Seth

Well I hate to hear that you didn't catch any whites or crappie. We are planning on coming down friday and staying Saturday to snag and fish for crappies/whites. Looks like it's going to be a waisted trip from the way it sounds....

My girlfriend and her dad wanted to go trout fishing so we headed down to the springs for some fishin. We got down there about 7:30 and started off at the Lacy Hole. We each caught two. The fish were hitting orange trout worms really well today, but hard to keep hooked. Every fish we kept was between 14-16" and had some shoulders. I don't know if they just stocked these nice ones for the easter weekend or what but I sure hope they stay that nice.

Dad and I are thinking about making one last trip down to the James to snag some bills this weekend before turkey season starts up. Has anybody gave it a shot lately since the cold spell hit or is everybody chasing white bass? Does anybody know what the water temps are running up the James right now also? I'm worried that the cold snap might of sent the bills back down lake into the holes instead of moving up river.

I stopped by on my way up to Truman Tailrace a few weekends ago and it was dead. There were only a few boats up by the dam fishing and I didn't see anybody catching anything. There wasn't even any fish up near the dam that I could see from the lookout. I just get more dissapointed everytime I go up there so I started driving the extra hour to Truman Tailrace for much better fishing. Sorry the report isn't more positive.

Duckman, have you been doing any good up there yet?

I always thought the fishing got better when they crank on the water????

It's 2.5 to 2.75 hours for me so don't feel bad fellas. Is anybody going to be down there this Sunday? I'm thinking about going up and snagging from the Roadhouse Dock again and then heading up to the tailrace to try my luck and catching my first hybrid and some whites and possibly some crappies.

So Ashercane and Walnut Springs is the same thing and Carr Bottoms is what I originally thought was Ashercane Bottoms. I've never heard of anybody mentioning Carr Bottoms before since I've been snagging their, but I guess I know that now.

What you guys are calling Ashercane Bottoms is what I have always called Walnut Springs because of along it up to the boat ramp. I always thought Ashercane bottoms was the area below what you all are calling Ashercane bottoms, like I marked on my maps. What do you all call the big L-shape area, below what you all call Ashercane Bottoms, that I marked on my map?

This is the area that I have always called Ashercane Bottoms. Also, I see that you don't have what we call Walnut Springs. I marked that on the other map too. Ashercane is the L-shaped hole and Walnut Springs it the straighter hole that is just before McCords Bend.

Most of the time the method describe int he first post works for me. I like to push my finger nail down onto my line and give it a few cranks and somehow it fixes the bird nests. If it is a really bad one though, it won't work. That's when you just have to keep pulling line till it gets stuck, pick at the loops, and continue this process till it is fixed.

Spoonbill: 74 lbs Catfish: 10 lbs channel cat

If you want to head directly to McCords Bend, you would be better off launching at Walnut Springs. I'm not sure if there is a ramp in McCords Bend, although I am sure there is. We launch out of bridgeport just because we start snagging at the mouth of Flat Creek and just snag our way up the river alot of times. Sometimes we find a pocket of fish and don't make it up to Walnut Springs or McCords Bend. Last year we ran up as far as we could to McCords Bend and had to stop when the water was just barely trickling over some gravel. The water was really clear up there and there was a lot of shad, but that was it. We didn't catch any crappie or nothing up there when we fished it.

We have some of our best luck snagging along the tree tops in that area. Stay right on the edge and troll back and forth, I had one of my best trips snagging down there doing that one morning in April. I've pulled a few paddlefish right off the bluff banks casting before also, but do best along those tree tops. It helps to go down there when the water is low so you have an idea of where they are at, otherwise you are going to lose a few hooks trying to figure it out.

Well hopefully the rains get the bills up and moving for ya. I get Good Friday and the following Monday off from work so I might head up that directon that weekend, unless we get a trip to the James River planned. Where would you recommend a person stay at up there? Just camp or at a hotel? I'll more then likely be the only one that goes up there because everybody else isn't crazy bout them spoons like me. Well hopefully the rains get the bills up and moving for ya. I get Good Friday and the following Monday off from work so I might head up that directon that weekend, unless we get a trip to the James River planned. Where would you recommend a person stay at up there? Just camp or at a hotel? I'll more then likely be the only one that goes up there because everybody else isn't crazy bout them spoons like me.

Welcome back Duckman. Yep, hopefully I'll bump into ya up there then. One question, the river looks really skinny up there where you snag at. How do boats go up through there and the bank snaggers get along? It shows that its only about 60 yards across on Google Earth and that just seems like a really thin area to snag since I'm sure a lot of people can throw better than that distance with there snagging rigs, especially surf rod users.

I made it up to Warsaw today and snagged off the Roadhouse Dock, but didn't hit anything. Nobody hit a fish near the bridge while I was there. The weather is supposed to be highs around 70 and lows around 50 for most of next week, what do you guys think the snagging will be like the following weekend with these kind of temps?

Ashercane bottom is where the river widens up about a mile above flat creek I would guess. There's and old boat house up by where the we hit the fish. The little cove that that boathouse sits in is almost always good for atleast one fish a trip for us. My buddy and his dad crappie fished during the day Thursday and boated all the way up to McCords Bend and said there was a ton of paddlefish up there that they seen too. One of them said they flipped there jig by a big log, and then the big log turned and swam past the boat, it was a big spooner laying right on top of the water. McCords Bend should stay hot as long as the water temps stay 50+ I would imagine with the water levels at pool this year.

Drove up and snagged off of the Roadhouse Dock from 11:00 to 1:30pm today and got skunked. I seen a couple really small paddlefish flop on the surface 20 feet from the bank and one nice one tied to a boat. Talked to a group of guys who fished around the 80 mile marker on 3/16 and caught eight spooners. They didn't have anything today when they pulled up to the dock. I look forward to trying it up there sometime when I have a boat or the water warms up and the spoonbill move up to the bridge.

I fished the James River from midnight to about 4am. We boated 7 fish, one was a short fish. We were the only boat with fish the way it sounded. If it stays up in the 70's during the day for a few more weeks, maybe the big sows will move up. We got a few sows about 50 pounds, but mostly just skinny males.

I hit a small male at 12:30 out in front of a cove below Ashercane Bottoms. About 2:30 the fish started flopping on the surface and we got into them again and hit nine fish and landed six. We got all of our fish around Ashercane Bottom. Nothing huge, biggest was only about 50-55lbs. Mostly small males. My dad and mom snagged up by us and never did touched a fish all night. Only difference was we were casting and using 10-15 foot surf rods and they were trolling using 9 foot casting rods.

Do you have any idea what the boat, motor, and trailer weigh? I'm interested in the boat, but I need to see if my truck could even pull it or not.

Man that is the best thing I have heard all day! Sounds just like the conditions we had last year for opening night and we tore the paddlefish up. Looks like I shoul get a good workout with my new snagging setup I bought this year.

This section is dead, but just curious if anybody here is going to be snagging up there this year?

I'll be getting in my share of crappie fishing while down there also. Those things just taste way to darn good not to try and catch a mess of. I wish I knew more about white bass because I have been dying to get into a school of those. Every time we go snagging, we see somebody with a stringer full of dandy whites. Spoonbill snagging works your butt over pretty good, but hey its good for you and there's not much that pulls harder than a 70 pound paddlefish.