Nitrofreak

LMAO !! I will offer my opinion on those, I have to tell ya man I love the L/C pointer 100's in really cold water, compaired to the R/C jerk bait, the reason is because of the way its designed. The L/C jerk bait has a very narrow wobble when you work it and it sinks very slowly on the nose, in cold water I love the slight movement that is produced by the L/C. Now on the other hand, the reason why I went to the R/C jerk bait is because this is a Nuke Plant lake, the water was much warmer on this side of the pond, it was in the upper 50's where we were at, so I needed more action from the bait, when you jerk that bait you are going to get a very abrupt dart to the left or right and a very slow fall from the bait almost too slow in my opinion, but that can be fixed with a heavier hook on the front, or lighter line, but I love the bait, it's got a very good flash presentation as it darts as well, it litterally turns on it's side as you jerk it, I used it with a Skeet Reese J/B rod and I really like the performance of the bait, the only thing that cost me some fish was the color I had, the water was really clear and the color was too dark, I had a lot of fish follow the bait and I think a different color would have been a better option, the hooks however in my opinion on both are or have a lot ot be desired and need to be changed out, one thing to consider is the cost of both baits should you change them out, they are in the 10 to 15 dollar range depending on where you find them, I have not broke one with a fish yet but I have bent the hooks with the fish, one actually broke while I was removing it from the fish, if you do get it hung up you are almost sure to get it back just with a barb or two missing.

Thanks guy's, it really means a lot !!!

Thanx MCS, and you are absolutly correct lol !! Loads of fun, I just wish I would have thought to wear my sweatshirt, I had on a T-Shirt under the jacket, usually my coverall's are more than enough but the ones you see me wearing are not mine, they are my friends and I could not zip up the front lol !!! I froze my boobies off Friday but still had a blast, I wish however we were in the tournament, I had a fire tiger lipless crank bait that I could have used to pluck some more of those nice ones out of that spot but he wanted to save it and I understand. Thanx !! Soon enough I know we will be seeing plenty of big bass being posted by you, and I can't wait to see them either !!! This one really dont, it's a nuke plant lake and I wish I had brought my thermometer to see what the temp was at 12 to 15 feet, thats where all the active fish seemed to be, I found a few good ones on some drop offs in that range in the middle of the lake but did not have time to fish for them, this was further down the lake where the return flow would have an effect, surface temp was the same at 44, but still curious. Thanx Paul !!

I got out to Anna this past weekend and had some good fun !! even though the wind and the cold had put a damper on the fishing I still had a great time !!!! The last one was on the hot side fishing with my friends grandfather, he held the fish while I was taking the pic.

I finally got the chance to do a little fishing after several months of frustration, my friend invited me to prefish Lake Anna with him for a tournament he had, we fished on Friday the tournament was Saturday. It started out to be a great looking weekend early in the week, but as the weekend approached we had another front move through, we got on the water at around seven thirty, surface temp was 42 to 44 degrees, air temp was 24 degrees with a slight breeze out of the west, by the time we reached our first destination the winds had already started to pick up, not what the forcast was calling for, we started scouting the areas for some bait locations and really could not find what he was looking for, water color was slightly stained in our area, so he wanted to try some fishing on some of the spots he had in mind, he was fishing a Smithwick JB and I decided on a LC pointer 100DD in chartreuse, I made 2 casts and already my line was freezing up in the eyelets, we located our first nice fish of the day on a dead grass bed in 12 feet of water, I threw the JB just to the outside edge and brought it along the leading edge and all I felt was the line suddenly became heavy as I went to twitch the bait and pulled this little beauty in, it went 5.30. After fishing that spot we noticed they were already located about 1/3 of the way in on the leading edge of the main lake points but they were being very stubborn even though we were waiting over 40 seconds between movements to try and get a reaction, the wind had become very difficult to hold boat position and keep our lines slack enough to allow the JB to work properly, he knew there were going to be 5 seperate tournaments the next day so we left that spot alone and decided to pack up and head for some areas protected from the wind and found it very difficult to find anything of that nature, we did find one cove that looked good, it had a couple of small schools of shad and some pretty good grass around some of the secondary points which also provided some deep water access as well and thats where I found this little fatty hanging around, she went 4.31 and had a shad in her throat, that was the first time I had ever caught one with a bait fish in it's throat. The winds had picked up yet even more with 25 mph gust's and finally decided to call it a day at 3:30, we rode around a bit after that looking for more bait fish but ended up not finding too much for his tournament, Saturday came around and as he headed out with his fishing partner, I went to fish with his grandad on the hot side of the lake, I had a brand new Rick Clunn designed JB in Cosmic Shad color, on the very first cast with it I bumped it on a stump and wham! this one nailed it ! it went 2.32lbs Thats my friends grandfather holding the fish, we fished from 10:30 to about 3:00 and caught 9 fish all together most all were in the pound and a half to 2 pound range, he beat me with a worm of all things LOL !! and he lost a really nice one at the boat somewhere between 4 and 5 easy. My friend did not fair too well in his tournament, only came back with a weight of 2 fish at 3.08 lbs but on the bright side some really good anglers came back empty handed, he starts the year off in the elite series in 19th place, winning weight was 20.36, don't worry too much buddy, you got the whole season ahead and I am sure you will be just fine. I had a really great weekend besides the wind and the cold and can't wait for the next trip, thanks for letting me share my story and thanks to my friends for inviting me along, I had a great time on the water with you all !!

I cant wait either !!!!!..............im lookin forward to pushing you in the water and using that new combo LOL !!! J/K, I hope you have a lot of fun with that rig CP, sounds like something you have working on for a while, congrats !!!!!

Thats pretty cool Traveler !!!! Thanks for sharing that !!!!

I think WRB said it best, it really becomes a matter of being able to launch and retreive, I too am like most here, I can fish the upper regions of my favorite lake with winds above 20 mph and still have plenty of water to cover and remain safe, while the lower and more wide open regions will be pretty dangerous to navigate. Several things are really taken into account, but the most important one I think about is the location of where I will be fishing in windy conditions, I do not want to be anywhere near a bank if the wind is strong and or gusting strong, trees fall at an even faster rate when being pushed by the wind, if my anchor will not hold my boat position then I call it quits, I was caught off gaurd one day by a sudden wind storm, everything was nice and calm and within a matter of minutes, the lake had 3 foot swells, the marker bouy's were very difficult to locate, other small craft was very difficult to track as well, any trash like tree limbs were scattered everywhere. 20mph is about the max I would want to risk being on the water.

I know Tracker Marine has a shop in Springfield and in Clinton Missouri, The Springfield plant was the first for them and that is where the aluminum boats were manufactured, but they built a fiberglass plant in Clinton in 1986, I am not sure if the Nitro boats are manufactured in Clinton but I assume it's one of the two places there in Missouri.

Nitro boats have always been a product of Tracker Marine, Mr. Morris originally purchaced a few boats from someone, of whom I am not sure and converted those boats in 1978 to offer a full package deal, that was something no one had offered, you used to have to buy your boats by choosing your own options way back when, by putting the boat, the engine and the trailer together you got a much better deal rather than purchacing them all seperatly, also sometime in 1978 they (Tracker Marine) started to build their own aluminum boats. Originally they offered 3 models Bass Tracker 1, 2, and 3, I think if I am not mistaken they were only 16 and 17 foot models, it was not until the later 80's that Tracker Marine began their start in glass boats, the Nitro series was first produced in 1988.

Sent a PM back Traveler. Retirement ? shucks your not even 40 yet Zoff LOL !!!

WHHHHOOOOO HHHHOOOOOO !!!

It is my hope that we can do all of the above, I am unsure of the plans just yet my friend, but, I am thinking either Zoff and I may come up and spend the day or we may be able to make a weekend out of it, you offered a truly great thing sometime back, and I was wondering if that may still be an option as well. I also thought about bringing the boat and the camper so I could have a good idea for distance and time for the Meet and Greet, etc...that would give me a great opportunity to check out the campground and roads first hand, if anyone else had any ideas of bringing their rigs I would be able to speak from experience. If I did bring the camper, you both know (you and Zoff) your families are more than welcome to join us, maybe we could have supper at the camper or something if your interested, I will extend the same offer to anyone who would wish to have supper with us as well, it's a great opportunity to make and discuss plans for everything, we could even play some cornhole and down a few cold ones for some fun too !! I thought that maybe we could spend one day looking around and asking questions and if there was any time left we could do some fishing, or spend the weekend and do some more fishing !!! I think mid April will provide a few opportunities for me, unless Zoff chimes in before, I will contact him and see what his schedule is like for mid April, What does yours look like for then Traveler ?

Zoff and I plan on making a pre-trip adventure outing to meet up with Traveler sometime in the future to get the lay of the land and hopefully do a little fishing as well, if your interested you can join us for the day, I would certainly enjoy hearing your perspective.

We got that a couple of days ago at our GM dealership, I LMAO !!!!!!!!

awesome !!!!! Where's the pics ????? Hate to hear you won't be able to make it to the Meet and Greet, Hope you and your family have a safe trip though, who knows, maybe some of us will get the opportunity to fish with you before then.

Do you realise it's already been 2 months since we have made the decision for the potomac and set the date? That means it's just 5 short months away from meeting up with each other, the weather is starting to warm up and the fever is getting hotter for all of us and before you know it we will be downing some good cold Buds together and telling each other a bunch of lie's. I am looking forward to meeting all of you and I cant wait to see a few of you once more !!!

I would not think you need the charge set up for your application, you could just install a simple 4 wire connector, which you can get from your local Autozone. Is that the only thing you tow?

Don't worry Jig, she's only 29 today, so no warning points for you yet. Happy Birthday Keri !!! and I wish you the best birthday ever with many, many more to follow. Did Glenn fix you breakfast in bed this morning ????

I like that lake, it has some big ol' bass in there, a lot of pressure though in the warmer months but really fun to fish for sure. Glad to hear you are getting family envolved and really glad to hear she had a good time with ya, nice job !!!

Welcome to the forum !!! I am usually fishing the Shennandoah river or Lake Anna, Anna is my primary body of water I enjoy the most, I have fished most all of Va. at some point in time, Gaston, Potomac, Chick and a few smaller bodies of water I have yet to visit, I have not been out yet this year myself but I am looking forward to my first trip of the season sometime soon as well. As you can see Sam is our information guru, and if you ever get the chance to meet him he is one of the nicest guys you will ever meet, along with a lot of others on here, Zoff, Quanjig, Endless, AJ, Steve, Traveler, Sam, Are all people of whom I have had the very distinct pleasure of meeting and fishing with, I can't begin to tell you how diverse we are in personality, and how much fun it is getting to know one another here, but we all share the same passion for fishing. Just because we live in Va. does not mean you won't pick up some valuable info from states as far South as Fla, We share a lot here in the South East section, shucks, we even have a couple of Mods that will chime in from time to time that know a tremendous amount about fishing lakes and rivers, there is even a Mod that has fished our waters from up North, so we are very blessed to have not just locals here that can help you, but tons of people that can help you from all over this country, so don't be suprised if someone chimes in from somewhere else that may be able to help us with our ventures on Va. waters. As for consistant info on Va. waters, be more specific and we could most likly be of some better assistance to you, trust me, we are all looking to be better anglers, you may be able to share something we can all learn from and apply to our fishing as well. Again, Welcome to the forum and feel free to ask of any body of water we have here in Va. Good luck and be safe !!!

I would not disagree with this post, it's a good option if you take into account the upgraded electronics you wish to have, with this option you can start off with everything you want for the same money or even less depending on what electronics your thinking of. Searching for a good used boat may take some time, but it may be time well spent, especially if you find that little bit bigger boat for half the cost of a new Tracker, the money that you can possibly save here can be put toward that new boat in the future and you won't have to start saving all over again. I applaud the fact that you are working so hard to get things right, it's getting exciting for you to get that boat I know, but keep saving and keep looking around while your working toward your goal, it never hurts to look and be open minded. Your going about this the right way, take your time and get as much boat for your hard earned bucks as you can, used or new don't settle for less than what you already know you want in your first boat. Good luck and be safe !!!

That day is coming big guy, and it's coming sooner than you think LOL !!! I won't be so laid back next time we get together and fish SML, we bout to have a whole lotta fun !!!!! WWWWWWOOOOOOOOOO !!!!!

I may be 51, but I can promise you this, I am no older than you are a lot of times, should something happen and my seat becomes open, I will be more than happy to have you on my boat if you get picked to be with me. You will be just fine, just show up and lets have some fun !!!

If your going to start fishing deep and you have a big lake to cover, start small, don't let the size of the lake be a turn off and think you will never be able to accomplish this, you already have a good idea of what they like in shallow water, it's time to find the same things in deeper water, but now your adding in the pathways of which they use to get to those shallows you like to fish. Pick a cove that seems to be successful for you, if you spend a lot of time fishing shallows then you already know which ones these are and when, now look at the path you choose to get to that cove with your boat, the fish will use that same path in general, when they are not there then back up and start looking around, as you locate them pay close attention to detail, follow the landscape, not just below the water but above it as well, bass follow bait and use structure for ambush and cover both but they also use it to navigate from place to place to find food and oxygen they need. Keep it simple, be prepaired to just look around and take every opportunity to learn and not just fish, understand why they are there, keep a close eye on that sonar and look at their surroundings when you do find them, make lots of notes, getting off the banks means less fish in the beginning but the lessons learned will be forever in your favor.