I will do my best to get out and catch some trout over at Lake Fairfax or something soon. But I know we have a few brave souls that are venturing out to chase rainbow trout, muskie, catfish, or maybe a puppy drum or speckled trout in the Elizabeth River. If you do, post your report, good or bad here! You don't have to reveal your spot.
(Countdown to someone vacationing in Florida sharing pictures of them hammering snook or sailfish right now followed by me throwing my laptop and then shoveling snow.)
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Still shovelin' here, boss.
I am still in my pajamas and doing some youtube fishing. I found this cool video of some dudes slaying big gaffer mahi on The Legacy, which is a beautiful boat that put us on a limit of mahi last year.
Haha definitely know oe of those guys in that group. Graduated high school together.
I will be going in May for a week!! Plan on doing a lot of fishing! Even though it will be from the beach I'm sure it will be good! And French I'm sure you agree a line in the water beats this snow!
Arnie- what time of year are you going, and what general area? I can share with you some tips.
I'm going in the end of May to Hilton head island, any tips would be greatly appreciated as I fish fresh water much more than salt.
I don't know Hilton Head very well. I have always been told to fish the inlets with shrimp for puppy drum. Also live shrimp under floats from the piers should produce nice speckled trout. I have only pier-fished as far South as Oak Island NC and the King Mack and cobia bite usually shuts down by the end of may.
If you have heavy tackle and you just want a thrill, set up a heavy leader fishfinder rig in the surf with a big chunk of fresh fish (bluefish is a good choice if you catch one) and there should be plenty of blacktip and spinner sharks around.
Unfortunately there aren't too many piers around Hilton Head. If you fish a cut bait on the bottom like French mentioned you should be able to find some sharks on the beach. I believe however that it is technically illegal to fish cut bait off most beaches in Hilton Head. You can still catch a couple of stingrays and little sharks with squid or shrimp with the same set up.
Hilton head also offers a variety of saltwater ponds around some of the golf courses. If you drag shrimp on the bottom you could catch a few puppy drum.
Listen to him! I don't know the local regulations. I do know that when we hook sharks live baiting for kings and cobia north of Myrtle Beach, we cut the line once you have identified that it is a shark.
Not fishing with cut bait though seems a bit extreme, although I do know that you are not allowed to fish with cut bait bigger than your finger after dark at Bogue Inlet Pier.
Your best bet will always be to throw a cast net and get live shrimp and then fish around the inlets, or charter a boat and fish for puppy drum and trout in the backwater. If you have some spare change, the most fun you can have that time of the year is find a captain that will run you out to the wrecks and then live bait or speed jig for amberjacks. You will beg for mercy.
Reef Donkey's will kick your A$$!
Caught a 92 lber and 2 in the 50 lb range (and a 20# Almaco Jack - which was much better tasting than the AJs) out of Sebastian Inlet, FL last March in 4-6 ft @ 4 second period slop (NW wind) in 180 ft. We killed it that day! Caught a bunch of AJs and several real nice Gag Grouper (that had to be air bladder punctured and returned - out of season). We were trying to avoid the grouper but they were super aggressive that day. We were hoping for cobia, but it was too choppy which dirtied the water too much! AJ has to be well cleaned and smoked the day you catch it to be any good to eat - it makes a great smoked fish dip...Yum!!
Talk to Boo Harrell at Outside Hilton Head tel:800 686 6996 he's usually at the Palmetto Bluff shop they should be able to give you the number there
Boo is great local guy who can point you in the right direction
Caught a few little brown trout recently on Spring Creek in PA
Awesome! I have only fished in Pennsylvania one time. My uncle Haven in the Pocono's (Le Anna, PA.) His house was an absolute amusement park for me. Back then (mid-80's) we never saw deer on my farm in Washington County, VA. At my uncle's the deer would come into the backyard, and sometimes we would even see black bears.
As I got a bit older and more adventurous, my cousin and I started to explore the edge of the woods. One day we found a little spring that trickled down into a creek that was perhaps 300 yards into the woods. The creek was beautiful; maybe 20 feet across and 2 feet deep at it's deepest point.
The kicker was that right where the spring dumped into the creek was the biggest trout I ever had seen in my life, gently finning in the current. I had just started to trout fish with my dad up at Whitetop Laurel above Damascus, but so far all I had caught were a bunch of horneyheads and a handful of pathetic looking hatchery fish. I ran back to the house and told dad. We ran to a little store and got a small Zebco rod and some mealworms if I remember correctly, and then I took Dad down to the creek.
When we got there, the trout was still sitting there in the exact same place in the current. My dad told me to gently flip the mealworm up stream from the trout and drift it back.
So, as a panicky 9 year old would do, I plunked that mealworm right on top of the trout and spooked him. He ran in a semi-circle over to the other side of the creek. Dad took the rod from me and flipped a cast that to me seemed like it couldn't have been any farther from the trout, but sure enough that sucker turned on a dime and hammered it.
I wish I had a good picture (it is long lost to my folks trash piles at this point), but Dad handed me the rod and soon I was holding a beautiful 16 inch native brook trout. It is still the only brookie I have ever caught. We kept it, and it ended up being my first of only two fish I ever had mounted.
Good memories. I still get on google maps once in awhile and try to track down where the creek was. I know it was near the intersection of South Sterling and La Anna.
That is a fantastic story and a massive brook trout, what is the other fish that you have mounted?
my first 20 inch trout (a rainbow from Beartree Lake when I was 10.) Nothing since, although I do have a nice stack of citations (9 for red drum releases with two more on the way, 4 for bluefin tuna, 1 for a cobia, and 1 in Virginia for a black sea bass) but all of those except for the red drum came on chartered trips. That is kind of cheating, since all I did is reel the fish in.
I will be sharing some cool stories. I have three lined up but I have to get the pen to paper and find the good pictures.
That's a nice resume, looking forwad to the stories
Never trout fished in PA, but fished the Susquehanna a couple of times, two days each time, with Ken Penrod. We were in early March, blue assed cold, catching dozens of quality pre-spawn smallmouth. Caught back to back 20+ inch smallmouth at the confluence of the Susquehanna and the Juniata, one went five lbs. Tubes took the fish. Almost cheatin', for sure, with Penrod at the helm, but I still had to catch 'em. While I have caught bigger smallmouth in the New River, those PA smallmouth were the absolute tits. Fat, mean, and reasonably aggressive for the cold, stained water we were fishing.
Edit: I meant to mention that in those four days of fishing, we caught around 170 total fish, with three of us fishing. Penrod has counters on his boats, and I believe we got 59 the first year and about twice that the second year. I cannot remember the exact number, but we flat out murdelated them. Several 20+" fish. We just didn't have the numbers in the New for that kind of spring fishing, when the dinks are dormant.
I am going to give the Potomac a shot for an early hickory shad soon (as soon as the run off chills out), but in the mean time I have received word that the bluefin tuna have arrived off of the Outer Banks. Oregon Inlet is still dangerous (the channel is barely deep enough to get out and you can only get out on certain tides) but boats are finding fish when they get out, and boats are running out of Hatteras and Virginia Beach. Word is that the Wicked Tuna crews are fishing out of Hatteras this year.
My buddy Jake went on The Swordfish yesterday and got a 62 incher.
Bites were tough. This was their only hook up on the day. It should be better once the seas settle down.
Well, if you're only gonna get one... Nice picture.
Hatteras Island Beaches Report from Teach's Lair Marina-
The Puppy Drum Bite continues with the Frisco Pier being the hot spot. But if you want to get away from the crowd (Not Much Of a Crowd) you can find your own spot from south of Cape Point all the way to Hatteras Inlet. Most of these Puppy Drum are slot size but there are quite a few that are what we consider Yearlings (from 28 inches to around 34 inches.) These drum are coming on trout rods and artificial lures. I am hearing that Pumpkin Seed and Chartreuse being the most productive.
I got good news from Loudoun Water. They intend to re-open Beaverdam Creek Reservoir to public access again starting in June of 2015, through 2016. It will close again for 2017 and then permanently reopen by 2018. The Black Crappie and the occasional Musky make this a really fun spot to drop a line, especially with how limited the fishing has been in the last few years. Going to be nice to finally get back out there.
That is great news. I always heard about the musky in Burke Lake, but never saw any evidence of one. Let me tell you, that is one tough lake to crack.
Burke Lake has alot more depth than does Beaverdam Creek Reservoir, which gives the Muskies alot more area to drop away from fishermen, although I have never seen a musky pulled out of Burke either. Those fish are much like the pikes in the Potomac, you only see them at the surface during breeding time and they arent usually hunting when they are in breeding mode. The hardest part with these monsters for me is that they seem to be true hunters, so you need to provide them with both visual and sensorial stimulation to get them to bite. Otherwise, they have so much available food that you arent likely to interest them. Burke does have some of the best bass in area though.
The biggest bass, yes. It is tough fishing though. I only hooked one fish over a couple of pounds in two years of fishing Burke 2 days a week most weeks in season. I saw plenty of nice ones cruising the shallows, but they were not interested in anything.
The surest bets at Burke are pursuing channel catfish with chicken livers. You have to fish after dark, otherwise the tiny bluegills destroy your chicken liver. Burke is the only lake where the catfishing has been better at night than during the day. Everywhere else, be it TVA lakes or the Potomac, cut/live fish during the day has always been my ticket.
this shows my age. my best friend and i fished Burke from the shore almost daily the summer of 71 (i just got my drivers license so we could take ourselves) catching whatever would eat a cricket or worm under a bobber. twice we hooked Muskies. the tug lasted about 3 seconds before it straightened the hook. made for great fish stories though!
nice. Love me some crappie. Go crappie fishing with my uncle down at Reelfoot Lake, TN. Spider rigging (six poles at once) with live minnows. Most we caught in a day was 74. If you get on em there is a ton of action. Nothing like a crappie fry either.
Definitely might have to swing out there at some point when it opens since I am in Leesburg.
My daddy grew up fishing Reelfoot with his Uncle Fate. Fate's name was Lafayette, but my dad couldn't say it and none of us knew his real name until dad died and we learned it from his sister. Dad was from Dyersburg, and he counted Reelfoot as the beginning of a life long love affair with fishing, one I have been quite happy to continue for him. Years since I heard the name Reelfoot, brings back childhood memories of stories of crappies.
my dad took me on a Reelfoot trip probably sometime in the late 60's, we were in southern Illinois visiting relatives and it was a long day, but a fun day. i seem to remember some kind of unique boat the locals used on the lake. i also know any time my dad was near Reelfoot he would bring home a salt cured country ham...almost too salty to eat but delicious.
Might be referring to a spider rig which Reelfoot is the only place I have ever seen it used.
For those that don't know Spider rigging is 6 to 8 poles strategically placed across the front of the boat in a spread fashion. My uncle uses like 14 foot poles with small jigs and minnows and there is no reeling involved. A fish hits and the pole is fed back towards the back of the boat. Mostly it is just using the pole to fight the fish. When they are hitting there is nothing like it.
When I go we are usually on the lake from dawn to dusk. Once they were biting so hard they were hitting the lures without minnows and before we could get all our poles out. Just one right after the other sometimes two or three at a time.
i've seen the spider rig in FL.
I think boat had a middle engine or something...was made to get thru the stumps. kind of an oversized pirogue with an inboard/outboard
Stumpjumper?
that's it!
Oh, and a downer news piece. Trout fishing at Lake Fairfax (which was supposed to start up on Valentines Day) has been postponed due to ice. Given that the trout won't stay alive long once the water gets above 65 degrees, I doubt they invest much in stocking in this year.
Last week I was in the Marco Island/Naples are of Florida and was able to get out on the water for a day. We started the day targeting rolling tarpon with live bait and were able to land one around 45 pounds. On the falling tide we used artificial's and casted around some of the bays for redfish and snook. After a long fight on light gear I was able to land this 45 inch snook that was laid up under a mangrove in a less than a foot of water.
I can't see the picture, but a 45 inch snook is an absolute toad! Congratulations. Once I get my bucket list finished locally I am going to start trying to put together a trip down there.
Thank you! It was the fish of a life time
And while I am a catch and release guy at heart, shhhhhh...don't tell anybody, but snook are mighty fine table fare, but I'd release that one as a trophy worthy of reproducing/catching again. Just me.
I would never be able to kill a fish like that. She was released unharmed
Way over slot, has to be released. No guide will let you keep that. The FWC will take you to jail, take your boat and the trailer and truck you towed it in on. $$$$$$
yes they are. the only one i caught, ever (around Titusville in the late 70's), was a slot fish and it was amazing.
the "snook line"/mangrove line in Florida is almost to St Augustine now. my neighborhood is literally the border. some guys in the neighborhood throwing a cast net for bait picked up some fingerling (4") snook last year.
the are reports that those who know what they are doing (that would not be me re: snook) are catching adult fish about 10 miles south of here.
Dude, that is a monster! That battle must have been epic. I guess your guide knew how to get you away from the mangrove so you could fight that monster and land it. Snook are notorious for wrapping line around mangroves and dock piers (barnacles do the rest). They also turn their head so their razor sharp gill can cut the line. Your ability to not let that happen is noted! Bet the leader was shredded after that battle!
My largest ever was 43" long - you win! I can't see pic either. That one has to be let go: Atlantic slot is 28"-32" - I think its different on Gulf Coast (where Marco Island is). Marco has great access to the Everglades. Great fishing there.
I was really lucky that I soon as I set the hook she went for the open bay that we were in and I was able to loosen the drag immediately
Awesome fish brother!
BOOM! That is a stud!
Honestly, that may be the fish of the year and it is the first one reported. That will be tough to beat.
Any longer and you'd have needed another guy for the tail. Kudos, what a beast.
Very nice! That's a beautiful girl there!
Largemouth are starting to really get active down in SWVA. This warm weather has everything stirring. Caught around a dozen from the bank in my pond behind the house while the kids played; biggest one pushing 3 lbs. it feels so nice to set the hook after the looooong cold winter we've had. Ice just left my pond last Thursday. Thank God for Spring!
That's the truth. My friend has lived next to and worked at a golf course for the past 7 years and got in good with the owners. We went there yesterday and tore em up. We fished around 3 hours up till dusk and caught around 10 a piece. None bigger than about 2 pounds but they were a damn fine cure for cabin fever.
Anyone know of any good spots down here in Blacksburg for bass?
Update: I realize the obvious answer here is the New River, but any little public access spots for bank fishing are good to know too!
Bass? Smallmouth or largemouth? You have one of the best smallmouth fisheries in the country at your doorstep in the New River. For largemouth, Claytor Lake, while a tough nut to crack, has decent bass fishing if you're on top of your game. Gatewood Reservoir in Pulaski is a good place to catch bass. I have offered free advice before to anyone on this thread, and believe me it's worth what I charge for it, but if you want specifics, I'm always glad to give you waaay more information than you probably want if you email me at newriverangler@hotmail.com. Name's Tom and I'd be glad to clue you in to fishing around the 'Burg. I'm gone now from there, but lived in the area for 26 years, and made my living guiding for smallmouth my last 10 years there. Being gone, I'm more apt to share what I learned, so feel free to holler at me if you want specifics.
If it's smallmouth and in the New I have always had good luck behind the stock market in Narrows and fishing Parrot.
Edited-seen the bank fishing part. Parrot isn't your best bet this time of year. Basically need to wade the river and fish the pot holes.
I will concur with this advice, but offer a warning. People drown wading the New River almost every year. If you wade in, be aware that the river can go from 8" to 8' in a step or two, and current is always more powerful than you think. Parrot is a great place to wade in the summer, lots of fish and if the water is low and clear, an easy and safe wade. If the water is stained, though, don't wade without a life jacket unless you know the water well. We'd like to have you around next year. Good luck.
seconded!
I should have added that into my reply I agree. It sounds crazy but the center of the river is around 2 feet in my experience but those pot holes, god knows how deep they are and then you have the current. It's a risky game but can be rewarding. That's still sounds bad...
Thanks for responding guys. I've been thinking about trying under the Pepper's Ferry Bridge on 114 towards Radford. Any experience here?
You can wade upstream, be careful about trespassing on land, the property owner used to be a hardass about it, and fish the slack water there, working your way up some. You can get into some smallmouth and an occasional largemouth/spotted bass there in the still water. Muskies will also hang out there. It's not the best, though. Wading the New is a tough game. I used to do pretty well wading above the Eggleston bridge. Plenty of water, reasonably wade-able, but again, once you get in the water, be careful about where you get out. Landowners on the New have had about all they want of trespassers wanting to access the river.
Edit: Coming from B'burg, cross the bridge and take first left, then right after the railroad tracks. You will come to an obvious launching area where you can pull off and park. Don't block the "ramp". You can wade up or down, and there are some big fish in the area, muskies as well. The Blacksburg side of the river is good fishing, but you cannot safely wade it. This is downstream of Parrot, but I have caught many fish wading this area.
Not many fishermen have taken as many stupid risks as I have to catch fish, but you don't screw around with the New River. One of my fellow guides witnessed a drowning in the Parrot area, his story would disabuse you of any reward you might think could be gained. The really stupid thing, though, is that a simple life jacket takes the danger out of the equation. Pain in the ass? You bet, but unless you're ready to shuffle off this mortal coil.....
Oh I agree. You can be working your tube along the wall of one of the holes and a school of 20+ carp appear out of nowhere puts it into perspective for you.
One day on the arsenal float, Radford to Whitethorn, I saw a school of carp like you describe, but in the middle was a goldfish that would've gone 5-6 pounds. And yes, it was a goldfish.
I can believe it. Used to fish a catfish pond in WV that years ago used goldfish as bait and I've pulled out 3 pounders that hit cut bait. They have a way of adaptive and thriving.
You got it, and I would bet dollars to a donut that some Radford stoont got tired of "Finny" or whatever and let him go in the river. Saw a picture of a weighed 5 pound goldfish caught from Claytor Lake at least 25 years ago. I think they're probably closely related to carp anyway, but I'm too lazy to look it up.
At the risk of beating a dead horse, I might add a further admonition about wading the New. The river below Claytor Lake is a tailwater. When they release water from the dam, the river can rise appreciably. It can be sneaky, too, so it's good to keep an eye on the rocks and notice any change. Once in a while, they do a big release and the water can come up a couple of feet pretty swiftly.
If you go to the stock market in Narrows there is a public parking area. You can park there and walk back up the river about 300 yards to where an old railroad bridge used to be. I've had the best experience with live bait under the falls and hold on. You can catch 3 smallies all day.
Should have been 3 pound smallies, my bad. Also seems someone else knows my spot. Lol
Biggest smallmouth I've ever seen, in 40+ years of smallmouth fishing, was just above the Narrows Falls. I am full of fish talk, bordering on hyperbole, but I honestly believe that fish would've eclipsed the state record with a pound to spare. Yeah, I know, fish stories, but my client had it hooked, we all saw it, it was close to the boat... Wolf Creek above those falls is a great feeder into that section and we got several citations over the years down through that stretch.
That's the truth And I'll swear it till my last breath. Living in Bland I've fished as much of that creek as possible and there are always nice fish to be had.
The very first French homestead in western VA was at the mouth of Wolf Creek. There is a historical marker up there somewhere.
The memories I have of my dad taking me down fishing the New River are memories I'll never forget. That's what fishing is all about and people who don't fish will never understand. Narrows, though my rival in school, holds some of my favorite memories I'll never be able to forget.
2 of my roommates now are from NOVA. One of them has never fished in his life. Drunkenly got into a discussion about how excited I am to go home for Turkey hunting in 2 weeks. He questioned what I found so interesting, and then went on to say, "What could be fun about fishing..I just don't get it."
I feel bad for people who miss out on experiencing the joys of the great outdoors and the time spent with great friends enjoying them.
I bet if you took him out for spring turkey it would take about .3 seconds after that lonely tom thunders off the roost for him to get it. There is nothing that gets my blood pumping harder than that.
And while nobody will talk about it, some years there is a run of shad from Bluestone Lake that makes it to that falls, and sometimes behind them can be a small run of stripers. Even most of the locals don't know about that one and the ones who do keep it really close to their vests. In the 26 years I was in Giles, I never caught, or saw caught, any stripers there, but the smallmouth would gang up there to feed on the shad.
Another good spot for wading is the Little River up in Floyd.
There are some bass in the CRC pond with the fountain that you can see from 460
I went out yesterday for about 20 minutes to the neighborhood pond. I caught 1 bass that was about a pound. It was the first fish I landed this year so that was a nice feeling
If we don't get any rain the rest of the week I may go check and see if the Shad are around Fletchers this weekend
I am really pissed I can't see any of these pictures right now.
Apparently Fort Belvoir's Potomac tributaries are overrun with 2-4 lbs Crappies right now. Saw the parking lot full at one of my regular holes so I checked in and guys had leaders with 10-15 fish a piece. It was proverbial fish in a barrel watching these guys reel in fish after fish today. Most were just using little jigs too.
nice! I only have caught crappie by accident. If I try to catch them (minnows, tiny jigs) I can't catch a cold. However, I caught a two pounder on a plastic lizard bass fishing years back.
Crappie over two pounds are hard to find with regularity, usually. Crappie up to 4 lbs are trophies, and even harder to come by here in Virginia. Crappies on jigs is the best way to catch 'em. While the opposite has certainly been true for me in a few situations, when they're stacked up and piled into pre-spawn/spawning locations, jigs are far and away the preferred method. Any crappie fisherman worth his salt would travel for such action. You are lucky to be so close to the action. Let us know when you get in on it.
Luckily, I am a little better at catching spot!
#CobiaCandy
#DrumLoveSpotHeads
How about some
Codfishing on the coast of Portugal... anyone up for this?https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tg8Tp6RxI_Q
No thanks
That is so much work/risk to catch what looked like a sheepshead.
HistoryHokie and I hit the Potomac River this morning looking for (very) early season hickory shad. Despite a poor report from the Boathouse staff, we managed to get five fish in two hours. It was a far cry from hot fishing, but it was nice to get the first fish of the year on the bank! Two of mine hit a chartreuse and red 1/2 oz shad dart, and one hit a nungesser gold spoon. HistoryHokie got both of his on a Marathon gold shad spoon. Congratulations are in order to HH, as these are the first two fish he has ever caught!
Here is one of my hickory shad...
Fishing with French was fun. I hit a walk-off by snagging this guy on my last cast of the day:
Hey I use that same bait!
HH hooked him in the mouth with the spoon, and then lassoed him with the dart.
Bet that walk-off win felt something like this:
Bwahahahaha. That is so disturbing at so many levels. My eyes. My eyes. Aarrgghh!!
you win, my friend
I've been secretly waiting for the correct time redeploy this glorious gif
That's awesome man!!!! I'm glad you got to catch a few fish! I still haven't gotten out yet this year but hope to soon!
Hey, let me know if you guys are heading out again sometime soon. I got out on Lake Accotink for a bit yesterday afternoon and got skunked.
I am looking to go out in the AM one day this week. What looks open for you?
Way to go, guys. I started yesterday here in Mathews, trying for some hickorys, but no dice yet. I did see several striped bass carcasses, minus the meat mind you, around the small bridge I fish from. Poachers are a bane of sportsmen everywhere, it really pissed me off to see that. I reported it to the Game Warden, but the dastardly deed was done did and I have little hope they will ever catch the thieves.
Good to see that you persevered and got those first of the year, and in particular, HH's first fish ever. Congratulations, and here's to many more!
Is anyone going fishing this weekend?
Going to Beaverdam Reservoir in Gloucester on Monday for crappie, pickerel, and yellow perch. Shad just aren't showing up here yet, although I'm about the only one around here that fishes for them around here. Seems like the main waves of them go into the big rivers first, and then start filtering into the creek where I usually catch some. Cold weather has kept water temps down, everything is expected to be late here in the salt.
Good luck on Monday, do you ever throw a fly for the shad?
Thanks, I'll report on my trip next week. Shad-wise, I have tied and thrown flies at them in the past, but here, I have to fish from a bridge and the use of a flyrod just isn't logistically feasible for me there. I use the stock standard darts and spoons, but also tie my own "darts" and this year I am trying a 2" Gulp curly tailed grub and dart dropper combo. The last couple of years, I have done well on very small grubs and darts, but not so well on the spoons, so am hoping the Gulp might work even better. I use a 7' fast action Lamiglas walleye rod with a Daiwa Capricorn 2500 reel loaded with green, lo vis 6lb test. The occasional rockfish can play hell with the rig, but it is nicely suited to the hickories we get. Still yet to see an American shad here, but it is Spring, and hope springs eternal in the world of fishing.
That dropper rig sounds very cool, I would be interested to hear how it works out
My set up is a Shimano Sahara or Stradic, 2500 size, with 10lb mono. I use a half ounce Lockett's Lures shad dart with a red head and a chartreuse body. Very few places sell the half ounce size so I buy them in bulk from Locketts. I create a dropper loop and a trail line to a small gold Nungesser spoon. Most of the shad hit the spoon (although on my first trip two of the three hit the dart.)
When I first started with shad, it was a yearly trek to the Rappahannock just above the Rt 1 bridge in Fredricksburg. Water was too shallow for anything more than a quarter oz. dart. Never used a half oz. I used 4 lb test line, quite a thrill when you got two hickories at once, going different directions. We also used to catch a bunch of herring there as well. This was around 1982-83. It seemed like on any given day, it was the spoon or the dart that would excel, but you kinda needed both on the rig to get the action and production desired. I would also say that I would lose at least a dozen, maybe more, darts per trip, but also if you waded into the breaks around the rocks, you could find that many or more just eddied out from upstream breakoffs. Numbers were off the charts. I had several 100 fish days per year, they were thick as 'hoos at the Zima tent. Here in Mathews, I'm lucky to get four or five in a day, and two or three is a successful outing. Still haven't seen them yet this year. But for whatever reason, the fish here seem to prefer the dart to the spoon.
So screw 'em. It's crappie tomorrow.
I tried with lighter line, but I was breaking off too many jigs trying to lift them up the rocks at Fletchers. Plus the current is so heavy that the half ounce really helps.
Yeah, I figured if you were using half ounce darts you were in heavier current and deeper water than I was fishing. Some days we were using eighth oz, even. Four lb test was a bit ridiculous, but I got twice as many bites as those using heavier line. Like I said though, I lost a ton of jigs. At the time, there were so many fish, and darts and spoons were so cheap, I thought the trade off was well worth the extra action.
The Nungessers are expensive now. Luckily the Marathons are still pretty cheap.
I'm way behind the times. I still have spoons from twenty years ago.
Wonder if there are any shad in WISCONSIN? I know you're watching.
Nope. I have not watched a minute of it. I have been re-watching the scrimmage and writing a review. I also missed my Rangers crushing the Devils tonight.
Well thank you for that. I will look forward to your review as always. You're full of surprises.
It was a really good basketball game, though.
The two bait rig is pretty standard for shad fishing. Most people put a shad dart on the bottom as a weight dropper, with a line tied onto the main line up the way, usually with a shad spoon, silver or my favorite, gold, tied in such a way that they maintain enough distance from each other to keep from getting snagged, and also to suggest a couple of minnows fleeing. French's picture of HH has that rig featured in the bite on the spoon and lasso from the dart dropper. When fly fishing, I just stick to my single shad fly for ease of casting. The double rig would be a bear in no wind, impossible in a stiff breeze.
Putting off our Beaverdam trip for a week or so in order to take advantage of an invitation to fish a private pond. Not quite a lake, big for a pond, almost impossible to get permission to fish it. Filled to the top with crappie, bream, bass and small pickerel, we killed 'em there last year trolling grubs for the crappie, throwing mini buzz baits for the bass and pickerel.
If someone could take pity on a computer illiterate old fart and tell me how to attach pictures with my replies, I will try to get my buddy to take some photos with his phone. Me, I don't have a cellphone and my digital camera is so old my computer doesn't understand the language it speaks and they can't talk to each other at all. All of this is presupposing that we get into the fish, but I have supreme confidence and high hopes. Either way, report tomorrow.
While I'm starting to think I'm the only one left on this thread, I promised a report on today's fishing and here it is. We put in on the above mentioned private pond this am at 10:30 and fished until the beer ran out, about 4:30. Absolutely no way to tell you how many fish we caught, but we guestimated about 80 crappie, maybe 25 pickerel and about 20 bass. All but a handful of the crappies were really nice fish, but no citations or trophies in the bunch. I would say they probably averaged about 12 oz, with three or four a little bigger. The pickerel were on fire, but no size at all. 10-14" with three in the 18" range, the bass were 3/4lb to 1-1/2lbs or so, small but feisty.
Caught all but one of the crappie and several of the others on 2" Southern Pro Hot Grubs in Acid Rain color on 1/8 oz dual colored (green/chartreuse) jig heads. The rest we caught on specially rigged Senkos, a great smallmouth bait the way we rig them, but my first time using that rigging on largemouth. The pickerel thought they were the tits, too.
I was going to wait for the pictures from my buddy, but since I don't know how to attach pics to these posts, it would be a moot point.
I also know that everybody is all fired up about the football stuff, and I am too, but it's spring and time to go fishing, so I hope someone else will keep this thread alive with some more reporting on what they're catching. I was a fisherman before I ever heard of Va. Tech, and it is right there with the Hokies in my passion file. I apologize if I wax too wordy, that is my nature, but I really love that TKP has room for both of my great loves.
Moved into a new house last fall that has a 2 acre pond on the property. I love to fish more than breathe, so needless to say it's like an alcoholic living next to a brewery. Bass have really been getting hot as the weather allows, slowing down with the cold fronts. I've had a hell of an algae bloom lately, so it makes presenting baits a little tough. I've mainly stuck with flukes, spinnerbaits, and rubber frogs due to the algae. The fish appear to be very healthy. Haven't caught any giants but several in the 3 to 4 pound class. Very fat and appear to be doing good. Tons of small bluegill swimming around, so I'm assuming the panfishing is good though I haven't tried it. If I catch a hog I'll try and post some pics. Bite is really picking up as the fish cruise the shallows. Thank you Spring!
And I won't stop fishing until I can no longer breathe, and hope I catch a fish with my last breath. Try some small, maybe 1/4 oz buzzbaits in the warmer shallows. It's a bit early for topwater, but the small "lawnmowers" can often coax those bass into coming up on a warm day. My faves are chartreuse or black this time of year, no trailer needed. Ten minutes will tell you, they're either on them or they're not, but if they are, what a hoot. Good luck, and a leg up for Spring!
Also, every now and then harvest a couple of those little bluegills. If they get out of hand, they can stunt the whole pond.
I do see a few larger gills, but the majority along the banks are a bunch of dinks. It's hard to fish the shallows for panfish due to the algae right now, but hopefully that clears up and I can get a gauge on what's going on there. I have no issue frying up a mess of gills and washing them down with a Blue Moon, and look forward to the opportunity. Thanks for the advice.
Try popping bugs, they float, and if you aren't a fly fisherman, it is the best way to learn and catch fish reliably. Also why I suggested the small buzzbaits, you can stay above the algae if you get them going fast enough. If you have decent 'gills in the pond, a popper will get 'em up as soon as topwater becomes an option with warm weather bringing out the bugs.
Also, a small black rubber floating spider is a dynamite presentation. If the fish are close to shore, you don't even need a fly rod to get it out.
My wife says I have a sickness and I cannot disagree. There's something so fundamentally satisfying about casting a line that it's almost primal.
I tend to push the topwater envelope earlier than most and your assessment of the buzzbaits is spot on as I've caught several on them. Given the layout of the pond and the floating mats of algae I tend to use a frog more, like a Spro or a Kopper's, as it gives me the ability to pause and give a bit more subtle presentation in the open "potholes" between the slime. The buzzbaits tend to gum up a bit more. When the wind pushes the gunk out and provides some chop I've had a few evenings where I whacked them on spinnerbaits. It's all I can do not to grab a pole and cast a few times before I head to work every morning.
I will post a few pictures later, but I broke the century mark on the shad today at Fletchers. Most were big breeder hickory shads. I caught two smaller American shads (both right at 19 inches) and had a bigger one jam me up under an undercut rock (at least I think that was what it was, it stayed deep and ran be about 30 yards downstream.)
I am betting tomorrow, with warm weather, we see a big crowd there tomorrow.
Well done, French. Thanks for the report. Keeps hope alive.
Going to have our annual Spring "tournament" tomorrow on a local impoundment. It basically consists of some guys I went to VT with and a few other friends sprinkled in. It's become kind of a tradition over the last few years and it's a good excuse to get everyone together to catch up. It's a very small electric only lake and we usually only have 4 or 5 boats, but last year an 8lb 2oz largemouth was weighed. Hopefully we catch some big girls and I'll throw a picture or two up. Tight lines.
Good luck!
On opening day of turkey season when your profile picture is a bird gobbling? I'm a tournament fisherman myself but I'll be chasing longbeards tomorrow
Trust me I wasn't thrilled with the scheduling, but it was the only weekend everyone could make it work. We actually had a gobbler fly across the lake in front of us while fishing. Of course birds were gobbling around us all day as we were fishing & surrounded by public land. We ended up winning, and my bud caught an 8lb 5oz hog during practice Friday evening. Plus the horseshoe in my rear is still functional and I was able to bag a bird the last two mornings. I'll try and get some pics up. I've been riding pretty high the last two weeks. April is a magical month.
Variety of photos from shad fishing at Fletcher's Boathouse on April 9th.
DOUBLES
After a week in Chicago, I went for three hours. The water flow wasn't bad, but the water was heavily stained. Fishing was slow. I managed around a dozen shad, and hooked something huge. I fought it for around 10 minutes on light tackle in hopes that it was a nice striped bass (a few stripers had been caught by the boat fishermen.) Unfortunately, when I got it close I realized that I had snagged a massive carp in the back.
I met a very nice KeyPlay reader from Roanoke who was catching more fish than me downstream near the big island. It was a pleasure speaking to you. I am going to try the sunrise bite tomorrow.
Oh, and in related news, my 5 year old niece got her first ever fish today on South Holston Lake fishing off her maternal grandfather's dock.
Why unfortunately, French? Carp are game fish in many places, and a fight is a fight, right? I would argue that you got the best of the carp, had a good tussel, and came out ahead, with picture. So, from my perspective, good catch.
If he had eaten it, I would have been ok. I cut my teeth catching carp on light tackle to learn how to work drag settings on big fish. Unfortunately, I snagged this guy right in the dorsal fin. The pullage was fun, but it was just like thinking you were hooked on a big red drum and instead you have a big sand tiger shark on your heaver.
Yeah, I truly understand. It's never much fun to snag fish. I have been around legal snagging for paddlefish in Tennessee, and Kokanee (sp?) salmon in New Mexico, and while those engaged in it seemed to get a hoot out of it, I couldn't see the point. And I know what you mean about the drum/shark thing. I used to get disappointed when catching a big smallmouth when walleye fishing, something my fishing pards couldn't understand. I had a client who was almost angry when he caught a 12lb musky while smallmouth fishing. He thought he was into the next state record smallmouth, at least for a moment or two.
Down here, still no shad, but the fiddler crabs are out of the mud, some croaker are showing up in the York, so it's coming, just none too soon.
I heard the shad were up around Fredricksburg so they must have pulled a run-around. Let me know when the croakers start to get thick!
Yeah, we don't get a real run, not good spawning areas here, but usually a few will check out Garden Creek. A good catch here is 5-8 fish with the requisite hits and misses and losses, but it signals that the water is getting right. I will be happy to report when the croaker arrive en masse.
How I envision french catching catfish.
I took MrHokiEsq and HistoryHokie before dawn this morning to Fletchers. We got our spot by seconds despite it being dark when we arrived. There was a gentleman right on our tail. By sunrise there were six people covering the three "fish at your feet" rocks. I am not sure if it was the cool air or stained water, but it was a slow morning. MrEsq got his first ever shad and hooked a good number more. HistoryHokie schooled both of us in only his second ever trip to the river. I was out of the groove and only managed 9 fish (one was a snagged herring.) Big props to both of my buddies who learned quickly and did a heck of a job in the face of some pretty poor fishing as far as the shad run goes.
@CliffordTheHutt came out right before we left. Apparently the bite turned on for him. Congrats on a pretty american shad!
Beginner's luck!
First Post, so I'll just leave this here. 7lb 1oz - Caught Saturday morning on a lake near Richmond.
Welcome! Not only a beautiful fish, but she looks spawned out too. Double kudos! Lure of choice on that one?
5in Green Pumpkin Senko with Black Fleck, sitting in about 6 ft of water.
beautiful. I am a sucker for a pumpkinseed zoom lizard with a pink fire tail. Those senkos baffle me.
I typically throw them with a 3/0 EWG Hook and 1/8oz weight. My go to rod for that set up is a Medium 6'6" IMX with braid and a 10lb floro leader. I fish around a lot of structure so the braid helps pull the fish out before to get me wrapped up.
Senkos, and their cheaper but still effective derivatives, the Bass Pro Stick-o and the Yum Dinger, are all excellent baits for bass, and absolute murder on smallmouth. French, if we go cobia fishing this spring, I'll show you a way of rigging them that is a guaranteed smallmouth producer. It's so counterintuitive that you'll laugh at it...until you use it.
That was a nice, healthy largemouth. Congratulations.
Awesome fish brother!!!
Hah, I was wondering if I was gonna see this up here after you sent it to me yesterday. Nice fish man. I am still waiting for an invite to join you and your Dad at this camp.....
Minor fishing report. Went to Beaverdam Reservoir in Gloucester today. Windy as all hell. Supposed to be 10-15, ended up being 15-20. Electric motors only, so we struggled. The fish were all the way up at the other end of the lake from us, but when we got there, we did very well. We were targeting crappie, so we started off trolling two inch acid rain curly tailed grubs on 1/8oz two tone jig heads. We caught a bunch of fish. We got maybe a dozen pickerel, most in the 2-4lb range, several largemouth, biggest 3lbs, a whole bunch of nice bluegills, a couple of dozen yellow perch, and 14-15 crappies. The crappies were almost all big ones (for us), with several over a pound, and not a dink amongst them. While we got a few fish on minnows while anchored eating lunch, we never got off of what was working... those grubs. With batteries running low from bucking the wind all day, we limped back with a pretty full stringer and a feeling that we'd exceeded our expectations. We'll be frying the perch and crappies, and smoking the pickerel we kept, and we let a bunch of them go. Hope someone else gets out.