A Day On The Res With Nitro!!

[quanjig]

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!!

[Zoff]

Good job, Guys!

[Traveler2586]

Congratulations on the bites guy's.

[Bigbarge50]

awesome stuff fellas! green with ***.

[Sam]

Good report.

Glad Nitro caught one or two!!!!

He is a very nice guy.

Beautiful ladies, too!

[Nitrofreak]

Quan,

Thanx for a really great day !!!

My favorite part was getting to know you guy's there at the res, really great people and I was glad to meet all of them, I look forward to the next time, maybe they might know me by then and not as "the new guy" LOL !!!!

You are a wealth of knowlage about that special little place and hopefully I am a little more prepaired for the next trip, I think however I may use the seat instead of trying to stand up since I almost took a swim a few times, lol !!!

I don't know that I broke or damaged anything, at least I did not see anything, I tried to avoid it at all costs, especially from that last little spill, but if I did please let me know and I will make it right.

Thanx a ton for the use of the bait, I feel if I would have put my rod in the water I may have got down deeper and we would have been more successful as a team, I could have taken advantage of some of that knowlage and put it to work for both of us.

Had the water had just a touch more clearity I think the chug may have been a little more productive, but I learned so much about that place it was unreal.

You sir are one class act and I can not wait for the next time to come visit and hopefully another chance to fish with you as well.

I had a really great time fishing with you and getting to know you as a friend, and thanx for letting me hold one of your fish LOL !!!

[Nitrofreak]

To the rest,

Thanx for the compliments and comments, it's been a great time this year meeting all of you and fishing with you as well, I look forward to meeting more of you and hopefully fishing with you and I hope I can return the favor some day.

[roadwarrior]

Great post!

I hope you guys will consider coming over to Pickwick for the RoadTrip

in May.

[Nitrofreak]

Great post!

I hope you guys will consider coming over to Pickwick for the RoadTrip

in May.

It's not just a consideration RW, I can't speak for the rest of the group, there have been a couple of conversations of who is going and what we can do to make this happen, I am working two jobs to try and save enough money to get there and have some fun with you guy's, it has to be a an absolute blast I am sure, for me, meeting you would be a real treat and one I would value for a long time to come.

I had seen some of the vids from past Road trips and can't help but wanting to be a part of that, the friendships and the fun you guys had looks awesome, if not this year I hope next year but we will see, so if I don't make it I hope you all have an absolute best trip ever and I look forward to seeing the end results, I may be a last minute entry if the opportunity should present itself, however I will continue to work hard to see you all in May.

[mudkart]

Nice report guys. Jon is the JB master out there; it is one great place to fish.

I

[Nitrofreak]

So why do you think Quan is so successful out there? lets break this paticular day down and see if we can figure out a few things that will help you on your home waters as well.

Are you up for figuring out why the fish were there? well be ready to do your homework if you are, I did mine before I fished with Quanjig and found out few thing while I was there.

This is not going to be a give away of free info but a constructive puzzle for you to put together and apply it to your fishing in your areas for a winter pattern.

This is a winter pattern for sure, one easy clue to start with, if you are interested in learning a little something here Quan is willing to help us out with some things as well, make sure you read his Original Post first !!! there is already a clue or two there for you !!

So get a topo map out and google what you need to for visual mapping and lets see if we can learn a little something together here.

First question is for Quan, What do you feel is the most important key for the success we had that day? Electronics?

[HookSetDon]

Nice looking fish gents, Glad you had a good outing. Comradery and fishing is hard to beat!

[Nitrofreak]

Thanx HSD !!!

It was a lot of fun I enjoyed it sssoooooo much, I look forward to the day when you and I can get an outing as well !!!

[quanjig]

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!!

[Nitrofreak]

Keep in mind, his electronics did not work for almost the first hour or so !!!

Edit: What Quan just laid out for us should raise a few good questions, really nice post Quan !!

[rabidsquirrel]

Nice!

[mudkart]

If we're talking about the Rez specifically, IMO, step 1 should be go here and buy the map for the Rez: http://shop.gmcomaps...&categoryId=27.

[Nitrofreak]

No not the Res specifically Mudkart.

We are going to look at a lot of different things here to help others get a leg up for seasonal patterns etc...for any body of water they may be having a little difficulty with

But let's take Mudkarts lead and start here, this is an excellent place to start, case in point, before I fished with Quanjig, what should have been my first assignment?

Just because I knew how much in touch with the Res he was, should I have just let him take me where he wanted to go and let him do all the leg work for me? What if he asked me questions as to where I wanted to fish?

This is a totally new body of water to me, I already know it's a winter pattern, how? I got a little info from Quan a few days before I fished with him, I got the water clearity, surface temp and what the weather was going to be like for the day, the next thing I did was get a topo map and I also looked at the water surface from a google map, good start Mudkart !!

What do you think I am looking for? remember we are in a winter pattern here.

[quanjig]

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.

[mudkart]

No not the Res specifically Mudkart.

Just because I knew how much in touch with the Res he was, should I have just let him take me where he wanted to go and let him do all the leg work for me? What if he asked me questions as to where I wanted to fish?

Local knowledge that you trust will very likely trump map study, etc. Just don't completely disregard what the map is telling you; try and coordinate it with what you learn on the water with/from the local. Also, these maps are largely incomplete. LOTS of stuff (cover and structure) not found on the GMCO map that I've found with SI.

[mudkart]

What do you think I am looking for? remember we are in a winter pattern here.

Any sort of break/structure that leads to deep (greater than 10 feet) water.

Talking about the Rez, you will have little trouble finding water that deep! Many spots you are in 15 fow (or more) only 1 cast from shore.

And are we talking about numbers of bass or lunker bass? I think the process changes depending on what you are targeting, especially on this body of water.

If your electronics are working, then look for something like this (a favorite spot of mine on the Rez)

[quanjig]

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!!

[Bigbarge50]

I suddenly am thinking I need to upgrade my electronics. Grayscale downscan seems to be a little behind the curve there. I have found the map with the downscan has been the most useful, for finding where the deeper cuts are, though still tough to scan deeper structure or drive over bait balls.

All my luck has come on white spinner baits working the bends in deeper water and tossing jigs into down trees. I think being able to find the shad more effectively would really be a huge help

[quanjig]

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!!

[Nitrofreak]

Local knowledge that you trust will very likely trump map study, etc. Just don't completely disregard what the map is telling you; try and coordinate it with what you learn on the water with/from the local. Also, these maps are largely incomplete. LOTS of stuff (cover and structure) not found on the GMCO map that I've found with SI.

His knowlage was not in question here, at least from my point of view, my thought was what if he were to question me about what I know or did I do my homework, I wanted to be prepaired for anything of that nature, please don't think for one minute that I would ever undermine that, we all know how very strong he is about the Res and fishing in general on any body of water.

What I was getting at is that we have a different approach to everything and that is one of the points of this discussion to learn thought processes and key in on strength areas.