South East Fishing Meets

I did not laugh...I'll rinse them off with a garden hose and then soak the whole reel in a 5 gallon bucket of water and switch the water out a couple times. Then dry and disassemble/oil. It seems to work okay for me. My cheaper reels still get some light corrosion but nothing mechanical just cosmetic. I learned the hard way too many times that freshwater reels don't mix with saltwater so now all my reels are "saltwater" rated.

You can hold nearly double the braid line compared to mono. I'll still use a mono backing of 50-75 yards. It's more so I know how much line I have left and then can really crank the drag down. But I've never ever been close to being spooled... fortunately or unfortunately... shows how many big fish I catch from the surf

 

I don't oil my freshwater stuff (or even rinse it unless I drop it in the mud) unless it starts doing the same. Saltwater stuff I always rinse while I'm there, and then rinse & oil when I get home.

I'm using 17# mono right now, and this dude was probably 2.5'-3' worth of wingspan. Not gigantic, but my PB. Definitely too big to lock the drag down and strong arm him around.

 

Did you eat him? Heard good things about stingrays if cooked right and good as shark bait.

 

My buddy said he caught one and cooked it a couple years ago. He did some on the grill and some fried. Apparently it's pretty good. He also introduced me to eating snakeheads from the Potomac in VA. Ugly fish but damn good eating. Its a blast bowfishing for them too on the kayaks.

 

I didn't. Threw it back. Didn't have a cooler to throw him in with me. This year I'm going to keep one to try. I've never cleaned one, so YouTube shall show me the way.

I've heard Snakeheads are supposedly amazing. Tried fishing for them once, came up empty handed. But they made it into Lake Anna last year, which is only about 35 minutes from me. My brother is already itching to pull out the boat and go find some to cook up.

Yup... definitely going to try make some of those.

 

I only eat the wings they are the best part. Kinda like eating shark. Snake heads are yummy, supposedly carp are as well. I haven't gotten the bravery yet to try them as you don't get a whole lot of meat for the size fish. The "belly" meat from what I understand is the only real good part. But I really want to get a bow set up and start slaying them for catfish bait they make good cut bait for catfish.

 

I used to live around Fredericksburg and would go hit the creeks. Crows nest, Aquia creek and around Quantico all produced very well for us. Bowfishing is the best way to catch them. When we would have a few in the cooler on the kayaks and folks who were fishing for them would have an empty cooler. They just got really smart. 2014 was the best year of bowfishing for them ever. Every year since then it has become more difficult because as soon as the see or hear a boat they vanish in the hydrilla or lilly pads. If you do fish for them fish top water really fast or use a chatterbait. I'd imagine about every body of freshwater in that area has them now...

Edit: If you hit crows nest in early May you will shoot coolers...coolers full of longnose gar. One day it got to be a nuisance we were shooting so many.

 

Small world. I grew up in Fredericksburg. Right by Loriella Park. There's a pond back in the woods there not a lot of people know about that's got some monsters. We found it riding bikes through the woods one day, went back with some gear, and pulled out some hogs. Of course, this was like 15-20 years ago. I'm getting old.

 

I used to be in the Hartwood area. Did a lot of river fishing on the Rap there and fishing old farm ponds before I switched to saltwater. We used to hop on google maps and find ponds. Then do a knock and talk, 90% of the time we got permission to fish. I was there from 2006-2014 and couldn't get out quick enough after college.

 

I never got up to Hartwood much. Closest I got was working at the Truckin' Thunder right there on 17. You should see that mess up there now. I moved down to Caroline (about 10 minutes from Kings Dominion) 4 years ago and only go back to Fredericksburg when I have to, or to see friends and family.

 

Yeah I wont even fish lake able anymore just because of that traffic.

 

I visit my friends on occasion up there or to go bowfishing. You are right though, 17 is a mess and its a shame all that good farm land is now houses.

I fished there a few times, never really caught anything. Last time I drove over it this past fall the boat launch was nothing but sediment and like a foot deep. The pool behind the dam has a bunch of snakeheads in it though, but there is just no legal way to access it unless you paddle/ walk up the creek.

 

Yeah, last time I saw Abel Lake it was half dried up. And I don't mess with Curtis Lake because I always end up loosing 47 hooks and senkos with all the damn stumps and logs in it.

 

I used to work at the golf course that wrapped around Curtis lake. Fishing wise I don't know which lake was worse, Curtis or Abel. Those lakes had so much freaking pressure and hardly any fish. Much better off to fish Mott's or Hunting Run. I fished Hunting Run the first or second weekend they opened it up to the public. It was awesome. I've never caught so many 2-5 pounders in a day.

 

Dude...WTF! @Blackout14

No way this lasts very long.

https://fortmyers.craigslist.org/lee/boa/6529440967.html

 

@Rattletrap66 feel like grabbing a kayak?

 

Shit...that’s FL money right there. We don’t get deals like that in SC.

 

@BravesTaco95 should be all over that...

 

These never come up when I have money. I'm supposed to be picking up a shell next week...

 

When you heading to Wilson?