VABasser

Gotta love a bluegrass concert outside in the summer, lounging on the grass... There's a lot of great bands out there, some well known others not so much. There's also different types/genres of bluegrass, the old timey traditional and some of the newer stuff (acid grass is a name that comes to mind) and every mix in between. A couple of the classics you need to have are Bill Monroe, Ralph Stanley and Flatt and Scruggs. Ricky Skaggs and Alison Krauss and Union Station are two very popular bands/artists. Old Crow Medicine Show and The Seldom Scene are two others that come to mind. I could keep listing them, there are a lot out there. Check out some of their music and pick your favorites. In my opinion there isn't bad bluegrass out there

Its only 42 lbs thrust. That might be the biggest problem. Me and my dad have been talking about upgrading to a 24 volt. I like the Minn Kota's better than Motorguide too

Good fish Nitro. Got a question for those of you that fish the Potomac, or real weedy lakes. What type of props do you have on your trolling motors? Weedless, if so what type? We have a Motorguide with what I assume is the standard factory prop on it. 3 blades. It just cant handle the hydrilla/milfoil now that its getting real thick. So I'm looking at getting a weedless prop as long as they make a significant difference.

Nice fish socc. I've been meaning to get on here and post up a few stories, I've had some the past few trips, but haven't had the time. Sorry to the people who pm'd me I'll try to reply to them tonight. I've been fishing the area from Chopawamsic up to Mattawoman. Some type of vegetation/grass has been the best bet, thats no surprise. Have caught a few off wood. Senkos, either t-rigged or wacky, flukes (love the Case plastic ones, made in VA), booyah buzzbaits, *** toads, Spro frogs and a few on a jig have accounted for all the fish I believe. So here's the fish story, but its a true one I promise. Found an area where a small creek feeds in, it seems that many overlook it. I found it last week so figured I'd fish around it. One of my first casts had a huge explosion on my buzzbait, biggest hit I've had on one. Let her take it under and set the hook. Pretty good little fight and brought this 5 lber to the boat. She was skinnier, didn't seem recovered from the spawn. Her mouth was huge, had she been filled out I'd give her over 6. The pic isn't the best I was fishing by myself So I casted back up in the area and had another big hit, missed this one. So I grabbed my wacky rigged senko and threw it up where she hit. Line starts moving and I cross her eyes, or so I think. She makes a dive down to the grass then towards the shore. Then my hook pops out, must've not had it in there good. Didn't get a look at her but judging by the weight and power behind the runs she was probably around 5 again. So thats a bummer. Caught alot of others in the area but nothing over 3 after that. So the next day I want to hit the spot again. I'm with a buddy this time who is just getting into fishing. He got a 6 ft ML spinning rod for Xmas and has pulled some smaller fish in on it this year. I told him that if he had anything of size on there was no chance of horsing it out of the grass. He doesn't think it'll be a problem :. We're working up the short ways you can access this creek. He's throwing a senko when he gets a hit, he tells me later it was a powerful hit. Sets the hook and as soon as his rod loads up it snaps down near the handle. The look on his face was priceless. I grab the line laying on the deck thinking I might be able to hand over hand it in. As soon as the line draws tight it breaks (6 lb yo zuri), didn't even slow down that fish. I tell him he probably lost a nice one but its hard for me to tell because the line and rod were so light. I make an offhand comment that "I wish I would've hooked that fish on my gear." Well I'd get my wish. About 15 minutes later I was throwing a fluke, casted it over in the same area but on the other side of the creek (about 20 feet wide) where the 'big one' got off. My fluke hit the water, sank for about a second, and my line starts moving. The way and quickness of my line moving was unlike any other hit I can think of. One of those subtleties you pick up on out on the water but can't really describe. The best way I can explain it was that something freight trained it. I was letting it fall on a slack line so I didn't feel the hit. Well I reel up the slack and swing for a big hook set. The rod bows over (6' 8" MH Falcon low rider, a great rod for weightless plastics IMO), line tightens up, strains, then pop! Snaps. I'm standing on the deck in disbelief. I was using 12 lb Yo-Zuri and had just been bragging how I'd never broken off a fish using that haha. So immediately I think "maybe it wasn't a bass." But then I thought about it more closely, wasn't a snakehead or gar, the line didn't break near the hook from teeth, it broke about 20 ft up. Stripers wouldnt be up in 2-3ft of water far away from any deep water. Can't believe it was a catfish or carp. Had to be a big bass. Probably the same one that snapped my friends rod. But thats the story, sorry for the length but I had to share it with some people that would understand. Heres a pic of a 5 1/2 lber I caught on Sunday on a Spro frog in some thick lily pads. Sorry for the background, I caught it in an area I mentioned in another post that doesn't see too much attention compared to most areas on the Potomac and I want to keep it that way

Well got out today with my dad. Turned out to be a real good day. Started off slow, real windy which limited fishable areas. Launched from a ramp at Chopawamsic Creek and ran over to the Mallows Bay area. Only managed one small one on a Manns baby minus. So ran back to the Virginia side and started fishing in areas closer to the ramp. Long story short we ended up with a 16 lb bag, not that we were fishing a tourney, I was just keeping track. The bite definitely picked up later, buzzbaits and senkos were the ticket, nothin fancy. My dad missed two pretty nice ones on a Spro frog and spinnerbait. Lost track but we caught over 20 fish, to be honest I put on a clinic for my dad. ;D Outfished him 4 to 1 or so, but I get out more then he does so I don't hold it against him. Fish were on wood, pads, spatterdock, grass, pretty much everything but grass was the biggest producer. Anybody know what some tourneys weighed in today? I'm curious to see how a 16lb bag would've done. I really just started focusing on the Potomac this past month and a half so I'm hoping things are starting to click. I've been catchign some pretty good bass this past week. I'd write more but I'm wiped. I'll post up some more info this week when I hopefully get out some more. Here's two of the nicer ones I've caught this past week. I feel like a ****** coloring the background but I found a pretty good little area that surprisingly few boats fish so I'm trying to keep it that way. But feel free to PM me I love trading info on the river. Anybody else get out?

Same problem with the PM's, I couldn't PM you back Jason. Bummer I had written a nice little report. Unfortunately I can't make it Sat. I'll try PMing you later explaining why. Anybody know if the whole PM system is messed up or just Jcrzy's?

I'll be out. I'll send you a PM in a bit, cant right now but check later tonight.

Thanks for the report. I'm itching to get out more than I have lately. I'm hoping to get a few trips in this week. Whats the size of the majority you are catching? I seem to be stuck catching a lot in that 1.5lb range with a few larger up to 3lbs thrown in. Its getting frustrating and I dont know if I'm fishin the wrong spots, or wrong baits or both or neither I'll post up a report when I get out later this week

I know how that goes. I've (well my dad I guess ) got a Bass Tracker 185 with a 60 horse Merc. I'll post a report up tomorrow evening if I can get around to it

Really wow! That is surprising. Howd you do? I will be out for sure tomorrow, just trying to decide if I should launch out of Aquia or further north from a ramp on Quantico

I imagine. I'm gonna hit Aquia tomorrow I think so I will be able to see for myself

I was out today. Wasn't too bad in the Quantico, Powell's Creek, Mattawoman area. Sure it was muddy but just a few floaters nothing serious. Hey ron how'd you do? We ended up with only six, biggest only 2 lb 3 oz. Seemed slow, atleast for me. No pattern, just one here, one there

Havn't seen much NoVA activity as usual and especially nothing about the Potomac so thought I might try to jump start it. Since getting home from college last week I've been trying to figure them out. I've gotten 5 trips in or so, most of them this week. That cold spell with the rain this past weekend really seemed to turn them off. It was a tough bite early in the week, for me and all the other boats I talked to or fished near. Everyone seemed pretty dejected. I moved to some deeper water and fished plastics and jigs S L O W and picked up a few, biggest 3 lbs. The fish were more active after a few warm days. I've been catching pretty decent numbers on topwater, cranks and some plastics, mainly senkos. Majority were in that 1-2 lb range. Sure they're keepers but I'd like some better size, and even then the bite seemed fickle at times. I guess a lot of the females are resting up after the spawn? I've been fishing from Mallows Bay up to the Occ River. I'm curious how others are doing, feel free to PM me and we can talk if you don't want your info broadcasted over the net. Maybe I should hit some more main river cover. But anyways here's a few pics of some of the bass, I didn't bother with pics on most. Oh yeah, caught a pretty big snakehead, hard for me to guess weight on those things. Wasnt too fond of the knife in the head. How do you guys kill them, my dad suggested the easier way would've been to gut it, cant live without it's entrails. I guess he's right as most dads are

Hey man sorry I haven't got around to PMing you. I've had relatives here all week and been busy catching up on all the things related to coming home from college. I've been able to get out on the Potomac a fair amount because work hasnt started up. I'll try to post a report up in a day or two. Next week I'm starting training for this internship thing I got, should last til the first week in June. After that I dont really know how much I'll be working, we'll see. June 8th might be good for me if Jeep has to bail for some reason. Let me know whenever you have a day off in June and we'll definitely get out on the Potomac.

I stopped by the one up in Woodbridge today. They were picked over, still had some tackle though. I picked up a nice Falcon rod for $50. Those of you that have gone into the Midlothian one, do they have any rods, reels or sunglasses left?

I'm pretty sure they're only open from Thursday to Saturday. There is a gate at the turn off so you couldn't really get back in there, atleast not with a car. I think its because the county cant afford to staff the little cabin every day of the week. I'd try to verify if its even open tomorrow before going down there

Nice stripers. I imagine I know how you feel. One of my friend's dad is a huge striper fisherman in the Bay and ocean so he takes us out whenever we want pretty much. Trolling can be kinda dull although catching fish that big isn't something I do everyday. What were the weights on some of those? I always forget lengths of the ones we've caught. Biggest I've caught out there was about 30 lbs this past winter. It's fun getting out and I don't turn down a chance to go when offered but its just not the same as bass fishin. Ya know? You should try to go out in the summer when everyone is live lining for them with spot (a saltwater fish I compare to a bluegill if you dont know what they are). Its a lot more fun and the fights are more epic using spinning gear, albeit heavy spinning gear. The size is smaller usually, like 15 lbs is average, but its fun

Alright thanks guys. I'll check out the Lowrance H2O and the Garmin as well

Hmm yeah I suspected the combo would be far superior to the handheld for fishing purposes. I was trying to convince my dad of that. Maybe if I show him this he'll go with a fish finder combo

Ahh there is the famed thread. Nearly 15,000 views haha

Good question, I dont really know myself. Hadn't really thought of it before :-?. I'm curious to hear the answer

My dad is interested in buying a handheld GPS to use for fishing. The reason he doesn't want it to be a fish finder with built in GPS is because he wants to use it for backpacking and the like. How many of you all use GPS's not built into a fish finder? I dont really have much knowledge of whats available out there so I'd appreciate some suggestions

Haha old school stuff there. Good find. I watched it and couldn't stop laughing at how awkward the host was. Don't mean to hijack your thread Ron but I'm going to make the switch on a few of my baitcasting setups this year to braid. Just curious what lb test/brand you guys that fish the Potomac like and whether you use a leader or not. I'm thinking 50lb. Good luck prefishing this weekend. Let us know how you do. I've been scanning through the section in Penrod's book and I'll try to type up some info on a few of the productive areas he talks about. If all goes as planned I'll be on the water next Wed, Thurs and Fri so I'll be sure to let you know if I'm on a solid pattern. I'll be fishing further south but who knows it could still be helpful

Thanks for the quick replies. What are some 2 piecers you would recommend, baitcasting that is? I haven't asked him specifically but I'd imagine he'd want something M or MH for jigs/plastics in the $100-250 range.

Congrats man, post up some pics