Senko De Mayo - April 21st

- Morning Sunrise on Grassy Creek

  Joe and I headed back to give the shallow water in Grassy a try with cloud cover and incoming rain. The early fishing was again quite slow. I caught 3 bass on a SOB Lures Pearl spinnerbait early, but that was it. About 10:30 I threw out a Senko and BAM! Then another, another and another. They were eating Senko's in the coves on the outside of the tree lines anywhere their was a log laying down in the water. We got on  this really nice pattern from 11am till 5 catching 30 total bass in the 0.5 to 2.5 pound range and missing at least that many more. 27 of those bass came off of Senkos rigged texas with no weight. Finally about 6pm the thunderstorms started to come in to close and we had to go. I don't know what a Senko imitates but I know that fish will eat em up in stained warm spring water.

Main Lake on Fire Day 4 - April 20th

Starting off on the Main lake riprap Joe's first fish of the day was this piggie, caught on a white soft plastic swim bait jigged over the riprap. This was the first of a 42 bass day. We caught fish on cranks and spinners off the main lake riprap all day long.

                              -4 pound drum caught on a shakey head worm. A nice bonus fish.

                               - a solid 3 lbs. bass off the riprap who ate the LC CB Flat

                               - Half mile main lake riprap offers a great wind break

Rudds Creek/Main Lake Day 3 - April 19th

  Sunrise after another cold night followed by high skies on Rudds creek. We fished from 7am till 3pm all over Rudds creek. I caught a chain pickerel and lost 2 large bass, while Joe caught 3 bass. We even ran into Panhandle Branch/Peckerwood Branch. Joe also hooked an lost another Chain Pickerel.  After 3pm we decided to head out to deeper water and fish some riprap since shallow wasn't working.

 We launched from Occeenochee State Park and started working the deeper 15 to 18 foot water with deep cranks. The 3 bridges provide about 6 miles of quality riprap. Along with the riprap they also have shallow corner / trash bays.  In the shallow corners we used spinnerbaits to catch fish around the stranded wood. Between 4pm and 8pm we caught 20 total bass, lost many more, and had several more hits. The deeper bass were not affected by the colder temps. Now finally we were on to something and had a plan going into tommorow.

Day 2 Grassy Creek - April 18th

                          -Catfish on a chatterbait

        Overnight & on cue a little cold front pushed in leading to bluebird skies and a tough bite. We fished Grassy creek. I caught 9 and Joe caught 7. Kaleb caught the big fish of the day at 4.5lbs. Way to go Kaleb.  Fishing shallow was slow and tough. Our fish came off of spinnerbaits, flukes, & chatterbaits.  In other news Joe did literally whistle up a horny gobbler and we got a great look at a magestic bald eagle not more than 20 yards away.                       

Buggs Island Day 1 - April 17th

After leaving Hinton @ 7:30, driving to Clarksville, VA, unloading, going to get launch passes, getting groceries, we finally made it to the water at 4pm. We headed out to Bluestone creek. It was windy, sunny, with 70 degree water temps. Fishing was fairly slow as you might expect after a busy fishing weekend. Greg & Kaleb fished Bluestone Creek as well as Joe @ myself. Joe and I each caugh 4 each. I caught 2 on a white chatterbait and 2 on white flukes. Joe also caught a white bass and I caught a 15 inch crappie.

                                  -Crappie caught on a white chatterbait off of Goodell Creek

                                   -Joe's first white bass.

Mixed Bag - April 16th

 The day before I head to Buggs Island for a week of bass fishing I hit the Greenbrier below the house for half hour. I caught 8 fish on a brown in line elite spinner. The fish I caught were in very shallow moving water. Some were extremely shallow, a good sign that spring fishing is really starting to take off. I caught 2 fall fish, 3 redeyes, and 3 smallies. All the fish were small, another sign that spring frenzy fishing is about to take off.

Tax Day - April 15th

Dad and I fished the lake from 10am till 1:30. I caught 2 largemoth on a Zoom mag shakey worm. But other than that nothin. We were up against the dreaded bluebird skies and bright sun. I fished below the house that evening right at dark and caught 2 smallmouth on a white G-tail at the bottom end of the shoals.

Three Little Bass - April 14th

 Fished below the house for about an hour and a half. Caught 2 little smallmouth on an in-line spinner up really shallow, which is a first for this year. I caught another smallie in the 10 inch range on a Cabin Creek Spider jig.  

Early Season Success @ Shanklin's Ferry - April 10th

                               -Brad's 4.0 lbs. 20 inch monster. The first fish for with his new rod.

                                - This smallie is about to be set free to fight another day.

-This fish was my biggest of this day at 3.9lbs. on the digital scales.

                                 - Canadian goose eggs. Eggs benedict anyone?

                               - Colorful spring flowers on the river bottom after a long colorless winter.

                                -3.5lbs ~ 18inch smallie caught off the rock ledge we are standing on.

                                - the last of my 3 fish for the day. This one weighs 2.5lbs. and has ruffled fins.

Stats: Fished from 7am to 3pm. Air temps ranged from 32 to 68 degrees. Water was still very cold ~ high 50's. Fish wouldn't chase at all. We caught all fish on a jig-n-pig. Water was 3 feet or so above normal and stained with visibility less than 2 feet. Bluebird skies with bright sun all day. All fish were caught in complete slack water in depths of >3 feet. I had 4 hits caught 3 and Brad had 2 hits and caught 1. The fishing is still slow but the catches are well worth the time. It kinda feels like big game hunting right now.

Slow Learning Redeye - April 10th

Went below the house and fished the Greenbier River for an hour or so today. I tried  to get them chasing a spinnerbait, but they weren't having it. I switche to a black and blue jig-n-pig. I worked my way up and down the bank. Then I started flipping a downed tree. I got a hit and missed it, threw back in, missed again. On the third try I got him.  An average sized redeye. I released him and within seconds the same redeye ran out from the log and ate the jig again.

Bass on a Rock Ledge Part 2 - April 6th

 -6:15 alarm clock goes off.
-6:30 arrived at pit only to get my feet covered in mudd from last nights rain. In order to keep from screwing up my boat carpet had had to fish barefooted. Luckily it's warm
- 6:45 am launched the boat minus one non showing fishing partner.
-7:00 thought of what Dad always says and got he net out and ready just in case.
- 8:30 missed a bite on shakey head mag worm.
- 9:30 hooked and lost  a fish (my only hookup in first 3 hours of fishing the main lake). Despite being frustrated I decided to drive thru the asteroid field of floating debris and wood to Bull falls and give the New river a try since the main lake was so slow on this day.
-10:30 caught 2 keepers(a smallie & a bucket mouth) around big rock structure on a black & blue jig-n-pig in the high stained water of the New River.
-11:15 arrived at the ledge I really had in mind to fish.
-11:30 caught a 4lbs. 8oz. 20 inch. smallmouth on same jig-n-pig. I was only able to get this fish in because I had the net out ahead of time like Dad is always fussing about. Turns out preparion does pay big dividends.
-12:00 headed back after talking to Brown. Brown would fish from 10am till 5pm and catch a 6 lbs. mudcat on a jig-n-pig.
-12:30 load the boat
-12:45 arrive back at home 3 more fish the richer. Despite a slow bite today the one stud bass made it worth the effort.

Summer Pool on Bluestone - April 5th

Todd & I fished from 7am till noon. Water temps ranged from 52 to 56 degrees. A lake had come up to summer pool but it was pretty stained up. I caught 6 fish, 4 short fish and the two in the pics. I caught 4 on shakey worms and the other two on a jerkbait. The wind got crazy at noon so we left a little early.

Easter Sunday Fishing - April 4th

On a perfect weather Easter Sunday all four of us headed up to the lake to bank fish and throw some rocks. We rounded up this crappie, got a little muddy and threw some rocks in the lake. The lake was on it's way up from to summer pool. It may be up to summer pool by tommorow if not sooner.                             

April's Fools - April 1st

Joe & I fished Moomaw on under bluebird skies  wtih temps int he 80's. The water temp started at 47 and maxed out at 53 degrees. There were several boats fishing on the lake but they were all moving often, a sure sign that nobody is scoring fish. I had 2 hits and caugth one smallie. Joe had one hit and a miss. It was a terrible slow day. We tried hard to find fish, but we had no success. I think that even though the surface water temp is in the 50's, further down it's still cold making fish sluggish.

Bluebird Skies & Falling Water - March 31st

 Joe & I hole hopped our way around Summers County this morning. We lost some jigs had a few hits and landed 2 descent fish each. The water had been high and was falling back to high normal. A high pressure front and much warmer weather was pushing in with the dreaded "bluebird skies". The largest bass was 2.7lbs. Joe caught his fish on a tubes and I caught mine on a regular jig-n-pig (black & blue). We fished from 8am till 1pm. The water is quickly warming and there are even some crawfish around the bank of the river.

         -this poor fellow got his pinchers bitten off.

Bass on a Rock Ledge - March 28th

About 4pm I went out in to the rain and fished the Greenbrier for a couple of hours. It had been raining pretty hard for about 3 hours and the water was rising. It was faily cold water temps in the mid 40's and air about the same maybe a little warmer. I fished an couple differnt colored spider jigs before switching to an orange 1/8th oz. Strike King Bitsy Flip with a black Yamamoto Baby Craw trailer. This is the same color and size that produced for me last Tuesday. Not 5 minutes after making the color change I hooked three fish holding off a deep rock ledge below a set of big shoals. The first bass was 2.3lbs, the second was 4.2 lbs./21inches long, and the third got off right at the bank.  The fish that got off was in the 2 to 2.5 range. He slipped off as I reached down to lip him.  The 4lbs fish was great,he came up close to the bank then took off and ripped some drag off twice before tiring out. The more I do it the more I think this river smallie fishing game is all about fish following the water. The stack up on the banks when it's rising and move back when it's falling.

Warm Sunshine and Falling Water - March 27th

Brad and I fished the new river on a warm sunny afternoon from 3 to 6pm. We failed to catch a fish. The water level was falling and the sun was way bright. Both Brad and I missed a fish each. We pitched, flipped, and fished spider and tube jigs all afternoon. We ran into Pat Brandon and he had only caught 3, all small,  Pat said they weren't hitting very well. I watched Pat catch one of his 3 on a dark green Yum Vibra King tube. Bass just didn't seem to be in much of a mood to hit this day.

Smallmouth Up Shallow in the Mud - March 23rd

Brown & I fished in the cold rain from 9am till 4pm. We stopped and took  a lunch break, but other than that we worked our ways up and down the bank pitching and flippin every crevice we could find in the muddy rising water. The water was rising from the run off rain we got 2 nights before. The air temps never got above the 40's and coupled with some wind it felt much cooler than. Despite the cooling trend  we still caught 4 and lost another in the high muddy water. We found some fish on both the New and Greenbrier rivers that were up really shallow and relating to wood and or rock. We tried some tubes but they only seemed to want spider jigs with a trailer. I used an orange Strike King Bitsy flippin jig with a black Yamamoto baby craw trailer to catch all 3 of my fish. Jason used his signature black and blue spider jig with a Berkley chigger craw trailer.   We found some new water to explore more and found some success along the way. Two of the four fish we weighed went 2.1lbs and 2.9lbs. The other 2 were about a pound each.

A Wee Bit O' Hiking - March 22nd

 Todd Mounts and I went on a couple hour +  hikes and did a little bit of trout fishing in between. The water was in the 45% the night before on the USGS gauges. We apparently got an inch plus of rain between 12am and 8am. The water by the time we got there was up in the 80+ percentile. It was heavy mud and rising fast. We couldn't even cross the river to get to the majority of fishing holes. After an hour and a half of trying with no hits we called it quits and hiked out. It was my screw up I should have checked the USGS before hand or looked closer at the lower river before we left out. If I had knew the weather was going to be nice we would have given Moomaw a try, but they called for rain, wind, and dropping temps. Live and learn.

Warm March Sunshine Still Yet Cold Water - March 8th

On a day with no wind, warm sunshine, and the snow melting away I headed to the lake to see if my boat still works and try to catch a fish. The boat ran good. The new down scan software upgrade on the Humminbird works really well and makes figuring out whats under the boat much easier. The water temps were from 38  to 42 degrees. I tried a jerk bait knowing full well that it was to cold but I wanted to throw it anyway. Then I tried a shakeyhead worm  and then I gave up and tried crappie fishing with a drop shot double rigged with Gulp minnows. I didn't get a bite anywhere in 3 hours but it was nice to be out fishing in the sunshine after 3 full months of snow.
  After I got home I tried slowly working a tube bait below the house for an hour or so. I lost 3 tubes, 2 on hang ups and one in a tree but had zero bites. I am not the best tube fisher however I am determined to get better at during the late winter/early spring months.