TrickyVT1887

I'm kind of surprised no one has mentioned Gamma, I love their Edge fluorocarbon and personally have never had a problem with it breaking. Good luck trying to find a new line!

I'm on the Virginia Tech Bass fishing team and am recently in the market for a new boat. I'm looking for something 18ft plus and under $12,000. Please PM me if you are selling or know of anyone who is! THANKS! Pat

Don't forget to check out the Virginia Tech Bass Fishing Team www.bassfishingteamatvt.com at the northern division qualifier on Smith Mountain Lake March 27th http://www.collegefishing.com/events.cfm?cid=14&tid=6712

in VA it's 8lbs or 22 inches here is a list of trophy fish sizes in Virginia http://www.dgif.virginia.gov/fishing/trophy/sizechart.asp and you can view trophy fish citations by year at http://www.dgif.virginia.gov/fishing/varp/citations.asp

Only problem I have had is beware of the dissolving wafers that set them off in a bad rain they will dissolve and the jacket will go off suddenly and it scares the $%!@ out of you.

Thank you cjbs2003 for your post and you are exactly right about the air breathing part but snakeheads do have gills as well but can only use their primitive lung for breathing so they must surface to breathe. To avalonjohn do as you wish but to myself as well as most other ethical anglers I'm sure it is kind of disheartening to see that a responsible angler would violate a state law which is imposed to help manage a fishery. Just because you do not agree with a law it is no reason to disobey it, just like anglers keeping more than their legal creel or harvesting fish out of season, the regulations are for the benefit of anglers.

Avalonjohn lets agree to disagree what I was stating was purely that each fishery is different and how some fish can negatively effect a fishery whether its native or not native. As you said that I am for culling crappie, sunfish, and small bass I throughly am if it is to improve a fishery. Survival of the fittest doesn't always apply and a fishery can suffer from under harvest of fish, take a course in pond or fisheries management and you'll see what I mean. As far as snakeheads go this is a quote from our department website and a picture of the largest recorded snakehead currently found at 32" and 14lbs which we electrofished for last week, and also found three more fish in the ten pound range that day. "We have established an in-state toll-free hotline (1-800-770-4951) that anglers can use to report snakehead fish. This number is staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Out-of-state callers should telephone (804) 367-1258. If you think you've caught a snakehead fish, please do not release it. Kill the fish by: 1. removing the head, 2. separating the gill arches from the body, or 3. removing the internal organs and put it on ice as quickly as possible. Call the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries' hotline."

I have stated before there is nothing we can do in the Potomac, there is a reproducing population that was first documented in Little Hunting Creek with angler reports finding them caught as far down as Aquia Creek. There is no way to get them out of the river but rather to control the spread of the fish, which could devastate some of the smaller fisheries in the state if spread. Every fishery is different and just because the peacock bass has not harmed one fishery doesn't mean that it won't in another. Fisheries management occurs on a case by case basis which is evident by different creel limits, slots, and size limits at various fisheries. For example a crappie population in a big lake can flourish but in a small pond they out compete the sunfish and bass and will stunt the growth of both species. Correct me if I am wrong but I do not know of any peacock bass fisheries in Virginia and the only one that I know that could sustain them could be the hot side of Lake Anna and there aren't any there that I'm aware of.

The HUGE problem is that snakekeads are an exotic fish that utilize the same resources as the largemouth bass and other predatory gamefish which could lead to too many predators for a fixed amount of prey. This is evident in bass overcrowded ponds wherein you have too many fish competing for the same resource and the bass rate of growth becomes stunted where it is near impossible to see a fish over 10" to 12". When it comes to Bowfin they are a native fish that has developed its own niche in a community and do not seem to have a negative effect on the bass population. SNAKEHEADS ARE ILLEGAL TO POSSESS ALIVE IN VIRGINIA IF YOU CATCH ONE KILL IT AND REPORT IT TO VDGIF (540)899-4169

rondef are you sure that the fish was caught in Marumsco Lake and when exactly it was caught. DGIF has not been giving rewards for snakeheads which confuses me as well. I work in the Region 5 office which would cover that area and our fisheries biologist hadn't heard of any fish being caught from that lake or any reward for catching that fish.

The fish have been in the Potomac river system for several years now. The fish is exotic and it is unsure how it will affect the river system and that is the biggest problem with this. This is why each one caught needs to be killed until the effects of their introduction are known. The fish have created a population in the Potomac river and thats where it needs to stay the big worry about angler's keeping the fish live is that it will be transported to another fishery and decimate the fishery. In Japan it has been seen that Largemouth Bass have been introduce and decimated their native Snakehead population and they are trying to control the spread of the bass, lets just hope the bass decimates the population here. And for the record they taste fantastic especially on the grill.

Used one looks great in the water but nothing on it yet, sorry. Good luck tomorrow at Guntersville

Most people think Lake Anna is the dead sea but check out these pictures of the huge fish that reside there. Its a tough fishery but can produce some monster fish. http://www.dgif.virginia.gov/fishing/waterbodies/display.asp?id=11&section=photos http://www.laprbass.com/results.php?t=1 http://www.sturgeoncreekmarina.com/mc/mc-basslr.htm http://www.sturgeoncreekmarina.com/mc/mc-bass-05-09.htm Check out the 24+ lb sacks caught on 4/1/07 and 4/15/06

Thanks SCBASS anyone else know any other differences in the 100 series reels?

Fellow Northern Virginia Anglers, We need to support DGIF to protect parking for anglers at Burke Lake. This article from the Washington Post shows how Virginia's Conservation Police Officers have been protecting the rights of fisherman to have a place to park, launch, and fish at the crowded DGIF parking area at Burke Lake. Many people use this area to park and walk their dogs, jog, and bird watch which then hinders anglers from using the resource. We as anglers need to support them to be sure that they protect our public fishing waters that are maintained by the our purchasing of fishing licenses and tackle purchases. Contact DGIF to show your support Headquarters (804) 367-9147 Regional Office (540) 899-4169 Here is what i found as the contact number for Fairfax 703-FAIRFAX (703-324-7329) Here's the article enjoy Article published Apr 9, 2008 Battle for space at Burke Lake April 9, 2008 by Gene Mueller - The way new residents in the neighborhood figure it, when they visit Burke Lake off Route 123 in Fairfax, they should be allowed to park their cars wherever they wish. But Northern Virginia sport fishermen are in an uproar because the bird watchers, hikers and dandelion pickers are taking up the very parking spaces they paid for with their fishing license money and through Federal Sportfishing Restoration funds. "It's a dilemma," said the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries' John Odenkirk, the top fisheries biologist and manager in Northern Virginia. "What the nonfishing public doesn't understand is that in Northern Virginia we have lakes Brittle, Burke, Orange and Curtis all of them built and paid for with fishing license money and federal fishing dollars that come from special taxes placed on fishing equipment." At Burke, for example, there is a special parking area and access ramp strictly intended for anglers. Apparently that doesn't matter to park visitors who want to look at the azaleas. They'll park as long as there's a designated space, ignoring warning signs and friendly admonitions. "It got to the point that we had to issue trespass citations," Odenkirk said. "The first trespass case goes to court this week and, well, all of that will depend how the judge views our right to reserve parking strictly for those who paid for it. We'll see." Odenkirk said secondary uses are permitted (bird watching, hiking, etc.) so long as they do not interfere with fishing. "Uses which are prone to interfere with fishing, such as sailboating, radio-controlled boats, swimming, already are prohibited," he said. Odenkirk added that some people perceive the immediate surroundings at Burke Lake to be a county park, and the Fairfax County Park Authority does indeed operate a large park near the lake. "The fact remains that Burke has the fairly unique distinction of being a public fishing lake," Odenkirk said. "We have erected warning signs and posted notes on cars over the past two years in efforts to educate the public of this policy."