New to NOVA!!!

[jaystu11]

hey guys-

my name is jay, im new to NOVA, and am a novice fisherman. mostly i love to just get outdoors, hook into some fish, and enjoy some company. im originally from upstate NY, so i dont know much about the area. im looking for some friends and new neighbors!! i love to do all sorts of fishing. i have ranged from trout fishing in the finger lakes, out of local streams, to bass fishing in ponds, lakes, canals, and catfishing and carp fishing in rivers and canals. wide base of fish, but i still havent gone oceanic yet .

anyways, since i have my car up here, i dont have a hitch, and my boat is currently sitting at my parents house in another state! anyone who would be willing to share a seat in a boat, i would gladly pay for gas and some extra, as well as the company!! (i assume food or beer can be considered payment hehe). anyways, i know its getting colder now, but i was told bass are still prime now in the river and tributaries. PM me or post here if you are interested!!

i hope to hear back from some of you, and feel free to send me a friend request with a little bio about yourself! btw, i currently am living in sterling and am opening up a chiropractic practice!!!

[Thai]

Welcome to the area and congrats on opening up your own practice! Although I don't have a boat you'll quickly learn that the guys here are very friendly and always willing to help with advice or lend an open seat! Stick around and ask whatever questions you have about the area, I'm sure one of us NOVA natives will gladly share their our pennies.

Again welcome Jay and looking forward to meeting you one of these days!

[jaystu11]

thanks thai! its great to hear that fisherman here are friendly to new residents. so i did some basic searches, but i only found a couple of places that werent the potomac locally.

1. beaverdam creek reservoir- this one i hear has some nice bass in it, has been protected overall mainly because of lack of public access, and doesnt allow gas motors. i have heard mixed answers about a boat launch.

2. goose creek- havent heard too much about this one, and i only know that it is a tributary into the potomac. im not sure how access is with this little stream either.

if you guys could give me a couple of pointers, i could be on my way to posting some pics soon . since i dont have my boat up here, i would be open to the idea of fishing from shore, i just need some directions to some access. im not looking to steal anyones honey hole, im just basically looking for an area i can fish, especially if someone wants to give me "the tour".

thanks again guys. im excited about living in NOVA!

[LoudounFisher]

I like Beaverdam Reservoir, helps that its only about 10 minutes away. There is still a whole lot of it I haven't fished, but I've been getting out there in my kayak on average once per week. The only thing limiting me has been crappy weather and excessive wind.

The VA DGIF website site says it has a small smallmouth population but they are of good size. I've caught a total of five fish there of any species, the most recent being today's 3.3lb smallmouth. Seems I got pretty lucky with this one. I'd really like to pull out some white perch and crappie to help control that population.

I've fished Goose Creek occasionally but probably won't bother anymore. I've fished upstream from Rt7 and from Kephart Landing to the Potomac. All sunfish except for a smallmouth at the mouth of the creek. The creek is pretty shallow. Only near the river did it drop to 8-12 feet. There is sort of a hole where it meets the river. The river there is 6-8ft. On the day I got these depths the river was crystal clear all the way to the bottom, but the creek was really muddy.

Edit= Adding pics now that I can post links.

[steveb1]

I've been out to Beaver Creek several times in my canoe and caught a few bass. One of my favorite places because it is so peacefull and beautiful due to the limited access.

You can also try Occoquan Resevoir at Fountainhead park. They have canoe and jonboat rentals there.

[Dan:]

Fountainhead is no longer renting jon boats, not sure about canoes. They'll start up again next year.

Welcome, Jay! I'm sure us NOVA guys will do our best to get you familiarized with some of the local hotspots. I'm not a boater but I regularly fish with quite a few of the guys on this forum.

Welcome to the area!

[steveb1]

Fountainhead is no longer renting jon boats, not sure about canoes. They'll start up again next year.

Wow, they must have just stopped this week. I rented one last weekend. $11 for the whole day. Brought my own electric trolling motor.

[Dan:]

Last I checked the park was supposed to close on the 8th. I had heard the ramp was going to be closed to rentals recently.

[jaystu11]

hey guys

thanks for all the kind words. i will definitely hold you to it

i would LOVE to get out sometime before christmas time...so if anyone has any plans in the near future to spend a day on the water, or just out with a pole and some bait, im definitely down.

just to give you guys a taste of what im used to...it seems that most of the water around here is mostly smaller fish and fewer of them to begin with...but where i went to grad school, fishing was a #1 hobby of all of the small towners there. these kinds of days were regular.

the 3rd one was interesting...i had never caught a northern before...and then we just starting hooking into them while fishing lilly pads for bass. pike seemed to be a LOT more aggressive in hitting the lures than bass would, and fought about the same. strong but fragile fish. nasty teeth too.

the last one was a 18lb carp we pulled out of the canal. these things are ridiculous. they fight like large cats, and are nuts when you are trying to reel them in on an ultra-light with 4 lb test like we were. they almost snapped our line multiple times. these fish are a regular out of the canal...we pulled out multiple 20+ lbers out of there! they have an annual carp derby up there in NY...haha.

[Dan:]

Jay, do you keep lots of bass or just the smaller ones like the ones posted? Not many of us around here keep them. That's a nice Northern. I've only ever caught one but I wouldn't mind catching more.

[shimmy]

Dan, don't say that. You don't mean it. Catching northern while fishing for bass is one of the saddest things to happen in a boat. Not only does it take twice as long to get the stupid thing in, half of the time it brakes your line and it costs you a pretty penny. I have had mornings where i fish with 20 pound test and from 7 till 2 in the afternoon, lose 6 jigs to northern. It is expensive and if your trying to catch bass, they just won't let it happen. Oh, and the times they don't snap you off, you have to retie. They are a nightmare.

Jay, good to see you. I'm guessing however on this sight, posting fish that you keep is probably the wrong idea. I have not seen too many that keep em. And to be honest, i doubt many guys here will take you in their boat to some good spots if they know your the type that would end up keeping them in the future. Just food for thought. With that said, this is an incredible forum and it has great competition. We will be getting some pretty nasty tournaments going come spring time that will be a blast.

[Thai]

Yeah fishing for keeps is a little taboo on this site, most of us here practice catch and release for bass, keep all the crappie and perch allowed but please throw the greenies and bronzebacks back! lol

And Shimmy im sure where you're from catching a northern is nothing to brag about but here in NOVA if you catch a northern or a musky it's deff something to brag and look forward to! I can only hope I can catch one of the big girls out of Burke or Fountainhead one of these days!

[jaystu11]

hey guys...haha first off about the keepers. i dont keep ANY fish...i happened to be fishing with a buddy (he only managed one bass that day) and he kept them all. he ate em all, so at least he didnt waste em. i am a C+R FISHERMAN ONLY. i fish for the fight and the excitement of hooking into a biggun one in a while!! also, the bass were the only ones kept...the pike and carp were released safely to be caught another day.

haha pike are a special...i suppose you could say. shimmy is VERY correct about northerns. they tend to beat out bass to topwaters, and reeling them in takes significantly longer. also because of their teeth, they tend to shred line and lure alike, making them a costly catch. however, they can get VERY nice in size, and can also put up an aerobatic fight...worthy fish, and special trophies if you land one large enough.

anyways, i hope that no one took offense at the sight of 5 bass sitting on a picnic bench. like i mentioned before, i am not one to keep fish (mainly because i dont eat any of the species i like to fish for), but also because i, like most of you, like to preserve the waters i love to fish. i want the future generations to have fishing holes like we do. ill keep in mind that crappie and perch are good to keep, especially since they probably limit the bass population in most waters.

anyways...again i hope this doesnt deter any of you from asking me on a boat or to a local hole. i didnt mean for people to get the wrong idea. the bass were just a show...to let you guys know how great the fishing spots were from back home.

[Slip Gun]

Welcome Nice to have more nova folks on. Its a good group around here. p.s. Thai I got some new stuff off TW we need to go out this weekend bad!

[Thai]

Welcome Nice to have more nova folks on. Its a good group around here. p.s. Thai I got some new stuff off TW we need to go out this weekend bad!

I actually held off on the Fuego....

I havent decided where im going as far as rod and app

[Slip Gun]

Welcome Nice to have more nova folks on. Its a good group around here. p.s. Thai I got some new stuff off TW we need to go out this weekend bad!

I actually held off on the Fuego....

I havent decided where im going as far as rod and app

I couldn't resist. I got it, some buzz and spinners. I cant wait to hit the water! *course I have no rod really for the reel yet... details*

[jaystu11]

updates:

so ive been putting in some leg work...since no one seems to want to share any locations. i have checked out beaverdam creek reservoir, lake fairfax, and of course a couple parts of the potomac. i have found some access points from shore...but i still think fishing from boat is probably better at this point, as fish seem to be isolated and slow this late in the year.

i plan on checking out some spots a bit further from home after this wknd...and also planning a wknd trip or something to find some suitable trout streams.

can anyone PLEASE send me some info on fishing holes...pond, lake, reservoir, river, whatever...i REALLY just need a nice place i can have some quiet and throw my line in the water.

[Thai]

http://www.dgif.virginia.gov/fishing/

also use google earth and look for ponds near you.

Most of us wont show a person a "good" spot until we've met them.

Hope that helps for now Jay

[soccplayer07]

i do well at huntsman lake and lake mercer. pm me if you want any more info. good luck.

[Thai]

i do well at huntsman lake and lake mercer. pm me if you want any more info. good luck.

Aren't you at work? Have you gotten a chance to go out so far this week?

[soccplayer07]

nope. its tough for me to get out during the week with it getting dark so d**n early now.

[Thai]

nope. its tough for me to get out during the week with it getting dark so d**n early now.

yeah that what we figured...theres always the weekends bro

[LHC - Bank Robber]

If you want to fish the potomac (from the bank) riverside park is a pretty good spot, but the bite is dying down.   

[NewAngler]

apparently there are a couple trout streams in stafford, but are only good a few weeks after they stock. and the stocking plan cant be found for this particular creek i speak of, the Chopowamsic. Its on base, so you have to get a Quantico license, but it's $10 and I think last for a year.

Good luck. And Thai is right, no one will just give up their honey hole. I had to give Thai and Dan? $200 for them to show me one of their "okay" spots.. its rough around here, jerks.

[Thai]

ahahah you dick