Dan:

Depends on the store and what you're looking for. They have lots of run of the mill lures, but they don't carry more specific stuff. They also have good deals quite often. They often don't carry very many reels and the rod selection is typically terrible. They best rods my DSG has are some lower end All Stars and sometimes St. Croix, other than that it's mostly junk.

fixed

oh boy. Why do so many of these kids insist on wasting their gifts and chances to a great life on such stupid things?!?!?

Yeah, thats what I use too.....my son got tired of spending 3 or 4 hours a month holding spools for me so he bought me one for my birthday last year. Smart kid. haha, that's great. My family gets sick of holding line for me as well.

Yeah, I'll have to see how April goes. I get out of school the first week of May. I will almost certainly be able to fish then. I live in Falls Church so I have a place to stay that's pretty close. It only take me a little over an hour to get to the Rapp and a little longer to the Rapidan. It would be very fun to go on a group wade trip. I never fish with anyone who's into it quite as much as I am, that should be fun.

We've got something like a George Foreman, but bigger. Most of the time I can make some pretty tasty stuff, nothing fancy or too difficult, but it tastes good. The other day we had jerk marinated chicken, red beans and rice, and garlic peas and mushrooms. The rice and the veggies were just microwaved out of bags, but they taste pretty dang good. The chicken was awesome. Marinating chicken is one of my favorite things to do. It's very easy to do and it tastes great. LBH, I thought about melted plastic fumes, but me and my roommates were too hungry. ;D Next time I'll be more careful though. BTW, I'd like to recommend Bird's Eye Steamfresh Vegetables, especially to guys like me in college. It's really easy to leave vegetables out at school but these are really easy to make and they actually are delicious. You just microwave them in the bag for a few minutes and then pour them out. That's it. Give em a try, they make your school meals feel more like mom's.

Looks like a lot of fun. What baits are you getting them on?

normally me and my roommates eat mostly microwave stuff but we try to eat some real food once in a while. Mostly marinated chicken, pork, etc with rice, potatoes, veggies, etc... That happened to be the case tonight...

Well, this year has been my first year living at school in an apartment so I've been picking up some new things, you know, the regular cooking, cleaning, etc... now that no one does it for me anymore. Today's lesson: Cook the food, not the silverware. My knife, after I left it on a pan of pork tenderloin that I put back into the oven after checking its progress. It was melted to the pan and mushy, almost like a sponge. I had to scrape it off the pan which I am probably going to have to throw out along with the knife anyway. Normally, this story would be embarrassing, but I think it's pretty darn funny too. The pork tasted ok, so I'm happy. :-[ ;D

omg, that was so funny, 71rig! on a serious note, The Rapp is the easiest wading I've found. Sandy bottom, seclusion, clear water, and its pretty clean as far as I know. Not to mention good fishing.

Once he saw me, he went toward the bank, I cast a jerkbait, walking it on the surface like the motion the snake was making and then let it sink. Fish caught. (well, after he jumped 4ft out of the water--I really crossed his eyes good)

Anime is right. The different options are called "mirrors." They are alternative servers to download the same file. By storing the files on different servers around the world, there are increased download speeds for more people and less chance of losing the file due to a server outage.

It's not that bad. Most of the ones I see are water snakes. They usually stay as far away as possible. You just have to be careful getting to the water, once you're in, they are pretty easy to see and avoid. One time I saw one swimming and a big smallie was chasing him, I ended up catching the smallie and thanking the snake for bringing the fish to me.

I think people live in Remington, but I'm not sure if they have the internet. ;D Sam, I think he's looking at places like the Phelps WMA and Kelly's Ford which are off of Sumerduck Road South of Remington. There are lots of snakes, too. They usually leave people alone though, just be careful. There is some good wade fishing, too.

Hey Dominick, I'm trying to stick up for you here buddy, but these youngsters have drawn a target on your butt. What did you do to these guys?? ;D Ronnie He donates rods and look what he gets.

Awesome pics Burley. I especially like those smallies with the huge guts. Looks like they've been munchin on those Baconators ;D

x2

I do-oo-oo

DON'T YOU SAY THAT!!!! :'( That burger changed my life. and I agree about Wendy's, I can't stand their burgers. They have great chicken but their burgers are a few steps below Burger King, IMO

No prob, J. The pond at Phelps is rough as well. It isn't huge, you can walk quite a ways around it though. I don't know any of the contours of the lake, it seems to be very shallow near all the banks. Good luck finding structure, if you do, let me know. They have some citation size redears in there, i believe. Kelly's Ford is pretty close to the place I told you about last year. I've fished the river from the Phelps Management area but never from the bank. It is a very nice wade though, very sandy bottom. Me and my buddy fished from the southernmost part of the WMA and waded upstream and caught 50 smallies between us in a few hours one time. I've only gotten in at Kelly's Ford, I usually get in from another access point from the WMA. I know there are fish there though. To be honest, there isn't a ton of bank fishing that I've seen, and lots of the bank is highly elevated from the riverside. Maybe your dad's friend from work has some trails that I didn't find. You probably already have it, but check out THIS MAP[/url ] of the river and THIS MAP of the WMA. I used to park at the southern most red gate on the WMA map and walk to the water from there. It's a long walk and a difficult entrance to the river though. The bank is also very brushy and elevated from the river in this stretch as well so it's really only good for wading. You'd be better off at Kelly's Landing until the water is wade-able. Good luck, Hopefully when the water gets warm and I get out of school, we can try to get out to the Rapidan.

man, i really wish i could...

I've fished it a few times. Never caught a smallmouth, but I didn't go in the prime time of the year (I made a few trips between Dec. 06 and Feb. 07). You also need a trout stamp to fish the lake as it is a designated trout stocked water. You can get them online the same way you get a regular license. The lake has lots of wood brush in it, you may lose some of those tubes and jigs on the bottom. You can't actually walk around the whole perimeter of the lake because the brush is too thick on the side that is opposite of the dam. You can loop around this brush on one of the hunting trails but that's going to take a while and you won't be able to fish that part. Smallmouth at Thompson are rare, brown trout are a little easier to catch. I would stick with the jerkbait idea. work the deep dropoffs near the dam and on the sides of the lake adjacent to the dam. The jerkbaits might get you some brown trout as well. I caught a couple (including one really nice one) on an x-rap in perch last time I was there. You might want to take some corn and some light action setups to set out for trout if you don't get any bass. Good luck, the VDGIF has a picture of a pig smallie from Thompson, hopefully there are more like him. Post some pics if you get any. PS. be careful if it's still wet, it had rained recently one time when I went and there was mud EVERYWHERE along the banks. You may also want to wear bright colors, especially if you go on any of the hunting paths. Most hunting seasons are closed, but some are open and you never know.

I've only dipped once in a week. Now when I open a can, it makes my stomach turn.

lol, good one Sam

those sinkin' salty shads are awesome! try them on the carolina rig, that's what I plan on doing once it gets warm.