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Fighting the James River Blues
Fighting the James River Blues
First stop of the day was up a creek where the gizzard shad had been piling into a deep hole. Don’t waste your time with stink bait or chicken livers if you have heavyweight blues in mind. It’s like offering a banana to a linebacker for dinner. A big chunk of fresh fish is the only way to go, and it’s hard to beat shad in the James. The bait was right where Eberwien expected to find it, and three tosses of the castnet produced plenty gizzards for the day.
Photo by Jeff Samsel
Additional Info
If you can handle the winter weather and want to test your might against a blue catfish of epic proportions on Viriginia's James River, visit guide Chris Eberwien's website, or call (804) 449-6134.
And to get another take on this fishery, check out Bill Heavey's story, "Catfish Central."
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Photo Gallery Comments (11)
James River is a Catfish Factory, I have not fished it yet, but it is on my list. Several friends of mine have and they have landed some real jumbo sized cats.
I have seen countless fishing shows that took place on the james river with great results.
crap. thats amazin. whis i was there
what a lucky guss
I envy that trip
Thats cool to see local guys on here. I live about 30 min. from the James River. I've caught some big croaker in it, but no blues that big. Sounds like a good time. Good post.
I was out with Chris the day before this, and it is no Bull, he puts you on Big fish, we landed a 63# and a 62# and were busy all day catching 30#+ fish. He is well worth his modest rates and I had a blast with him.
It would be nice if the article had information on how Eberwien found the spots to fish in. Does he primarily look for structure? Does he primarily look for deep holes with a depth finder? Does he find most fish close to bank or in the river channel or does it depend upon weather and water conditions?
Fair questions, Jay - We fished isolated, submerged cover (rocks and trees). Some along the channel, others on vast, otherwise featureless flats. Fishing generally stays steady no matter what the weather does. Tides make a big difference. When the water is moving, the fish bite much better.
That is one monsterous fish.
Man those are some dang big fish.
Man, I live 5 minutes from the James, but i mostly catch flatheads. It is an amazing river, below the falls its blues galore and above the falls, u cant put a hook in the water without catchhing a small mouth. There is a Catfish guide service there visit:
www.catchbigfish.net
Post a Comment
James River is a Catfish Factory, I have not fished it yet, but it is on my list. Several friends of mine have and they have landed some real jumbo sized cats.
I have seen countless fishing shows that took place on the james river with great results.
crap. thats amazin. whis i was there
what a lucky guss
I envy that trip
Thats cool to see local guys on here. I live about 30 min. from the James River. I've caught some big croaker in it, but no blues that big. Sounds like a good time. Good post.
I was out with Chris the day before this, and it is no Bull, he puts you on Big fish, we landed a 63# and a 62# and were busy all day catching 30#+ fish. He is well worth his modest rates and I had a blast with him.
It would be nice if the article had information on how Eberwien found the spots to fish in. Does he primarily look for structure? Does he primarily look for deep holes with a depth finder? Does he find most fish close to bank or in the river channel or does it depend upon weather and water conditions?
Fair questions, Jay - We fished isolated, submerged cover (rocks and trees). Some along the channel, others on vast, otherwise featureless flats. Fishing generally stays steady no matter what the weather does. Tides make a big difference. When the water is moving, the fish bite much better.
That is one monsterous fish.
Man those are some dang big fish.
Man, I live 5 minutes from the James, but i mostly catch flatheads. It is an amazing river, below the falls its blues galore and above the falls, u cant put a hook in the water without catchhing a small mouth. There is a Catfish guide service there visit:
www.catchbigfish.net
Post a Comment