MNtransplant Posted July 6, 2023 Share Posted July 6, 2023 Hey everyone, Hope summer is treating everyone well. I just wanted to share a few fish pics from my past several trips to the James. I've been itching to try out some new hellgrammite plastics and the bite has been a bit different each time....a few weeks ago I found some really quality fish right at dawn in fast riffles on a bigger 5.5" tackle hd helgrammite. One was exceptionally good size for this stretch...at least I thought. I forgot how much i love fighting smallies! Got a decent smallie on a whopper plopper that same trip and had 2 goggle eye smash the plopper as well. Then I had another trip a few days later where the water had come down some and they vacated the faster stuff and were on outside bends and near shade and or wood..caught a mix of large and smallmouth mostly on the smaller nedmite size and caught a few on trusty ned too.. Then this past trip the fish were piled up in the stagnant eddies right next to the fast riffles....caught mostly goggle eye but still a few smallies. Anyone else have reports for the James this summer? I sold my kayak a few months ago but looking to upgrade to a better fishing setup in the next week or two..would love to do a float with someone who has some knowledge. I can actually contribute to a shuttle now that I got myself a little truck now too! MObassin95, dan hufferd, Bass Yakker and 3 others 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mitch f Posted July 7, 2023 Share Posted July 7, 2023 Try these Hellgrammites next time www.tackle-max.com trythisonemv, Daryk Campbell Sr, dan hufferd and 1 other 4 "Honor is a man's gift to himself" Rob Roy McGregor Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seth Posted July 7, 2023 Share Posted July 7, 2023 I wreck smallies on a Zman Big TRD paired up with an EWG weedless ned style jighead. I'm assuming it resembles a hellgramite. One thing I know for sure is that there isn't another bait out there that will outlast a ZMAN product, which is my favorite quality about them. Basically lasts until I break it off. Buy jigheads and baits at a 1:1 ratio. trythisonemv and snagged in outlet 3 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flysmallie Posted July 7, 2023 Share Posted July 7, 2023 11 hours ago, Mitch f said: Try these Hellgrammites next time www.tackle-max.com I’ve got some of those ready to go on a trip tomorrow! They’re pretty excited. nomolites, Mitch f, BilletHead and 2 others 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MNtransplant Posted July 7, 2023 Author Share Posted July 7, 2023 33 minutes ago, Seth said: I wreck smallies on a Zman Big TRD paired up with an EWG weedless ned style jighead. I'm assuming it resembles a hellgramite. One thing I know for sure is that there isn't another bait out there that will outlast a ZMAN product, which is my favorite quality about them. Basically lasts until I break it off. Buy jigheads and baits at a 1:1 ratio. 100% agree on Zman stuff. Put a dot of super glue between the plastic and the head and you're good until you break off. I have caught a fair amount of fish on the standard TRDs here lately. I may have to try the bigger size. trythisonemv 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mitch f Posted July 8, 2023 Share Posted July 8, 2023 9 hours ago, Flysmallie said: I’ve got some of those ready to go on a trip tomorrow! They’re pretty excited. LOL don’t let them bite you! 😂 Good Luck tomorrow!! A guy caught a walleye on one today nomolites, Daryk Campbell Sr, dan hufferd and 2 others 4 1 "Honor is a man's gift to himself" Rob Roy McGregor Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MObassin95 Posted July 13, 2023 Share Posted July 13, 2023 On 7/6/2023 at 5:49 PM, MNtransplant said: Hey everyone, Hope summer is treating everyone well. I just wanted to share a few fish pics from my past several trips to the James. I've been itching to try out some new hellgrammite plastics and the bite has been a bit different each time....a few weeks ago I found some really quality fish right at dawn in fast riffles on a bigger 5.5" tackle hd helgrammite. One was exceptionally good size for this stretch...at least I thought. I forgot how much i love fighting smallies! Got a decent smallie on a whopper plopper that same trip and had 2 goggle eye smash the plopper as well. Then I had another trip a few days later where the water had come down some and they vacated the faster stuff and were on outside bends and near shade and or wood..caught a mix of large and smallmouth mostly on the smaller nedmite size and caught a few on trusty ned too.. Then this past trip the fish were piled up in the stagnant eddies right next to the fast riffles....caught mostly goggle eye but still a few smallies. Anyone else have reports for the James this summer? I sold my kayak a few months ago but looking to upgrade to a better fishing setup in the next week or two..would love to do a float with someone who has some knowledge. I can actually contribute to a shuttle now that I got myself a little truck now too! I did a trip on the lower James yesterday. Caught more than I could count. Nothing huge but enough 12-14 inchers to make it a blast. Best baits were a Hellgrammite imitation in the fast stuff and a swim bait in between. Below Hootentown is beautiful. Bass Yakker, Flysmallie, Daryk Campbell Sr and 3 others 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trythisonemv Posted July 19, 2023 Share Posted July 19, 2023 Nice work tyler! Canoe fishing is fun Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gumboot Posted July 19, 2023 Share Posted July 19, 2023 On 7/7/2023 at 11:16 AM, Seth said: I wreck smallies on a Zman Big TRD paired up with an EWG weedless ned style jighead. I'm assuming it resembles a hellgramite. One thing I know for sure is that there isn't another bait out there that will outlast a ZMAN product, which is my favorite quality about them. Basically lasts until I break it off. Buy jigheads and baits at a 1:1 ratio. Seth Are these the ned heads on an offset ewg worm hook? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seth Posted July 26, 2023 Share Posted July 26, 2023 On 7/19/2023 at 8:51 AM, Gumboot said: Seth Are these the ned heads on an offset ewg worm hook? Yes. Search weedless ned on Tacklewarehouse and you'll see quite a few show up. https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/search-tackle.html?start=0&count=30&prevsearch=flatland&searchtext=weedless+ned snagged in outlet 3 and Bass Yakker 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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