quanjig

A lot of time the bigger fish are under the smaller ones being lazy waiting for the small guys to injure a bait that falls down to them. I used to smash them on the storm 4" swimbaits. Count it down thru the small top water feeders and see if that gets you a better quality striper!!

Yep, me too!!

My rod of choice is the 7'3" vendetta MH moderate with 15lb red label floro. When I feel the fish take the scrounger, I'm not easy about setting the hook but I don't "wait" on the fish either! A good hook set is required but I certainly don't "bubba" the thing!! Info: Bubba is a buddy of mine that is know for his over the top hook sets!!

I have fish there for years, way before any of the homes and schools were around! It was horribly over fished back then. I fished it a few times this year and was surprised to see and catch some good fish! It gets a little mossy in the summer but in the early and late spring it can be pretty good! Senko and jerkbait are my lures of choice and a trap type bait will also catch some.

Raider, I thought that was how you "trick" a wart away??!!

Thanks! It's really all about time on the water, I've been fishing the res now since the early 80's and things are really starting to click! There are an bunch of very, very talented anglers that fish out there that I pale in comparison to when it comes to success on the res!! I want everyone to catch fish and have fun out there, a lot of the guys want to keep all the res secrets to themselves, I will show anyone things to try and places to try, but you're on your own after that!!!

Next time if it's not a tournament or if you see me by myself, roll on over and I'll show you a little more on what I'm doing and throwing! I'm more than willing to help anyone out on the res!

Jump up to 15lb floro and try the method Fish Tank described, more of a crankbait hook set.

Ahhhhhhhh..... You complimented a fish I had just caught and I told you football jig??

Saturday was tough, I was able to find a school of good fish in the middle of the day around lake ridge. Caught 8 fish with a couple over 4 and a handful of 3's. Deeper stumps and drops were the key!! I would highly recommend a map and look at areas that are "named". These are spots that people have had success in and around. Drop the trolling motor and keep an eye on the graph! It ha a taken years of fishing to find the spot on a spot in those areas. You have to remember there won't be feeding fish on every spot every day but you can make a milk run of spots in the summer and usually find a spot or two with feeding fish!!

Small cranks and small t-rigged straight tail worms or on a shakey head. Baby brush hog and even senko's work down there.

I gotta go SRV, with Buddy Guy right up there! Couple guys in Los Lobos are really good too, too lazy to look up their names!

Royal and Braddock are great in the spring and fall but tough this time of year, same with Mercer. The res is great all year long if you have a boat and know it! Try some of the Reston lakes. Burke is a tough nut to crack from shore but on a boat can be great at times as well. You can hike down to Hemlock and try for some smallmouth, that's always fun. Four mile run in the winter can be productive. Look at google maps and check out neighborhood ponds, just make sure you take out any trash you find, keeps the residents happy!! Lots of NOVA guys here to help if you need it!

Sundays tournament was brutal for my partner and I. Only managed 4 keepers and we fished hard all day!! Deep bite was non existent fro us. Winning bag was 20.89 I think and that came from way up in the river. Second was almost 19 and third was 18+. Very different from the 23+ pounds it was taking to place the last month and a half. Guys I know that were out the week leading up to the weekend were killing it but the bite got tougher as the week went on. The res is a great place to fish and it takes time and effort to learn it like any body of water. The past few years it seems like this place just keeps getting better and better and I think that had to do with catch and release as well as fairfax county water authority doing such a great job at maintaining this water supply reservoir. It's hard to believe we have such a beautiful resource so close to the nations capital.

If you have any concern at all, I would say no!!

What part of Virginia, there are a lot of folks here in Va. That will be happy to point you in the right direction in your part if the state!

That's quite a journey!! I know it takes quite a while to motor from bull run up to the rapids let alone from 28 to bull run. You are absolutly right about the view, beautiful, especially during the fall with all the trees!! Welcome to the forums by the way!!

You are very welcome and I'll take you up on that beer one day!! The line thing to me is all about personal preference. I know guys that absolutly refuse to use floro!! The XPS floro is ok of you fish a lot of open water in my opinion but the red label does a lot of things well for me!!

Seguar red lable is my line of choice right now for all around, Sunline super natural for my mono applications. Glad to hear you got a few good bites, those fish will still be there next time!!

It's a nice little compact jig, I've caught plenty of very nice fish with them, my buddies rag on me when I throw them and refer to them as "half-a-jig"

I probably break more spinnerbaits than I loose!!

I looked at Fountainhead marina this afternoon and it didn't look too bad. A friend of mine was out and said he was catching small fish in a Carolina rig on points. If I was out today with the high water, I would have been looking at grass along steeper banks with beaver style baits. The water will be falling back to normal pool so I would hope for some wind and fish areas getting the most of it. Points, I would try c-rig and shakey, bluffer areas I would try spinnerbaits and square bill. Good luck guys and let us know how you do!

Great news! Sounds like you only had partial tears and your doc was able to make the successful repairs needed! Be patient with your recovery and when you get back to playing ball again, pay attention to how you move and cover ground. I found I became a much smarter player when I paid attention to the little things, in other words, play smarter, not harder!!

First of all, ouch!! I've had 3 ACL reconstruction surgeries, twice for my left knee, once for the right. Being stubborn, I thought I could continue to play soccer at a high level and the results were not what I expected to say the least! Prayers sent your way! My circumstances lead me to become addicted to fishing so I can't believe it was bad that I incurred these injuries!! Make sure you listen to the doc's and your body! It takes time but if you have a positive mental attitude, it's all good. Take care, enjoy the down time with your family and friends!

What rod are you fishing those baits on. Makes a difference to which line will suite you best!!