Twas the night before Christmas.........

THE VA-OUTDOORS CHRISTMAS POEM
By "Dirtman"
with VAO members
T’was the night before Christmas, and all VAO members were hyper
But not a bassboat was launching, not even ol’ Striper’s
The livewells were buzzin & "Rejuvenade" added with care
In hopes that Lunker’s website would soon be square
BigC & Tightline were nestled all snug in their bed
While visions of "Hooknline" members danced in their head
With Cash & Cujo in the Tracker & Jim in his Basscat
They had all settled down for a long winter’s nap
When out on the lake, there arose such a clatter
It must be Gman, doing cannonballs in the water
Away to the transom Dirtman flew like a flash
When asked "You OK?", the response…."Kiss my ass!"
The Sturgeon Creek fog on the new fallen snow
Made Dave Fauntleroy pause…….. for he knew we’d still go
When over his weak bullhorn, no doubt we would hear
"Let’s get ready to go fishin", the time is near.
With the Verado so quiet, so lively and quick
And the fourth set of batteries, "could this be St. Nick?"
By lighting a Cohiba, his co-anglers they came
Squire yelled "more Merlot", and called them by name
Now ChrisB, Now G, Now JayT and Jigman
On Stratos, On JJ, On Wayne and Vbfntritonman
To the top of Pamunkey, all the way to the Dam
Now Shakeyhead, Onefishaway, and also Hawgman
As dry leaves before a wild hurricane fly
He knew without McCotter’s blog, he could not get by
So back into Highpoint, to weigh-in he flew
Following TeddyCarr, Rudedog & Jim Hemby too
And then in a twinkling, there was still quite a muster
As Charlie’s loud Mercury shot by sans muffler
With hands on our ears, as we all turned around
In came G3Mike with about 18 pounds



As his fish hit the scales, Mike’s hat oh so weary
But wait, one team left, it was Jlawx & Scary
A big ol’ sack, they had flung on their back
31Airbourne knew then & there, that was that
With a striper for dinner, held tight in his lap
Leewood asked Rob, "Where’s Bill1wts, Gracie and Zack?"
In came Bfelts, Ccbassn, Skeet1 & Blueranger
BigE exclaimed "I think they’re in danger!"
We spoke not a word, and headed straight down the lake
Tritons, Trackers, Rangers, all models, all makes
At Dike II , Bill’s pontoon….. located at last
They were "crappie" fishing and having a blast
They were chubby & plump…just right to fry
As Ducknfish laughed along with Gambleon5
A wink from Deadeye & a nod from Exfishhead
Made Kris481vs & Slf300wby long handles nothing to dread
Wayne jumped on his trolling motor & to all, gave a shout
"Time to head to Chelsea Joe’s for a cold glass of stout"
But we heard G exclaim as "Baby Blue" made the ramp
"Merry Christmas to all & to all "I’M STILL DAMP!"
Christmas 2009

NEW e-mail address

My NEW e-mail address is gotdirt@martinsmaterials.com

Lake Manassas Work Session

I went to the Lake Manassas work session last night to check it out. The meeting went well. It included the City of Manassas Council, the Mayor, the Chief of Police, Public Works officials, VDGIF representative John Odenkirk and a host of around 75-80 others. In the crowd were quite a few fisherman. Some I knew and some I didn't. Charlie Taylor (sports writer) and Rob Grike (CBANV) were a couple that I did know and chatted with briefly. This was an outstanding showing for our sport and to show that we mean business when it comes to opening Lake Manassas back up to the public. However, the City Council mentioned upfront that this would be a work session and NO comment from the public that attended would be allowed.Anyway, the meeting opened with Mike Moon from Public Works giving a history of what had happened to close the Lake in 1999 and the process that led them to working with VDGIF on this new venture. He also explained the work that has been done so far and what he/VDGIF propose. The proposal goes something like this.Brookfield Homes at Saranac on Glenkirk Road has a 20 acre parcel of waterfront land they want to donate to the state. It lays just east of the dam. If this happens, it would fall into the hands of VDGIF and be the new access to the lake. They would contract with someone to open and run a concession /ramp much like Lake Brittle or the old marina at Lake Manassas. This would leave City of Manassas pretty much out of the picture, but they would have to monitor water quality, put in dam protection , etc. (They are still a little concerned about the Zebra Mussel thing, so monitoring boat livewell water brought in from surrounding areas would be an issue.)So, without a total commitment on their part, the City Council moved that the process, meetings, details, investigation into possible problems, etc. between the landowner (Brookfield Homes), the City and VDGIF continue and hopefully within a couple of years (by John Odenkirk's estimation) we would again be allowed on the lake.This is only Step 1 folks. If I hear of anything else on this, I will be sure to post it.