VTFan

To be honest, it's been so long since I was on their website that I have forgotten what it was like before. Maybe that's a good thing.

Recently my brother caught a 7.25 lb. largemouth while jig fishing. The fish was hooked in the top lip making it very easy to get the hook out and no damage was done to the inside of her mouth. He said it took him a few minutes to land the fish and once in the boat and unhooked he quickly weighed and measured the fish and had his wife snap a few pics and got her back in the water. 2 to 4 minutes tops. He said he gently laid her in the water and could see her gills and fins moving and a few times she showed signs of swimming away but to his dismay she bellied up and didn't make it. He was absolutely sick at the sight and that was a few weeks ago and he still gets nauseated at the thought. He was shocked that she died seeing as how he was so quick to get her back in the water and there was no damage to her mouth etc... My opinion is that maybe her heart gave out from the exertion after being hooked. What love to hear what you guys think. Thanks fellas.

Thanks flyfisher, I hadn't seen this. I for one would hate to navigate that lake with nothing but a trolling motor. As for being open 24 hours, I'm with you even though I don't fish at night. I'm pretty sure the reason they don't allow it at Briery is the submerged broken off trees and stumps but not sure.

Well so I've been told by a couple of sources, Sandy River Reservoir in Prince Edward County, Virginia could soon be thing of the past. Apparently the County Board of Supervisors without any public input has voted to build a water treatment plant on the lake and sell the water to neighboring jurisdictions.....taking 6 million gallons of water per day out of the lake and banning all gas motors. This was even voted on and approved without the approval and go ahead from the neighboring jurisdictions who now say they can't do this. I for one hope they have to swallow that vote.

Now why didn't I think of the Sharpie deal?? DUH!!! Thanks guys!!

I've been using hi-viz yellow braid with a fluro leader on my spinning gear simply so I can see the line. Last week I had a giant bass wrap up in a laydown and break off at the palomar knot at the hook. FG braid to fluro knot held fine. I was thinking about going to moss green braid for a leader. Interested to hear your thoughts on this. Good idea? Bad idea? What connector knot should I use if this is a feasible idea? Thanks in advance.

I was having trouble with keeping tension on the braid too until I saw a couple videos of pros tying a loop in the braid and putting it over the reel handle and loosening the drag to keep a bit of tension on the braid. I tried it and love it. Gerald Swindle is one who uses this method.

I hate fall fishing. Nothing seems to work and it almost seems as though we have to think backwards, reverse our fishing logic...if that makes sense.

Not sure there is a particular technique that I once hated but now love. There are some techniques that I need to become proficient at for sure, drop shots and jigs to name two. I will add that I used to not be very good with a spinning outfit until I made a New Years resolution to master a spinning reel this year, casting right handed and retrieving with my left. The majority of my fish this year have been caught on spinning tackle.

Just wondering how many of you loosen your reel drags after every fishing trip?

Just bought a Lunkerhunt with legs already cut the length of the frog. Seems softer than other right out of the box.

Well I guess persistence does pay off. I FINALLY caught my first two bass on a frog. I had caught bass on other top water baits before but this was the first on frogs.

I have two WP's, one in chrome/black and the other in perch color. Both 90 size and I noticed last night that on has a deeper 'plop' sound than the other. That could come in handy I guess.

I actually tried this one. It seems very strong, just a bit bigger than the FG. Doesn't go through the guides as easily as the FG and makes a bit more noise. Otherwise it's great knot. IMHO.

I'm famous for digging through the bargain bins for cheap baits. If something looks good and it's cheap I'll try it. I'm not one to spend $20 on a bait when there is something that may look just a tad bit different but works the same and is cheaper. Bottom line for me is, if it catches fish then I like it.

At least for this year I have to say No. For some reason this year at our pond a weightless wacky has been the ticket all year. In past years it always seemed to be something different, one year a spinnerbait, the next a chatterbait etc... And it also seems that from year to year the fish don't want the same plastics. Hence I have a ton of plastics hanging on hooks in my barn.

Just a curious question. Which do you prefer, the Whopper Plopper or the Berkley Choppo? Also, what colors?

Ok, I use high viz yellow braid on my spinning rod with a clear fluro leader. My brother uses all braid (green) and catches just as many or maybe even more fish that I do sometimes. I use the high viz yellow so I can see the line more easily. I've been thinking about trying high viz yellow braid main line to a green braid leader. How would a double uni knot work for that?

Thanks guys. To show how...non proficient I am with the FG, I had two of them slip on me yesterday on the lake and two of them when I got home retying. Finally got it right....I hope. To me it's actually a fun knot to tie when I get it right. HaHa..

Just wondering if any of you use the Double Uni knot for tying braid to fluro and if so how do you like it? I've been using the FG knot but I'm not really proficient at it and don't always get it right whereas I am proficient with the Double Uni. Thanks and tight lines.

Maybe five seconds is an exaggeration. Let's say long enough to see the bait start moving away. I've even thought about adding a trailer hook but that would make it hard to fish around cover/timber...wouldn't it?

I've bent them.

Try as I might I have not been able to get a single hookup using a topwater frog. I'm fishing it on a baitcaster, using braided line on a medium/heavy rod, boiling them to make them softer, bending the hooks, trimming the skirts/legs, waiting a eternity before setting the hook, actually watch them swim away with the frog in their mouths for at least 5 seconds and then setting the hook only to come up empty. I'm about ready to give my few frogs to my brother. Any thoughts on what I could be doing wrong? Thanks fellas.

I wish I had started wearing gloves years ago. At 66 years old and having had multiple areas of skin cancer I guess it's now a matter of damage control. I also now wear a 'fishing shirt'.

Ok, changed out the handle and it's not the knob. I'm not as mechanically inclined as I once was so I'm leery of digging too far into myself.