MeatintheFreezer

Ditto on the cherry wood rods. I found some at Academy last year for $5 each! I bought several of both spinning and casting. I can't complain at all about their performance, especially for the price.

nightcrawlers

I haven't fished any bridges. If you find rocks like in the background if the pic you will find cats. I have been targeting rock slides or anything that might have holes for them to spawn in. PHhunter - enjoy that boy while he is young and cute. They grow up fast and start to eat a lot more......they are not as photogenic either!!

Great Pic!! We didn't have one as big as yours, but we still had a nice sack full. The string in the photo weighed 47 pounds with 6 fish, the other string weighed 41 with 7 fish. All ours came off the rocks on rod & reel. Great day on the water 5/31.

I was at CC Sunday mid day and parked in the lower lot. It was surprisingly empty. When I got back to load out, there was a truck parked along side the road just uphill from the sidewalk that goes down to the dock.....even though there were other empty spots where he could have parked. I would have never been able to back out had the spot beside me not been empty so I could maneuver around.. I had to make a 3 point turn to get backed out without hitting him with my trailer. I don't know how other folks made it out, but I am sure they were pretty upset if this moron was still parked there. I don't know if people are simply oblivious, or they are truly morons, or they think they are above everyone else, but I DO know that they are everywhere and it is part of being outdoors now days.

I put in at Delaware last weekend and floated down to Hootentown. I noticed that on the South side of the bridge someone had cleared a considerable amount of the brush out. I know I have seen folks park at the bridge and walk/climb down to the water, this might be a new path that would get you some access. Again, I only saw this from the water, I do not know if it goes all the way to the road or not.

nice spoony!

Is there a place in Cape Fair to buy minnows any more? I have noticed the "new" place just east of the 3 way stop, but it doesn't seem to be open very early.

I put in at Bridgeport yesterday with my son. We passed Ducky several times back and forth on James. We fished deep, shallow, and everywhere in between. Our best luck was pulling a few keepers off a flat above Flat Creek bridge, but it was a very slow, tough day. We ended up with 3 keepers, which we released in fine health. Water warmed up to 58 degrees by late afternoon, so it is very close. The cold front just had them on a very finicky bite. By looking at this photo, I believe that the bass have already spawned & hatched!! (and yes he held it out to make it look bigger)

Those other spoonbillers must be using the wrong bait! lol We hooked 3 keepers opening day, and rolled a couple more. One a side note, I smoked this one on apple wood and it was delicious! I cut it up into steaks, trimming off all the red meat. I brined it for 24 hours in the high mountain fish brine. Once I removed it from the brine I patted it dry and let it sit at room temp for a couple hours to form the pellicle. This is an important step as it forms a sort of skin that keeps the moistness in during smoking. Fired up the smoker and smoked between 180-200 degrees until internal temp reached 155. I will never eat spoonies any other way.

Ducky, my hat's off to you sir. You give some of the most detailed fishing reports I have even seen for crappie. You are truly a gentleman and a great asset to those of us who cannot fish every day. I went out today looking for whites up the James, but couldn't get past the snaggers. So I figured I might as well join them. It was was such a circus I couldn't resist. Ended up catching a couple decent females and a small male. I was surprised at the water temp. I was showing 54 by early afternoon.....but it could have from all the warm water discharge from all the boats!

I have seen some on the internet that look incredible. I am mainly just wondering what it would cost to get some painted like that. I am not going to post a pic because I am not here to promote anyone's business or infringe on copyrights. I would have to describe it as a pattern somewhere between wiggle wart's missouri craw & a soft shell craw.

I am curious about getting some crank baits custom painted. I have seen several folks on here post photos showing custom painted lures, so I am hoping to catch their attention. I may or may not have several old wiggle warts, and I am curious about how much it would cost to get some repainted.

I am not a liar........but there was this one time I caught a huge crappie. It was so big it seemed to much of a shame to keep it, so I snapped a few photos and let it go. I dont know the weight of the crappie, but the picture of it weighed a little over 3 pounds.

I have a quiver full of arrows and an empty freezer if you have a surplus of hogs you need thinned out !

while you were out today did you see the water temp come up any? Just like everyone else, I certainly do appreciate your reports. Your crappie pics this week along with the worst bout of cabin fever I have ever had will undoubtedly cause be to sneak out of work early Friday and hit the water.

I'm gonna take my big worm and go try F&F's numbers from a few weeks ago Feathers and Fins Highfin Carpsucker Fishing Buddy 3,963 posts Gender:Male Location:Rogers Ar Interests:Ive been blessed to hunt and fish many areas people only dream about and I like them have dreams! My interest is seeing the dreams fullfilled Posted 19 February 2014 - 07:20 AM It is cabin fever, people are wanting to get information on where good fishing is. Best GPS Numbers I can think of right now are; 34º04'35.29''N X 118º25'46.17''W Good luck and good fishing

You must have a bigger set than I do to go out and run up the lake in 10 degree air! You deserve every fish you caught. Thanks for the report.

You must have a bigger set than I do to go out and run up the lake in 10 degree air! You deserve every fish you caught. Thanks for the report.

I am trying to remember.......don't all the public access points have trash barrels or dumpsters of some sort for trash?

Ah, you are correct. sorry for the mix up. MaxDrown- I floated the James several times last year, but only once from the dam and Lake Springfield. It was in the summer, but only about a week after a huge rain. The water up above Delawaretown (basically Hwy 14 bridge) was pretty small with lots of obsticals. Some of this may have been attributed to the flood, so maybe some folks more fimillair with that streatch can chime in on what "normal" looks like up there. As RS said, there are tons of gravel bars along the way where you could set up and camp for the night away from roads and traffic. Hootentown has a camp site wich would be about half way from the dam to Galena, but I have heard it can get pretty roudy on weekends. I have never stayed there, but have taken out there on Saturday afternoons and from what I have seen it is not hard to believe. JRO at Galena has a campground as well that I have stayed at several times, they all seem to be good people. Here is there link if you are interested :http://jamesriveroutfitters.com/. I don't know about scout friendly rates, but they have always give us a little discount when we have a group of 8 or 10.

On James River Cox access is not public anymore. Only JRO in Galena has permission to put in there. You would have to float another 6 miles or so and take out at Kerr.

Lucky it didn't blow up and knock him out of the boat or they could have gotten him for leaving the scene of an accident, too !

What carrier is your Iphone (sprint, verison, etc) & are you interested in trading cash?

I dont remember where I got this, but it was so comical that I had to get it. I also sprung for the 20/0 hook as well. You are correct, the worm weighs several ounces. It is bigger around than a hotdog. I have never actually thought about fishing with, I just got it to goof around with. My true go to worm is the ol monster, green pumpkin.... period. That is all I throw for summertime bass. I might follow up with a craw bait if I go back over a bank, but thats it. If it aint broke, dont fix it.