James River Crappie

[Hunter91]

Caught about 20 crappie today on the James around Bridgeport. Tons of people there. Only 7 keepers. Caught them on Swimming Minnows in 6-10ft of water. Anyone else been catching any?

[snkcstutz]

No luck here. We tried on Saturday which was our first time out this year and we only caught 3. Tried swimming minnows, jigs,pretty much everything but dynamite.

What color swimming minnow were they hitting and what size jig?

[Sam]

I haven't been to Bridgeport yet this year, but you've touched on something that's sure a mystery to me.

For the last three years straight, most crappie I've caught in the James River arm have been 9" to 9 3/4" long. My partner and I even had one great trip there last spring when we got limits of 15 each, including some real big ones - but we caught well over 300 crappie to do it!

Catching and releasing is fun, but I keep thinking the majority of crappie there are going to grow to legal size - and they're not. I don't quite understand that.

[johnnycat]

Crappie on the James has been hot for about three months now. We have put in at Bridgeport fifteen times since the first of the year and failed to catch our limits only once. The six inch fish of two years ago have reached eleven inches now. Better get them before the spoonbillers hit in two weeks, will not be enough room for all the boats with the low water.

[MOBass]

Last spring I hit some epic crappie fishing with fish up to 15". My partner kept a few for a fish fry and we released the rest. We pulled 20 or so off one bank and all were solid keepers or better.

You may want to up size your baits. Consider throwing bigger grubs or some of the new beaver style baits. Big bait = big fish.

[Hunter91]

We caught some on grey and some on purple and silver. Pretty much tried a little of everything. we were using 1/8th oz heads because it was windy.