No Hits, Runs, or Errors - January 31st, 2015

John and I headed out on the New river in his jet boat on a balmy 20 degree day. We fished pretty hard with hair jigs, tubes and spider jigs without a single bite for either of us in 5 or so hours of fishing. The air did finally warm up into the 30's. The water was lower but stable. We were up against the dreaded high skies, which never seen to work well for me and bass fishing. Back to the drawing board for winter smallie fishing.

Red Fox Almost - January 30th, 2015

Derrick and I went out predator calling on a cold and windy night. The temp was only around 18 degrees with enough wind in places to be really cold. The leftover snow was really crunchy and loud. Sneaking from set to set was really difficult. The moon was really bright and they sky was really clear. So bright in fact that you could see without a light for a pretty good distance. The first set we came to a red fox came in at minute 4. I had the .222 with cross sticks and Derrick shotgun. The red fox came in to about 125 yards and hung up in a little patch of brush just in the field. He was sitting on his butt looking at our decoy. He did not seem nervous at all. I looked at him and felt the shot with the brush was 50/50. My rest was solid, he was sitting still, but the brush was the wild card. I started to take the shot twice but I really felt like he would come on in and give me a clearer closer shot. After about 2 minutes of sitting there listening and looking he got up and turned around and walked away. I changed the call 3 times and even tried the fox pup distress, but he would not come back. He had the wind so our scent may have gotten to him. We did 3 more sets. On our third set we saw and eye coming in but it never came in to give us a look. I really fell like the ultra bright moon made them more spooky and less likely to come in than normal. It also made our red lights significantly less powerful. Even with the moon, wind, and crunchy snow we almost closed the deal.

Cold Water Crappies - January 25th, 2015

With water temps being a balmy 36 degrees John, Brad and I crappie fished the Stone from around noon till 4pm or so. We had the lake to ourselves save a couple of other boats out cruising around mostly. The bites we got you really had to fish hard to earn, by panfish standards anyway. I ended up with 7 and John had 3 or so big crappies and Brad caught a bluegill. The water had some stain and that may have made the fish's strike zone a little smaller. The crappie we did catch were all chunks. My biggest was just a shade short of 15 inches. The air temp was almost 50 degrees with very little wind.

Chasing WInter Smallies on the New - January 17th, 2015

John waiting on the signature thump bite.

Yamaha river jet running upriver.

 

John and I fished from 10am till 2pm on the New looking to hook up with a big New river smallmouth. We fished jigs and tubes and had only one bite each all day....we both missed. We had the deck stacked against from the start but still fun to take a swing, the water was falling, we had high skies, and a touch of wind later in the day to contend with. John had caught a 17 inch and a 19inch fish the day before in the same area so the fish were there, we just couldn't make the sell on getting them to eat soft plastic today. It was my first day on the water for 2015 and it was a nice day to go.

The trip got me to thinking about what the basic fundamentals are for trying to get winter river smallmouth bass to bite. It has been awhile since I have spent any significant amount of time targeting them. If I stop and think about it...these basic things would be something to hang on to when smallmouth fishing in the winter season.

1) Your going to get zeroed a lot....it is not spring or summer fishing. They don't eat all day everyday and some days they do not feed at all.
2) When you win, you win big. Many of the of the biggest smallies are caught this time of the year.
3) If your think your fishing too SLOW then slow down some more. It is total dead stick action that works most times.
4) Your are spending large amounts of time covering a very small well thought out area, which is the complete opposite of river fishing the rest of the year. The rest of the year you cover large amounts of water in a small amount of time looking for the most active fish.
5) Smaller baits work better for half hibernating tight lipped smallmouth bass. Even down to 2 inch baits you might think of as crappie or panfish baits.
6) Your target areas must have...
        A) Completely slack water but be very near moving water to provide food and oxygen.
        B) Be relatively deep compared to surrounding water or at have access to deeper water nearby.
        C) Have ledges or "rock garden" areas for them to hide in and ambush predators.
7) Once you find a good winter haunt you can catch big fish there winter after winter.
8) You have got to be patient your swinging for homeruns not singles in this type of fishing.
9) Sometimes really bad awful weather and high water will trigger a winter bite
10) No matter how high or swift the river gets the fish will move to an area with no current to fight. They do not have the energy or metabolism to live in current like they do the other 3 seasons.

2014 Year End Review.

This year I landed 462 fish on 52 fishing trips, which comes out to  8.88fish/trip. The number of fish and fish/trip for me was down significantly compared to previous years.  This was a hard year for me personally. My Dad died in January, my 4 year old daughter was diagnosed with leukemia in March, and my good friend Craig passed away at 34 years old the same day Annalyn was diagnosed.
 The winter last year was really tough. I didn't catch my first fish until March due to the 2 polar vortexes and sustained bouts of cold we had last winter. I had a great trip to Guntersville, Alabama that I look forward to repeating next spring. The river bite was consistent but not explosive like back in early 2000's. The summer bluegill bite on Bluestone was almost non existent in comparison to previous years, I have no answers for why that is. A lot of the float trips I did fish this year were shorter than in previous years, 3 hour floats versus 5 hours floats. I did manage to catch a citation musky from a kayak which has long been on my bucket list. Given all that happened I was just thankful for the fish I was able to set the hook on in 2014. I do still get a rush from that "tick" you feel moving up your line into your arm and going to your brain when a fish bites. That second in time when you sense you have a bite and right before you set the hook is what I love. In that fleeting second you know you got a bite but you don't know what you have and if you will get a good  hook set or miss completely. It is in this time your imagination runs wild about what may be on the other end of that line and what could happen next. So long as fish gotta eat, I still wanna be out there trying to catch them every chance I get. So here is to hoping the year ahead is flat out all around better than the one behind. Happy New Year!

A Winter Day to Dream About....Decbember 27th, 2014

For the last two years winter has meant 4 months of sub 30 temps with wind and ice and not many breaks to speak of. Today was different. An air temp near 60 degrees very little to no wind to speak of. Crash and I headed up to Bluestone lake for some early winter pan fishing. We fished night crawlers about 18 inches off the bottom rigged with a drop shot. The bite started off slow but really took off once we found them. It was the first day I can remember fishing in December without being cold for some time. We ended up catching over 40 total fish....one largemouth, one catfish and the rest crappie and blue gills split 50/50 or so.  It was the kind of day that gives you a break from cold and boredom of winter you dream about and I am certain in the weeks to come we will get pounded by waves of snow and artic air before it finally gives up and spring fishing ensues.

NOVEMBER 2014

Bloody Tails - November 21st, 2014



A sure sign your beagle is working hard.

Roscoe and Sampson

Charlie and I killed 3 rabbits on five jumps on a 4 hour hunt today. I shot two and Charlie shot one. We both missed a combined 8 times on the luckest rabbit that ever lived. The dogs weren't too happy with us after that one, but still it was funny.

No Time for Small Fish - November 10th, 2014

Brad, Charlie and I landed only 10 trout in 4 hours of fishing, however all 10 were 3lbs or better. Brad landed 2, Charlie 3 and I had 5. Charlie had the biggest at 4lbs. and 8oz. The smallest of our ten fish were three and four of them were over 4 lbs. The hair jig in green and blue made for a nice change up that produced when the blade stopped producing. It was a nice day to be on the water, a good day to enjoy the fall before winter closes in and begins the dark season.

Beagles and Bunnies Part I - November 8th, 2014

 Charlie, Rick and I hunted for 3 hours, jumped 7 rabbits, killed 3 rabbits and a woodcock, lost a dog, found the dog and had a nice day to hunt. I killed the first two rabbits and a woodcock. The day started cold and warmed up quick. It was the first rabbit hunt of the year  and hopefully the first of many to come. Charlie brought a new dog, Roscoe. He is around 2 years old and he did really well. He showed a lot of energy and promise.

An Alarming Trend - October 19th, 2014

I went back and did a little data mining on my blog. I looked at my catch rates on smallmouth bass on float trips > than 2 hours in length between the months of April and October on the New River directly above Bluestone Lake and directly below Bluestone Dam (State Line falls VA to Brooks falls). The data was taken from 73 different fishing outings all completed between April  2008 through October 2014. The average length of each fishing outing was ~3.2 hours of actual fishing time on the water. To keep a control variable in place I used only fish catch data from fish that I caught and counted using a clicker at time of catch. Here is what I found.....

 

It is hard to figure out why it is that my catch rates have dropped 40.1% over the last 7 years. Logic would say that as you age and fish more you learn to catch them better and therefor become more efficient. Here are some of the possibilities for this alarming trend in my suggested order of

likelihood.                                                                                                                             

1) Muskies - there are more than ever and they are fish eating death machines

2) Increased intelligent fishing pressure - more angler and with more advanced techniques and equipment than ever before are out on the river each and every day.                                   

3) Black gnat spraying - there have been a lot of theories and discussion that taking out a piece of food chain will eventually effect the bass fishing adversely.                                                     

4) Overabundance of Canadian Geese - eating many of prey that would otherwise trickle down to fish

5) Other unknown or unseen factors - by product of renovation and construction on bluestone dam or other unnoted or not yet seen impairment on New River ecosystem.  It also could be some combination of factors 1-4 or maybe even I just don't fish as good as I used to.                          

 

         

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Rainy Friday Float - October 10th, 2014

Jamie, Greg and I floated for 3.5 hours in near constant rain today from the dam to first takeout down southside. The air temperature was in the high 50's. I landed 20 the biggest was a 4lbs hybrid I caught in front of the baffles that I had slip out of my hand before I could get a pick taken. Greg landed 18 and Jamie 10. Greg hooked and lost the biggest smallmouth he said he has every had ahold of, which is saying something because he has a 6lbs mounted at home. Despite the rain and cool temps we caught fish and had a good time.

After School Bluegills - September 29th, 2014

Slaying the Dragon - September 27th, 2014

Brad, Greg Davis, Jamie and I floated the new from the dam down to Southside. We put in at 8:30 and took out at noon. The bass fishing was slow compared to two weeks ago. I landed only 8 bass. While vertically jigging behind the State Police office I hooked what I knew was going to be an absolute monster. I could feel a huge head shake and my yak was immediately being pulled away. I started fighting and yelling for help. Jamie, Brad and Greg came over to help me. We had a good solid fight with one spectacular jump. Jamie started towing my kayak toward the islands in the middle of the river while I continued to fight him. I grabbed him under the gill plate and pulled him up onto the kayak. He flopped off and the fight was on again. Finally we got over to the island and I pulled him up on the bank. He weighed in at 17.5lbs and was 40 inches long. I have always wanted to hook and land a big musky on a kayak. Right after I landed the musky and we started back to fishing we saw a bald eagle catch a fish right down river from us. It was one of the coolest things I have seen from a kayak. Truly a sight to behold. The bass fishing was a hair slow today. We landed about 20 bass between the four of us. Greg had another musky chase his lure all the way to the kayak. It was a very memorable day.

New river Musky. 40inches 17.5lbs.

Saturday Morning River Patrol

A Quick Two Hours on the New River - September 18th, 2014

Brad, Jamie, Greg, Patrick, and I floated after work from the dam to the park. We started at 5:45pm and floated until 7:45pm, going from the dam to Advance beach. The fishing was good. Smoke with chart G-tails were the order of the day per. The last hour before dark was really good with a near constant bite. Greg caught 22 fish including a 19 inch smallie seen in the pic, Brad had 20, I landed 14, Patrick 6 and Jamie 2. In two hours of one the water fishing time the five of us managed to land 64 fish total or (6.4 fish per person per hour fished). hooking and losing several more. In typical fall pattern the fish are starting to bunch up so that when you catch one you usually catch 3 or 4 more with it.

19 inch September Smallie

A Solid Saturday Morning Float - August 30th, 2014

Greg Davis,  Nahodil, Goins, Brad, and I floated from the dam to 1st takeout down Southside. The river was down and we had nice cloud cover this morning and the bite was better than it had been since early June. We landed 76 fish between the five of us. Greg had 23, I had 24, Brad 16, Jamie and Greg D. had 13 between the two of them. As a group we were averaged 25 fish and hour. The smallmouth average weight is trending up as welll since they have been feeding up all spring and summer long to prepare for another long winter. It was an above average day in both fun and productivity

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