JCrzy4Bass

Andrew, Right now I'm waiting to see if my dad's gonna be able to go out with me on Wednesday. If so we will more than likely end up going pond hopping out in chantilly or reston. We located a lot of small ponds on google maps last year and have some good spots up that way, the bite early on is pretty good up there. I'll fill you in if we chose that. If he doesn't go with me I will probably end up heading down to Quantico with my base fishing permit and hit Buffalo Pond. If I haven't caught anything within a few hours I will probably head back up to town and fish Huntsman or Mercer. I'll let you know if this is the route I plan on going. If you don't have base permits you have to head down south to the Quantico Entrance in the stafford area where Lunga Reservoir is located and get it there at the office they have. It's of use anywhere on the base where public fishing is permitted. Let me know if you're interested in any of the above. I should have decisions finalized by tommorrow or Tuesday.

Hey Kev, good to hear from you man. Hope your lil' one is doin well too. Sorry we haven't got a chance to talk about either one of the kids during the off season, I know we were both busy enjoying what they brought into our lives though. We should have the bass boat up and running some time early April weather dependent and stuff. Once we do I'll try and see how your schedule looks and maybe we can get you out on the Occoquan or Potomac with us one day. We still need to get that wade in too. Nice hearing from you guys. I will be around. Like I said if anyone is free on Wednesday I could use a partner. Let me know. Have a good weekend everyone.

I will try and get a write up on here when I can man, I know that we all appreciate being able to know what's going on on our local fisheries. My day off changed for next week and I'll be taking off Wednesday instead. Better day weather wise (I get to chose what day I want off every third week because I have to work Saturday). Looks like it's gonna hit almost 70 with no chance of rain. Only other factor will be lots of sun and that long cold front preceding it. But I hope to hook into a couple. Haven't decided on a definate location yet but I have a few in mind. If anyone is interested on Wednesday the 19th give me a shout and maybe we can hook up. Take care Andrew. Good luck next time out. Nice catching up.

Spent three hours at Woodglenn. Fished the dam pretty thoroughly and the little point on the left side of the dam that's kinda up on a little hill. Managed to catch one the whole time on a Sexy Shad (Chartreuse/white) as I was pulling up to shore. Looks like I got him to follow it as I was pulling up the last bit of water from the bank (ledge there). Went 2lbs 4oz. I can put a pic up when I get home but my camera is in my car so it will have to wait. I fished a jig w/ rage craw for about an hour. Lipless for about an hour and then I fished a 10" finesse worm and strike king bleeding bait spinner. Bite was tough. Got a short strike on the spinner but couldn't call up any more fish. I normally manage one to two here each trip so I wasn't expecting a big day with us being between fronts and such. Probably gonna fish again on Monday cause I'm off all day. Probably gonna be harder with the rain this weekend and drop in temps. Only good thing is three days of consistent weather, not the type we want but hey... when I get to fish, I fish. Doesn't happen as often these days. Matthew is doing great. Six months on Tuesday. He's sitting up by himself now, eating stage one solid foods (though you can tell he doesn't like some flavors lol), and feeds himself and stuff. He plays with his toys and keeps himself occuppied for a good amount of time. He's teething, though he hasn't cut a tooth yet, it's right around the corner as he's been in this stage for about a month or so. He laughs at just about anything and has a great personality. He has been attempting to stand up for so long I got a feeling he may never even crawl but go straight to walking. Not uncommon these days from what I hear. He's 80th percentile in weight and 80th in height as of right now and weighs 20.5lbs. I do have pictures of him with me, and while it's not fishing related I guess I could throw one up so folks could see. Thanks for asking Andrew.

Hey guys. Haven't been on here in a while. Felt it was best if I took a break after my son was born in Septmeber so I could make some time for my family. I got a bit more free time on my hands now days that I work or on weekends. My son is in day care tommorrow and I get off work early due to it being a professional development day at NOVA (my work place). I will be hitting a lake nearby in Fairfax after work. Probably fishing from 1pm til' 4:30pm. If you wanna hit the lake with me let me know. I will be shore fishing as I can't haul my dad's canoe with my Dodge Caliber so it will be a bit of walking. Pm me for info as far as meeting place if you're interested. My name is Jason if any of the new guys haven't talked with me yet. Hope everyone is doing well and catching fish now that the weather is warming up. I know it sucks with all these cold fronts and teaser 70 degree plus days in between. No consistency. I managed to catch one at a local pond in early February and got skunked my only other time out yesterday. If I don't hear from anyone, good luck in the upcoming months and tight lines. I don't know how often I'll get a chance to hook up with folks this year so just taking the chances I have and using them to my fullest. Later fellas.

Wish I could be fishing for smallies now but my dad just recently had hand surgery and I can't canoe by myself to save my life so, that's just gonna have to wait til' the Rap warms up for a wade. Looks like all those smallies were pretty healthy. Can't beat those hair jigs in colder water like that. Nice catches man. I haven't fished the New yet but I really wanna get down there this year (3 and a half hour drive from me in NOVA). Maybe I'll look you up if my dad and I decide to head down. If you can catch those in February I'm sure come spring/summer you can load a boat. Good times man.

Well, with the three consecutive days of 50 degree plus weather this weekend and another beautiful morning today I headed down the road to one of our smaller big bass ponds in the area. I brought alot of Rage Tail baits but spent all of my time on two different baits: The Space Monkey texas rigged with a 1/8 oz bullet sinker and a blue and black Boo Yah Boo Jig (1/2oz) w/ a Rage Craw blue and black trailer. I spent an hour working the space monkey around shoreline grass and slowly swimming it in the middle of the pond where I thought the bass would be. No bites. After the first hour I tied on my jig and within' ten minutes... I was slowly pulling and hopping the jig in the middle of the pond where in the summertime the grass grows to the top. Just when I got to the deepest part I gave it a violent hop and I think those craws got the fish stirring because when it hit the bottom and I tried to pull it back up I couldn't hop it anymore. Felt the pressure, set the hook like Mike Iaconelli and almost fell over in the process. Fought great for a cold water bass. Ended up going 1lb 6oz on the digi. I can now say I have caught my FIRST WINTER BASS EVER during one of our coldest months of the year in Northern Virginia!!!! I would have never thought less than a week out of ice out that I could slowly work my bait and get a largemouth to bite. I am CONVINCED on these Rage Craws! Their action is unbelieveable and I am convinced the trailer is what got the bass to bite. I cut a tiny bit of the end of the Rage Craw off so it seated better on the hook. I wanted it to be bigger than a chunk but smaller than a full rigged plastic. The craws were positioned directly behind the end of the skirt creating a nice look. Here's a pic of the bass with the bait in it's mouth.

Doesn't hold a stick to most of yours, but I am proud of the catch. Caught on the Upper Potomac River, she went a little over 2lbs. I beat this later in the year with a 3lb 2oz, but I lost it while I was gripping the mouth trying to grab my camera out of my tackle bag on the Rappahannock River (wading).

And come mid-late May if you really wanna get in touch with your bassin' self, the Rappahannock River has some AMAZING smallmouth spots that are very under rated compared to the James River. Right at Fredericksburg, heading upstream from Falls Hill Ave, and or driving a bit further up to River Rd and putting in around Motts Rez. My dad and I know of some great smallie fishing spots on the Rap! Some of it's tributaries are hidden gold mines as well. Caught one over 3 in one of em' this year but it fell out of my hand during a head shake when I was getting my camera out. The Upper Potomac has come alive this year as well here on the forum. My dad and I put our canoe in there only once but got 2 fish above 2 lbs and lost a few other nice ones. But we also caught over 20 other fish each ranging from a small 9 - 10" bass to about 12 - 13". Simonsays and his buddy Andrew can get you more info on that as they fish it much more than my father and I.

Hey Huskerz, I'm not on here too much anymore but I live up in Dumfries not too far north of you. My dad and I fish at Quantico a lot and believe it or not your less than 5 minutes away from 4 - 6 lb largemouth and you have plenty of water on base to keep you occuppied. My dad, "rondef" here on the forum has a bass boat but he is winterizing it this weekend so we probably won't take it out there on the Potomac anymore this year. But there is a launch you can go to on base to put canoes and jon boats in. I will pm you the best locations for canoe access for bigguns' on the base there. Also I will list some good trout waters for this winter you may want to look into. Pm sent, lots of info. Good luck and hit me up if you have any questions.

Will do buddy. Thanks for the kind words and I for one cannot wait til' your back man. We'll have to review that whole season of Bass from last year and take notes haha Hope everything is well over there. My dad said you called last night btu were breaking up pretty bad. Your always in our prayers and thoughts bud. You'll be home before you know it. Take care man. And if your family needs anything like I said just shoot my dad or I a call or have your wife or other family members give us a call. We are here to help anytime bud.

Hey Speed, You probably got a bad package. It happens. Couple of pointers: -Don't take these baits out of the packaging until you are ready to use them. The protective shell over the baits helps keep them in excellent condition until you use them. -Make sure you do not unhook the tail from the body until you are ready to use the bait as the tail can become damaged if not packed away in your tackle properly. They keep that tab on them for a reason. -Three, the tails on these things have the best topwater action out of any existing topwater bait out there. They come over the thickest of stuff without ANY problems or hangups. Keep chuckin' em' and don't give up. I'm sure the fact that you have those big ole Florida bass slammin' the baits doesn't help haha. I wish I was fishing your waters. I'd be chuckin' the Rage Tails ALL DAY!!!Check out all the testimonials on these things here in the bait section of the forum or at websitetoolbox.com/mb/ragetail I think the others will agree it was a bum package or improper bait storage. Not to grill you. Just some advice. Matt is that a sea bass? I thought they were darker than that. I'm not a salt water fishermen except for fun fishing once or twice a year at Ocean City or Chincoteague, Va. Looks like fun. Are you on intracoastal waters??? Looks like the Rage Tail baits work for multi-species Big-O. Talk about an effective plastic!!!

Haven't fished it since earlier this year (late spring). The patterns will most likely be much different. But a couple of guys on a boat out there ran into us shore fishing and told us to tie on traps and work the shallow stickups on the backside of the lake around the beaver huts and anywhere there was a decent point. Sure enough my dad nabbed a couple and a friend of mine did the same. This time of year with the crankbait bite picking back up it could be useful. Curtis can be tough. Other methods I've found to work are swimming jigs above the submerged grass by the small piers around the parking lot area. I normally cast out and parallel to shore as far as I can. Have hooked into a couple decent ones that way. If you figure out the fall rate and the depth where the grass starts and pause the bait and let it sink in slightly then hop it you will get bit eventually. Only other baits I've had success with are texas rigged and wacky rigged weightless 5" senkos. But only to the right of the piers where the larger trees are in the water. The edge of the grass there (mid year) attracts TONS of bait fish. And if you can find one good tree adjacent to that shallow area you could manage to catch a few. Good luck and let us know how you do.

Yea from what I hear the water can be very clear here too. I remember back two years ago to the Blue Ridge Brawl where boat positioning on the docks was really key because the fish were so easily spooked. Aside from Omori and Casey Ashley lol. They seemed to jump in their boat. Haha. I don't fish here because the distance but some of the guys you may want to check with have changed their names recently a few times, one used to be Burley. Not sure of the other, but I think it was one of the mods on the site.

Hey Beavis. Right in town if you look up "Falls Hill Ave" and "Riverside Dr" on google maps you will find the intersection there on the Rap. This intersection has a dirt parking lot. If you park here (yes, parking here is legal. It is considered a small park), there is a path on riverside dr you can walk down by the bend in the river. There is shorefishing for smallies for about 75 - 100 yards without having to get in the water at all with a path all the way down. I've caught some above a pound here but mostly 8-10 inchers. Still smallie fishing is smallie fishing and it's an easy way to kill an afternoon. If you are interested in wading in the spring I will look you up. My dad and I and some of our friends frequent that part of the Rap and catch plenty of smallies around the 2lb range on a regular basis. Also if you want largemouth, you can head down to the Fredericksburg city docks and fish along shore there. The population is not huge but there is plenty of ground to cover around the docks and parking lot areas. You may want to give old Cossey Pond a look on the VDGIF website. They stock it with trout in the winter months and YES there are bass there as my friend Troy catches them on a fairly consistent basis (nothing huge). Other places not listed include the Rapidan River off route 3 (pm for for details if interested, great smallie fishing in certain areas here) and also Phelps Pond on the Phelps Wildlife Management area (don't have too much info on it, but suppossed to have largemouth).

To all the guys in Nova, Hey fellas. Been a long couple of weeks but an amazing couple at that. I remember almost every second of every day I have spent with my wife and son and wouldn't trade it for the world. For the guys who have not experienced what I have in seeing my son be born last week (and are thinking about it), do it. There is no better feeling in the world than seeing what you have helped bring into this world. Second, thanks for all the kind words and things you guys have said. I will get on here when I go back to work Wednesday and type up the whole experience in depth but being in the delivery room and holding my son for the first time, second time, 100th time even... every single time I hold that kid and look at him I just realize how lucky I am and how awesome it is to be able to help this little guy grow up and have everything in life that he deserves. It's just an experience you can't explain. Bass fishing, guitar, partying with friends... all take a back seat and will never surpass being with my son. Of course once he can start fishing we are gonna have a ball together and I will teach him all I know, grandpa will contribute all he knows and my wife will make sure he's the best cat fishermen there is. For now, fishing is just gonna be a nice thing I can do in my free time... but I can't believe how much I was worried about my fishing time "being cut down" so much and how much little time I would get on the water. Because now it doesn't even phase me. I will enjoy it when I can, but Matthew, my wife and my family are the most important things in my life. It is amazing how much an experience like this can make you look back and realize how important your support group, friends and family are. Thanks to all of them, and all of you. See you next spring guys. Take care. For pictures of Matthew: www.myspace.com/jnswedding If you don't have an account it takes 5 minutes to sign up. I'll post my fav pics in this thread later.

Hey pebbles, my buddy Troy has caught over 10 in the Accotink Bay area from shore. Him and one of his park ranger buddies that works at Lake Accotink fish for them regularly. Apparently with the electrofishing they did a while back in Accotink Creek leading up to the bay they are finding too many of these guys to record. No one is sure how it is effecting the ecology of this waterway but I'm sure it can't be too good. I know we already had this debate though so ::lips zipped:: Anyway, it doesn't surprise me you caught one out there. Be prepared to catch many more if you continue making trips out that way. Later man. Apparently they love spinnerbaits and any type of falling plastics (as far as I've heard from others who catch them regularly).

Eddie if fishing grass, docks, spadderdock, barges, and bridges are your strengths the river is a great place to fish. I'll pm you a list of spots. You should be fine in a kayak though the channel current and boat traffic can make for a less than tolerable fishing experience. But if you've been at it a while the spots I'm giving you should be easily accessible. PM sent.

Hey Fishing, My dad and I fish here regularly and know this place pretty well. I'd also like to throw in the dock areas directly across from the launch at Occoquan Regional. My dad and I almost always pull one or two quality bass from these docks. Normally it's the first or second dock along that shoreline starting from your left. Break the docks down if you fish them. They always tend to be in a different spot in relation to it. Sometimes behind an inside corner, others along the front edge roaming the grass, sometimes back corners where you have to toss from a certain angle, etc. But you can always find some fish in here. Also you may want to try your shot at the shoreline after the floating dock, it has a really nice steep drop off here and there are tons of laydowns, and the grass stretches up almost to the channel. Spinnerbaits run along the top edge and slow rolled ticking the grass can be great in this area. You'll find this area tends to have many great features and oddly enough is most productive during the outgoing tide. Good luck if you decide to try from the Regional Park. If you want any more info on baits or ideas you can pm me.

Hey Eddie are you talking river or rez? If you are fishing the river I have a few spots I can put you on if you wanna pm me that my dad and I fish regularly. Let me know. If it's the rez I'm sure there are guys here that know it much better than I do. My dad and I were gonna fish the River on the 2nd but decided on Pohick Bay instead.

Hey guys despite all the Labor Day traffic (including on the water), my dad and I are going to go to an area where there are less pleasure boaters than the norm (aside from sailboats)... Pohick Bay. We will be launching here early early am. Does anybody have any recommendations on where to head as far as direction wise? I am pretty sure I remember hearing about this time last year that grass mats/frog patterns work well here. I was also told the holes are few and far between so looking for places to pitch/flip can be intimidating. I know the weather will dictate things as well but this front moving through should be out of here by tommorrow afternoon and weather looks failry stable Saturday afternoon through Monday/Tuesday so we should have fairly good conditions. Anyone been catching em' out here lately? We will probably spend time on the mats and working shoreline structure if we can get close enough (indentations and cuts) as there is quite a bit of wood in some areas to throw to. Have only fished here out of a canoe once and from shore a few times. I've had luck with senkos here and small rattle traps depending on the time of year. Any other ideas fellas? Thanks for the input in advance.

All I know is my bday is October 23, and if it's open I think I know where I am taking any money I get. My dad already said we were gonna make a trip there around that time if it's open to check it out and hit the deals when it opens. Get stacked on tackle for next season. My box is full but I've been itching to buy a spinnerbait rod and reel and a better rod for my crankbait setup as well. It looked pretty far along back in July when my dad and I headed down to the James for some smallie wading. What's holding the place up? Outside construction, inside setup??? Have they started the hiring process yet? I know some of you guys are probably itching for that lol.

Imp you're almost right on with mid september. At least that's when the fishing really starts to pick up and cranks become a good go to bait again. I had my best month of the year in September of last year (most and biggest fish, aside from July when I caught a few nice ones). It seems this is the time of the year that topwater plugs like spooks, minnow stick baits, etc and other subsurface crankbaits like Mann's crankbaits, bandits, etc seem to start slaughtering em'. It also seems like this is the time of the year the fish are most vulnerable around here and easiest to catch. Ponds really start turning on around this time as most of my luck on my local puddles/holes came about this time last year. Right after the algae mats die away and the dead vegetation gets a couple feet below the surface clearing some room on top for spinners and your shallow running baits seems to be great. Note: Not immediately as they start dying as that time can be one of the most UNPRODUCTIVE times as my dad and I found out on the Potomac recently (other pros doing tourneys there stated the same this day). Other great baits to consider this time of year are lipless crankbaits (for big bass). Countdown Rapalas also have their place. It's easy to figure out where they are at in the water column during this time by using those. Experiment with retrieves to see where they are situated along the drops offs at your lakes, whether they are coming shallower or suspending these baits will find them. Once the water cools mid-fall to late fall (50-60 degree water temp) it's all about the hard jerkbaits (think Rapala Originals, X-Raps, Berkley Frenzy Minnows) and soft jerkbaits like Senkos texas rigged or wacky rigged, etc. Hope this helps.

Dad, I know I seemed real upset for a while yesterday after stuff happend. Most importantly I was just worried about Steph going in to labor prematurely and not having a way to contact us. But after we got a hold of her at home and I got my cell replaced (thank god you gave me your old one as I did not have to spend money on one) I was ok. I think I was just kinda more upset after that that you wouldn't take me up on my offer. I know you like your rods and reels but I'm gonna be bummed I'm not out there nearly as much as you. I'd love for my equipment at least to be getting used. I know you like the actions on yours but I guarantee you even if you use my cranking rod you won't want to go back. And it's a nice setup. The reel especially, if no immediate damage was done to it. I did manage to make a few wise cracks to friends at work today about the mishap. I figure better to joke about it and get over it than keep getting ticked about it. I'm sorry we couldn't get all your equipment back. I wish you the best of luck today and hope you snag at least one, though the other should be right next to it. As Ike says, never give up. But yea, I was calling us Gilligan and Skipper at work today and was just kind of shrugging it off. I'm not mad at you, it was an accident. I'm glad we are both ok and thanks for helping make sure everything was cool with me immediately after the tip. At least we saved what we could, got your oar back too. Good thing you had cell insurance. That's great. Like my dad said the most important thing is we are both ok and that we learned a lesson. Had those vests not been on we would have either lost a lot more or possibly could have been trapped under the boat if injured when flipping or something. Wear your pfds guys, even on ponds. They may have saved lives yesterday. Never knowing what might happen. No matter how nice the boat.

Good job dad. Wish I coulda been there for that one. Looksl ike you guys had a blast and that is a heck of a pig. That cavitron is probably my favorite topwater bait since we found that one spot earlier this year in the canoe. Good job again on landing that monster dad. Nitro, what days you got off next week?!?!? Maybe I'll try and finagle my day off based on yours. I get one day next week since I work Saturday and I haven't chosen it yet.