TOXIC

As fishermen and women, we are front line stewards of this resource. No matter if you are boat fishing or bank fishing it is our responsibility to promote conservation and good habits to keep the activity we cherish protected. Line recycling barrels at ramps, don't discard plastics in the water, keep waste and trash to a minimum and overall don't be afraid to police the bank and pick up trash. Walking right past it is part of the problem. I had a place on the Shenandoah River that I used to wade fish that was about a 1/2 mile off the main road and you needed to have a 4WD to get to. When I fished there, I always made sure the area was cleaner than when I came but it got to the point where it just got out of control with the amount of trash that was there. Certain people would camp overnight and leave beer cans and every kind of trash imaginable including dirty diapers and clothing. It started looking like a trash dump. The owner of the land finally chained it off. Shame really because it was a good access spot for wading.

In the Potomac River they will hit most every lure you throw for bass. Of course we have like 10 different species of cats. Some days and locations, you can't keep them off your lures. I just hate that they do that dang death roll and slime up your line and don't EVER lay one on my deck to get it unhooked. The slime turns into concrete when it dries out.

Since the 2 stores are under the same ownership, it's all about profit margin. You will see each store keep some of the best selling merchandise with their respective labels but as a rule of thumb, BPS had more buying power than Cabela's prior to the acquisition so it's only natural that the BPS gear start showing up in Cabela's. I bought a bunch of new BPS Excel line when I was working for my sponsors in a Cabela's during the Spring Classic.

Experience is a cruel teacher but....you will never forget the lesson learned.

Another tactic (one I can't make myself do) is to chase the fish off the bed. I have seen one guy take a paddle and slap the water right over the bed to get the fish to swim off when it wouldn't bite. Then wait for it to come back and drop a bait in. If it doesn't bite, he will spook it off again. More times than not, eventually the fish will get so pizzed, it will bite.

It's an amazing state of mind. I get it when I Senko fish. As soon as I make the cast everything around me goes blank and all I can see is the senko in my mind, how its moving, how its, falling. My eyes lock on my line in 2 places and my hands get super sensitive. I call it my happy place.

Half the fun of plastics is trying them. Plus, they are not that expensive. Experiment because what I like, you may not. That's exactly how you develop your own style.

They look great. In my experience with the Ned, I don't like the collar prong bait holders. I either want the wire style or screw wire or to have them poured on an offset hook so that I can rig it weedless.

Last post from me. Do me a favor and call your local Game and Fisheries before you head out. That's all I ask. Your interpretation is wrong but please call them and for sure come back and let me know if I am wrong.

Nor did I. You can do whatever you want. I am just relaying my on the water experience. And the Quote I put in one of my posts above was from the regs you linked to. We were just safety checked last summer on the Potomac and the first thing the Warden asked for was to see our vests in addition to our inflatables. We were not wearing the inflatables at the time. From SafeBoater.com Equipment 2.3 Inflatables, Use & Care Inflatables It is now legal to have inflatable PFDs on board. In order for them to meet the lifejacket requirement, they must be worn if you are in an open boat. On other boats, they must be worn while on deck or in the cockpit and they must be readily available for anyone down below. Inflatable PFDs are not approved for use by people less than 16 years of age or people weighing less than 36.3 kg. They are not approved for use on PWCs and those with an automatic inflator that works as soon as the operator is in the water, can not be used on sailboards.

You can argue your case to the Minnow Marshal as he writes out your citation. The pic above the one I quoted states a a Class II. I've seen many, many tickets written on Bass Boat operators with no backup vests and only inflatables (not being worn).

I could actually see you shaking your head while typing this. No disrespect to those who like to use braid for everything including flossing your teeth..... but to me...... what was once a very specialized line for a few specialized presentations, has been adopted for EVERY application. I'm amazed we ever caught a fish before expensive braid was invented. I just picked up a bunch of BPS Excel Mono in a bunch of different test on sale for 9 bucks at the Spring Classic and they all were 1,000yd spools. For me, I have to have a reason to throw braid otherwise mono is my go to. But that's just me.

Couple of issues. I routinely leave my boat in the water (and it's glass) for weeks at a time. There's no problem with that at all. I have the ability to leave my master power on but turn off the power to everything else...graphs/powerpoles/Trolling motor etc. BUT....I always have my onboard charger plugged in to shore power because with the power on, there will always be a small draw on the batteries. By leaving the Master Power on, my auto bilge will function if we get rain. In my old boat with no auto bilge, I would have to go down to the boat every once in a while and turn on the bilge pump to keep it empty of rainwater. The best way to tell if you have an auto bilge is first to look at your switch. Mine has an "Auto" setting. I also have 2 bilge pumps. 1 is auto and 1 is manual and from my switch I can run 1 - 2 or both. The other way to tell is to get in the bilge and look at the pump. It will have either an electric switch or a float on the housing if it is an automatic. The easiest way is to power on the boat on the trailer and use a garden hose to put some water in the bilge. This will also tell you that if you do have an auto it is working. The float type often clog and even though you have it, it won't pump. With all that being said, I am always at the lake when the boat is plugged into shore power no matter where I go.

It's great that we can all laugh at ourselves when we do a major screw up. I'll share one that was pretty embarrassing. I fished a tournament on a local lake and did very well. I'll add that it was when sublaminated Jerseys first came out and I had one proudly promoting my sponsors. It was beautiful bright white with a heavy spattering of Logos. Everybody thought it was pretty cool. To back up a little...stay with me here, it will all come together,..... for Mother's Day, I worked my rear off and constructed my wife a Koi pond on the backside of our house. The place I put it was on a steep hillside so I had to build up the side of the hill with those half moon style bricks before I put down a liner/filtration system, etc. It was a royal PITA and a LOT of work. Back now to the lake.......After I weighed in, I remembered that during the tournament I found a cove with a lot of water lilies and thought to myself how great it would be to have some of those for the Koi pond so I dumped my fish, collected my check and headed back out on the lake. Made the run up in one of the river arms to the cove and by this time the wind had come up pretty strong. I got upwind of the pad field and went to the front of the boat and laid on my belly hanging over the side as the wind pushed it along. As I drifted into the pads, I reached down and grabbed one firmly around the stem and as low in the water as I could reach to avoid breaking it off. Do you have any idea how well anchored those plants are to the bottom? Well, let me tell you they are STRONG. Without any problem, that devil plant pulled me right off the front deck and I went into the water head first and stuck in the mud from my head to past my shoulders. By the time I got myself free, the boat continued to drift and beached on the far shore. I was soooo mad I went ahead and harvested 4 or 5 plants and waded over to the boat. Put them in the livewell and headed back to the ramp. When I got there the hardcore fishermen were still hanging around having some adult beverages and telling fish stories. As soon as I pulled up the laughing started. I was a little mad that they would get such a kick out of my misfortune and said the same to one of my friends who was there. He simply replied, "go into the marina and look at yourself in the mirror." So I did. What did I see? With the bright white (brand spankin new) Jersey on I looked like a chocolate dipped vanilla ice cream cone with the mud line half way down and still on my face. What could I do but laugh right alongside them. It ruined the Jersey and to add insult to injury, the Koi ate the water lilies within 2 days after I put them in the pond.

I have always said the being on the water "recharges my life batteries". Since I am retiring at the end of June, I'm hoping to be on a "Full Charge" from then on.

I can absolutely guarantee you that if you do not have a regular life jacket on board for everyone PLUS your inflatable Type V, in the state of Virginia you will get a ticket. In order to "count" as an approved PFD, a type V has to be worn. If you take it off it no longer counts and you need to have a regular PFD. There's really no debate on this and I don't want to see you get a citation. Straight from the Virginia Regs: A Type V life jacket needs to be worn according to the manufacturer label to meet safety requirements. Look at your own picture and note APPROVED ONLY WHEN WORN

Did you know with the right rod action, you can mimic the initial fall at least 3 or 4 more times on the average cast? While I agree, a high percentage of your bites will come on the initial fall, don't discount the ability to get a bite after that. I catch a lot of fish after the first fall by lifting the rod tip quickly and allowing the senko to "freefall" again. I have done a lot of Demos in the Bass Pro Tanks that highlight what I call "bird dogging" by bass. They follow the senko to the bottom and then position themselves nose down and circle the bait. It was quite a sight to see 4 or 5 bass all in a circle with their noses to the bottom and their tails straight up circling the bait. By slowly moving the bait, one would almost always dash in and grab it. Fun Fact: The Swim Senko was developed after Gary noticed how many fish were chasing the regular Senko back to the boat.

Remember, if you wear an inflatable you need a standard PFD as well to be legal if you ever take the inflatable off. So in your scenario, you would need 3 PFD's. 1 for your wife and 2 for you.

Update #2 and I am not happy. Got a call that my new sunglasses were in (old frames new lenses). Went into the store and picked them up and tried on. WOW!! the color contrast with the copper was GREAT. I thought "good deal" and headed home. It was cloudy and I had about a 30 mile drive home so I decided to put them on. Looked around and was amazed at the quality and clarity..........until..........I looked at the lines on the road as I drove. The yellow double no passing lines on the asphalt to my left were actually 4 lines. The dotted lane lines were doubled as well as was the solid white line on the shoulder right. It looked like the lines were raised up and moved slightly to the left almost like 3d. Was the same on both sides. I did all of my "self checks". Since they are progressive, I moved my head up and down to see if the progressive script was positioned differently, nope, nothing changed. I closed each eye to see if possibly one lense was off, nope, nothing changed. I took my brand new Oakley regular glasses with the same script and put them on and bam!! everything went to normal. So, I figured that Oakley got the script a little off. Went back to the store with them yesterday and they checked the script and said it was spot on. Checked the progressive against the measurements on my face and they were spot on as well. The only thing they could come up with was that there "might" be a flaw in the lense that we cannot see. Options are to get the same lenses made again or to switch color on new lenses. I can't believe it's the color. She was going to have the head Optometrist look at them and give me a call. Patiently waiting to see what they come up with.

You lost me at "finicky". If a Smallmouth is locked on a bed I have seen them caught on shoestrings (it was a bet and I lost). If they are not locked on then you either move on and find one that is, or try to coax a bite. They are not eating so really the type of bait is not relevant as long as you can see it. You are trying to get a reaction strike. I have found that the picky ones require you to put the bait on just the right spot on the bed. You can be off 3 inches and they won't even look at it. The other thing is that you have to be willing to soak your bait for an extended period of time on the bed. They may even swim off when you pitch into the bed and you have to be willing to wait for them to come back. My favorites are a dropshot, Senko and a DShad. I'm sure a Ned or shakeyhead will also work. Some like to twitch a jerkbait over their head but I have much better luck with plastics than hardbaits.

When I get frustrated, I load up the boat and go to new water. Nothing like the preparation, rigging and lake/river study getting ready to try somewhere new. The cure for wanting more gear is to get out and use the gear you have.

For me it would be gas/oil for the boat. I have a "fuel fund" that gets depleted really fast once spring hits.

We are loading up the boats and heading down to the Chick river Saturday. We have some friends down there and since the Potomac is still cold and muddy, we are heading South for what have been reported as some big ditch pickles being pulled out of that river. If we get on em' I'll post up some pics. I am pretty stoked. First real chance at a big fish this year. After that we will concentrate on the mighty Potomac trying to hit the prespawn just right.

Well that is a bummer. Patience is directly related to reward. Do it right.

I'll add a new tip to this thread. I routinely fish a weightless Senko in wind (like last weekend with 20mph sustained, 30mph gusts) on spinning gear. When I can't place the wind at my back or in my face (which makes it much easier), there is a little trick that helps with a side wind. First do not "loop" your cast high into the air, I use a side arm almost like skipping. Then, as soon as your bait hits the water drop your rod tip almost in the water. That will keep the wind from grabbing your line and making that awful bow. You lose a little of your line watching ability, but it will allow the Senko to sink naturally.