quanjig

Troy, a gifted fisherman as well as film maker! I need a guest shot in the next one!!

Nice work. You defiantly were on the right side!!

Got out on the res with soccerplayer and his new boat and OB up and running Sunday! We got to the ramp dropped his boat in and tried to start the motor, no success! Pulled it back on the trailer and crack open the cowling to see if my limited knowledge might help get it started. We pulled the little filter/bowl that leads to the fuel pump. It was a little dirty but I've seen worse, we clean the bowl and screen and notice a crack in one of the lines. We get that repaired but still have no luck getting it to turn over. SP decides to just fish around the launch with the trolling motor. At this point I know he is truly disappointed he can't get the thing up and running so I tell him it just might need a little time to get some good gas into it and it should fire up! An hour or so later I get a call they got it started but can't keep it running. I run back to where they are and try to help. Magically, we get it started and running nicely! Happy days. We stay close to the ramp just in case we run into anymore issues. After a few sputters and stalls and starts, it appears the OB is now running flawlessly! I figure we might as well give it a good run to see if there are any WOT problems. A nice 20 min run and its flying with no issues! We run up to the splits to try for some more smallies but the rain on Thursday might has crept down the res and made things quite a bit different from the week before. More stain and about 5-7* colder at 41* but I still thought we could catch a few. A friend caught a 7.1 the Wednesday before the rain and wind so I knew the fish were still there, probably just a little tougher to catch! Equipped with a graph SP was not using ( thanks ) I was able to see some of the things that made my previous outing successful I tried a few different hints and was only able to pull a few small bass on a dropshot. SP and his partner were looking around with his new HB 998 HD SI and found some fish but were not able to find the willing ones!! They decided to run around and look at some other spots and I thought I could still land a fish or two. As the day went on a few note small bass and then I caught a really nice crappie! Ended my day with that and had an awesome slick as glass ride back to the ramp!

I started tying the Zona shark knot this year with floro, no break offs on the hook set to date!

Go to YouTube and search golden eagle, watch them pull mountain goats off the side of mountains and think they wouldn't be opportunistic in snatching a small child!

I know Juan. He used to fish the res tx's! This was a picture that got forwarded to me from a friend of a snakehead caught in pohick, I think it looks bigger!

Slow Saturday night huh??!

Thanks guys! I try to let everyone in on the fun that is the res!!

Not sure why the first two fish didn't show up! And

I decided to run back out to the res today and check the spot that held fish last Saturday. Day started out a little rough as I forgot the drain plug and as I push off from the ramp I see 8" of water in the back of the boat! I freak out! Jump into the water and plung in knee deep and pull the boat back, back the truck in and throw it back in the trailer and empty the water. I'm thinking "nice, so this is how my day is going to be!" After I clear my mind of all the negativity I just brought on myself, I settle in and run back down to the splits. This is quite a different day from the one Nitro and I had last weekend. Cloudy with the constant threat of rain and steady temps for the night before. I figure why not try the jb again, some friends went out yesterday and caught a few on it so out it goes! You really had to mix up the retrieve and I got my first fish! I break out the dropshot and catch a few small fish and miss a bunch as well, funny bite, I don't think I'm quite "bait correct" for what is going on because I'm just not "feeling" it! I pick up my super duper secrete bait and make some long casts along a stump row in about 10-12 fow. I could swear I was getting bit on a couple areas so I keep at it and bam! Absolutely crushed it, almost took the rod out of my hands! http://i388.photobucket.com/albums/oo328/quanjig1/2FFF4549-3D4E-44F2-A715-B6C2CFBFFC59-2007-000003A3193EA680.jpg' alt='2FFF4549-3D4E-44F2-A715-B6C2CFBFFC59-2007-000003A3193EA680.jpg'> I continue what I'm doing and miss at least 5 bites, so I slow down just a bit thinking they must be just slightly behind my bait, not able to fully engulf the bait! Everyone knows how difficult it can be to slow down of even get back to the retrieve speed that got the bite after such a monster hit! So when I slowed down my cadence, bam, I catch a huge crappie, almost a citation but I toss it back. Nothing else after another dozen casts so I pick up the jb again, two cast later I catch This beauty! A nice smallie, sorry we couldn't have done that with you in the boat Nitro!! I continue with the jb and another lil guy, but I can't get the big bite I had doing something totally different out of my head so back I go, pick up my little go to and start casting. Again I miss 2 more bites that come unbuttoned so I slow down a little and I another very strong bite and its on!! Another quality smallmouth! So I end my day trying for another big bite, another small smallmouth and I go home a satisfied customer!

The shad in the res in my opinion, is #1 on the hit list for bass. You would think crayfish would be right up there with the amount of rocky cover is present. If you find bait with fish feeding under or around them, chances are pretty good of hooking up!! I have found plenty of willing fish I have graphed under balls of shad!!

Mike is absolutely correct in all aspects. Local knowledge is one thing we all would love to have but is not always available. The awesomeness of top of the line electronics is also a plus!! How everyone puts all the information together and gets the most out of decisions on the water is usually the one who is most successful and takes home the money or bragging rights!!

At this point, I don't think we have any wrong answers! As long as the thought process gets us the best end result, some familiar things may work better for some than others! The first thing that comes to mind on a body of water I am unfamiliar with is what kind of access am I going to have. This should apply to anyone fishing, not just in a boat! I then look at the system as a whole. Then I figure out when I will be fishing, time of year, time of day, weather conditions (both leading up to as well as the day of) My game plan will be determined from there.

Nitro and I thought this might be fun for everyone to get in on and to see if it would lead to a free exchange of information on what seasonal patterns were successful or failures on the body of water they were fishing. Sort of a "will this help me on my home lake or even some place new" deal!! We don't expect anyone to give away particular honey holes or secret bait, more of a here are some things to consider and will they apply to where I am fishing today this time of year! Since Nitro and I fished the res this past weekend and he has thrown out the first question, I will try to explain how this day unfolded! Having intimate knowledge of this body of water (30yrs) makes it much easier, but seasonal patters do apply to just about anywhere you fish. As I stated in the first post, December fishing can be feast or famine. A general idea about where fish are located in relationship to the basic layout of the reservoir is a good place to start. With that in mind you can start to narrow down your choices of high percentage areas that you believe the fish may be active. With that information you can begin to try and formulate a game plan on how to make your day a successful one! It's always nice to have some inside information about what others have been doing as well. In our case, I had reports of what some friends were successful with in certain areas as well as knowing areas that I had caught fish in the past. So back to Nitro's question: what do I contribute our success to, was it the electronics? I think it was a valuable tool that morning in that it allowed us to see how the bait was relating to thaw area we started fishing. There were also visual signs of bait all around us so we had a good idea tha bass were also active in the same general areas. That was enough to start us asking additional questions! 1- how do we get the most active fish to respond? 2- what bait will get us the best results? 3- what presentation will trigger the most bites? I'm sure there are plenty more and this is where everyone else gets in on the fun! Not everyone has the time or the ability to spend as much time on the water as others and we thought this might help anyone that wants to be more successful when they may not have a grasp of certain seasonal tactics. I myself struggle with certain times of the year when my tried and true abilities are not producing when I think they should!! Lets have some fun and see if we can all learn new things that may help you on a day that might leave you scratching your head, and maybe turn your outing from a failure to a success!!

Hey Troy, we were actually fishing on the reservoir below Bull Run. The area where we were catching the jerk bait fish in is very similar to the spot on the river where we caught them on the jb. The two things that were different is depth (boat was in 24 fow casting up to 9 fow), and not tidal. When we fished together I was throwing a pointer 78, with Nitro, I was throwing the pointer 100DD, bigger bait and deeper diver. I would love nothing better than to have an SI unit but still a bit out of my budget! I have the older humminbird matrix 10. It's a hooptie FF that does what I need it to right now, show me depth and bait!! Nitro IS a class act, much like you are Troy. The two people that I have invited to fish with me from this Forum have been nothing but the best! I wish I had more time to get more people on my boat and share and trade knowledge. Life is good!!

I wish some of my grade school teachers were more creative when it came to motivation!!

I appreciate that, the main goal was to have fun and I think we did that, seeing my friend take a dip and all!! Secondly, I wanted to get you on a few quality res bass and possibly a smallie!! I'm glad we had the time to run and look and talk along the way. You saw how laid back I am and I got you to laugh a bit too!! I'm glad you met a few of the guys and they are very laid back as well. We will do this again and maybe a longer, warmer day with some truly active fish!!

I think we did fairly well considering we were down electronics for the better part of our morning!! Thankfully a friend told us the shad were packed in that area! Once the graph fired up, we got into position to get some nice bites! The res in the winter can be feast or famine, but the old saying of find the bait, find the fish held true. We moved around to try and find another bite but the bait was not nearly as abundant in other areas we tried. I felt I needed to show Nitro some more of the res and left the fish to try and find fish, big no no! No harm no foul, we had fun and we both took a lot away from the trip! All outings should be treated as learning experiences and we both got education about December fishing! All told, like Nitro said, you have to try and be prepared for anything!!

Wow, pretty cool

Headed out with Nitro today to spend a day on the res! I wanted to give him an idea about what this place has to offer here in NOVA! We launched out of Bull Run and headed to the splits. Fog and overcast to start the day and eventually broke out into a glorious sunny December day, air temps were a little chilly and damp but finished very comfortably. I figured we would start throwing the drop shot on some deeper drops and had some small nibbles but no hook ups. We continued fishing around the same general area with very little to show for it, just a couple small crappie! Nitro decided it was entirely possible to catch one on top water so out comes the chug bug and he actually had a couple fish come up after it (I learned something today!) we tried a couple other baits and just couldn't get anything to bite. I decided we should try back around to the front of the point we had started. All the while I'm struggling to get my fish finder to work. Finally got it going and talked to a buddy that was out as well and he was catching fish on a crankbait. With the graph finally working I was able to see the unbelievably abundant bait all around the area we were and tied on a pointer 100 DD and started to go to work! Fish number 1! And then another! Fish number 2! At this point I'm thinking we are going to destroy them! I keep at it with the pointer while Nitro tries a few different cranks, then, bam, my line just starts to take off after a long pause! Fish number 3 At this point I look for another bait for Nitro because I want him in on the fun! All I had was a 100 the same color but no a DD so he ties that on and gets to work as well! Amazing that theses fish are just bunched up on one nice little corner. I let Nitro in on the "I'm not dousing anything special" when another fish just starts peeling line! Fish mumber 4! Biggest of the day! We spend some more time fan casting the area and nitro gets in on the fun! His first res fish! We tried for some more but the bite sorta shut down a bit. Time to make a run and show Nitro the lay of the land. We ran down to a couple of bluffs and missed a couple of fish on a tube but had a good time trying baits and talking about our families and assorted fishing stories! We figured we should get back to the area that produces the fish for us and headed back to the splits. We caught a couple more, missed a coulple more and figured the day was just about as good as a December day could have been so back to the ramp and chat with some friends about how the day was and pack up for home! Nitro is such a genuinely good person, very good fisherman and full of the joy of life! Couldn't have had a better time with a new friend!! Anytime you get some more free time we need to do it again!!

Nitro, thank you for the kind words! I take full advantage of your posts as well! Tomorrow will be great! I look forward to a fun day on the water as well! Pictures and a report to follow!

4"&5" kut tail

Perfect time to throw a 1/2oz long bill scrounger with a fluke! Cast past the fish, count it down and slow deliberate swim thru the fish!

It's worth a quick look. Lots of cool places to eat and drink thru the South, cool recipes and some nice articles about people making a difference.

This has got to be one of the best, purely entertaining magazine I have seen in a long time. I've had a subscription for 4 years now and it has become a go to as a Christmas present for others. Any other magazines anyone likes that is worth a look?