Freak78

What color were they? Were they clear and in a giant mass?

That shouldn't read like that, but that is how I typed it lol. I mean the smallies are making a comeback. All of the other species are doing fine.

We have a healthy Pike population in the river near my house. They don't show up on the VDGIF site so I'm not sure if they migrated, got washed in during a flood or if someone put them. I always enjoyed catching them, and always relaesed them. These last few weeks or so I have seen them flotaing in the river or rotting on shore. I ran in to a couple of guys on my way to the car who asked what if anything I caught. The topic of Pike came up and they admitted to killing everyone they catch claiming that they aren't supposed to be here and how it's ruining the bass population. They were d**n proud of it too. This river many of you would call a creek. Crystal clear, max depth of 6 feet or so in spots and maybe 50 yards wide at the widest point. It has suffered from 2 major fish kills in the last 15 years, that all but wiped out the adult smallies and redbreast sunfish. The other populations of fish are doing well despite what they say. Pike, Musky, LMB, carp and even the SMB are making a comeback. My question is, since vdgif doesn't recognize these as native would they even care if I called them? These same people even admitted to releasing the a few pike in the towns Koi ponds which the town was NOT fond of lol

I've never brought a reel or tackle to bed, but I will look shop for tackle, read reviews and watch fishing videos in bed.

My favorite pond to fish is full of carp. It seems everytime I go they are making a commotion and I still catch fish. Everything from dinks to 5 pounders. I often catch them just off the same cattails the carp are splashing in.

Only thing edible around here is stocked trout. There are cosumption warnings at every body of water I fish.

What part of nova do you live? I was born and raised in nova and did most of my fishing in the potomac. Although most of my time was spent on a boat, I still managed to have very successful trips beating the banks. Granted it's been nearly 15 years since I fished there so things probably changed for better or worse, but I will still add what I can remember. Anything public around the gunston and pohick areas. (There were some insanely good creeks in gunston if you had a boat). The banks of the GW parkway were money as well. There is a cove that meets a creek... yup lol. The marina on the parkway was also very good. Further south around the quantico and aquia areas are very good as well and is a great spot for snakeheads before the grass takes over. Under the rt.1 bridge in woodbridge for the Occoquan. Side didn't matter too much, plus it was home to monster carp, catfish, and stripers. Even up in the town was good on either side and that includes the park on the prison side. Like I said these were very productive when I was fishing them and it has been a great number of years since I have fished there. As far as lures, all I had was cranks, crawfish imitators and manns electric grape jelly worms lol. Those were absolutely killer back then. As were the flying lures. There I said it!

Same here! I have only been hitting Shenandoah lake and the river right now. With the bite the way it's been no reason to try anywhere else for the time being. My time is limited until the days get longer. Thank god for daylight savings time lol!

I would too but it's pretty much all I have for a quick trip. Gander is an hour away and bps and cabelas are both 2.5 hours away.

Lol that's about how my muck goes. Especially with Gander mountain. They advertise a really good sale but have none of the items in stock. For some dumb reason my store has the baitball and sunfish seperate. With the frogs on a seperate end cap.

My local Dick's had signs up for *** and livetarget frogs, buy one get one free. I grabbed 8 and went off to the register and they didn't ring up on sale. I showed them the sign and they honored it. We back the next day to get some for my wife and nephew and again they rang up as not being on sale and honored it again, only this time they took the sign down. They also had buy one get one %50 percent off on all GY and Keitech lures, and 5 jawbone frogs for 10 dollars. Sale is supposed to run until Saturday for those who don't know. Maybe the *** and livetarget target issue is resolved.

Bridgewater, just outside of harrisonburg.

The bite has REALLY picked up here in the Shenandoah valley. Hitting everything from cranks, chatterbaits,soft plastics and even managed a few on topwater. I'm limited to the shore since I don't have my kayak ready yet so all of my catches have been between the shallows and around 5 feet deep.

Thanks Wayne. I have been to Smith and Douthat before and had some luck. I will definitely add the others to the list. I haven't heard of carvin before. The New river was just suggested to me today and came highly recommended. Definitely looking forward to checking it out. Thanks for the advice! I usually read the booklet or browse vdgif but alot of those places are pretty bad and or not for me. That concrete pond comes up alot in discussions but I haven't made it there yet. Fall ball is taking my precious fishing time.

I have witnessed 3 pulled in scaleface. Two happened minutes after I got done warning that in can and will happen at any minute. Both of those being the wife and kid lol

My wifes grandfather only used cane poles. And everytime we went he out fished me 2 to 1. He had them in all different lengths and sizes. He wasn't shy about bragging either. Always wanted to give one a try.

The warden I spoke with said they only have 49 not counting higher ups for the state. I figured when I moved here that since I was near one of the best trout fisheries or so it's claimed they they would be out in force. Couldn't be further from the truth.

33's will always be near and dear to me. Its wasn't until the internet had been around until I heard them being referred to as kids toys and whatnot. Hell I met several pros on the potomac who either had one in the boat or sung thier praises. Ease of use, quality (back then) and simply never broke or got tangled. I might go buy another lol

One could argue tho that the decline in fishing and outdoor activity are one in the same. Everything is a trickle down effect. As others have stated is been noticed everywhere. I live in the sticks where camo appearal is an everyday thing, where confereradte flags still fly, and country music is the music of choice and its not even close. Hunting and fishing used to be huge here. Now it's not. I also live 5 minutes away from to big colleges and even with the influx of all those students you might see one or 2 of them on the water. Even at the lake on campus. I'm not complaining as I now have more choice and peace and quiet when I want to get on the water. That just wasn't the case just a few years ago. Like I stated before, I used to avoid weekends, holidays, free fishing weekend, kids fishing days, early trout season, first stocking of the regular season..you name it. Now it literally makes no difference as to what's going on. Theres no one really out there.

I found the pdf on my wifes phone and made more copies than I should ever need. I would be willing to bet I will never encounter one again, at least around here but at least I will be prepared.

I was just talking about the 33s in another thread. Those used to be the only things me and my dad used. But 25 years ago mine were definitely all metal and not plastic. The quality has definitely went downhill on them.But they are still a good combo to start on and a great value at what..19.99? Between me and my dad and my son and I zebco 33s have outright murdered fish of all types.

I grew up on a zebco 33. Used that for many many years and caught 100's of large fish in multiple species. I even used them into my 20's but the quality of them has definitely changed over the years. I got the boy using them and man it was tough getting one to last a month without breaking down. He caught the bass in my picture on them and well as numerous pike, cats, and 35+ lb carp. You absolutely do not need to put hundreds into rigs to catch fish.

Because I have never carried a wallet with me when I am in the woods or on the water. Especially since I go wading alot and usually end up traveling on my mountain bike to get there. I believe in packing as light as possible. Or say I got in late one night and left my wallet or fishing license in the car and my wife, who leaves before I do needs the car for x y and z reasons. Do I really drive an hour all the way home to get it and an hour back to the spot? No I don't. I said it happens more often than I care to admit but it's not like it's an everyday thing.

I really think it's because of all the conveniences of technology and everything that comes with that as others have said. Growing up you couldn't keep me in the house or off the water. Now kids would rather play Call of duty than do anything else.