James Whites At Galena

[brianbarker]

Went to the James at Galena and fished at the Blunk hole and only caught 3 smallies about 8 inches. Started the day throwing a Northland Mimic Minnow in gold and hooked up with a smallie first cast, but the luck crashed from there. We were the only ones on the bank and 2 boats in sight and they only caught 3 small whites. We fished from 10 am to around noon and met 2 guys going out that had ran into the guys that caught the 3 whites by us taking out and they only had nine 2 hours later. We gave up on the mimic minnows, swimmin' minnows, rattle traps, and whatever else I could tie on and went for minnows. Got back and 2 guys were in our spot with 3 fish on white sliders and they moved on. We fished the minnows for a few hours and caught 2 more little smallmouth and packed it in. Rained a lot more than I would have liked and the "1 mph light wind" was more like 10. We saw somewhere around 2 billion minnows or shad get smashed on top but they were random and moved so fast you couldn't get on them from the bank. Anyways, saw a few whites caught but nothing compared to all the fish I saw on top all day. Maybe someone else can get em'. Good Luck

[Ealy]

Went to the James at Galena and fished at the Blunk hole and only caught 3 smallies about 8 inches. Started the day throwing a Northland Mimic Minnow in gold and hooked up with a smallie first cast, but the luck crashed from there. We were the only ones on the bank and 2 boats in sight and they only caught 3 small whites. We fished from 10 am to around noon and met 2 guys going out that had ran into the guys that caught the 3 whites by us taking out and they only had nine 2 hours later. We gave up on the mimic minnows, swimmin' minnows, rattle traps, and whatever else I could tie on and went for minnows. Got back and 2 guys were in our spot with 3 fish on white sliders and they moved on. We fished the minnows for a few hours and caught 2 more little smallmouth and packed it in. Rained a lot more than I would have liked and the "1 mph light wind" was more like 10. We saw somewhere around 2 billion minnows or shad get smashed on top but they were random and moved so fast you couldn't get on them from the bank. Anyways, saw a few whites caught but nothing compared to all the fish I saw on top all day. Maybe someone else can get em'. Good Luck

went down to Galena Sunday afternoon. No whites, but I did manage 2 nice walleye. A 24 inch (4.5 lb) and a 21 inch. Also 5 keeper crappie. 1 on swimmin minnow other on mimic minnow. They were all in an eddy. The main current was insane. After dropping in my BassCat, I thought maybe this was the dumbest idea I'd ever had. It was well worth going. It's nice to see walleye on the James that size. I wonder how many have run up the river to spawn?

[Sam]

We put in at the ramp by the old bridge in Galena today, 4/6, and fished about a mile upstream.

I always wondered why they put a ramp in there where the water is usually only a foot deep - for canoes, I guess. Well, it's not a foot deep now - the current hit my boat sideways and moved boat and trailer crossways to the ramp while we were trying to launch. To take the boat out, my partner had to drive the truck and trailer across the bridge and we took out in a sheltered spot on the mud bank on the other side. We got pretty stuck in the mud in 4wd doing it, too.

My trolling motor wouldn't hold the boat against the current, so I had to fight it with the main motor almost the whole time. The water is clear, but we couldn't get a bite. I talked to several other fishermen and no one had even one white bass.

If you're going to try this, wear your life vest - it's a lot more dangerous right now than I expected. If you hit a rock or a log and get crossways to that current, the boat's going over and you're going swimming.