MNtransplant Posted July 6, 2023 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! Bass Yakker, dan hufferd, MObassin95 and 3 others 6
Mitch f Posted July 7, 2023 Posted July 7, 2023 Try these Hellgrammites next time www.tackle-max.com Daryk Campbell Sr, trythisonemv, Bass Yakker and 1 other 4 "Honor is a man's gift to himself" Rob Roy McGregor
Seth Posted July 7, 2023 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. snagged in outlet 3 and trythisonemv 2
Flysmallie Posted July 7, 2023 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. BilletHead, Mitch f, dan hufferd and 2 others 5
MNtransplant Posted July 7, 2023 Author 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
Mitch f Posted July 8, 2023 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 Daryk Campbell Sr, nomolites, dan hufferd and 2 others 4 1 "Honor is a man's gift to himself" Rob Roy McGregor
MObassin95 Posted July 13, 2023 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. trythisonemv, Bass Yakker, Terrierman and 3 others 6
Gumboot Posted July 19, 2023 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?
Seth Posted July 26, 2023 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
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