Choporoz

Wasn't familiar with those until I saw Roland shilling for them the other day.....made me a little sad

I fish some fairly deep, and very woody waters, but I love my lipless baits. For years, I avoided lures over a 1/2 oz because I was afraid they'd get down in the wood and snag worse than lighter ones. It turns out that the heavier lipless are actually much better for me at depths over 10' even when forested. I feel I have a better sense of the depth I'm working; I have better sensitivity to snags at depth; and the pleasant surprise is that the heavier lures will act as their own plug knockers and fall out of a snag due to the weight of the lure -- at least much more so than 1/2 oz lures.

I made a comment like this many years ago. Not too long after, I had an opportunity to get a nice Quantum Smoke reel at something of a discount. They are now my favorite reels...over similarly priced Daiwa and Shimanos. What I had failed to take into account was that I made my tarnished opinion of entire brand off of one low-end reel. What was worse, was that I publicly announced that opinion without qualifying it adequately. Now, I try to be more careful about specifying models, not just brands, when posting about quality. As to the OP, much depends upon not only the model/brand, but on amount and type of use, and whether basic maintenance has been done. I have only owned three baitcast reels with MSRP under $100 and all were good for about three years of regular use. Two of them made it another year and a half with professional cleaning/lubrication.

Thanks, @fishwizzard. Looks like they still have a bunch at Overstock ($4.99)

I found a pack of GYCB 4" curly tail worms the other day that were buried in a basement pile. Skinny things. Caught biggest bass of my last four trips with it on a shaky head. I'd like to find more.

7" Rage Tail Thumper looks very similar, also.

I never stand. Pitching was a bit awkward at first, but really didn't take very long to get real comfortable doing it. Over about 15 feet, I typically roll-cast, but can pitch it out there a ways at times. One thing I haven't mastered is flipping from a kayak.

Don't much care one way or any other. I do wish, however, that KVD had put his name on some Smoke reels. Only because I'd be all over the closeouts. I so love my subpar Smokes.

Been meaning to get my yak over there. I fear that it will be a bit crowded this year since WaPo travel section did a feature last Sunday. Maybe next spring. Unfortunate that while it is about 3 1/2 miles away, the drive is well over an hour each way....two plus depending on time of day.

Sometimes the dinks are just going to get that hook stuck deep. As suggested above, the preventative measure is to get that hook set sooner. Too often dinks will pick it up and start moving long before you feel anything. The better line watchers have less issues with the swallowed hooks, generally.

Over the past two years, I bought about 40% of my tungsten from Siebert and TW when on sale. OM fishingsinkers the remaining 60%. I highly recommend OM and Siebert. TW sale tungsten....well, I just need to pay more attention when I order -- too much of the sale tungsten I've gotten from TW has been really shiny chrome...ok for some applications, but not what I expected

Widewater Hope Springs Willow Landing Aquia Landing Park ...I don't know anything about government island area -- but if there's good yak launch area around there, please update this....I could have used it a few months ago; and maybe next year

Congratulations. I wish your son well. I can really shed no more light on the shouts. Army and Marines are proud of theirs and use them in lots of situations and contexts....in uniform, or away from official duty/business settings. Aside from some smaller communities within the Navy, there isn't really a Navy shout/cheer....except maybe from those with some connection to the Academy, who will willingly yell "Go Navy! Beat Army!" with minimal prompting. Putting aside any snakehead discussion, because I don't see the relevance. Certainly, we are affecting the environment in untold ways; fertilizer, shore development, dams, being some major ones off the top of my head. In fact, few waters around here except the Potomac and tribs are natural in any sort of imaginable way. DGIF seems to do a pretty decent job in this state...sure, many have taken issue with some of their actions/inactions, but for the most part, they seem to garner more respect than DNR's in other states. DGIF sets limits and slot limits to help 'manage' the fish populations and balances. It if quite common for bass to become 'stunted' when not enough short fish are harvested. Tons of dinks and few hawgs can result without management and isn't generally considered desirable. I have zero objective data on harvests by shore fishermen, but I just haven't heard from DGIF, nor wildlife biologists that there's a real negative impact on game fishing. Might be, but I doubt it. Regardless, I think we can agree that we shouldn't tolerate illegal taking. But, if they have a license and respect bag limits, I have zero qualms with other fishermen harvesting.

Hooray, maybe. Let's leave 'hoorah' to the jar heads ... USN Ret. I can't entirely agree. The fees seemed more than reasonable to me. (Although they did waive them for our event.) The launches (Two of them!) were first class. That doesn't come cheap. I suppose they could allow McMansions to surround the lake and use real estate taxes to cover costs. This wasn't a natural lake, as I'm sure you're aware. So, I guess if they made it, maintain it, and make it available to you and I....well, I will share the cost. I had no idea that it was illegals doing the poaching. Thanks for that enlightenment. I fully support legal harvesting for food. In fact, contrary to your points, most lakes NEED selective harvesting to maintain healthy bass populations. LOTS of reasons for a decline in big largemouths in a body of water. Bucket fishermen isn't likely one of them.

Siebert Outdoors' Fogy? I use them. They are good. -Strengths: they catch fish -Weaknesses: None, really. There's two I like better, but it's splitting hairs. -Strength and weakness depending: They ride a little lower than some others -Action on the water: they vibrate when you're reeling them in -If feel I should order chatterbaits and I'm putting in a SO order, I'll always throw Fogy's on it. Note: My chatterbait use is probably 50% shallow/weedy; 30% around hard cover; 20% other. I use Rage Bug as trailer very nearly 100% of the time now. Always white....except on dark blue/black lures, when I use a dark blue/black Bug.

Possibly the first post I've seen on BR in praise of the cost (and durability) of senkos

What are the issues?

I'd guess that ....it depends. I have Hobie 180. You have to pull a cable. Takes about 2 seconds. I don't use it often....most of the time is for close in combat snags. But some windy days it can help with boat positioning. But precise control isn't possible because rudder effectiveness is lousy in reverse. Definitely worth the upgrade cost to me. But if I didnt have it, I'd probably just use hand paddle a little and not miss it much.

What?! ------------------------ I just bought a $120 pair of Merrells for fishing. But, admittedly, if they weren't on the 75% off clearance table, they wouldn't have gotten a second glance....I will say that they pretty sweet....I might pay more than $30 if I ever need another pair

I now (mostly) only use it for braid and rarely concern myself with how I tighten it. I learned as @Team9ninedescribed. I read somewhere on the interwebs that with fluro that you MUST pull the tag to tighten....and most important: DON'T CROSS THE STREAMS. I was a little more careful when I used it with fluoro, but changed to SDJ before too long anyway

As you've already learned, this isn't easy to answer. But the fact that you are asking means you're a lot farther along than you let on. My answer....for me....is almost always 'too fast'. I fish fast. Crazy to think that someone that can spend 12 hours at a time FISHING has so little patience....but that is me. I've gotten better, but I still need to make a conscious decision to slow down many days. Just recently I was out in kayaks with my wife. I was getting skunked. She was getting bit. I paddled over and found that she was (unlike some descriptions above) casting a senko and letting it sit. I wouldn't even say it was a slow retrieve. She would lift her rod tip up, set it down and then do absolutely nothing with it for up to a couple minutes at a time. I cannot do that. But I did manage to get bit by letting it sit for what seemed like minutes at a time, though in reality was probably rarely longer than 15 or 20 seconds. If I'm targeting a small spot, such as a single branch in a laydown or a 2 foot diameter depression, I may let a jig or worm set for just a couple seconds early in the day, but will easily adjust longer until I start getting bit. Rarely more than about 6-7 seconds, though. Dragging down ledges and down and across points or featureless areas where I have less confidence there's a fish 'right there'....I typically keep moving my bait, even if fairly slowly. Might be a lift, drop, sit for a couple seconds, but compared to others, I suspect that I move my bait somewhat quickly. Chatterbaits and spinnerbaits largely depend on the conditions. I'd like them to be ticking grass or branches or pilings, typically, so speed is more dependent on the environment than the fish. Sometimes I want them popping off the bottom, so they will be stopped at times to sink and set for a second or two. I know that it is rarely, if ever, true that I've had better luck by fishing faster....and I often do better when I slow down...but, it is a challenge for me. And don't even ask me about drop shotting.....I'm the owl from the Tootsie Pop commercials that were on when I was young

Oh.....about the boats...never mind, then. All the places I know of are jon boats. (Fountainhead, Lake Ridge, Burke, Brittle, Orange....) Sorry If you end up with a kayak, lmk -- I'll point you to some local FB groups with tons of info, tournys, meet ups, etc.

Welcome. Not a huge number of shore fishing opportunities close. Depending on the tides...and the fish attitudes, you can sometimes hit them good from spots accessible at Pohick park. If you have access to Belvoir, you can catch bass from both of the piers there. There's a few places around where you can rent boats. I'll try to dig up links to a couple old threads with details.

That's exactly what I want it for. Chatterbait has become my go-to on most waters. I am using a 7'MHF now and it works very well....but....the monkey said.....

I wish you luck, Harold. When you find some, buy all you can. Seems that lots of JDM soft plastics are like that....(I suppose there's lots that come and go quickly here, too) If it isn't Reins, Keitech or Jackall, I have little confidence I'll find it again soon