retiredbosn

Fayetteville is the home of WV white water rafting industry, there will be some areas that you can wade, but Hinton down to Thurmond will be better.

The nearest lake that holds fish and has unlimited horsepower is around an hour. The nearest lake is about 30 minutes, but the river is less than five, just don't have a boat that I can comfortably float the river in.

Thanks fellas, FWIW I'm fused at c5-6, c6-7, and L4-5, L5-S1, plus herniated at T10-11, and the one below it, and C7-T1 and T1-T2. I'm a disabled vet and unfortunately a chronic pain patient, I endure winter so I can get out and fish, the season started promising. I went down to the barn one day to help the bride with her horse, ended up being knocked around some, then the next day fell down the steps in my house, that was back in March, just can't seem to get my feet under me since. Like fishnfordollars said, when I get to feeling better I will have to make up for lost time.

Thanks Micro, I have had three spine surgeries, 2 on lumbar and one on cervical. As of now I have four herniated discs, and a lot of deterioration. So I'm just taking it easy this summer.

Contact the New River Gorge National Park, there is a camping area around Thurmond on the river. The New is a nasty river in that area, class four-five rapids, so becareful. If you are coming to WV I would suggest staying farther up the New, near Hinton where the river isn't so wild, also there are many spots on the Greenbrier River where you can camp and fish, the Greenbrier is a lot easier to wade than the New. Good Luck

It is July 18th I have the heat on, it has rained all summer, the weather has barely been above 80 all summer, today's high were around 68. I don't remember a week's worth of stable weather, add to that I've herniated two more discs in my neck, and my pain levels are through the roof. I have caught something like 40fish all year, which stinks, if I could float the river one day I would come close to doubling that number. So in short keep posting your success stories and let this sidelined fisherman read that there are still people catching fish. Regards.

thanks

Long term plans include introducing golden shiners to assist controlling the detrius build up, and algea contol, as well as a food source for the bass. My PB LM came from this pond and I would like to improve the trophy potential that exists in the pond. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

I am hoping that those here with much more knowledge than I possess can help me with this. I have inherited a problem pond, there is an infestation of filamentous algea and watermeal/duckweed. I am thinking that oxygenating the pond to assist in eradicating the problem weeds/algea. The watermeal is easy, the pond had a choked up spillway, cleared it out and the watermeal went over the spillway. The filamentous algea, will be treated with chleated copper sulfate, and additionally raising the dissolved oxygen content should help in controlling another infestation. The question is where, the pond is 2.3 acres, acerage depth 8feet, with a spillway. I don not want to get to close to the spillway obviously, so the question is where. My first choice is the shallow end, outside of the marshy area, that has a good cattail stand, which is beneficial to lowering the nitrogen/phosphorous content, from lawn fertilizer etc. The shallow end is also the culprit for the algea problem and duckweed. Would oxygenating the shallow end do anything for the larger area of the pond?

Is that watermeal on the water in the background of the photo? If so that stuff can keep any photosynthesis happening in the water below the film, and can result in fungal growth in the water. There is some chatter about chleated copper sulfate as a anti-fungal, but if it isn't your lake, then that is a moot point.

I also wanted to mention that although the Fritts reel is a low profile design it isn't a low profile reel. By that I mean the reel foot is not recessed, and it sits much higher on the rod, much more like a round profile. In fact I found my Fritts reels and my round reels felt very similar.

I had a Fritts reel, actually two and they do cast a long distance, but they nowhere near match the distance of my EXT Pro, but the problem with the pro is that it comes only in 6.5:1, which translates to 30" ipt. The Fritts reel is good, understand that they do not have instant anti-reverse, rather a dual pawl design, which is fine on a crankbait reel. I've actually done some tinkering with my Abu EXT Pro and have the ipt down to 23, which is not ideal but will do, IMO. There are a couple of options out there, but none that fit your pricie range that I can think of, maybe KVD's signature reel at BPS, or Fritt's signature reel. I would look for a reel with around 21-20 ipt, Good luck

X2 on Yozuri Hybrid, good line, high strength, sensitive.

Is there a website or other book that shows common aquatic plants? I obviously was way off with my identification of the plants in my local pond. Thanks

I am no where near an expert regarding rods or rod construction. I would like to start a discussion with those here who know much more about rods and the manufacturing process so that we can be more informed when purchasing our rods. I am notoriously cheap, and want the best bang for my buck. I typically pick up my gear at the end of season for next year, when the retailers place the gear on sale. I try to my upmost to support my local tackle retailer, we finally have one in town who carries quality products, and will pay retail or a little more to support the local guy. I trust these guys and they are a world of information, but I know I have much more to learn. So please rod builders, those in the know and other questions by other members post up. Also thanks for clearing up the bad typing on the guide count, I was in a hurry and wanting to post this before church this morning. I look for at least one guide per foot of rod plus the end. 6ft rod = 7guides, 6'6"=8, on seven footers I like 10, don't know really why. I also look for rods using the fuji concept guide spacing, not because I know what it means, but because all of my rods can have similar construction.

Another quick note, the most sensitive rod in the world can be negated by using junk line and a sloppy reel. The transmission from the bottom of the water to your pole is affected by line construction and reel tolerances. If you line is across a log the transmission may never reach the pole. There is alot more to sensitivity than the modulus rating.

Rod questions seem to dominate this subsection. I know I have posted my share and talk to people here through the PM about rods. We all want the right rod for the application that we are going to use. As of now I am up to six rods for the different applications/situations that I am faced with. There are many things that I have learned throughout this extended discussion with many people here and many threads I've read. One of the most important things I've learned is that the IM rating of a rod is useless, or the advertised amount of graphite is useless. There is no longer an industry standard concerning the amount of graphite in a rod to earn a particular rating. Example I have a crankbait rod that carries an IM rating of 6 yet the pole is actually a composite construction of fiberglass with a graphite overlay. I recently purchased another IM rated pole that turned out to be very dead, despite exposed reel seat, fuji guides etc. So how do we find the right rod for the job? My thoughts, opinions have boiled down to this, forget the IM rating, I have IM 7 rods that are more sensitive than 60 million modulus rods. The graphite quality and quantity are more important, example a IM7 rod that is all IM7 graphite will be more sensitive than a 60 million modulus that is primarily 40 mm with a few strands of the higher graphite. 2. The resins used play as much a factor to the sensitivity as the graphite. Bad resins dead rod. A rod with 100% graphite construction of 50 mm will be a dead stick unless the resins are good as well. 3. Blank through construction goes without saying and an exposed reel seat. Quality guides, minimum of 9 on a 6ft rod. 4. High strain graphite is important allows hoop strength. So how do you take this information and pick the most sensitive rod off of the shelf. Take a buddy with you to the tackle store, do the voice box vibration test. Put a rod in each hand, hold them to your buddy's throat and have him talk, the vibration will transmit through the rods, you will be able to feel the difference. The reason you want a buddy to do this is because some salesmen will touch the blank while holding the rods to their throats and kill the vibration in one rod or the other depending on what they want to sell. Happened to me yesterday. Because blanks are mass produced, do the flex test, not all fast actions rod are the same, you can easily tell which one is truly the fastest action. Take the rod and gently put the tip on the floor and flex it. Check the quality of the fit and finish of the rod, sloppy joints between cork and seat, poor wraps on guides, etc all reflect poor workmanship and should be avoided. Rod blanks for various rod brands can come from the same factory, manufactured to each brand's specifications of course. Just because the blank for the rod you by is manufactured by the same factory as some other higher priced rods doesnot mean they are the same quality. Conclusion because of the lack of industry standards rod purchases can be tricky. High modulus rating means nothing if the graphite content isn't pure, quality resins aren't used, with top of the line guides, seats, etc.

I am a big Abu fan have four reels, but I wouldn't bother with a black or silvermax due to the graphite frames. I would find a good used BC here off of the fleamarket, just bought a 4600C3 for 30 bucks! Great deal. What to look for is an aluminum frame, sideplates, brass gears, quality bearings and not quantity. A good quality reel with three bearings will perform much better than a cheap reel with 11. You can also find Quantum Accurists for about 50, BPS has last years Extreme models on sale for 39 bucks a good deal, if you can find a lightly used and cared for Abu Garcia jump on it. Good luck.

Believe it or not I fish a pond that has the same grass, it holds bass great. During the spring I run a rattltrap over it and get bit all the time. Now that the water is upper 60's I switch to watermelon green worms, lizards etc, another big producing color is black/blue and junebug. I would say that the pond is loaded with bass and few people fish the grass aggressively. A weightless worm, a senko, a heavy jig all will work. Early morning run a buzzbait over it, late in the summer the grass will probably break the surface at that point run a frog or ragetail product over the grass. The green water is from the algae and you wouldn't think green would be a good color but trust me will produce. Good Luck

around here green pumpkin with a hint of chartreuse works good, light line of course is a must. I grew up fishing smallies and find them easier to catch than LM. But I am trying to learn the ways of the green ones.

Just curious what is the "gill trick"?

I'm so jealous, I need to move to CA for the smallies. Congrats Fish Chris

So pitching and retrieving up before pitching again? Most of my problems come when I try to cast to another tree instead of relocating the boat, so verticle jig only, do not try to cover stretches of cover at a time and work S-L-O-W-L-Y?

Muddy, man some days you are just so sensitive. ;D Anyway off of the jettys I'm sure you were using a surf rod, the right tool for the job. I thought we were talking bass fishing here, all I'm saying is that the two set ups are not equal. Each has qualities that the other doesn't share. I use both. You can bet if I'm fishing for big cats from the bank and I have two set ups and one is a medium spinning set up and the other a medium BC, I'll pick the baitcaster every time, double if the water is filled with submerged logs, etc. If I'm fishing blues off of the jettys and I have a surf rod combo with a spinning reel or a medium bc set up for bass I"m going with the spinning reel. Match the tool for the job at hand, there are places I won't take a spinning set up because it just isn't up to the job and places I leave the bc in the box because it isn't up to the job, can I fish either you bet, is one better suited you bet. BTW Muddy I would love to go fishing with you sometime, as opinionated as I am and as you can be I think we should go fishing and talk politics and religion, jk We can go to Tioga lake or something. I use to live in Williamsport, Caudersport and Tioga, my granddad had a gas pipeline company up that way. Been there many times, still have some family up near Tioga

I have a similar situation and every time I tie a jig on, the logs get it. It is so thick that I'm at a total loss on how to fish the bottom, texas rigs lost, carolina gone, and jigs man I loose more than I get back.