JCrzy4Bass

As far as bass fishing I have a couple partners. But first and foremost is definately my dad (rondef on this forum). We have an awesome time on the water. He has picked up fishing again for the first time since he was a kid and used to fish for trout and salmon with my great grandfather who I only got to meet one time. My dad says he would be proud of me though for learning all I have and being so much into fishing like he was. My dad misses him a lot and I know they used to be fishing partners when my dad was younger. Despite me teaching my dad the ropes of bass fishing or at least giving him ideas to start out, lately he's become almost more into it than me. He went out and bought us a bass boat despite this being our first year fishing for bass. We both started early summer but have easily landed between 100-200 fish so far this year. We are off to a great start. We love taking the boat out down the Occoquan and finding new fishy type spots and using judgement and stuff we've learned to determine where the bass are holding. When we do find a pattern we get excited as all get out just because it's so new to both of us and we feel proud that we are able to accomplish as much together as we are. We talk more than ever now even if it's not all about bass fishing. It's actually really cool because me and my dad didn't hang out as much when I was in high school and I kinda isolated myself away from my parents for a while. But now that we get out together we have grown really close again. We share a lot of the same opinions on a lot of things and we can really open up to each other unlike years ago. He's the coolest person I get to fish with. I wish my sister was around more but she works at St. John's Research Hospital in Tennessee and I rarely get to see her (she loves fishing too). I love fishing for catfish with my wife. She's adorable and really into catching Mr. Whiskers. She can kill anyone when we take her out on the boat for these guys. Normally she has between 5-15 fish days depending on bait, location and time we chose to go out (high or low tide wise). She rigs her own stuff and has actually been very creative about her approach in catching these guys as far as how she sets stuff up. She does very well and is contemplating getting into tourney fishing for cats next year after my dad's friend from work takes her out on the potomac a couple of times to teach her the ropes of looking for catching trophy cats. The other two people are my friend Karen (who will be moving to florida next month ) and Andy. The only good part about Karen moving is I will be able to plan trips down there to fish for florida strain bass. W00t! But I will miss her a lot. She has taught me a lot about fishing and I am forever grateful to everything I have picked up from her. Whether it's how different types of baits work, how she taught me how to walk the dog or just giving me tips on life in general, she is a great girl to take out fishing. Andy is my partner in crime so to speak from the shore. I met him on here and we feed off of each other. He's given me confidence in a few select baits I would not have thought twice about and he's taught me a lot about using them (whether he tells me or just lets me watch him work his baits). We give each other spots and tell each other about techniques that have worked in those spots and share just about everything we know. He's a really cool guy and while our schedules don't meet up perfectly, it makes it that much better when we do get out. Thanks to everyone else I've fished with on here that's spent time with me on the water. You are all partners to me as well.

Thanks for the update 71. I am gonna probably go back and fish there again next week once this weather stabilizes a bit, caught a 2lber off the dock to the right of the launch ramp last week by tossing a senko out to the floating dock. Burke lake was LOW last week when I went. Kayakers are having problems launching and getting down the first part of the cove at the vdgif ramp because the water is only inches deep. All of the laydowns are exposed (or were when I went). At least the ones I normally fish. I visited both last week so it will be interesting to see how much the rain helped next time I go out. Anyone know if we are getting more rain next week?

My new Shimano Symetre 2500 Reel I just bought yesterday and haven't even used yet ;D Get to try it out Sunday and I cannot wait. The thing feels a world of a lot better than my Sonora Reel I currently have on my Scimitar Rod (Shimano). I ended up getting a Bass Pro Tourney Special Medium Heavy Rod to go with the new reel, it's going to be used for plastics jigs and spinners for better hooksets. The reel came with two spools so I am lining one with braid for my jigs and the other with my favorite line (stren series).

Chances are still good depending on whether your fishing for smallmouth bass or largemouth. That all depends on what part of the Rappahannock you will be fishing (non-tidal or tidal). If you fish above the fall line in fredericksburg or up near Mott's Run, The Rapidan River, etc you will not be able to get a boat in because it is too shallow. Only kayakers apply here. If you fish below the fall line (a.k.a Route One bridge) then you have a shot at largemouth and stripers. I don't think stripers will be in season at this time nor in great supply but I'll leave that to the guys who fish for them on a regular basis. Your chance at catching largemouth is pretty good so long as the temps don't drop too drastically over the next month. We had a very warm fall so far and a hot summer. With it being warm this late the water temps have not dropped that much yet. It will depend on how many more fronts like the one we had this week move through before any of us can make a call on water temps. Kepp an eye on another site and ask for water temps on the rappahannock in the threads there, the tidal river guides post a lot there and can give you great info on what to expect as far as temps, what lures to throw and where to fish. I would spend my time focusing mostly on the back of creeks or throughout the shallow areas in the creeks. There are a lot of branches around the Tappahannock area as far as creeks (don't know how far you will be from here). If you have a good depth finder put it to use and it should help. Hope this helps some, I'm sure others from the Rappahannock area will be able to help you out. Good luck. P:s: you should think about grabbing some finesse jigs and/or tubes and heading up more north to Fredericksburg and fish for smallies. While you prob won't want to wade in that cold of water if you follow paths and such you can fish a good portion from shore. There are a lot of access points off of route one in fredericksburg. If you want some info just pm me and I can let you know where to go. Later boss.

I'd be interested to know if anyone has been and has a report for us. I'm assuming when the rain let's up today some of you will probably get out if your not already. I will be out on the Potomac tommorrow so I won't get a look at the rez til' one night next week after work.

So I found this new lake not too far from Burke Lake on mapquest. It's name is Lake Barton and it's off the Burke Centre Parkway. It looks like there is public access on waters edge landing with two circle areas at the end of the road but I'm not sure. Does anyone live near here and know if this is public or private? It is an eight acre lake and most in Nova have bass so I'm assuming it does hold largemouth. If anyone has any info on it that would be appreciated. There is another lake a little further up but it looks like it's in a residential area (woodglenn lake), if anyone has info on that it would also be helpful. Thanks guys. Just looking for some new spots and happend to find these. Let me know what you know please.

I think the Rockie will be able to steal one at home as well just because our defense is going to need to work to cover that field. It all depends on what Francona does with the outfield choices he has (cocoa crisp and ellsbury). Lester is a good pitcher but him or Matsuzaka will probably allow some runs. It's all going to depend on how our bats are and the defense plays. It would be hot to sweep the Rocks though. One good thing about Boston right now... our bullpen hasn't had to do hardly ANY work at all other than Okajima in this series. We have a lot of guys rested ready to get in there. Did anyone see that pick off move at first on Holiday? Papelbon is a beast! P:s: GO SOX!!! Two Series in four years baby!!! We can do it!

So I went out yesterday morning in a pretty steady downfall of rain on my day off. Wasn't gonna let that stop me from getting some time in. I decided I'd hit my local pond since I didn't want to be out long and get sick, but I got drenched anyway (at least my coat and hat). Anyway, I never caught anything on a buzzbait before today but decided with the sparse grass cover, all the rain water covering up the grass and pads, etc that it may be the ticket. So I tied on my big tri wing Boo-Yah Chat/Red Buzz. So I tossed it into the grass and second cast a 2lb 8oz bass nailed it. I landed him, took a pic and tossed him back. Six casts later I nail another 2lb 2oz bass as I get the bait close to the shore and land him as well. After that I lost my buzz by casting cross pond trying to get long distance and I got it stuck in a tree haha. So I tried a Mann's Shallow Runner for a while since thats been the ticket in this pond lately. Nothing. Also tried some spinners and the jitterbug but no action. So I left after catching two in about 2 hours and 30 minutes. At least they were sizeable. The rain got heavier as the morning went on so I decided I'd just take what I had and bolt. Plus I had 210 bucks to spend at Bass Pro in gift cards from my b-day. Let me tell you how the bait monkey kicked my butt. I finally got my new plastics rod and reel today. Picked out a Symmetre Reel from Shimano (2500) that I had been dying for for months now and a Tourney Special Bass Pro rod 7' (MH). I can't wait to try it out on the water. My old rod and reel is going to be for crankbaits and inline spinners now and this rod will be used for spinners, plastics and jigs (for the time being). I have two spools so I'm gonna line one with Stren Series (my usual) and another with braid for my jig applications. I also ended up picking up some wooly bug plastics from yum, a dean rojas frog, bunch of line, reel oil, a couple t-shirts (one for me and another for the wife), some florida rigs, some rapala lures and some Mann's crankbaits. Ended up putting back some grubs, a sammy topwater (lucky craft), a yo-zuri minnow, some frogs and some sliders because I didn't have the money. It took me like 35 minutes to narrow down my cart haha. Anyway here's the pics. 2lb 8oz LMB 2lb 2oz LMB

Hey L-Train, Millwood looks like a very unique lake and one that is very fun to fish. Looks like there are a lot of elements to it. Wish we had a lake around here that had all of those fishy spots to cast into. Nice pics and beautiful fish. Would have loved to see that thing prespawn.

Hey senko that looks like a hog dude. The real question is who is bigger? Your son or the fish? Your lucky that thing didn't eat him for lunch! Great catch for the tyke!

I don't care who you are! HAHA. Sorry had to do it. Frickin' ugly... ::shivers::

The bass in my avatar is 2.5lbs and the gut looks almost as big and my fish seems almost as long. I'd call that fish at 3-3.5lbs tops. Looking at all the 5lb hogs that Brokejew has caught and that one Avid just posted recently, that fish in the pic on this thread doesn't compare.

Seems like a advertisement thread if you ask me. No offense. Alot of people have had... let's say "not very good luck" with these lures. I'm pretty sure that this is the first pic any of us have seen with a bass actually caught on one. It's my belief that you have to be in an area like Florida or California for these even to stand a chance at catching something. Doug's videos are impressive and he's a great trophy bass hunter, but I think these lures are mostly a gimmick to everyone else. Don't get me wrong they may work in ponds and such that hold large bass, but I'd rather be throwing stuff that I know works.

I try and get out at least twice a week depending on weekend plans and if I can convince the wife to go fishing with me. She loves catfishing. Anyway, I work nights every fourth week so I fish every single morning that week and then all day friday because those weeks I cover Saturdays instead. So I'd say on average between 10-15 times a month lol. I'd go every day if time would allow, but I do the spend the time with the wifey thing and take care of stuff around the house too, not to mention spend time with friends. I like where I'm at with my fishing schedule. Tell you what I've been out lately this week on rainy days and it's starting to get a bit cold so I can't imagine fishing too much in the winter. And I'm not a big fan of trout fishing so I'd imagine it will be a lot less in the off season/winter.

I'm not afraid to be bold about my boys. Tell you what, you guys can bash me all you want if the Sox lose this series or if my predicitions are way off the mark. But mark my words. If Schilling pulls off another great post season win tonight this series is D-O-N-E. I called it when we played the Angels (that we'd take it all) and I could pull the exact thread exact post need be. I got that much faith in this Sox team and I know they are ready to get it done. This is going to be a great team for some time. Francona has taken his team to two classics in four seasons. It starts with teams rallying behind their leader, and Francona is getting it done. He picked up some great young guys and invested a lot in this team to get who he needed and the depth that we have. I'm almost gonna go out on a limb and say that this team may become a dynasty in the years to come as long as we can keep Manny happy and Ortiz becomes a franchise player.

Jeremy, pm sent.

Glenn made a great point. While we normally don't associate small baits with big bass. There's always talk about after fronts move in and fishing gets tough for you to downsize or upsize your baits. In an area where shad are abundant or even minnows, throwing a white curly tailed grub or a minnow colored grub into a feeding frenzy works just as well as tossing a trap or a rapala shad rap. Fishing is situational and you have to think about what's going on around you. While the smaller baits might nab one of the smaller fish, there's always a possibility one of those lunkers may hit it if they are darting about wildly killing a school.

What Tntitans and Slomoe said. Take a cruise down the Occoquan River (Nova) from the park on 123. Almost every boat at the Fairfax Yacht club and boat docks down by Belmont Bay have names on their boats. Some pretty creative ones at that too. Me and my dad named our first bass boat that we got this summer "Reely Hooked". Don't know if many of you name your bass boats but we thought it was appropriate and the name definately fit. My dad and mom thought it up and I loved it. We are still working on getting the graphics for the side of the boat but haven't picked out a font and size nor have the cash to do so at the time.

Those Redfish are amazingly beautiful. Where inshore in NC were you to catch those guys? The snook looks pretty cool. If I fished brackish or saltwater I would so want to fish for Reds. I've seen tons of specials on tv about them and guys that fish for them using topwater plugs and walking the dog. They look like they crush em'. What type of tackle were you using for those fish? What lures did you end up catching em' on?

BC takes it 31-21. Should be a great matchup though. V-Tech doesn't look like they have the same drive as the last few seasons pulling off some squeaker wins (EC and NC) that barely helped them earn the spot they have now. Be interesting if they lose this one to see how far down they drop in the poll. Although I do have to give them credit on the win against Clemson. But then you look back at that LSU game and whew was that u-g-l-y. Can Tech win against top competitors in the bcs? I think this week is a chance for them to rebound and show they can, if they can pull off the win.

How bout' that romp! Schilling takes game 2 at home. Rockies aren't hitting the ball and that rest looks like it's definately hurt the Rockies more than helped. The Sox are on a roll again with the bats. Even Ortiz and Manny picked it back up tonight. I like how the Rockies threw in the game 2 starter in the fifth and all he did was walk 2 straight batters before they pulled him. I think it was a dumb idea to give the sox a preview of that guy as they don't see him often since he's national league. Now the hitters have something to talk about and build on for tonights matchup. Good thing the Rockies bullpen got all that rest, they got worked last night. I call Red Sox 4-1 in this series. Colorado MAY take one at home off Matsuzaka or Lester... but if Dice K is back in form for this one you mine as well turn out the lights. GO BOSTON!!!

Glad to see you back in action there Avid. Looks like you had a blast first time back out. Nice looking fish. Looks like that fall crankbait pattern really shined through on that trip. Soon the soreness will be a thing of the past and you'll be able to have the all day adventures. Tight lines buddy.

Sam, Lol. It took everything I had not to man. I left all my gear at home so I could concentrate on the wife. But believe me every time I saw a bass boat driving down the road, every time we drove over the bridge that divides the lake, every time I woke up and stared off our balcony onto the water... a little piece of my died inside lol. J/k. I had a great time, even without the fishing. You think that's bad though? I was four blocks away from the 9th street pier on Lake Erie when we stayed in Cleveland. We went down there and stuff and there is a park on the water and the pier is right next to it. All I could think of was big smallmouth bass roaming around in the water... ::sigh:: I am so staying up there a few days next year and fishing Erie.

Triton, I haven't been to Chesdin, but the rez is crazy right now. My camera died as I went to the left of the boat dock, I was gonna take pics of the coves (two) to the left of it that have absolutely not a drop of water in them (at least before the rain yesterday and today). Andy, I'm still on for Friday but want to hit Bass Pro Shop in the morning in Anne Arrundel because I have 235 bucks worth of gift cards to spend and wanna pick up my new jig combo. You wanna come with? We can meet up somewhere and drive together. Call my cell and leave a message. Dan, Take Smoketown Rd all the way down past the intersection with Old Bridge Rd. Go straight and follow the road til' you get to the end of the first set of town homes (on your left). At the four way intersection make a left and follow it down to the Marina. There is a dock there to fish and if you have some heavy duty sneakers you can make your way around the shoreline there and fish rock walls, fallen timber and stumps. It's kind of like fountain heads shoreline at the boat launch ramp (when the water is this low). Later guys.

Nice bass for just gettin' back in the swing of things. Gotta love them senkos. You can never have too many, currently I use watermelon, pumpkinseed (swim senko... this is my fav), cinnamon w/ purple flecks (also swim senko model), purple, shad color konami knock offs, and blue and black laminate. I have success on them all depending on the conditions (water clarity/amount of stain and type of structure). Check out your regions sub-forum, this is a great place to meet locals who can probably let you know about honey holes you may not have found in your area or around it. Also check out mapquest and google earth as they can uncover tons of ponds and lakes you may never have seen or heard of in the middle of no where. Before I started fishing I had no idea we had as much water access in nova as we do. Most of all have fun, this place is the best and you will learn more than any other form of media because you have knowledgeable folks here from the beginner level, to guide, to trophy fishermen, to semi-pro. Not to say other media doesn't help. Inr egards to that check out the articles by using the link on the home page. Great to be fishing again huh?