nazbom

Lew's SSG I'm sure it has another name but this reel rocks for me.

Funny thing is my wife says to me the other night on the boat "aren't you glad we're doing something together" yeah I'm glad and at least she can see how I "zone" when I'm chasing after the fish. I also get to teach her some stuff even including knots, basic technique and stuff. She's landed a couple nice bass this summer and that's a delight to see. Thanks for the warm welcome, headed to the lake tonight!!

I'd like to take my father in law on the rapp but depending on the tide the pier at little falls can be daunting and with his knees there's no way. A couple outings ago I was pulling my boat out at low tide (about 1' on depth finder at ramp yikes) and with the previous traffic and mud I spun my tires pretty good getting the boat out. I made it off the ramp and was sweating a little cause I only have a 2WD truck. I have had really good luck on the Rapp over the years on the Fred to Port Royal stretch of the river. Enough to keep coming back! Although I didn't fish there a whole lot after the post dam removal days and only started back up recently. I caught quite a few last Sunday with two real nice in size! Posted some pics in my profile camera roll. I read that the Concerned Bass Anglers of Virginia recently introduced a large number of Largemouth Bass fingerlings in the Rapp from the Port Royal down stretch of the river!! They did the same at the Chicahominy several years back an that is an awesome fishery now! Anyway, I may do a scouting mission to Hopyard this weekend to see if it is worth the drive there while passing Little Falls. I'll post my findings to help others if I do make it there. BigJim, thanks for the info and the eyes on experience. When you say you put in at 301 are you referring to the Port Royal ramp? Have you tried Hicks landing? It's a little Podunk ramp (or at least was back when I used it) but it splits the difference from driving all the way to Port Royal. Are you also targeting the Bass as well? The Rapp, in my opinion, gets overlooked a bit since it's overshadowed by some other close and good fishing spots. Again I really appreciate the responses and would appreciate any more input if anyone else had used Hopyard Landing. If I can make it out there this weekend to scope I out I will let everyone know as well. Thanks.

Let me start off by saying hello to the Bass resource world! I joined here last week after reading posts for a long while and had a itch to ask a fishing question. Finally updated my profile today and am introducing myself here. I hail from Virginia near Fredericksburg (the Rebel side of the Rappahannock!) just south of Spoysy Courthouse. I got a resurgance into Bass fishing last year after my youngest stepdaughter got bit by the bug and wanted to do more than throw a bobber to catch fish, game on! I posted in the 'Rides' post under bass boat forum, but bought a 1989 Ranger 361V with a 2000 Yamaha 150 VMax HPDI very early this spring. This surplanted a 14' 1957 Larson Aluminum V hull I was using before that. I used to own a G3 but sold that back in 2004 after other parts of my life demanded more than fishing did and I had to shift my focus. From about 2004-5 till 2012 I mainly used that time to teach the kids fishing and let them develop and healthy love for the sport. I have a 1/4 acre pond on my property that we stocked with catches over the years and it developed a healthy population of bass, crappie, bream and catfish. When the now 17 YO duaghter was 14 or so she was tossing some baits in the pond and next thing I hear is some yelling about a 'fish' I ran down to pond only to find she hooked an healthy at least 5 lb largemouth on her ultra light spinning tackle and got it to shore. From that point on she was hooked!! (I'll look for the phots to post here) Anyway, after a 8 year or so hiatus from the sport of serious bass fishing I waded back in last year. Finding my tackle dated and worn out, I've been replacing things one by one as I could. I've replaced three rods and reels, nursed most of my others back to health with two being beyond dealing with. Gotten a lot more time on the water and revisting old haunts as well as finding new ones. I involve the family a lot more than when I was younger, even the wife gets excited about fishing now. Well I apologize for the ramblle just tryin gto throw some details and info out there. I am earnestly trying to recall all my old secrets and spots as well as soak up as much new info as I can. I look forward to the "Bass Resource" and all it can offer. Thanks so much

1989 Ranger 361V with a 2000 Yamah VMax 150 HPDI. I bough tth eboat used for a good price but ended up doing everybit of scheduled and unscheduled maintenance on the boat an motor that wasn;t done in who knows how many years. It took until this month (July 13) to get every thing firing on all cylinders the way it should be. I bought the boat in late March of 13. She scoots along at at GPS'd top speed of right at 58 MPH with my best at 54.7 knots or 63 MPH. I don't run it wide open though. Had to rework a bunch of wiring, the Garmin GPS unit just went, the display will not work but the unit does. If I jiggle the wires to the screen it will display intermittently. Replaced ALL of the filters on the motor( to include 'Mystery filters), the LP fuel pumps, Spark Plugs, Water pump, PRV (poppet) valve, de-carboned the engine, lower unit lube to name a few. Repaired live well valves back into operation (remote operated) and pumps, replaced wiring to front fish finder, re glued exisitn gcarpet in spots (waiting to replace all eventually). There still is a lot of little work to do but nothing that keeps it from being operational. After nto having a boat fro many years it sure is nice to have this one and not have th ehuge bill of a new one! (Although the wife was at the point of "one more repair and it's getting sold" luckily I got that under control with the new water pump!). Any way enough rambling. I love fishing, especially bass fishing, I'm new to this site and making a resurgance to Bass fishing but have been fishing for more than two decades now. Look forward to the site!.

Has anyone used the Hopyard Landing boat ramp to launch into the Rapp? If so how does it compare to Little Falls in reference to ease of use, slope out of the water and legth of the ramp? Just tryng to get some info before I venture there and pass Little falls if it is not a better ramp. Thanks in adavance for the help!

So I wanted to redeem my self (for my own pride) and went to the Rappahanock for Sunday fishing. Wow, I had an epic day, caught some nice fish even had to play some chess with one. Hooked a nice one off of some pylons, the fish jumped twice revealing a nice fish, then dove straigh tfor the crap under the surface. Needless to say it tangled my line, I fought with it trying in vain to get it untangled but finally I lost that battle. I still went on to catch a good number and had the wife photograph the nicer specimens. I forgot how much fun that river can be...

The Senko wacky rigged is next in my line up! haven't tried drop shot yet and took the bagley off for something else I can't remember right now!! Thanks for the input, gonna head out this evening and give it another try, guess there could be worser things then spending an afternoon on the lake!

Oh yeah sorry, the last tournament I fished on the lake was Tuesday Night Tournaments out of Anna point back in 2000. SInce then, life, kids, Iraq, etc has kept me mostly fishing as mush as I could for fun and Hobby. Was on lake last Friday watching the High Point Friday night series take off and realized how awesome that was...

Hey I said "been called"! I've fished the Lake for many years and laughed a guys I heard say it sucks! I have luck there! I know Chris and he's an awesome fisherman and person. Today the water was floating around 85.5 give or take a tenth or so. I fished up and down lake and the clarity was ranging from clear to stained. I normally put in at Sturgeon and go from there, today we started at sunrise (to beat the holiday rush of recreational boaters) and it was over cast until about 1000. I tried buzzbait chartreuse and white, Pop'r, Yozuri walk the dog, Zoom u-tale in june bug and pumpkin, zoom lizard in watermelon and watermelon chartreuse, spinner baits, rat'l'traps. I caught a roughly 5 pounder in stained water, at the edge of some grass in about 6' of water on a cove up in the pamunkey branch at about 0800 on the chart/watermelon lizard, took my time and slowed down, fishing the mouth middle and back of several creeks. last night hoooked a 1-2 pounder on a white spinner at off a point near the mouth of a creek. No topwater action today at all. Each day has been different (as expected) but today really made me scratch my head. I'm not saying i'm the greatest fisherman of all time but I have been doing it a while and would like to believe I know a few things. So I figured I reach out here. I always would like to improve my game or learn new stuff. I know I need to look deep in the summer and break from the habits as well. My brother and I were speculating that this rainy, stormy weather with extended fronts may be impacting it but I don't want to blame the weather when I could be changing up!!! Is anyone else experiencing sluggish bass fishing form this week of storms and rain? Appreciate the responses so far, sorry for any delays doing some Holiday stuff! BTW Happy 4th to all....

Has anyone been fishing Lake Anna lately? I fish there pretty regularly and have been fishing there 3 times in the last week and the fishing has been crap! I know the weather has sucked lately and I've tried about every trick I know and the fish are far and few between. I know people refer to Anna as "one fish Anna" but I've had pretty good luck there over the years, yeah good days and bad, but the last several have been rough. What is everyone trying out there? I've tried top water at dawn and low light, deep structure, grass beds, docks, rock and rip-rap, spinners, worms, lizards, jigs...It almost seems as they are in between patterns spring to summer or some such. Just trying to see what others luck has been is all. Appreciate the info!