May 31 Report

[tapout]

Hey all,

I went out today with my wife and kids so fishing was limited. I tried all kinds of lures and techniques around docks I've been succussful at in the past. I caught one short K on a spoon in the docks after about an hour of trying three different docks.

I then started hitting points. I hooked a couple of fish on a spook that came unbuttoned, drug a centipede, and tried dropshoting but caught nothing.

I finally pulled up on a bluff end point near a shallow pocket just up the James and somebody flipped a switch cause for about 30 minutes I had a fish on the spook with every third cast. I caught one 17 inch LM, and one 16 inch K. I caught numerous 13 and 14 inch K's and SJ. I have no idea how long it would of lasted, because my wife let me know the kids wanted to go swimming. I did the right thing (cause I might want to come back) and we headed to an island and went swimming. (If only my wee ones could work a spook we might still be there!)

Not really a pattern but maybe it will help someone that can stay with it a little longer.

P.S. Boat traffic really wasn't that bad for Memorial Day.

[Bill Babler]

Nice report. If it would have been me, I would have heaved the kids over the backside of the boat to swim, and kept on chugging that spook. I have had multiple clients in the water, ususally the wife, while the guy continues to catch fish. Mostly deep fish however. Lots of fun and a very nice James River Report. Thanks.

On a Darker Note. Started out of Viney Creek, at 5 AM and there were already lots of fishermen on the water. Couple of my favorite hot spots had folks on them. Hope they caught them. Worked my way toward the Knob, and had 10 topwater fish, with nothing to really brag about. Zero on the Fin, all on a Spook. Fin bite for me is getting close to being over. Don't know why. I can catch Schoolers on it now, but cannot bring fish up to take it. Also if there are Whites, they seem to like the chugger better than the waker. Much smaller profile. Best topwater the last few days for me has either been a chug bug or a yellow magic.

I will say, fishing was good on a rig, with most fish in the 26 to 32 ft. range, and on a jig. I am using a Chomper 1/2 oz. with a Yum watermellon candy trailer or the same trailer on a Jewell. Caught some very nice K's, and then "They Came."

Shell Knob has really for the past several years been one of the hardest places to either boat or fish on the major holidays, just due to the restricted width of the water and the "Gigantic Boats"

Unlike Tapouts report of not seeing lots of boats, this was not the case at Shell KNob. It was simply covered up with 22 to 32 footers. Around 11 AM on a full day trip I started taking waves over the sides of the boat and decided it was getting close to being over. As soon as the big rigs started running, the fishing got tough.

Some of the boys fished from Baxter to Campbell Point on Sunday, and reported that big stretch of water just about unfishable due to the size of the boats and the waves.

Most guided trips now will need to be out early, but at 5:30 there were jet skis running hard out of Viney Creek. However, it is good to see the economy back and doing well, and I believe most of the Marina's showed record sales on gas and other fun in the sun items.

Get out early, and then go have fun with the family.

[dtrs5kprs]

Bill...could the fin to spook switch have something to do with the position / size of the shad in the area? Glad to hear about the drag fish.

Will be down 13th thru 20th out of Schooner. Around there we are usually driven off by the big boats around 930am or so. That is with kids in theboat, but wouldn't care for much more if I was by myself honestly.

[jay bird]

Took the family out Monday out of big M and boat traffic was bearable. Was looking for some bluegill for the kids which we found, but had numerous encounters with fairly aggressive snakes. One I am pretty sure was a cottonmouth (fat body, ridding high on the water, triangular head) headed right for the back of the boat like he had boarded one before. We got out of there, but had at least five other snakes come towards the boat when we where fishing. That got a little old so we headed back to the dock, did have some really nice bluegills and one 14 inch bass that gave my 5 year old a good fight.

[Bill Babler]

Jay bird, for me by 9:30 AM out of the Big M area to Shell Knob, it was getting pretty "UnBearable." I am a deep fisherman, this time of the year, as are most of the guides and we are out on the main lake, channel swings and humps. Every Cobalt, SeaRay, Crownline, or Mastercraft likes to see if they can come within spitting distance of you. Back in the pockets after gills would have been ok.

On the Snake note, and for some reason this is a LOLLIPULIZER RIGHT NOW. I have seen 3 Copperheads so far this year, and I know as I have handled them and used a stick to see their fangs. 1 at Cooper Creek Ramp, and two on the road to the lodge.

This weekend they had one of the worst incidents at Dogwood Canyon in their history. A walker was severly bitten by a Cottonmouth. "I guess there is no other kind than a severe snake bite." We had guests there at the time and he was transported to St. Johns. Have not heard a disposition.

I have seen as many watersnakes as I have ever seen, including the flood season, and if they are on the water, they always try to get in the boat back by the motor.

On the fin deal. Traditionally a fin is not a year long topwater bait. It has been used here for over 20 years. It is an early season bait, and always fades away to some extent this time of the year. Always has. Don't get me wrong, it still works, and will work on chasers, but to tell you the truth, I don't have any tied on and probably won't for the remainder of the Summer. These fish right now are coughing up and eating Gizzards. I like SKMO am not seeing tons of Threadfin Shad, but am seeing huge populations of Giz.

Good Luck

[abkeenan]

I'll ad my Memorial Weekend report here also. Fished the Dam area Sat-Mon. Best bite for sure was early from 5-7AM and then again later in the day around 7-9PM. Fish Doc got a lot of bites and resulted in a lot of shorts mostly SJ's in the 10-14 inch range coming on pea gravel locations in 10-25 ft of water. Uncle threw a green zoom fat albert grub texas rigged and did well on that with better size/quality of fish than the c rigged doctor. Couldnt get anything to hit a fluke and topwater really died after around 9ish or even earlier. I switched to a texas rigged smallie beaver and a 4.5 inch BPS craw in both green pumpkin and purple and picked up better size SJ's in the same locations. They are really on that gravel. Had a real nice smally come unbuttoned at the boat with a 2-3 feet aerial acrobatic maneuver that was nice show. Couple of goggle eyes mixed in and we also caught around 40 whites in the 3 days there. The whites surfaced every morning around 5-6ish for a short time but it was a blast catching them on a spit'n image. Love to gettem on the topwater as it usually takes they about 3 or 4 wacks at it to get stuck. Persistent boogers. Most were smaller and tasted great cleaned nicely with all red meat cut out and then soaked in tonic water for a few hours before breading and deep frying. Thanks for that tip whoever posted that about the tonic water soaking. White bass were on the 86 camp ground point and also the little point and pocket across the cove going towards point 2 from the 86 camp ground. Get out there around 5-7 and you should be able to get close to a limit with some blacks mixed in but will have to throw bottom type baits for the blacks, didnt surface like the whites. Other uncle and his son were down there as well and did well throwing a yum crawdad. Caught a 6 lb'er at dusk one night on the crawdad. I would definitely say that they are keying in on the pappys now so i would give that a shot for those of you fishing the Dam area. Good luck out there.

-Brett

[dtrs5kprs]

I thought the snakes were worse last month than I remembered. Lots of them around the docks/banks a mile or 2 either way of 13HWY. Seems like they would be worse with higher water, but I didn't have any issues in '08.

Does remind me of a clasic Wife story...about 1997 or so, a friend from my club was telling me about how bad the snakes had been at Truman a week before. When I asked him how he kept them out of the boat he said "When they swim up by the motor, just tap 'em on the head with a jig rod and they'll swim off."

Next weekend was at Pomme with Wife when a snake followed us from the bluff by the island clear around the other side of the island. When she asked what to do I gave her his advice. It worked (insert stunned). Then she asked how I knew it would work. "Well...Dave said it would work, so I thought I'd let you try first."

[Bill Babler]

dtrs5, that is an instant classic!

[sportshop]

mr babler a question on shad, you mentioned threadfins, i fish texoma in the winter months and this past year in jan. they had a shad die off because of the water temp got down in the high 30s, that said, why do they not die off here when i know the water temp gets much lower? they actually had to restock the threads, they dont have a problem with gizzards, i guess they can take lower temps.kinda off topic but just curious.

[skeeter]

Got to chime in here on the snake issue. The far back end of Little Indian, which is what Dogwood Canyon Spring Creek flows into, has always been a Copperhead haven. There are so many of them back in there in certain years you can smell 'em. They have a distinctive sort of a metallic odor (best I can describe it) that is not at all pleasant. In the high water in 2008 you could run all the way up to the Hwy 86 bridge with your troller and they were everywhere. Guess they bred successfully.

Our oldest Grandson, who is really good at identifying snakes, reported seeing three of them along the lakefront below our home. I'll have to load up the handgun with some shotshells since those things can be really territorial.

Those Brown Watersnakes are just curious and always looking for a place to "haul out" of the water. They swim right up to you, if you make no sudden or threatening moves, and will check you out with a long stare. Often have to slap the water with the rod tip to make them leave. And they love to come over transoms especially the sloped back transom styles.

Since the question about Threadfin Winter kill was addressed to Bill B., I'll let him respond. All I can say to Sportshop is you should have been here in Feb and March....We had some very fat Gulls.....