Dan:

I'm not sure how much stock I put into the estimates of reserves available for drilling, they are almost always lower than the actual amount

it has to be bare-a$$ed, too...lol I haven't had pink eye in probably 6-8 years but I used to get it ALL the time when I was young. I really hated it, at least it usually doesn't last too long.

Holy crap! that thing is giant! That megabass crank seems to be one of your confidence lures, eh?

I always thought it was funny that lawmakers in CA decided not to allow drilling off of their coast, arguing that it was the right of a state to decide whether or not to allow drilling in its territory. Yet when the threat of the people of Alaska (who would largely support drilling in their territory) voting to start drilling comes up, suddenly it's not a state's right to decide, it's the federal government's...and they won't let Alaska decide to drill or not, even though CA was able to decide it as a state issue.

to be honest, I'm a little frightened by horses. And cows. I don't have very much up close experience with either so there is just something offsetting about my inability to read an animal that is capable of kicking me across a field or stomping me to death.

are you suggesting we reduce foreign trade and try to produce for ourselves?

Hah! Mountain goats normally live in high altitude and steep terrain to avoid predators, now what are they gonna do?

From what I hear, supply and demand doesn't have that much effect on the current price increased. I saw a guy on the news today talking about a proposal to cut military deals to OPEC countries until they increase production and lower prices. That seems like a good idea to me...

Presidents are very nice reels. There's something classy about reeling in a fish with a rosewood handle

use the lightest weight jig you can get away with

I once caught a bluegill on a LC Pointer...that was weird. Also, often times when I wade rivers for smallmouth I use shaky heads with finesse worms. Redbreast sunfish and green sunfish used to bother the heck out of me by biting my worm and making me set the hook on a fish that couldn't fit the bait into its mouth...Eventually, I started to be able to tell the difference between sunfish and bass bites. A sunfish bite is generally more like pecking while the bass usually are one solid bite. If you are using live bait, I don't think you have many options besides harvesting some of the bluegills.

So I think Mercer may be difficult without a boat. All the trails were tight to the water line before the rain. I'm still researching other options for tomorrow. What do you think? Has anyone fished Lake Accotink? don't bother with Accotink.

all my orders from *** have taken a week...I'm in VA

most of the time I use flukes in rivers and I try to pull them from shallow water into deeper holes. To do this, I usually just throw it out and immediately start walking it across the surface until it comes over the deeper water, then I let it drift to the bottom. If that doesn't work, I'll throw it out, let it sink, jerk it back about 2/3 of the way up the water column and let it sink again.

I had trouble with them. I wasn't expecting to catch fish because it's still not time for topwater yet but I found that I had to retrieve mine incredibly fast to get them to work properly. Anyone else experience this? Is that just the way the bait is meant to work or am I doing something wrong?

good to know, thanks. I've been meaning to stop by there. It's much closer to me, too.

I'm going out to fish some high water now. I'll let you know my most recent opinion on it after I get back...

WHAT THE? why can't we link to other sites for information.

wow, nice. I wish I could get in on that action.

nah waters are fine, now maybe building somewhere and water is not there is another topic. There is plenty of research and scholarship that would beg to disagree.

If you can find one, I would say the previous Stradic model. It retails for around $100 now that the new ones came out but it is a very nice reel. If you can't find one of them, then I concur with the Pflueger Supreme suggestions.

I think fish do get accustomed to frequently used lures but I don't think it's to a large or long lasting degree. As others said, classic lures continue to produce. I don't think fish think along the lines of "watch out, don't get caught" as much as they think "i need food, that looks like food". I don't think they are as cautious as they are hungry.

Sure, maybe for those who can afford it, but it becomes a problem for the world's majority of people who are poor and cannot afford the delivery of water without it becoming more economically viable.

I've never fished it but a guy I used to work with pulled some nice fish from there. Let me know how it goes and how much the pass is.

ahahahaha. I'm not sure I would want that... ;D