BobbyRaeAllen

Did really well this morning from 5am to noon. No secrets here: Gambler Cane Toad, Black w/ red flake Pop-R, Reaction Innovations Skinny Dipper in white trash w/ 4/o owner beast hook. Chasing schoolies that were sporatically rising and falling and hammering bait. Used the skinny dipper as a follow up bait to blow ups. I think something changed in the last two days that turned em on.. hmmm was it the moon or the cooler temp at night?

I love using braid. I have a bad habit of changing line and trying new lines all of the time, I always go back to braid. I have 15 pound on my finesse rod with a 12 pound mono leader, 30 pound on my topwater rod (usually straight, but I'll use a leader for poppers), and 50 pound for anything else. (other than crankbaits and spinnerbaits). I fish in very thick cover, shallow close combat type fishing. So braid is a huge advantage for me. I recommend power pro. Best overall quality in my experience. But most braided lines will be fine with a good knot. I tie a palomar with braid. And for leaders I tie a double uni, with the braid doubled over, five turns on each side. Its what works for me.

Hey All, I will try to keep it concise but here goes! Since my last report on Briery a lot has changed. Water temperatures have moved up, and so have some fish! Word at the boat ramp: Guys have been doing well and mostly catching one or two quality fish during full or half day outings. I try to talk to everyone I see up there to get a feeling, and the general consensus is that its only a matter of time until fish will begin to lock on to beds. A gentleman caught a nine pounder on a jerkbait from shore at the lower boat landing. I have been seeing alot of fish shallow and they are starting to increase in number and size as opposed to three weeks ago when it was only dinks. The best fish I saw was on a highly fished secondary point in one of my areas. She was cruising the same 10 foot area and alternating from just out of sight, to under a foot of water. She was definitely 5+ and I believe her bed will be at the base of a thick stump on the point. I also know of a nearly identical stump and point nearby that my buddy caught a 6 pounder off of last spring. I will be headed back to both areas. What has worked: Rage rigged yum craw papi, BLK/BLU senko weightless, white chat-r bait, compact texas rigs (as always on briery) What has not worked: Spinnerbait (i must be doing something wrong with my spinnerbait fishing, probably my error), topwater (on main lake) (probably within a week topwater will be a huge factor though) I think I'm up to about 20 fish out of briery so far this april. Hoping to get more, but I might miss prime time for bed fishing due to a trip out west for school. Tight lines everyone! Look out for me up there in a red mohawk canoe, if you dont see me, you'll hear me from a distance cussing at the wind! LOL

What I ended up doing as a temp solution is filling all of the small cracks/ dents and the ends with marine sealant and smoothing it over. Came out great although a little rubbery. (but that allows for flex and temp changes) I then sprayed some bedliner over it. The bedliner is inevitably falling off. but it is in decent shape and the sealant is holding up well. I just picked up a job at Appo kayak co. here in VA so hopefully this summer I will splurge on some skidplates and sand everything I did to it off. The kit they sell is top of the line and will outlast the rest of the boat so its a good investment i think. I just needed to patch it up to get on the water. i used gorilla tape on my last canoe haha

My 2c: I had a pair of oakley holbrooks for 4 years and loved them... until I got my costas. Those oakleys havent seen action for months. I had gold mirror on the oaks and I have polarized smoke lenses on the costas. I can see things I never thought I'd be able to see while fishing, and they are more comfortable. I forget they are on my face sometimes. Highly recommend. Good luck!

I can't vouch for genuine "punching" techniques, but I fish some very skinny water. I'm never afraid to fish heavy shallow cover in general. Ill catch fish in 6 inches of water if it looks right to me. +1 on ^^^ if a bass can fit under it they will use it for cover

Very fitting quote at the end man! And yeah I still live in the same dorm as my freshman year, only this year with 2 canoes and a truck stored at an off campus house that my buddy lives in. My routine as a freshman was after class every day I would walk about 2 miles to the nearest lake in town and bank fish till sundown. I also would throw on swim trunks and walk to the appomattox and wade through. (really sketchy and I dont recommend it). I dont know how I did that for so many weeks and never got smoked by a snake or turtle, but I did it and walked my stinky soaking wet happy butt back to town. (The worst of times lol) Needless to say I have upgraded and now am a dedicated canoe angler. I used to bring my rods and tackle to my last class and walk straight from there sometimes... people looked at me like I had two heads!

What I do is I make sure to put everything back where its supposed to go in the boxes and bags after every trip faithfully so that there is no question about it when I go out next. Definitely OCD. Im sure its more difficult on a larger scale!

Yessir, I always do. I have the NRS Chinook and it is so comfortable! I highly recommend it. Well worth the price point.

Yeah man command strips are my best friend. I frequently do like you said ^^^ I just so happened to have to have them hanging there yesterday haha

After noticing various minor cracks and dents in the outer hull of my canoe, I decided to mend them to the best of my ability. For the record, none of them compromised the middle or inner layer of the hull, only the outer section. Still completely watertight. The worst trouble spot was the stern end had started to eggshell on me from old age. None of these were incurred by me, I just got it. I used Attwood brand marine polyurethane sealant (I believe). What I did was apply it in small lines near and around the areas that I felt needed filling in. I then took a piece of cardboard and spread it across and into the trouble spots. (small dents the size of a penny or less, and the eggshell area) I applied it evenly and it seems to have cured beautifully. I will be painting over it eventually. The product said that it was water resistant (obviously) and UV resistant. Seems like it worked. Has anybody done anything similar? How did it turn out? any further suggestions?

1996 Mohawk 14 Sport! It was an old fleet canoe for the lakes in my hometown, sold at auction, stored in someones backyard and forgotten. Now it is getting all the action it never got in a past life. Wish I had better pics. The royalex is super light too!

Hey All! Making this thread for fun and just to tell everyone what I do as an angler living in a dorm room and out of my truck. I fish the full spectrum: From shore, paddling, and off of a boat. So I need to be able to bug out and go at any time based on my needs for that day. One thing that I do to save space in my room is condense my equipment to various bags and boxes and put them in the corner. Within reach, but not taking up important space. When I'm on the boat or from shore I pack my things into a Plano guide series bag that fits about 5 standard size boxes, but during my most frequent every day canoe fishing, I use a milk crate to keep 6 Plano boxes for quick access Each of these boxes are pretty full, but in a concise and organized manner. I keep my soft plastics in a Rubbermaid 4 gallon tub I got at Wal-mart. I highly recommend these, very sturdy and locks down tight. The way I keep my soft plastics in this tub is pretty simple: Bag 1 (flukes/swimbaits), Bag 2 (anything I can flip or use as a trailer), Bag 3 (senkos), and then other stuff goes outside the three main bags on its own. It is what works for me and I dont have to carry too much of anything. When I leave my room in the AM or night before a trip to load up the truck, most of the time all I carry out is this one compact stack: One box that is very useful to me in my packing is my utility box.

Will do! Even if its a small report the info is valuable. Plus nobody on my facebook timeline cares about if the bass are in the shallows hitting pearl or not. haha I love having a place I can speak the language and give/take info.

Briery Creek Lake 3/26: Canoed the lower side from 2pm to 6pm. The last 2 weeks I've seen a shift of activity in the fish from being hunkered down to becoming more active. Like a lightswitch, one day they just showed up in the shallow timber and started cruising. Traveling in groups of 2-5, the males are up shallow and cruising the stalks and trees. Some have been tailing and clearing beds. In the last week I've caught fish on: Weightless fluke, t-rig lizard, senko, rage rigged Yum craw Colors that have worked: Pearl, baby bass, Black w/ blue flake Stuff that hasn't worked: spinnerbait, swimbait Today I caught this 2.5+/- pounder! Super stoked.

^^^+1 on that! I love those lil dudes. I fish mine on an ultralight with 6lb mono and a split shot 12 inches in front of it. Cant cast it otherwise haha I've had days on the Appomattox where Ive done a "slam" and never untied my bitsy minnow. Chain pickerel, bluegill, bass, knothead, crappie, and red ear. Now for actual lake fishing, I like my KVD 2.5 in just regular shad color. Great bait to have confidence in.

Anything on Briery: 6'8" Lamiglas 5 power (yes I broke the tip), 20lb braid, Power team lures craw d'ourvre texas rigged on a 2/0 gamakatsu with 1/4 oz. weight. Anything else: 6'6" St. Croix Med/Fast, 12 pound mono, Weightless Yum Dinger baby!!

My 2 cents: I read somewhere that crawfish and other little critters shift color seasonally... for example: a crawfish in the summer and fall is going to be hanging around grass and veggies and will have more red and orange tints, where as in the colder water it will shift to a more blue/green color. Coincidentally, I have done well with anything that has a red flake (variable water depth) in summer and fall. But in spring I almost always throw junebug or blk w/ blue flake. Perhaps it is a coincidence, perhaps not. But I have found what works for me and I keep both colors around just in case. Just stocked up on junebug senkos for the next month. ***Fished both colors of the same bait today on a rage rig. BLK blu flake caught fish and watermelon red flake did not. Staying true to my experience ^^^ coincidence? who knows haha

"Even the blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while." -Pops (and me every time I catch a bass) lol

Central VA (from my own observations) is still in prespawn. Water temps are mid 40's and fluctuating. Cold front just passed through. Some small ones are cruising the shallows but all quality fish that ive seen caught and caught myself have been between 8 and 15 feet +/-

I'd say for general use, find 2-3 sizes that work for you and stick to those unless faced with a super specific situation. I prefer 1/2 oz for a start, and if i feel like i don't need that extra weight I go down to a 3/8 oz. I seldom go higher or lower than those two sizes, but thats just my personal preference. My thing about a 1/2 oz is that i can keep good bottom contact in most situations, but I dont want to go much heavier than that.

I agree with all of the guys saying St. Croix. The quality is awesome. For drop shotting I actually use a rod that was gifted to me by my dad, its a 7'6" medium/moderate spinning rod that was custom built for a guy who fishes for speckled trout. Barely used, then sold at auction. Its not a traditional drop shot rod, but it works really well for me. The length is great for setting hook and keeping that fish pinned, but it has a super moderate action and bends all the way to the handle almost. The reason i like it so much is that it gives the fish alot of forgiveness. I seldom lose fish on it. Just find something that works for you and how you prefer to leverage a fish! Even if its a speckled trout rod! haha

Fished Swift Creek Reservoir on saturday to no avail. Caught 1 fish all day on a swim jig with swimmin fluke trailer on a steep rocky sunny bank, main lake point. Fished Briery all day today and caught 1 more on a lizard in a super shallow lily pad area that was full of empty beds. They were cruising around the flat areas and chasing little newts and stuff in the stalks. Really clear water conditions allowed for me to collect some intel for when I'm fishing it this summer and there are pads everywhere. Kind of strange pattern I found was burning a senko! They wouldnt touch it if i was... well... SENKOing it. But when i would straight retrieve back to the boat they would follow and swirl. Had a couple of takes while burning it but no fish in the boat doing that. d**n you 10 pound mono!!!

"Rotundly" fat all the way around! I love it. good catches man! I wish my weekend was as good as yours! haha

about 150 i think... me and my partner got second place and big bass. Same lake tomorrow! Wont be sleeping tonight thats for sure! Wish me luck, and I hope everyone has a good fishin weekend