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.

Nothing fancy, But Cedars has good breakfast. Their chicken fried steak and eggs, which comes with hash browns and biscuit and gravy will put you in a food coma.

Same here. I went up flat creek as far as I could get my boat, hoping to find some cleaner water coming in, but no dice. Mud and trash everywhere. How long does it generally take to clear up? My son and his girlfriend are coming home from college for a couple days and wants to do some fishing Monday or Tuesday. I heard that the main lake is only about 45 degrees right now. I am at a loss on what to do, as I am not a very good cold water angler and the mud has my river fishing messed up.

I Poured and tied some gray ¼ oz Roadrunners a few years ago, but never fished them much, because I didn’t know when, where, or how to fish them. I had heard that grey Roadrunners can be very good on Table Rock at times. Some of them have Indiana blades, while others have willow leaf blades.

Several Years ago, I worked for a company that built a hospital. Several of us got the lead from the back of the scrap sheetrock used in x-ray rooms. I am set for life. It is really good stuff.

We ended up fishing from 11:00 to about 5:30 in the Baxter area. It was rather slow. We ended up with 4 keepers on a big worm, and my friend broke off a nice fish and lost another at the boat that would have kept, both on a spinner bait. I caught one fish on a channel swing, and the rest came off the backsides of shallow docks. The biggest one was about 3.5 lbs. The wind early on made it tough to fish how I wanted to. Having no moon to see by, I had no reference points to keep the boat In position while fighting the wind.

I was waiting to hear where people were catching them before I decided which way to head. I can be about anywhere on the lake in about 30 minutes. I like fishing the dam area, but was thinking about heading to Baxter. There are a couple bluff ends that I was thinking about fishing with big worms.

My wife has some of her friends staying with us tonight. They will most likely be up half the night playing the piano and singing. Therefore, I am seriously considering going night fishing. If anyone has been out at night lately, how has the bite been, and what kind of water have you been catching them in? I appreciate any help that you can give me and my potential sanity.

Ok Blades, that is a mental image I did not need. We all had jeans or cargo shorts on, as well as our shirts. When I was in Ukraine a few years ago, every male at the swimming pond wore a speedo, whether they were 8 or 80, 50 pounds or 500 pounds. They looked at us in our trunks like we were weirdos. The problem with the motor ended up being a fuse on the motor somewhere. My uncle had shoved some tackle boxes and life jackets under the console, which damaged some wires. Those wires eventually shorted out, blowing the fuse and causing our problem. Easy fix for a local mechanic. Again, a local fisherman saved the day.

I was fishing with my dad and uncle up on Truman this weekend out of my uncle's boat. Since he had his, I did not take mine up. Monday a little after noon, I was driving us back when the rpm gauge as well as some others started spinning and freaking out. I stopped right away and then made a critical error. I shut the motor off. We ended up not having any power to the key or trim tab. I tried to pull start the 60 hp motor, but it wasn't happening. We were a couple miles from Bucksaw facing a strong headwind. We could have never trolled in. With few options, I flagged down a guy in a boat just heading out to fish. He gladly towed us all of the way back to the boat ramp. After we thanked him, he just told us to help someone else if they need it. There are occasions when fishermen can be rude, but for the most part, I believe that most serious fishermen will go out of their way to help others, especially when they are in trouble. This guy was first class all the way. I only regret that I did not ask him his name. We were so happy to be back at the ramp and thanking him, that I didn't think to ask.

We looked for some gills last night and this morning. We caught some last night in the dam area on a transition bank anywhere from 8 to 18 feet. This morning they had moved and we only caught a few, so we gave up and went bass fishing. I did not find any on my regular spots, such as gravel points, and we had to wade through a lot of smalls to get any decent sized ones.