VABasser

I hear you about not fishing since Oct Vekol, except I've been busy with college :-/. In fact I should be studying for finals at the moment but thats not going so well. I want to get out over Xmas break, it sounds pretty hit and miss though. For some of you that fish the Potomac in the winter, what areas are you looking for and are the Silver Buddies as necessary for success as they sound?

Yep VA side. I honestly havent fished a whole lot of the Potomac considering how big it is, Pohick Bay included. I've been meaning to get around to it but just haven't yet. I'm bummed I've got to head back to college in two weeks cause the exploring will have to wait til next summer

Out on the bay, we launched out of Chesapeake Beach. I'm pretty lucky when it comes to getting to go for stripers. One of my friends who I fish with a lot his dad fishes for stripers all the time in the tournaments and what not. His dad knows a bunch of the charter captains and first mates too so we're usually on a pretty good bite. Actually the guy behind me in the first pic is the first mate on one of the boats up there. The captain let him take some of us out one day because they had no clients. So basically I got a free trip on a charter boat ;D it was pretty sick. If you ever get a chance to go out I'd go in the summer when they're live lining on spinning gear rather than in the winter trolling, it's a lot more fun.

Usually I dont get around to posting up pics or reports of my fishing trips but figured I might as well considering I'm just bumming around the house today before leaving on vacation tomorrow. I put up the boat and fishing Occoquan Res when the bite was getting a bit slow for my tastes and took the canoe out to a few spots I knew about. Needless to say the last two weeks or so have treated me pretty good. My dad got to join me on a few of these trips which is always good. T-rigged soft plastics, usually weightless and topwater frogs are really all I've needed to throw. We caught so many bass in the 1.5-3lb range that bothering with pictures wasnt worth it but heres a few of the bigger bass we caught. I'm going to Idaho to visit family but there's always a big dose of fishing in that equation. Usually for some great smallie action, my uncle said they caught a 6 lber a few days ago . Needless to say I'm pretty stoked. Hopefully when I get back I'll have some good stories to tell. Hope you all are catching them too. Oh yeah threw in a pic of a decent striper I caught about a month ago live lining spot in the Bay, mixed it up and got to go out on a few trips there. Fun stuff

Nice bass, quick question Wayne, how often do you insert a finishing nail into the head of the worm? I'd assume that if you caught that in 15 feet you would've. And do you insert a whole nail or cut it in half?

PM sent

Not to bring up any arguments again but I've fished both Fountainhead and Hunting Run and they've got their good and bad days. I think at the Res its much more important to know the area to catch quality bass but that might just be that the Hunting Run bass havent seen as many baits. I've fished Hunting Run a handful of times and caught bass up to 4 lbs there and have seen some of the monsters Wayne has pulled out. He posted a pic of an 8 lber he caught in the spring on here if I remember correctly and in the little shack by the ramp theres other pics of some 6 lbers and what not he's caught. They're in there . On the same note there's nice bass in the Res too. By the way Wayne the wacky rig you told me about in the spring has caught me some quality bass this summer, thanks again.

Good catch, its definitely the Spotsy one. Considering its called a pond its pretty good size, maybe 80 acres or so. It looked like parts of an old bridge ran across it. And with all the standing timber I'm hoping it'd hold some nice bass.

Wow I'm an idiot its in Spotyslvania. I have no idea where I got Chesterfield from. So nobody else has ever heard anything about Ruffins? I guess thats to be expected, its off the beaten track a bit. Well maybe I'll go slide my canoe in there sometime next week and let you all know how I do

I was going golfing today at Four Winds if any of you know where that is, off rt. 17 a bit in Chesterfield I think :-?. But 17 (pretty sure its 17) crosses a body of water called Ruffins Pond. It has a ton of standing timber and some aquatic vegetation it looks like. You could slide a canoe in but thats about it. Has anyone ever fished this or know anything about it? I looked it up on the VDGIF site and it wasnt there. With all the structure it seems like it'd be killer for largemouth

I'm kinda surprised you didnt blur out the backgrounds of some of those pics, wouldnt want anyone to find your honey holes

Wow my mistake then, would've never guessed there were pike in the tidal Potomac, especially the creeks and bays where water is only a few feet deep most places

Ron what you're probably seeing are Gar. I've seen them out there as well. If you google Gar you'll get some good pictures of them, they're long like Pike. I'm no expert on fisheries but I dont believe Pike could live in the tidal waters of the Potomac

Hey all sounds like the Occoquan is still giving up some good fish. I haven't been able to fish there for a couple of weeks, been traveling a lot and then gone out on the Chesapeake a couple times and caught some nice stripers. It's kinda a bummer cause I'm seeing the summer slip away and then its back to college :-/. I'm trying to get out to the Occ a few times this week but dont really know where to start. For those of you who know what the bites been like would you suggest I launch out of Bull Run or Fountainhead. Thats mainly what I'm trying to find out but if anyone wants to volunteer where the fish have been holding or whats been working I'd appreciate it too. And this is kinda off topic a little bit but has anyone fished the Occoquan river where its tidal below the dam lately, I've been meaning to do that too but just havent got around to it

Thanks guys, after reading that article I think I just need to put a swivel on above the hook to help with line twist. I've just been using a regular bell shaped sinker because thats all I could find at my local tackle stores and didnt feel like having to order off the internet

I started using the drop shot a few weeks ago and really like it but it seems like I get a ton of line twist when fishing it. I'm throwing it on baitcasting gear with 12 lb Yo Zuri hybrid. I'm wondering if there's anything to reduce this or if its something that I have to accept. And do you guys have any favorite baits to fish on the dropshot. I've mainly just used Zoom finesse and trick worms so far. Thanks for any help

I got out yesterday but didnt have as much time as I'd like because my buddy had to go in early. In the few hours we were out there we got 6 all on a drop shot. Nothing real big a few decent keepers but thats it. I think I'm gonna get out there again tomorrow but not positive yet. Matt I'm curious, what type of structure are you looking for when you're fishing in 20-40 ft of water if you dont mind my asking. I assume you arent blindly casting into 40 feet of water ;D

VT

I'm fishing Occoquan a decent amount this summer. Being a college student I get basically the same break you do . I'd definitely be up to get together and fish sometime maybe learn some new things. If things work out right today then I'll probably be up there tomorrow fishing

Great smallies. What lake are you fishing at? My mom's side of the family lives up in Idaho near Sandpoint. We visit every summer and always get out on Lake Pend Orielle to catch some smallies. Good fishing and the beautiful scenery makes it even better.

I'm pretty sure at the Fountainhead ramp that there is a sign that says 10 HP limit but pretty much everyone has a 9.9 out there so they say 9.9 limit. Idk if I've ever seen a straight up 10 HP but pretty sure you'd be fine

Theres some shoreline by the boat ramp. Not a ton but some. They do rent out jons though, idk the prices but you might be able to find it online or maybe someone on here knows

Anybody get out yesterday or today? I got out with my dad yesterday, lake was real crowded. We ended up landing about 15 or so. A couple of 2's and I got a 3 lber. Others were mostly dinks. Didnt bother with pics for the 2 lbers, probably would've with the 3 lber but I had hooked her deep so just wanted to get her in the water quick. Water temps were about 78. A little slow but not a bad day. Probably gonna try Occoquan again this week, maybe twice.

Sorry probably too late for tips but I plan on going out there tomorrow. How'd you end up doing today?

Haha well I was atleast attempting to fish some. I went downlake yesterday because from what I was reading on here that sounded best. Figured I'd try uplake today but now Im not so sure. Matt I shot you a PM. Hopefully I'll have some luck today, I'll fill you all in.