spoonbill questions

[Jdecoudres]

Anyone up for helping a newbie out in finding spoonbill in the james river with a boat. Thinking of giving it a shot next week and give the trout a rest. Thanks. 

[duckydoty]

Start around Bridgeport and work your way up stream

[Jdecoudres]

Thank You so much.

[Seth]

I recommend heading up river and fishing from the river bend below the Walnut Springs ramp on down to the next river bend. That are produced a lot fish the first two days. It also wasn't getting hit nearly as hard as water closer to Flat Creek.

[justintrane]

I trolled divers from Walnut Springs ramp to point 15 today and didn't get a hit. I stayed in the channel and didn't mark many fish either. Has anyone had any luck on the flats? Was wondering if they might move up there after opening day because of the boat traffic. 

[Seth]

Casting across the flats with surf gear is our most productive method down there. Hard to troll for them on flats since they are shallow and you push them away from the boat as you drive near them. If you have side imaging, you can ride the ledge and see if they are up on the flats from a distance.

[justintrane]

Interesting. I have wondered that before. I do pretty good opening day but the fish seem to disappear after that. Will have to try that. 

[Seth]

10 minutes ago, justintrane said:

Interesting. I have wondered that before. I do pretty good opening day but the fish seem to disappear after that. Will have to try that. 

That is typical. The fish are stacked opening day and then they get hammered on and scatter really bad. We always hit it the first day for first dibs on all of the local fish and then hold off until April when they actually start running.

[justintrane]

Does it get better in April? I usually get discouarged and give up by late March. I haven't missed opening day on the James in 20 years but never follow up when they make their push. 

[Seth]

Snagging gets better and better as April goes on. The fish being caught this early in the season are mainly local fish. Once the water gets in to the upper 50's, a lot of fish will start pushing up the James and keep going until they run out of water. Where they stack up depends on the water levels. If it's high enough, they will run clear to Springfield Dam and if it's low, they will stack up like cord wood in the Walnut Springs and McCords Bend areas. The number of big sows that you catch will also improve. Pressure is lower as well due to most people having the same mentality that you do. They snag hard right when season opens up and burn themselves out.