RockvilleMDAngler

This is huge! I take a lot of my friends fishing and usually I am the only person they have ever fished with. The first few times out they only catch the fish that really slam the lures since they are not completely 100% focused on the lure and they never felt or noticed the subtle bites. This is mostly true for soft plastics but I have seen it happen with frogs and buzzbaits too, if you are not dialed in and ready to set the hook at any given time then you will definitely not catch as many fish. By the fourth or fifth trip (if they like it the first time) my friends are usually getting much better at this and when that happens they have a lot more fun but talk less/drink less beer/eat less etc. This is not a problem just for brand new anglers, I have had guys in the boat in tournament situations who considered themselves serious anglers who have not figured this out, they pay attention for the first 1/3 of the retrieve then just go through the motions while talking or staring off into the distance. When you get a bite you should be able to quickly identify what your lure was doing when it was bit so you can repeat it.

I definitely don't want to spend that kind of $ since I fish too often and change line too often to invest in that level of gear. Also my wife is 4 months pregnant so fishing tackle expenditures are sure to be cut down going forward. Again I am looking for a 12lb fluoro in bulk spools with sensitivity comparable to that of XPS 12lb.

Is the Invisx more sensitive than the abrazx?

For two years I have thrown my soft plastics on XPS 12lb-20lb fluoro but I am tired of ordering from BPS then waiting 2+ weeks for the stuff to arrive (it always takes a least a week for them to "process" the order) and paying huge shipping costs. I always bought the big 800-1000 yard spools of the stuff which would last all year. I am looking for a 12-14lb fluorocarbon that is as sensitive as the XPS and comes in bulk spools. I go through too much line to keep buying the boutique lines in 120 yard spools. I tried the Seaguar Abrasx and while it was limp and manageable it was nowhere near as sensitive (in 12lb, the 20lb was much more sensitive). The Trilene 100% fluoro was decent but still not as sensitive. I even tried the Sunline Sniper FC and I didn't think that stuff was as sensitive as the XPS (but it was better than the Seaguar and Trilene) and it was wayyyy too expensive to use as my primary line. Anyone have any other recommendations? I am buying the smaller spools to test these lines out but I would love to find one sooner rather than later so that I don't end up wasting money and accumulating half-used spools that I will never use again. I am going to try out the PLine fluorocarbon (I always liked their fluoroclear for moving baits) this weekend but if that fails I am running out of ideas. Also if it is available at *** that would be ideal (free shipping!).

In my experience a pop with a slack line is better at making a popper spit while popping with a tighter line with a downward movement of the rod will make it bloop. Vary up the spitting and blooping for best results.

Judging by the size of the head that bass appears to be pretty stunted. Harvesting the dinks might be the best option but it's no fun killing all the little fish. I guarantee you that there are some big fish in that pond but harvesting some of the smaller ones would allow for the general population to thrive. That appears to be a carp but judging from the amount of grass in that pond I doubt it is a grass carp, it's probably some other type of carp. With that thick grass I would throw a rage shad on braided line for a big momma.

This is how I usually rig my tubes: http://tackle.redshad.com/tips/PekTube1.php All you need is a jighead with a weedguard and a coctail straw

Launched out of Pohick by myself around 10:30 (late start thanks to catching up on sleep following a 2-day Deep Creek Lake tournament) and fished the right shoreline out to the main river pitching jigs and blue fleck power worms to standing timber. Caught 6 fish biggest was 3lbs then went accross the river to Pomonkey where I caught 4 2-pounders at the grass at the mouth. Decided to go back into Pomonkey and caught 8 bass from 1.5 to 2.5 pounds on a speedcraw. On the way out I pitched a sweet beaver to a laydown log right accross from all the beached party boats having a great ol time, a big fish inhaled it and I got her to the boat but when I went to lip her my hand bumped the hook and she was able to shake out of my grip. She looked to be every bit of 7 pounds. I was crushed. Went back to Pohick where I took two dinks off the dolphins at the Navy pier. Headed home at 4:30. Wasn't able to get bit on a crankbait, chatterbait, spinnerbait, frog, or popper but the soft plastic bite was definitely on. I talked with some people who had done well on walk-the-dog baits but I never tried one.

I have an open back deck tomorrow if anyone wants to come along.

If it is really muddy then the Washington Harbour is your best bet, it is pretty protected and clear even when bad weather hits. The Spoils is also a good spot to fish. Be careful when navigating the Blue Plains/Spoils/Alexandria vicinity there are a lot of obstructions that can destroy your lower unit. Immediately up river from the spoils is a large man-made point called Fox Ferry point that comes a few hundred yards off shore and it is submerged 99% of the time but will destroy your boat if you hit it. Outside of Blue Plains there are lots of old submerged docks that can really mess you up if you run into them.

We stayed in Aquia and went way back into the no wake zone.

Depending on the time of year, weather, and tides Mattawoman can either be world class or frustrating as hell. Once the summer arrives I find that Mattawoman is a little bit more consistent, frogs over grass beds and texas rigs or cranks along grass edges consistently put fish in the boat and punching mats can give you some real bigguns. During the spring the fish move around a lot and are more vulnerable to inclement weather.

I launched Sunday at 10:00 from Hope Springs at Aquia and it was REALLY low! I heard guys saying that the wind was too strong and that they hadn't gotten a bite etc. but we tried the mouth of the creek anyway and quickly realized it was a bad idea since the wind was unmerciful. We carefully navigated to the back of the creek where we found deeper water and caught a ton of fish along pad edges (most of the pads were completely out of the water) and standing timber. Caught at least 20 fish but nothing on poppers/spinnerbaits/chatterbaits, they only wanted the texas rig. Biggest was this 4-10 spawned out female on a texas rigged speed craw: Putting the boat back on the trailer was very difficult but we were able to get it on by getting out feet wet. Once the wind dies down a bit the water will come back up (if it hasn't already) but exploring with such low water was a VERY informative experience.

If the rod retailed for $600 and had no charge for the expeditor service I would still buy one. That rod is simply awesome.

Mallows Bay is an awesome fishery but you can really damage a boat there if you don't know the layout of the wrecks. The book "The Ghost Fleet of Mallows Bay" is an excellent read and has several good layouts of the locations of the barges which has been very helpful when fishing the wrecks. During the summer you can have a hell of a time getting to the wrecks at low tide when the grass is really thick. There are a few really nice spots in there that hold some monsters but you need to expect to lose lures and don't try going in to get that $10 crankbait off that innocent looking wood.

I have several Loomis rods two of which are GLX rods, one is a flipping stick which has never broken and the other is a BCR853GLX which I have broken 4 times in 3.5 years. The tip keeps breaking off (it has happened on a hookset, twice on a cast, and while trying to free a snag) but the expeditor replacement service get's them back to you quickly. If that rod was not BY FAR the best texas rig rod I have ever used (over Steez, Dobyns Extreme, JB Custom, Powell, Cumara, Legend Elite) I would not keep dealing with the tips breaking. That rod has a light tip but transmits absolutely everything, I end up throwing it 75% of the day unless the bite is on a frog or moving bait and when it isn't in my hand I start thinking about switching to it. It casts a mile, pitches perfectly, and is the most sensitive stick on the market. It is totally worth the cost and the expeditor cost every year. I once threw a texas rig to a duck blind and got a backlash, I had 15 yards of slack out after clearing the backlash and got a bite that I actually HEARD through the recoil guides despite all the slack line in the water. It sounded like someone hitting a guitar string. I reeled in the slack and set the hook on a 4 pounder that I never felt, there is no way I would have caught that fish on another rod.

I threw it at Aquia with no bites but they sure were hitting a swimmin jig and a spinnerbait! Soft plastics pitched to holes in the grass was also very productive.

You are really nailing them in that raft! Way to go! I used to fish exclusively out of a Sea Eagle inflatable boat and I got hassled all the time from the DNR about not having numbers on it. I had it registered but could not put the decals on it, I just made sure that I always had my registration card in my wallet so that I could show them I had it taken care of. Be sure to also have a PFD, noise making device (whistle will work), flare, etc because they will ticket you if you don't have everything you are required to have.

This is my new favorite thread.

I fished Pohick on Sunday with my buddy Nick and we slammed them. Best producer was a red lipless crankbait but we caught fish on everything we threw. Chatterbaits, jigs, beaver, spinnerbait, and swimbait all caught fish. Best 5 would have been between 15 and 18 (we caught so many that we stopped weighing them after the first hour) and big fish was only 4.5lbs. I fished on Saturday with Teddy Carr in the Aquia region, my goal was to learn that area and I learned a ton. The cold front kept the bite down a bit but we still caught a lot of fish, biggest was a hair under 4lbs on a spinnerbait. The water temps had dropped 10 degrees from Thursday to Saturday but the warm weather Sunday really got them going. Now I leave tomorrow for a tournament at Gaston! Man I love the spring!!!!

Those are some real nice fish!!!

Looks like an awesome day! I fished the river both days this weekend and caught them on traps Saturday but Sunday the trap bite died so I caught them on a black and blue jig on wood cover in 8 feet of water. Biggest was around 4. Had I known Pohick was on fire I would have saved gas and not run to Mattawoman!

Congrats on the new boat and succesful steering upgrade! Since you are new to bass boating and bass fishing in general I advise you to join a bass club as a co-angler before going out on the River regularly. There are thousands of navigational hazards on the river that can mess your boat up big time! Fishing as a co-angler with some experienced anglers is a great way to learn the little things (trailering, tilt/trim operation, chine walk prevention etc.) as well as learn how to navigate a very hazardous river. Since your boat is a late 80's model that you got for a very good price I assume it does not have GPS, learning the best routes from an experienced angler will save you hours and hours of heartache not to mention serious $. Plus fishing with experienced guys will help your techniques and show you lots of new spots to fish. Regarding the boat age/maintenance situation: I tend to agree with Stratos 375. I am still using my first boat which I bought in July of 2008. It is a 1998 Skeeter 16'2" with a 90hp Yamaha 2 stroke. It was the biggest boat I felt comfortable towing with my Chevy Equinox. Since I bought it I have had to do the following maintenance as a result of unforseen issues (this does not count the other upgrades I did like GPS/new prop/1st 24v trolling motor/new seats/new trailer lights/new steering wheel/battery switch and trolling motor breaker switch): -Re-wire the whole boat as the old wires were corroded (this is a constant problem since you cannot keep all water out of the boat, I have had to have at least three seperate wire repairs since re-wiring the boat the first time) -Rebuild the whole motor after I sucked in some wood chips in Neabsco Creek, the overheat alarm did not work so I nearly killed the whole thing by idling it back to Leesylvania. -Replace all bilge pumps and livewell pumps which required the removal of my gas tank. -Replace a trailer wheel hub after the hub went bad 3/4 of the way to Chickahominy Lake at 11:45PM, I had to limp the boat in to the resort as I didn't have the replacement part and all the boat stores were closed. The boat had to stay at the resort till Wed. since my hub had a custom nut that was damaged and needed to be sent from Skeeter. -Replace 2 different depth finder transducers which were smacked by random logs/rocks and broke from the bracket. -Replace 2 different battery chargers, luckily the second one was still under warranty. One failed after the first day of a 2-day tournament so the second day I had barely any trolling motor power and fell from 4th to 18th. -Had to replace my 6 month-old trolling motor after the motor fell off the shaft while on plane. I hated the motor anyway so after it was replaced I sold it for a new one. Never buy the MOtorguide Wireless series!!! You get the point. S**t happens on an older boat and you need to be ready for those costs or your boat will end up on craigslist at 1/2 what you paid for it.

I had a tournament out of Gravelly on Saturday, while everyone else fished blue plains and the spoils I made the run to Mattawoman. It was like running an obstacle course with all the logs but I made it with no trouble. Fish were in the middle of the creek and were vulnerable to lipless cranks and jigs. Went out again on Sunday out of Leesylvania and caught a 4 pounder and a few 3's with several smaller fish. They are really starting to bite right now!

I would like Anna a lot more if it had grass like the potomac. Fishing grass is my favorite way to fish.