James River FoM, 15-18 MAR 2023
Mar 19, 2023 5:52:52 GMT -5
mwardncsu, tiltntrim, and 2 more like this
Post by 31Airborne on Mar 19, 2023 5:52:52 GMT -5
A little redemption after the battery fiasco last month. As fate would have it, yet another cold front came thru the nite before the event. The river was stingy yesterday, but she gave up enough. It never ceases to amaze me at how active fish can be in sub-50-degree water. There was a time in my fishing life when I panicked when I saw sub-50 temps. Now I love it. Gimme 45-47* any day of the week (just keep the winds at bay and hold off on the rain, plz - 
).
I made it over midweek for a couple days of practice. The early morning cold didn't seem to affect the fish. They were eager to eat during practice. I focused on backwater areas (pits) and was able to piece together a handful of patterns that covered just about every phase of the tide. I couldn't get anything going on moving baits, but I was able to get solid bites on jigs and plastix. The cold mornings and recent weather front had the fish pinned to the deck. The only way I could get them to eat was to put it in front of them. In practice, the fish seemed to be everywhere (isn't that always the case?) - every stick, stone, and stump had a fish on it. This would hold up on TX day, but with a little selectivity. The fish concentrated on specific stretches with scattered chunk rock. As long as we were in the rocky area, the fish ate. As soon as we left the rocky area, we flogged water.
Our first stop was a back water area we figured would draw lots of anglers. It's essentially a large community hole with all of the stuff a fisherman would want - ledges, points, stumps, brush, all of it. I spent most of WED in this area and had quite a bit of success. I went back in on THUR to do some additional scouting and marked a bunch of new targets. All of these produced fish, including a couple quality keepers. We failed to appreciate the full effect of the previous nite's front. It shut the fish down. Hard. I mean, not even a sniff. We worked the area over for 3 1/2 hours without a bite. We packed up and made the move to another pit that has a little bit deeper water and a more robust variety of cover. We pulled up to a bank that has a mix of wood and chunk rock. It didn't take but a few casts before my partner hooks up on our first keeper. Maybe 10 minutes later I hook up on a better fish - a nice 4 lb'er. We spent the next hour making laps on this ~200 yard stretch of bank while my partner put on a clinic. He rounded out our limit in 45 minutes, then culled a couple of our smaller fish. After this bite played out, we worked a couple other sections of this pit without success. With about 20 minutes to go we packed it in. Our 5 fish weighed 14.35, good enough for 3rd place.
Observations: 1) Water clarity was perfect. Easily 3' of viz in the main channel; a little better and a little dingier in some places in the pits. WTs ranged from 47.6 on WED morning, to 53.5 yesterday afternoon. 2) The bite for us was better in the cleaner water. We had to move around a bit in practice and on TX day to stay in the cleaner water. 3) I didn't exactly force-feed moving baits but I threw them a lot during practice. I managed one peanut on an SK 1.5. That was it. Nothing doing on jerk baits, rattle baits, bladed jigs, or spinner baits. 4) 4-6' was the magic range. The fish were tight to the breaks. 5) A T-rigged worm was our best producer. We also caught them on a c-rig and jigs. No surprise on colors - greens. A little color in the plastic didn't hurt. 6) All of our fish had been up shallow for a while. Their backs were dark with well-defined markings. We didn't catch a single pasty fish. 7) Bites in practice were solid. The fish would hit the bait hard, then run with it. It was hard to miss. The bite changed on TX day. There was no discernible thump or tick. The line just loaded up, was very subtle. I'm sure we missed a couple bites, thinking we were coming across a piece of brush or were dragging some leaves. 8) Several of our fish were caught after a swing-and-miss. One fish in particular took a half dozen casts before it took the bait enough to get the hook in it. This fish was our last cull.
Our hotel of choice for the James River area was booked up for a wedding so I ended up staying on post at FT Lee. The lodging operation is superb - I had a 2-bedroom suite with a kitchenette. Was perfect for a trip like this. The biggest challenge was access to power. The garrison headquarters staff saved the day by letting me use their outside power outlets (thanks again, CSM Love!).
A close fishing friend reminds me often to trust my practice. This piece of advice continues to pay dividends. Then there are times when you have to make an adjustment. In fishing, these are seldom dramatic. Normally, usually, generally, these changes are subtle. This past weekend was all about making subtle adjustments.
peace,
B
).I made it over midweek for a couple days of practice. The early morning cold didn't seem to affect the fish. They were eager to eat during practice. I focused on backwater areas (pits) and was able to piece together a handful of patterns that covered just about every phase of the tide. I couldn't get anything going on moving baits, but I was able to get solid bites on jigs and plastix. The cold mornings and recent weather front had the fish pinned to the deck. The only way I could get them to eat was to put it in front of them. In practice, the fish seemed to be everywhere (isn't that always the case?) - every stick, stone, and stump had a fish on it. This would hold up on TX day, but with a little selectivity. The fish concentrated on specific stretches with scattered chunk rock. As long as we were in the rocky area, the fish ate. As soon as we left the rocky area, we flogged water.
Our first stop was a back water area we figured would draw lots of anglers. It's essentially a large community hole with all of the stuff a fisherman would want - ledges, points, stumps, brush, all of it. I spent most of WED in this area and had quite a bit of success. I went back in on THUR to do some additional scouting and marked a bunch of new targets. All of these produced fish, including a couple quality keepers. We failed to appreciate the full effect of the previous nite's front. It shut the fish down. Hard. I mean, not even a sniff. We worked the area over for 3 1/2 hours without a bite. We packed up and made the move to another pit that has a little bit deeper water and a more robust variety of cover. We pulled up to a bank that has a mix of wood and chunk rock. It didn't take but a few casts before my partner hooks up on our first keeper. Maybe 10 minutes later I hook up on a better fish - a nice 4 lb'er. We spent the next hour making laps on this ~200 yard stretch of bank while my partner put on a clinic. He rounded out our limit in 45 minutes, then culled a couple of our smaller fish. After this bite played out, we worked a couple other sections of this pit without success. With about 20 minutes to go we packed it in. Our 5 fish weighed 14.35, good enough for 3rd place.
Observations: 1) Water clarity was perfect. Easily 3' of viz in the main channel; a little better and a little dingier in some places in the pits. WTs ranged from 47.6 on WED morning, to 53.5 yesterday afternoon. 2) The bite for us was better in the cleaner water. We had to move around a bit in practice and on TX day to stay in the cleaner water. 3) I didn't exactly force-feed moving baits but I threw them a lot during practice. I managed one peanut on an SK 1.5. That was it. Nothing doing on jerk baits, rattle baits, bladed jigs, or spinner baits. 4) 4-6' was the magic range. The fish were tight to the breaks. 5) A T-rigged worm was our best producer. We also caught them on a c-rig and jigs. No surprise on colors - greens. A little color in the plastic didn't hurt. 6) All of our fish had been up shallow for a while. Their backs were dark with well-defined markings. We didn't catch a single pasty fish. 7) Bites in practice were solid. The fish would hit the bait hard, then run with it. It was hard to miss. The bite changed on TX day. There was no discernible thump or tick. The line just loaded up, was very subtle. I'm sure we missed a couple bites, thinking we were coming across a piece of brush or were dragging some leaves. 8) Several of our fish were caught after a swing-and-miss. One fish in particular took a half dozen casts before it took the bait enough to get the hook in it. This fish was our last cull.
Our hotel of choice for the James River area was booked up for a wedding so I ended up staying on post at FT Lee. The lodging operation is superb - I had a 2-bedroom suite with a kitchenette. Was perfect for a trip like this. The biggest challenge was access to power. The garrison headquarters staff saved the day by letting me use their outside power outlets (thanks again, CSM Love!).
A close fishing friend reminds me often to trust my practice. This piece of advice continues to pay dividends. Then there are times when you have to make an adjustment. In fishing, these are seldom dramatic. Normally, usually, generally, these changes are subtle. This past weekend was all about making subtle adjustments.
peace,
B