Matt King

I ended up getting 2 down around point 15, both sublegal fish, one male and one female. Still fun none the less

Ill be trolling point 15 to blunks tomorrow til I find one. Saw a lot of boats that had limited out on opening day around point 15, I never got hooked into one. Most of the fish I saw were in the 25 to 50 lb range. I figure the big females oughta be movin by now. Ill report back, hopefully with pics

My favorite James River Smallmouth go-to rig during summer is a green pumpkin seed worm rigged weedless with a split shot about a foot up. Cast around thick cover and be ready for a strike!

Hey thank ya! We're headed back out this afternoon just for the heck of it. Im goin catch n release today, still got plenty left in the freezer even after the fish fry. Ill let ya know if we get into em today!

I went out Sunday with a friend below McCord Bend and caught 17, all sows. I caught 10 in a few hours and my buddy who showed up later caught 7 in an hour and a half. My 10 were all over 15 inches and weighed at least a few pounds a piece. We were both tossin homemade Alabama rigs with 4 inch swimmin minnows and they were crushing it. I had a hit on one of my decoys that nearly ripped the rod out of my hand! The fishing really turned on from about 4 til dusk

Me and a buddy went out before all the snow hit last week and tore up the cats below the dam. I brought the cast net and netted a bunch of small half dollar sized perch. I caught 3 channels (smallest was 5 pounds) and my buddy caught a real nice 8 pound flathead on a pretty good sized perch. Im thinkin the last snow cooled the water down enough to slow the bite cause I havent caught anything since. Once we start getting some warm days in a row the bite oughta start gaining consistency. Live bait sure is the ticket tho. Seems like all the fish are weary of the ususal worm or stink bait or shrimp. This year oughta be a really good year for fishing compared to the last few.

I bounced a large deep diver over by the warm water outlet tonight and caught two largemouths around 15 inches. The cats werent biting so I got the bass rod out and within 30 minutes caught those two. The key was crankin it REAL slow

That sounds like a blast! Nothin like a nice active day of fishing to keep the cold at bay. Were u fishing by the warm water outlet? I usually net some shiners below the darn n use them. Caught a 12 pound flathead there last year, took pics n turned him back. Theres a chance hes still in there too

Oh gotcha. Yeah hopefully we'll get some warm temps and a few storms that bring it to flood stage. Once it hits that magic 52 degree mark the fishings gonna get real hot, n not just for spoonies either.

Where are you fishin? The lowest Ive gotten is Shelvin Rock. I think these cooler temps and cold rain are keeping em staged in the lake still. Last year it was 20 degress warmer than this year! Thats prob why we limited out in an hour on opening day under the darn at Springfield Lake haha

Its an actual concrete boat ramp, plenty of room to back a boat n trailer

Like the title says, shelvin rock is finally back open to the public. Me and a couple buddys did a short float saturday before the rain to try out the new development. With a new concrete boat ramp further upstream than the original "ramp" and largely expanded parking the new access is hands down one of the nicest on the river now. The fishin wasnt too bad either. Several 15 inch + Smallmouths were caught all using Shad Raps in the walleye pattern. While the new access was severely needed, its up to us to keep both it and the river beautiful. Our freedoms are being taken away everyday, lets keep this one ours forever

Well it was certainly chuggin along and Shelvin was still closed but the water clarity was really nice. A buddy of mine has a pretty nice river access up from Shelvin so we decided to put in and paddle up to the honey hole. It def took some grunt work to go the half mile upstream but by hugging the bank and avoiding the main channel we made it. Didnt take long to start catching fish either. My friend ended up with a 13 inch smallmouth and a 12 inch largemouth with a big ol shiner in his mouth. His girlfriend caught a couple perch n a lil baby smallmouth. I ended up with a 13 inch mama smallmouth. All were caught on either a shad rap or a spoon. Overall it was a nice little jaunt on the river and left us plenty of time for tailgating before the game.

Hey everyone, thinkin about doin a little float from deleware to shelvin this sunday before the game. Was wondering if anyones been doin some fishing, if so what were u using? Im thinkin about throwing the shad rap or a drop shot worm behind cover. Hopefully the smallies are warmin up. Anyone know what the crappie are doin? My freezer is mostly deer haha

Hey everyone, a couple of fishing buddies and I are headin out to float Eleven Point this weekend and was just curious to see if any fellow members are gonna be out there also. We're gonna camp a couple nights either at the float-ins or one of the few gravel bars. Its supposed to be a scorcher so I'm expecting to see quite the crowd. I did the same float about a year ago and at one section of beach saw prob 50 Blazer flat bottoms all parked under the shade! Hopefully I hook more trout than floaters haha -Matt

Oh okay gotcha, thats too bad that they even require paddlecraft to obtain the permit. Ill prob end up getting it anyways, its only like 35 bucks for the whole year. I've got the itch to catch a muskie from my canoe, talk about a fun fight! Thanks for the info gentlemen, good luck to ya! Thanks Matt

Am I required to purchase a boat permit if I'm using a canoe or kayak? or does it only apply to motorcraft and not paddlecraft? Thanks, Matt

I havent gotten a chance to get out there to enjoy the nicer weather. Back when it was hot they were still biting, mostly on soft plastics dragged real slow. Im gonna take a drive down on the outer road n see what the water looks like. Im in a kayak so i know ill be fine, my buddies in a canoe tho so he'll prob have to walk quite a bit -Matt

Anybody know if the waters high enough to do this stretch? Thanks -Matt

I hooked a double out of that same area earlier this summer. Must be a lil honey hole haha

Nice largemouth! I havent gotten out there just cause of the heat. Those pics sure are motivating for me to load up the kayak and get my lazy butt out there tho haha -Matt

Gonna get the kayak out and hit up Springfield Lake this evening, thinking about tryin a few new spots tonight. Anybody thats been out lately havin any luck? -Matt

I had a pretty productive fishing year now that I've got a kayak. Caught two 17+ inch largemouths on one rapala in early summer on Springfield Lake and yesterday, on Flat Creek, I pulled out the biggest smallie I've ever caught being 18 inches. There was a bunch of other lil guys but those were the two that stand out to me. Never really got to do much springtime fishing tho. Cant wait to do some fall floats either! Matt

The fight wasn't too bad actually, i think they kinda cancelled each other out. I was using my ultralight fenwick with 6 pound on which def still took some finessing. I got a pic on my phone but its barley visible, next purchase being a waterproof camera haha. I was on Springfield lake just running the crankbait through some spawning beds bouncing it off the bottom. My guess was that it was a territorial strike. -Matt Nice double on the James too! I caught a 15 inch smallie last weekend down by galena, pulled drag and the kayak around which is always fun

Okay so I wanted to see how rare or common it is for someone to catch two fish on the same rapala at the same time. Last year I caught a couple 12 inch largemouths on a shallow diving rapala minnow. This year taking my kayak out for the first time I caught two 17+ inch largemouths on a deep diving rapala largemouth look-a-like. Has anyone around here done this before? Just wondering that if it does happen again, whether or not to keep and mount the double or to release them again. Thanks for all the input Matt