have the line test for your rod's best performance. Now go out there and have some fun.

Backwater, you prepare for a tournament weeks before. Here are some of the things you can do: 1. Maps. Get a paper map of the water you will be fishing and study it. Look at the contour lines, creeks, sunken boats, roadways, ramps, bathroom facilities, hazards, and anything else you can see on the map. Find the blast off area and anything you can see or consider shown on the paper map. Mark it up with different colored markers so noting the places that are of interest to you. And then after the tournament mark it up as to where you went and if you caught anything. 2. Go to Google Earth and view the water from above. Look for places you found on the map that are of interest to you or places that the map is not showing. Study the Google Earth maps to get another feel of the waters. 3. Recon the blast off sight. This means getting into your vehicle, putting the address of the ramp into your GPS, and driving to the ramp. Remember two things: First, the ramp may not have an address so you do what you can to get as close as you can; and second, you will be driving to the ramp in the dark on tournament day so you want to have a basic idea of how to get to the ramp without getting lost. Finding the ramps can be easier said then done. Worth every penny of gas for the peace of mind in finding the ramp. 4. At the ramp, check it out and be sure to double check if there is a ramp fee so you will have the exact amount. Have a pen with you to fill out the parking pass data. Check out the parking areas and how the ramp is designed. Look for the port-a-potties or rest room faculties. Check out any lights on light poles to help you launch in the dark. And see if there is a place for you to park your boat as you wait for first light and blast off. 5. Do all of your research on the body of water, focusing on baitfish and crawfish. What do the fish eat? What bait would mimic the forage the best? What bait colors depending on the water clarity? Try to keep it simple as you can really drive yourself nuts if you take too many baits. 6. Presentations. How many rod and reel setups do you need? What would work best: baitcasters or spinning rigs or a combination of both? Remember, room is scarce on a bass boat and having too many rods and reels can really make a lot of clutter and mess up your mind. 7. Line cutter, needle nose pliers, strap to hold your glasses, polarized sunglasses, a cap, sunscreen, one extra baitcaster and one extra spinning reel spooled and ready to go in case one of the ones you have breaks, hand held scale, hand towel, lunch, snacks, bottled water, ice packets to keep food cold in your small soft sided cooler, JJ's Magic for color, MegaStrike for scent, and anything you usually take with you when bank fishing. 8. Know how to net a fish. It is easy but it can be difficult at times and extremely stressful. Ask the boater where he keeps the net and to get it out at blastoff so you can have easy access to it. 9. Your tackle boxes with the baits you will be throwing in a special tackle box. You have to plan what you are going to throw first, second, third, etc. So you start with topwaters; go with spinnerbaits; then hit wood and creek mouths with plastics. You set up your patterns and fish them until they stop working and you go with something else. Be ready to change if the setups you start with do not work. 10. Many tournaments ask you to use their weigh-in bags. If you can use your own, go to a local tackle shop and see what is available, with the understanding that they will have leaks in them as the bass' fins puncture the sides with small holes. 11. Float Plan. Leave a "Float Plan" at home so your family member will know where you were going, what time to expect you back, and the cell phone number so of others fishing the tournament or your boater in case of emergencies. Always do a "Float Plan" for every outing on the water. Even non-tournament fishing. Plan. Plan and then go back and plan again. Be ready to change baits, colors, and techniques as the ones you select prior to being on he water will probably fail during the tournament. Happens to all of us. Just don't load yourself down with 50 pounds of baits, ten to fifteen rods, and a picnic basket. You will find that no matter how much gear you bring, you will settle down to two or three baitcasters/spinning combos and two or three plastics and hard baits. It is going to boil down to confidence in what you are throwing during the tournament. So start planning to be a tournament guy. Think through a day on the water in detail and what you will need. Always bring your needle nose pliers and your fishing license. Two very important and simple things that we forget. And remember, the above items are a start. As you get deeper and deeper into tournament fishing you will know what works best on what waters during what times of the year and weather conditons. Good luck.

Boater and I won our cub's tournament on the Chickahominy River this past Saturday, October 20th. I was a nonboater due to a medical issue (inner ear infection and the doctor was worried I would get dizzy on the water) and had three of the five keepers for 11.8 pounds. The boater had the tournament's big fish (3.5 pounds) and the last one I caught about 10 minutes before the tournament ended put us over the top to beat the second place team by 4 ounces. Chick was high and dirty, with a lot of wind that messed up the tides. Never did find clean water, even in the back of the creeks. And the wind held up the incoming tide so we did not enjoy the outgoing tide, which is what we wanted to fish, as it never went out. The water was choppy and we were in the rain from 7 AM to around 2 PM, with excellent topwater water conditions. Only problem was that the bass did not want any topwaters. We threw poppers, buzzbaits and Whopper Ploppers with no strikes. I chucked a Chatterbait, too. Same went for all the other guys in the tournament. I guess the bass missed the "How to Fish Topwater" articles in Bassmaster Magazine. We nailed all of our keepers, except one on a spinnerbait that we later culled, on plastics. 100% plastics. That is all they wanted. Green pumpkin with black flake; moccasin blue; Carablue; and Junebug. We also had some drama at blast off, during the tournament, and at weigh-in. At blast off, there was a very nice young man in a beautiful Triton who was wearing a red fishing jersey with "Roll Tide" scrolled across the lower back in large letters. Of course, I could not help my self and told him to yell "Geaux Tigers" when he set the hook. He did see the humor in it and we had a nice conversation about college football. Then, as he tried to start his Mercury motor and move out for his 39 boat Hookers Tackle Shop Classic tournament, his motor would not start. We got my boater's Ranger ready to go and left the ramp to join our other club boats in the creek for blastoff so I have no idea if he got the motor fired up. What a bummer. All the planning; getting up and driving to the Route 5 ramp in the dark; paying the launch fee; launching the boat by himself; paying his entry fee; and the motor would not start on a beautiful boat. Don't want that to happen to anyone. Hope he got going and had a good tournament. During the tournament one of our club guys in another Ranger in the early morning got his bait snagged and he stepped from the deck onto the Ranger's gunnel rail to look down for the snag. Just then, the boater moved the boat via the trolling motor so the nonboater could try to get unsnagged and the nonboater slipped and went into the drink. He did admit that he hit bottom. Of course, no one brings a second set of clothes with them or a towel other than for winter tournaments, so he had to fish the rest of the day in windy 50* temperatures. At weigh-in, I noticed one of our guys who is a little on the heavy side sitting next to his parked Bass Cat boat and trailer on the road's shoulder. Knowing that he had medical problems and was scheduled for shoulder surgery, I thought he was stretching. But them my friend and I who were watching the weigh-in decided to go over a make sure all was OK when he did not move for about two minutes. No, it wasn't good. He had stepped on the trailer's upper step, slipped, and fell onto the ground. He could not get up. So me and two other guys lifted him onto his feet. He said he was OK but I bet he is hurting today. I thought he may have broken his hip shoulder, ankle or leg. He seemed to be OK after we got him up and he joined us for the final few guys at our weigh-in. This is my second tournament in a row that I won. I skipped the last one due to an inner ear infection and the guy I was going to fish with finished second. But two firsts in a row is pretty good. One more to go on the Historic James River. Would like to make it three in a row. Only negative for me was the big one that got away. She clobbered the plastic and I missed the hook set. I guess I can add her to list of "The Ones That Got Away" which is pretty long. All in all, had a great tournament and learned a few new places to fish the Chickahominy River in future years.

Great having you with us. The Big Tuna - Al Tuna! Next to Penn State!!!! My wife is from Indiana, PA and we go on the outskirts of Altoona to and from her family's homes. Beautiful area. Welcome aboard.

I don't know of any club rules that prevent back boating. I remember a story told by a state trooper who was a member of our club who was fishing as a nonboater on Kerr in the Fall Classic a number of years ago. His boater must have weighed at least 350 pounds; refused to speak to my friend; did what he wanted even though the nonboater could have a say in where they would fish for half the day; and the boater kept his back to the trooper all day. The Virginia Federation did nothing about it. It was just too bad and the luck of the draw.

Toxic, I think they know they are doing it. And I believe the majority don't care.

When the boater positions the boat in a position that only he can hit the target; or the boater throws his bait to the target area at an angle upon arrival at the spot so that the guy in the back cannot throw to the target .

I have been back boated by my club buddies. I can name four right off the top of my head. In one Region 3 tournament on the Mattaponi River I filled in for the team's nonboater (he had to do something with his daughter) and I caught three and missed one while the boater caught one. The boater was really surprised and glad that I caught my three as it helped him in the standings. And he told everyone at weigh-in that I caught the three and he nailed only one so there would be no misunderstandings that he caught all four. Another time, about 12 years ago, on the Chickahominy River in Virginia after a club tournament, I had a melt down. A total yelling and cussing melt down. I will never forget this. And my melt down lasted for about two hours after weigh-in. Since I am usually a quiet guy, the club members were really surprised by my going nuts. The guy, who is one of my best friends now, was the boater. The problem was that we sat in one place for four hours because he caught a bass in this area when he prefished a few days earlier. He had caught a bass by a Cyprus tree in a creek off the main river. He refused to move or speak about moving. We just sat there. Four freaking hours. All I did was feed the crabs my Senkos and all he did was sit in one position with his Zoom trick worm on the bottom, waiting for a bite. True dead sticking in the middle of the summer. Another guy in the club laughed at us as he went by and told the guys at weigh-in that he passed us four times as he moved from place to place and thought we would win the tournament with a big bag since we never moved. Finally, through my polarized sunglasses, I saw a bass swim around the tree and I told the boater where to throw his worm. Since he did not have polarized sunglasses he did not see the fish and after I yelled at him for about five to six seconds, he moved the worm to where I was pointing and the bass hit it. Only fish we caught that day. Four hours in one place with no bites. And he refused to move. I blasted him at weigh-in and the club president and vice president had a conversation with him as I was not the first club nonboater to have a problem with him back boating and not moving around enough. He is set in his ways and he will not give up on a pattern even if it is not working. And he asked me a few months ago why he was not catching the bass at the same rate as the rest of the club members. I just smiled and said he will, one day. Today, as I penned above, we are good friends and we have no problems. I have no idea if he back boats any of the other club members when they fish with him but since we went to a "team concept" it does not matter. I fished with him only one time since and we had to follow his milk run even though we were not catching them. Guys, four hours in one place. No bites. No conversation. It can drive a guy to drink.

We have two: Grand Cherokee and a Patriot.

Received a call from a friend this afternoon after he got off the Chick and he told me the river is high and dirty. Tough conditions.

Club tournament on Saturday, October 13th did not go well. Winner's bag was 5.9 pounds. Water was too high and dirty. Give the lake until this weekend, October 20th, to calm down. And if you can, wait for October 27th when she should be back to normal.

Yes! Go to Bass Pro Shop on the other side of the "hole in the water" and get the 2018 or 2019 booklet, Freshwater Fishing in Virginia. A local Dick's or a tackle shop may also have a copy and save you the six-hour drive (traffic in the tunnel, you know) to and from Virginia Beach. Look up the Virginia Beach area and you have places to consider. Also, on a weekend, if you want to take a nice drive and you have a GPS unit or an iPhone with WAZE, head to Ed. Allen's on the Chickahominy Lake and you can pay to fish their pier. Give them a call after you look at the following Internet site for their address. They rent skiffs so you can fish around his ramp in a boat. https://edallensboats.com/ Others living in the Beach area should also have some suggestions they can share with you. Good luck and be sure to have your Virginia fishing license and your needle nose pliers with you at all times.

X2. Let's all hope that the missing are safe somewhere and they will contact their loved ones or the authorities ASAP. The photos of Mexico Beach reminded me of the photos of the two cities in Japan the US flattened with our atomic bombs during WWII. Hard to imagine Mother Nature can create such havoc.

Good story. Seems someone at the pharmacy TPA failed to record the email information. With so many people insured; computers doing the work; and employees who mean to do well all the time but don't; you can find yourself in your situation, easily. Glad it worked out.

Fly, Lake Chesdin is a disaster. High and muddy. 5.89 pounds won our club tournament on Saturday. I did not fish as I have an inner ear infection and the doctor told me to stay home as I could fall out of the boat. The ramps at Seven Springs are under water. I think we will have to give it a week to calm down.