Grappling Coach

My son will be home from collage March 13th and staying a few days. I thought about taking him and his wife white bass fishing up the James, but have not been up there in years. I know that every year is different, due to water temps and rainfall, but are the whites usually up to blunks by that time?. Also, if they are not there, can they be caught down the river a ways? in years past, I have seen boats piled up on the mud flats at Ashers and figured that they were catching a few there. I have never fished for them below mccords bend and am not sure how to get after them down river. Thanks for any help.

I'm taking my dad crappie fishing this evening. Last week, the James and Flat Creek were stained but not muddy. After the recent rain, has it muddied up considerably? If so, how long does it usually take to clear up?

In a letter to parents, Mike Matheny stated that he always said that the only little league team that he would ever coach was a team of orphans. The biggest problem in youth sports is parents. winning and losing is a part of sports that kids can deal with. However, psycho mom and dad can't. Another problem with youth sports is that there is no way to know how kids are going to develop physically and mentally over time. The kids that dominate as 8 - 13 year olds are often physically ahead of the other kids. As they come in to high school, everyone else catches up to them and they are often not successful. However, an average kid may work hard and grow in to a big strong athlete who will stomp the kid that ruled in pee wees once in high school. I could care less if I ever have an 8 year old state Champion. I want kids to stick with their sports and become high school and college athletes. If that average kid quits before he gets to high school because of his parents, or an idiot coach, we will never know what he could have been. There is an interesting philosophy called long term athletic development or LTAD. We want kids to develop into athletes over time and play at the highest levels. If you take a notion, Google long term athletic development.

Has anyone been out chasing the big bluegill?

Many years ago when we first got a boat, my wife and I were launching at Pittsburgh landing on Pomme at first light and were the only people at the ramp. She backed me in to the water and drove up the hill out of sight to park. When we came in, I walked up the hill to the gravel lot to get the truck and saw that she had parked sideways instead of pulling straight in, taking up at least 5 parking spots. I gave her the little note that someone left on the windshield with some choice words on it and explained what she had done wrong and how to do it right next time. She was very embarrassed, felt really bad about it and never did it again. With no one else parked there, she didn't realize what she was doing. She now backs the trailer down the ramp and launches me or pulls me out like a pro. There is a distinct learning curve that comes with operating a boat for the first time. When I see people struggle down the ramp, get out, and then start unhooking everything and getting everything loaded in the boat, I have to think that they just don't know what they are doing.

I was on tablerock near Baxter with a friend of mine a few years back. We were catching fish on a point almost every cast and having a ball. We could hear the thunder getting closer, but didn't want to leave. as it got closer, my friend told me that his rod was making crackling arcing noises. I told him that we needed to leave right then. As he grabbed his rod in the middle to set it down, it shocked the snot out of him. We ran to the marina until the storm moved through and then headed back. The funny thing is, after the storm went through we could not catch another fish. A lot if people take chances that they shouldn't. They drive to the lake without wearing their seat belt, don't wear a life jacket or use a kill switch, and stay too long when storms are rolling in. When they get home, they get on their motorcycle and ride without a helmet.

Some good friends of mine lost a friend of theirs on Beaver Lake. He was struck by lightning while on a guided fishing trip. http://5newsonline.com/2015/06/13/man-killed-by-lightning-strike-at-beaver-lake/ Many of us have pushed it by staying too long when storms were moving in. This is a sad reminder to play it safe and get to cover when storms are rolling through.

You might consider the bridge at Bridgeport up the James River near Cape Fair and the one crossing Flat creek. Catfish often spawn in and around rip rap.

There are a million gimmicks out there, and it is said that most lures and equipment are made to catch fishermen not fish, but I do find this one a little interesting, especially compared to other hook removers I have seen. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbzXnIkK3Qg

The last couple of weeks I have been seeing more and more green slime in the dam area of the lake. Some areas seemed almost unfishable, due to the ball of green slime brought in with almost every cast. The pockets and backs of creeks seem to be the worst.

I bought some heads from Dave and gave it a try Saturday afternoon for the first time also. We caught 8 fish on the little rig, with 3 of those being keeper smallies. The biggest one was just over 3 pounds. I need to practice with it some more to get a better feel for it. We caught over 20 fish with 6 keepers, the rest coming off a brown wart. Great time to spend with Dad.

Did you break ice backing the boat into the water? I did that once in my old G 3 and broke one of the fittings for the livewell. leaked like a sieve until I replaced it.

We fished yesterday morning. I dropped a white lure down and the water up flat creek and up the James a ways had about 1.5 feet of visibility. The temp got up to about 54 - 55 degrees. Most of the trash was gone up the rivers, but there was still some around point 15 and a few bigger pieces to watch out for up the rivers.

Always hear guys say that they go to Hooters for the wings, but I have never heard of anyone getting them to go.

Did any of your crappie come out of the dirty water? We couldn't get any going today.