Spring All-Nighter - V2

So I was sitting around at work early in the week and realized I had a boat tank full of gas, gas left in the truck, and drinks and snacks all leftover from the prior week.  That could only mean one thing....TIME TO GO FISHING AGAIN!  Got approved for Friday off, so I headed to the river as soon as I got out of work Thursday evening.

The night started out rough though with my gill net getting wrapped in my prop so badly that I had no choice but to start cutting away at it.  I then lost my filet knife overboard shortly after, and had to resort to cutting bait with my little pocket knife all night.

I had the river all to myself again (love it), and caught a total of five fish and capped it with this brute at 330 AM on an incoming tide:

58#-45":



Spring All-Nighter - V1

I got on the river at about 8pm Thursday night, launching out of Osborne and making the trip upriver to Ancarrows for bait.  The river was in flood stage and full of trash, which made navigation tricky all night.  I met up with Ralph (B8itup) who was already out fishing.  He pointed me to some bait spots where I managed to net a few shad for the night.  The current was so strong though that at one point my gillnet just took off downriver.  I managed to retrieve it, but damn the current was ripping!  It was actually dangerous to be out there in conditions like that.  I set my net again and anchored up while I waited, and then had a hard time breaking my anchor free it was dug in so good because of the current.  Ralph ended up losing his anchor due to the rope just sliding right through his hands from the strong current.  I think we both had enough of that $hit.  Ralph headed home and I ventured downriver to find some places to fish out of the current.

I literally had the river to myself all night. I fished all new spots, and found a great new bait hole where I loaded up with a ton of hickories and gizzards later in the night.  All fish were caught on Hickory shad...not even a tap on the gizzard shad.  Herring were getting alot of love as well, but I only had a few of them and being as fragile as they are, they didn't last long on the hook.  I caught 3 of my 4 citations on 3-way swivels (hint hint cough cough)...I don't know how many times I can continue to extol the virtues of 3-way swivels in current.  The fish were very hardy this night and all fought really hard.   I fished spots along the main channel with enough of a current break from a point or small cove to break it up a little and keep me out of the majority of the trash.  This tactic seemed to work well.

55#-43.5":

42.5#-41":

Believe me when I say I took a picture of this fish's good side.  I gag just thinking about it, but it practically had no left side face remaining and most of its body on that side was rotting away.  The smell was incredible, but I did my best to eek out a smile for the camera.

34.4#-39.5":

Bait was very easy!

I also added two 27 lbers to cap the night.  Didn't do much when the sun came up so I took a lunch break and went to Portabellas for some delicious pizza.  I then came back to Osborne and napped in the back of my truck for 3 hours to rest up for another night's fishing with Muzkrat joining me.  I awoke to high winds and a revised $hitty forecast, so I got Muzkrat on the phone and we mutually decided to cancel that night's trip.  So I headed home, satisfied.

Non-Catching Still Better Than Work

Came down for a three day fishing trip at the tail end of a flood stage.  My tactic was to fish out of current areas in the hopes of finding fish that were seeking an escape from the strong currents in the river.  This strategy yielded me my biggest fish of the trip:

27.9#-37":

But it didn't yield much else for me, and neither did anything else that I tried.  I even got skunked one day.  I fished far and wide, in creeks, pits, secondary channels, and even the main river channel which was choked with grass and ripping currents.  I had trouble getting my boat on the trailer at Deep Bottom one day because the current was so strong.  So I ended up having to toss a line to a fellow fisherman on the dock to help guide my boat back onto the trailer.

My lines would look like this after only a few minutes in the main channel:

I still had a great time just being on the river.  I finally bought myself a portable grill for the boat, and it's one of the best things I've ever purchased for my boat.  I at least ate well every day.



I saw some pretty cool things while I was out on the river.  I ended up in a creek one day and my fish finder literally went black with striper.  They were busting all around me.  I didn't have any lures to cast at them, but I did put out a small eel that got no takers.  I also had the same thing happen to me in a pit, but this time it was carp, and lots of them breaking the surface all around me.  I couldn't find the catfish feeding like that though.

I ran across the "Baywatcher", which looks to be some type of large environmental awareness boat that takes school kids out on the James River for field trips to learn about the river ecosystem.  Every time I passed them, all the kids would come running to the side of the boat and wave.  Looks like they were having a blast.  I want to know, where were those field trips when I was a kid?  I would have killed to go out on a boat for a field trip.

Since the fishing was so poor, I leave you all with a nature shot! lol

Catfishing America with Onionhead and Poppycock

Invited buddy Travis along for a two day trip to the James.  He had fished the James once before with a guide and had a decent day.  Unfortunately, this trip wouldn't be on par with our expectations on the fish catching side at least.  We did have a blast out there though reciting the corny tune to Catfishing America, discussing our buddy Onionhead, all the while munching down on some Poppycock!  Man was it tight quarters on my little boat this trip.  I'm 6'3 275, and Travis is easy 6'6.  It's a wonder we didn't sink the boat.

For those that don't know, Travis is an esteemed fishing guide on Smith Mountain Lake.  The man can catch some stripers and catfish, and knows the lake like the back of his hand.  Give him a yell if you ever want to get out on SML and catch some nice fish:  Cats 'n Stripers Guide Service

28#-37":

Dracula's Hiding in Them Woods

Hit the river with Muzkrat hoping to cash in on the success of my previous trip, but no go this day.  Fought a gusty wind all day long and only ended up with a 20# fish to show for it.  One key point that got hammered home that day was the need for fresh bait.  I'm always harping on the importance of fresh bait, but this day we had trouble netting shad and once we ran through our fresh bait, turned to some day old bait given to us that morning from a buddy we ran into at the gas station.  When the shad don't bleed when you cut 'em (we called it vampire bait), then it's not even worth putting on your hook.  We should have cut into our fishing time and tried to find more fresh bait, but we took the lazy way out and I think we paid for it.  Never again.

Back in The Game...

With my boat finally fixed and water tested, there was nothing else to do but GO FISHING! So off to the river for a 4-day trip.  It was the first time my boat has been on the river since Nov '09.

Friday:
Fishing was pretty tough.  Didn't start catching anything until late afternoon, but I did hook into one citation to close the day out:

38.8# - 39":

Saturday:

I woke up super early to a steady rain. I might have been the first boat on the river. I made my way through the fog to get bait.  I made the mistake of putting my entire 100' gill net out, even though it was collecting shad as soon as I began letting it into the water.  I ended up having to pull the entire net aboard to keep it from collecting more shad, and spent the better part of the next hour picking all the shad out of it.

I fished between 895 and Windmill Point, hitting alot of good spots in-between. All I had to show for my efforts was one 18# fish. It was cold, wet, and otherwise miserable out there...and that is only multiplied when you're not catching anything.

Sunday:
Sunday was a completely different day.  I slept in Sunday and made no rush to get on the water. In fact, I didn't have my first line in the water until almost noon. The days where you're not too set on sticking to a strict schedule and just go with the flow are the days I seem to do better.  I boated a citation blue at the first spot, and missed another due to my line snapping from an apparent abrasion.  (*I discarded the Hi-Seas Quattro camo line after this trip, it doesn't have the strength of other lines)  Moved downriver a little and boated two more citation sized fish.  At the last spot of the day, as evening was beginning to settle in, I caught a nice fish to end what turned out to be a great day.

53.9# - 44":

38.7# - 39.5":

37.6# - 39":

37.4# - 39.5":

Monday:
This was a day that took a turn for the better rather quickly.  I had fished most of the day with only a 17# to show for it.  I was trying deep, shallow, channels, flats, pits...nothing seemed to be working.  It was nearing the end of the day, and on a whim I pulled up to a spot on the way back to the ramp.  About 10 minutes later, my Ugly Stik Tiger Lite slams down and drag is peeling off my Abu 6500 TCCF.  What a great fight, the lighter gear held up well and gave me more confidence in it.  I get the fish into the boat and onto the scales, and it turns out to be the second largest fish I've ever caught.

64.1# - 44":



Look at the mouth on this fat S.O.B.!

What a great footnote to a great trip.  It was nice to get away from it all, forget about my worries, and just do some fishing for a change.  The boat ran great the entire time, bait was easy to gather every morning, and just enough fish cooperated to make some lasting memories.  I'm sitting here writing this and already planning my next trip!