RIVER MONSTERS! James River Catfish

I've always loved catfishing, Its pretty much what got me hooked on fishing, when I was a kid there was a place called "The pipe" It was a large pipe that crossed a creek back in the woods that you could sit on and fish. Me and the other kids would go to fish mostly for small bullheads with worms. When I became older I still loved catfishing, especially during the Rockfish moritorium, catfish were not only plentiful but good fighting.  I rarely ever target them anymore, but thats only because I still catch plenty of them while casting lures for other species, and they still bring a smile to my face everytime I get one.
But theres one catfish that I always wanted to catch, the Big Blue catfish. years ago I would read fishing magazines about Blues in the Mississippi river, some as big as 100lbs! Then about 1990 I started reading about them showing up in good numbers in the James river near Richmond va,  The possibility of me one day catching a monster catfish started to seem even more plausible, but every year would pass by and I never got around to targetting them. This year I finally decided to check one more thing off my bucket list. I thought about trailering my boat and targetting them on my own, but I thought a guide my be a better option. It really doesn't cost that much more when you consider the price of gas you burn in the boat, plus wear and tear on the trailer and boat. plus its much less work, not to mention the odds of success are better. So I booked a trip with Josh Fitchett   River Cat'n Guide Service.
I could tell right away he knew his stuff just by how effortlessly he would fling the baits with level-wind reels, he looked like he's done a few thousand times before.
The setup he used was basically a fishfinder rig with a chunk of Gizzard shad. One thing that I thought was surprising was the areas where we caught the fish. Im not going to be to specific, so not to burn anyones spots, but I thought we would be fishing warmwater discharges, but instead we fished mostly areas where you would think they would be in spring, summer and fall. From a inexperienced Blue catfishermen, I think they seem to favor Deep water with structure. especially where shallow water meets deep water, some of the spots were so small it was surprising such big fish could be there.
We tried about ten different spots and caught fish at every spot except one. A total of 15 fish were caught, 10 were citations over 30lbs, the biggest being 49lbs! The smallest was caught on corn ment for Carp. I read about James river carp and Rockfish and Capt Josh let me experiment a little with my light tackle rod. I Didn't get any carp or Rock but we did pull up a Rock ( about 30") in in the net while catching our bait in the morning. Even the smaller Catfish were pretty big to me. Its funny to pull up a 15/20lb fish and Capt Josh calls it a little one. I think that river is spoiling him a little :)


It was a pretty cool experience, the River has some nice scenery, if your used to boating the Upper chesapeake where the shoreline has either a house or building everywhere you look, its strange to run miles down the James and rarely seeing a house, just trees as far as the eyes can see. Like being back in time
Here's Capt Joshs website http://www.rivercatn.com/

My quest for a Northern Pike

Last winter I bought a VHS video from a guy at a fishing fleamarket about catching Trophy Pike in Canada for two dollars (yeah thats right, I still have a VHS player, Im a neanderthal). After watching all the Giant Pike they were catching, I really became psyched to catch one. Theres only one place close to where I live thats known to have Pike and thats Loch Raven Reservoir, So my plan was to fish there until I get a Big one. I only caught a Pike once before and that was at Loch Raven in 2006 on Mothers day. back then I went to my mothers grave site in the morning and came home a little depressed, so I took a nap, I started to dream about a real event that happened to me back in 1993, Back then me and a few friends would go to Loch Raven for the Spring White perch run. We would use a basic top/bottom rig with nightcrwlers, but there was a trick to catching them, you had to set the hook as soon as you felt the slightest tap, if you didn't, your worm would soon be stripped from your hook, if you hooked up with one Perch and waited a few seconds you could usually get a fish on the other hook. When we would leave with huge stringers of fish, many people would be shocked because they weren't catching anything..One day while fishing there by myself, a young guy came up to me and asked me how I was catching so many, I told him the trick, then he relayed some info to me, They were catching Big pike a little ways down the road, he said to drive until you see a small bridge then pull over and walk a trail to the water, cast large crankbaits in to the shallow water.
I never did go but In my dream 13 years later I did go. the only difference was that I casted a White spinnerbait with black polka dots and a bassasasin trailer also with black polka dots. In the dream I caught a Big Pike! I set up my camera for a self photo of me and the fish, then released it.. When I awoke I couldn't beleive how surreal the dream was, then I realized I actually had a spinnerbait and bassasasin with black polka dots, I Got out of bed and immediately put on my shoes, grabbed my fishing gear, and was soon driving to Loch Raven still groggy from my recent nap, It was strange because somehow I knew I would catch one. I arrived at LR and started to drive down the street the guy said to, and sure enough there was a small bridge, I pulled off and walked the trail, and the very first cast I was hooked up with a good fighting fish, the fish was desperately trying to go towards a fallen tree, and I was desperately trying to keep him away. I finally got him in and it was my first Pike ever! but at 32" it was smaller then the fish in my dream.. I decided to take a quik picture of it while it was on the ground before taking a self photo with it, And Im lucky I did because just seconds after taking the picture, the fish started jumping around and made its way back into the water. Pike have alligator type teeth that can do a lot of damage if you are not experienced with them, so I wasn't about to grab it while it was jumping around.On my very next cast I got a snag and lost the lure, I tried other lures but I didn't catch another fish that day..Well anyway, back to the present time, I really wanted to catch a Pike again, and this time I wanted one bigger. I thought it would be an easy thing to do since I got one on one cast in 2006, but This time I didn't catch one the entire year of 2011, tens of thousands of cast and no Pike, I did catch plenty of other species though, so I can't complain. I fished there so much I got to know some of the regular fishermen in the area, they said catching Pike was actually rare, and catching a big pike was even more rare. It started to look like my chances of catching one was pretty slim, I even considered traveling to Canada just to try to end my obsession. but then on sunday (1-8-2012) I decided to go to Loch Raven and try out some of the homemade spoons I made. I tried a few other lures at first, including a chartruese spinnerbait with a bassasasin trailer, but I didn't catch anything until I started using my homemade spoon. I caught two pickerel, then I hooked up with something bigger, once it started taking drag I knew what it was ;) The ultimate preditor of Loch raven. finally my quest is over












UPDATE!!!!!!!!!
I guess my quest isn't over. I went back to Loch Raven a couple days later after work for a few cast before sunset and hooked up with another one, I also caught a good size Pickerel, once again on a homemade spoon!

Big fish to end the season

This turned out to be a good year in the Upperbay for Rockfish despite all the adverse weather. I was hoping to get into some bigger fish that migrate into the bay late in the fall, and luckily I got a few light tackle jigging, I tried trolling a few times and did catch fish on every trip, but I could never seem to get anything over 40". usually you get bigger fish trolling for the migrants and smaller fish jigging, but not this fall. I did go on a pierandsurf.com group trip on the charter boat "Katherine" (http://katherinecharterfishing.zenfolio.com/ ) and one fish over 40" was boated by one of the board members, but I think we were about a week to early that day.