Fall Feedbag- A 12th Trophy Captured

Fall Feedbag- A 12^th Trophy Captured

            Every angler knows as blistering Summer days transition into frosty Fall mornings fishermen nationwide can look forward to more invigorated fishing. Water beings to cool rapidly, lakes begin “turning over” and all fish species use that as a trigger to begin their heavy feeding patterns in an effort to pack on extra weight for the cold Winter months that are only weeks away.  We took advantage of the cooling weather patterns over the past week for a few, very different fishing trips that all had one thing in common… they produced great fish.

            We started last Saturday by fishing in the Jackson Kayak River Bassin’ Tournament stop hosted by Appomattox River Company- Ashland, Va. The day was cool and windy, the first real touch of Fall that either of us had on the water up until that point. The fishing was on fire, we began culling fish early and often. Grant picked up the majority of his fish by banging a white spinnerbait off of stumps, landing him a second place finish with 45.50 inches. I found almost all of my fish in current breaks with wood, all on a wacky rigged Watermelonseed Senko worm. That combination earned me first place with 51.00 inches, Big Bass honors and it also helped Grant and I place first in the team division.

            The following Thursday, Grant ventured up to the mountains in hopes of finding some native Brook Trout that have been reinvigorated with the recent flows from heavy rains. The Brookies are gearing up for the spawn, that paired with the better flows had the fish feeding very well. Many of the Brookies captured broke the double digit mark, respectable for a Native Trout almost everywhere.

            Lastly, I set out this past Saturday in hopes of crossing off another new trophy species from my “hitlist”…. The White Perch. The day started out with me dishing out a little good “mojo” by stopping to help a turtle cross the road. After witnessing the influx of traffic on that particular stretch I certainly helped the little fella from becoming reptile roadkill.

After paddling around for a while I started passing over what I assumed were small schools of Perch. I baited up my three way rig with a large shiner and dropped it straight down. Confirmation was immediate with by far the largest White Perch I have ever hooked up with. Maybe it was luck, maybe it was the good mojo, or maybe it was the universe balancing itself out from all of the failed Perch attempts this Spring, but I was rewarded with my 12^th species citation on my first drop of the day! The jumbo White Perch went 13.25” and 1lb 6oz. Virginia trophy requirements for the White Perch are 13 inches and/or 1lb 4 oz, meaning I bested the standards by both length and weight! I spent the rest of the day picking off average size fish but never managed to raise one as big as my first fish of the day. Sometimes that’s just how it goes, it is fishing after all… you never know what’s going to happen!

That’s another species down, many more to go. Damn this stuff is fun! Until next time…

Fish Hard or Stay Home,

Josh D.

Blue Ridge Bruisers- Slamming Summer Citations

Blue Ridge Bruisers- Slamming Summer Citations

            Grant and I loaded up the truck and hit the road early Friday morning with an optimistic plan, to knock out as many new species citations as possible. Grant needed a trophy Muskie, I needed a trophy Smallmouth Bass, and we were both in need of trophy trout. We had four days to try and accomplish our goals, starting with the trout.

            We had our feet in the water bright and early in a healthy trout stream known for boasting above average fish. It wasn’t long before we were hooking up with some seriously beefy Rainbows. Even in the heart of summer, the cold spring fed creeks keep these fish charged up, making them a formidable opponent. We both landed some good fish over a 12 hour period and roughly 8 miles hiked, but Grant managed to top off the day with the biggest fish either of us could have imagined. After spotting, stalking, and eventually coaxing it into striking, Grant landed a beast of a Rainbow Trout weighing in at a hefty 7 pounds and measuring 24 inches in length, a Virginia trophy.

            After we picked off a trout we then turned our attention to our favorite stretch of the New River. Abundant with both large Muskie and giant Smallies we felt pretty confident that we would both accomplish what we came to do. I focused on Smallmouth for most of the trip, picking off plenty of fish, just not any huge ones. We spotted and stalked many good upper echelon fish, unfortunetly, they all had lockjaw. None of our Smallies even came close to trophy qualifications; My biggest fish went just 17 inches on a black Booyah buzzbait. However, I did spend a decent amount of time targeting Muskie as well, it’s pretty hard not to… especially since I have a peaked interest in anything big with teeth.

 After breaking off a solid Muskie Grant managed to pick up where I left off. He bagged two Muskie using live Sunfish. Pike are a cold water species, therefore in the Summer when their environment heats up they generally become more lethargic and less apt to strike a very large bait. This is our reasoning for using Sunfish as opposed to the larger Suckers and Chubs we like to live-line in the cooler months. The smaller of the two fish went 38 inches in length, caught within our last hour of the trip. The largest, Grant’s newest trophy, went 43.25 inches in length, an impressive kayak caught fish for the heat of Summer.

It was a great fishing bender filled with big, aggressive fish. Though I didn’t find the big Smallie I was after, it was cool to see Grant finally land the big Muskie he’s been chasing the past few years. Any time you can bag fish of that caliber during the heat of Summer you have to walk away with a sense of accomplishment, even if I did act as the cameraman for most of the trip…. But I digress, ha! Time to sit back and plan our next move. Although the heat is still constant right now, there are still big fish to be caught, hopefully one of those will be the notorious Biggie Smalls. We shall see.

Until Next Time.

Fish Hard or Stay Home,

Josh D.

Tracking Down Trophy Channel Cats

Tracking Down Trophy Channel Cats

       After catching the last few species to qualify me for Class II Master Angler back in June, it really lit a fire under me to work towards becoming a Class III MA. I decided it was time to knock out the last major catfish species in Virginia, the Channel Catfish. I’ve caught my fair share of big Flatheads and Blue Catfish, however, up until this point, a large Channel was something I had never experienced.

       To find a big Channel in Virginia it is necessary to target them in an impoundment that is void of other major catfish species. The sheer numbers and overall size of Blues and Flatties tend to stunt the growth of the smaller Channels, thus making it almost impossible to find them amongst the other catfish species.

       Once I had my body of water picked out I implemented a fairly simple game plan for locating the Channels. This time of year, the heat of the Summer tends to drive these fish to the deepest and darkest parts of the lake that they can migrate to; making them very predictable in that aspect. The edges of old creek channels became ground zero for all fishy operations. Even though locating the fish came easy, Channel Cats are very nocturnal in the Summer months, which made it difficult to actually get the fish to bite once they had been located during daylight hours. Much of the time I had to rely on the low light conditions of sunrise and sunset to finally get contact with the fish. My approach with gear and tactics were equally vanilla. No fancy rigs or special techniques were needed, really. I simply threw out a four rod spread on or very near the creek channel edge, making a point to vary the depth of each of the rods. On the bottom I placed a simple Carolina rig with a 4/0 circle hook, nose-hooked through a hand sized bream. I learned quickly that bait size was of the utmost importance. Too small and it will go unnoticed, too big and a Channel runs the risk of not getting hooked due to their smaller sized mouths. Anything around 5-6” or “hand size” is generally the way to go.

      I came close a hand full of times in both length and weight standards but all in all it took me a little over a month’s worth of weekends to finally land a trophy class fish. It wasn’t the hardest species I’ve went after by any means and it didn’t necessarily take a lot of special skill. Just a lot of knocking on doors waiting for someone to answer, knowing sooner or later big mama would be home. That being said, these fish aren’t to be taken for granted. They are nothing short of bulldogs when hooked and contrary to popular belief, when you land a big mean Channel they are simply unmistakable. Many guys seem to confuse them with juvenile Blue Catfish from time to time, but I can assure you, they are a horse of a different color when it comes to attitude and fighting ability.

(Virginia Trophy Channel Catfish- 31 inches / 13 pounds 14 ounces)

       In closing, Channel Cats are awesome species and I highly recommend them. Go Catch one, but try and practice catch and release. Certainly with the ever growing range of Blue Catfish these Channels will undoubtedly become threatened in their own home lakes. They’ll need all the population numbers and good genetics they can muster to stay as established as they are right now.

Now, on to a new adventure!

Fish Hard or Stay Home,

Josh D,