Dan:

XLFISH, they had Tylures Swimbaits and Mattlures hardbaits at DTT, a couple places had DEPS Highsiders, and I saw a few places with some big Magic Swimmers. I don't remember any other REAL swimbaits.

how "cold" are we talking?

Yep, Pro Tech was near the DTT booth but they really didn't have too much stuff at all. How audacious of those guys. I would take one of your Fenwick's over any of their rods...

I was going to warn you last night that there was no Daiwa booth but I forgot about it. Did you stop by the Dave's Tournament Tackle booth? They had some cool stuff. Average prices but stuff that I don't see very often like ima, deps, etc.. Was it just me or did Pro Tech's booth seem a little light this year? I'll bet that was the JB Rods booth, wasn't it? Those guys are always very ballsy. They will NOT STOP TALKING TO YOU if you stop in their booth. I agree with you about the rods too. They were ok. Nothing awesome and most of the rods had crappy guides. They sure do like to use that dollar bill demo trick, but I"m pretty sure you can feel a dollar bill across the tip guide of just about any graphite rod... I wish we could have had a meet up but I just couldn't manage a second trip down there. Besides, I managed to catch my first 2 bass of the year while fishing today instead. ;D

the Maxx is good but I honestly don't have any problems with Spro frogs. I've caught tons of bass on Spro frogs and even a few snakeheads with no problems.

Pretty much any river. Near you there is the Shenandoah, the North, the South, and the Middle. Also the James and the New.

Just got back. Went to Green Top (twice), the Expo, Gander Mtn, and BPS. What a day. Check out Gander Mtn. They had Daiwa Zillions for $100 off retail plus some other reels that were steeply discounted. Green Top was cool. They always have stuff that I haven't seen anywhere else. The Expo was definitely smaller than the past couple years but there was still some cool stuff. Dave's Tournament tackle is a must. They will build spinnerbaits,jigs, and buzzbaits to order right there in front of you. There is also a booth next to it that was selling Culprit stuff for $1.50/a bag and Xcalibur stuff for $5/lure. Very good prices. I also saw some cool rods around. JB Customs, Kipper sticks, Powells, Damiki, Shimanos, Daiwas, etc... I saw Cumaras for $160. My buddy bought a beat up (but mechanically good) TD-X for $25 from fishing Pro Tech. I also saw some rare japanese type stuff, 3:16 frogs that were HUGE, some cool swimbaits that are hard to find, sweet soft plastics, and some custom jigs/spinnerbaits. We saw Gerald Swindle's seminar at the bass tank. It was more stand-up comedy than fishing instruction but he told a pretty funny story about "pooping his britches" in front of a female BASS marshal on the last day of a tournament. It was HILARIOUS. Topped the day off with some Phat Boyz BBQ.

It's not real. It's like 'The Onion." But it's still funny.

ahahahahaha.

Most of the "struggling" people in America would be upper class in Haiti. This is a country where most people live on less than $2 a day. Yes, our government's first priority is us, but it also serves our interests to help others.

Yes, they played very well in those games. If only those were their only two losses, then that would mean something!

We'll have to see what locations work best for the most Virginians. The Potomac is a great option but if we get guys from SWVA, or Central VA they may want to try somewhere else. I'll start a thread in a few months to get an idea about participants and locations.

Thats what the smallmouth wade is for, what better way to bond then to point at and laugh at whomever takes a spill on the slippy rocks ;D Yeah but I know we have some guys who wouldn't be able to do a wade. I think we need to do a big gigantic tournament and set up some boaters with nonboaters at a big lake or river.

Well, looks like I'll only be going on Friday now. I think we'll need to have a proper fishing get together with the whole VA crew this year.

wow. that is a complete surprise. I didn't think he would leave there until he had proven himself one way or another.

I thought the Bill Dance stuff was fake?

Maybe you were, but Lonnie has stated in interviews that he didn't start building them in his garage until 1979 and Stanley Jigs, Inc wasn't formed until 1983. busted! ;D

"There were no reported outbreaks of food-borne illness related in the Roanoke area at the time of the study." There's fecal bacteria on everything. It's true. Watch Mythbusters. I hate stuff like this. It's gross, but it's the same as it's been for a long time. Discovering it now doesn't change the fact that we've all been drinking doo-doo for years without any ill-effects.

Dropshots and jigs are not generally fished on the same rod. Like, never if you can help it. Jigs are generally fairly heavy so they are not a "finesse" application FOR THE MOST PART. That is a misconception. I would get a jig rod (casting, MH or H 7'+ fast action) and a finesse rod (spinning M 7'+ fast action) for dropshot, weightless plastics, and shaky heads...

that seems like a simple enough solution.

Tony, do you think that you are the only one who is annoyed by certain topics that are posted? Come on. There are plenty of topics posted with misleading titles that I find boring.You just have to get over it or hope that people get better at using more appropriate titles. Or you could just do like I do and don't click on generally worded titles until it gets to be over 2 pages. ;D

I'm going for the Jackall stuff.

a popper? how warm is the water there?

Alright, looks like I"m heading down early on Friday morning and then again on Saturday. How does 11am on Saturday sound for a meet-up?

finding fish in different conditions.