What a great Stren Tournament last week! The pros and local experts were fishing through a variety of enormous weather condition changes. They also had challenging tides to deal with. In addition, they were fishing in crowded areas. Bottom line, the size of the fish weighted in dropped every day! While frogs dominated the event, it was Chris Dillow's jig that lead to a win! Congratulations! It's great to get a fresh perspective on this river! It was also great to see all of the local anglers in the same place! I was pleased to provide daily reports for WFLS 93.3 in Fredericksburg…they had the only local coverage!

Now we have cold weather…water temps have dropped 15 degrees since last Monday! Not bad for this week! Fishing should pick up nicely for moving baits. Spinnerbaits when the water is choppy, stained or in low light conditions! The Mann's Baby 1-Minus for the other times. The red skirts and red cranks or craw patterns are best now!

I am using _ ounce spinnerbaits with a _ ounce water Gremlin rubber core weight to the hook shank to add weight and give more depth with speed for Willow/Colorado Mann's Classic spinnerbaits! Open the weight, put it on the hook shaft and replace the rubber. Close with pliers. It won't slide and allows you to use a smaller profile bait. White skirts are working, but I have also gone to a red/craw and firetiger pattern. Get a great selection of skirts at Jannsnetcraft.com!!!! Try to fish near and not in clear water, unless you have cloud cover or a lot of wind chop!

Contact grass with Mann's Baby 1-Minus and rip free. Also, “waking” baits like the Mann's Waker or even the Mann's Mid-Minus in citrus colors or shad patterns are working over grass and around docks and wood! Vary speeds...start slow! In stained water, slow down. Fish stained water, near clear water, unless there is a chop on the surface or low light conditions, fish clearer water.

For topwaters a Classic _ ounce buzzbait with a clacker is great. I am also taking the skirt off and putting a white Mann's HardNose soft jerkbait instead. If I get short strikes, I will put two or three trailer hooks on this set up! I am getting bigger fish this way! Fish slower in the morning as water temps are cool! On sunny days the water warms up 5 degrees fairly fast! The topwater bite is great during low light conditions and with low water regardless of sunlight. A mix of poppers and Mann's Super Frogs…and the HardNose frogs. Braid is the only way to go! I like Spiderwire 65 pound Stealth Ultra cast. Also a good stiff rod with a slightly softer tip for better casting and a solid reel and hold on!!!!! I'm adding rabbit fur to all of my Mann's Super Frogs! It's easy…a drop of Pro's Soft Bait Glue…JannsNetcraft.com has rabbit fur strips in many colors! Mann's has a new Weasel!!! This is a hollow frog with a lip to allow the bait to dive about a foot in between the weeds! Really COOL! BTW, Warbirds sponsors Thursday evening tournaments from 5:00pm to 9:00pm at Leesylvania state park. Call store for details 703-878-3111 Also, try walking topwaters like Lucky Craft Gunfish in shad patterns.

For soft plastics, I like tubes! Mizmo tubes come in great colors and the 4-inch tube is half tube body and the tube tails are the other half. Other tubes don't have this ratio. Enough tube to use a 3/0 Mustad Ultra Point Tube hook and the most tail length. Green pumpkin, or watermelon. Try red flakes and copper flakes. Again I choose red this time of the year as the craws are bigger and have a lot more red in them! I'm pitching them Texas rigged and with the Gerkin insert heads. I have been using the Gerkin head for 6 years! Made with a Mustad Ultra Point hook...it has a wire weed guard and an elongated lead head…this makes the bait glide. The Gerkin tube head, now owned by R&R Custom Baits can be found at Dance's Sporting Goods in Colonial Heights, VA or by calling…804-541-4162. Also, hair jigs like the Punisher work too. Jack's Juice really soaks into the plastics or into the hair on a Punisher jig!

The Mann's Stone jig has a flat bottom and is very easy to skip under docks. The tubes skip well too!

I am setting up my seminar schedule for January! I am also taking suggestions for topics! These seminars are for you; so, just email me with what you would like to see! As always, I will have product samples for attendees! Seal Skinz socks and gloves, Grabber Hand Warmers, Jack's Juice and more!

January 16-18 the Richmond Fishing Show at the Richmond Raceway Complex
www.nationsoutdoorshow.com

January 23,24, and 25 Nation's Outdoor Sportsmen's Show at the Dulles Expo Center.
www.ncboatshows.com

February 7 Fishon Bass Anglers with Elite Series pro John Crews...even non-members can attend!
www.fishonbassanglers.com

Mark your calendars! See you there!

Have fun! Questions, comments or booking a trip: info@nationalbass.com. I have a lot of articles on various strategies and techniques on my site. If you have a suggestion for an article, let me know. Check out my website: www.nationalbass.com. I can't fish the entire river all the time; so if you have some information to share, let me know.

" Take me fishing!"

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Captain Steve Chaconas