catfishingonthejames

NAVIGATION

THE TIDES

The lower James is a tidal river, with tides lasting around 6 hours each, incoming and outgoing, and around a 30 minute "slack tide" in between where the water is still. At slack tide you have the choice-run to the next spot to fish, or keep fishing where you are. If you choose to keep fishing, you can reel in all the lines, then drop them straight down below the boat. Reel them up a little bit until the weights are off the bottom at different levels, some just off the bottom, some suspended further up. If the rigs are allowed to drag the bottom while the boat drifts on the tide change, the lines will become tangled or snagged. By suspending baits you can keep fishing while waiting for tide to change.

THE "FIDDLER" POLE

I will often have a lighter rig or two out to pass the time by catching the abundant small cats while waiting for that big one to bite. It will also gives a clue as to whether or not repeated bites on the big rods without a take down might be smaller cats. If the "fiddler" poles catch one small cat after another then it is probably time to move on. If the small cats are more occasional, then you're probably OK. Not that a big one won't come along when the little ones are around. I just find it annoying to watch my big baits get tore up by fish too small to even get the hook into their mouths. The smaller poles can also be rigged to fish for striper, bass, or even gar if the opportunity arises. I like to be ready to fish for anything.

I AM A LAZY FISHERMAN!

First off let me state thatI am a lazy fisherman. My style of fishing is a bit less aggressive than a lot of other catfishermen and therefore does not produce the numbers of trophy fish that a lot of fishermen on the James do. One of the reasons I fish is to get away from it all and relax, which is why the run and gun style of bass fishing has never appealed to me. Too much like work for me. A lot of catfishermen employ a similar technique as bass fishing, setting up on a likely spot, fishing for 15-30 minutes and moving on if there are no good take downs. This style of catfishing works well and produces more fish, but like I stated - I'm way to lazy for all that work. I use the same tactics for locating and fishing structure as most catfishermen, I just don't cover as much water in an outing. I'd much rather concentrate my efforts relaxing and fishing three or four good spots that have produced nice fish for me in the past during a 10-hour outing than run all over the river burning up gas and time. I fish a spot anywhere from 1 hour to 3 or 4 hours before moving on. I scout for new spots when the mood hits me, which ain't very often.

PICKING A SPOT

When looking at an area to fish I first look for some kind of structure on bottom. Submerged logs, rocks, and shipwrecks are all good things to look for. Structure doesn't have to be anything huge, sometimes just a small hump or dip on the bottom will do. Even better if I find something right between a flat and the drop off to a channel or a deep hole. Any structure you come across on the depthfinder has the potential to hold fish. I have also found that any place where the river narrows is likely to be a good spot, whether it be part of the main river, or the entrance to a creek or barge pit. These areas will sometimes be very deep, due to strong current and the water being funneled in and eroding the bottom. I move a bit upstream from my chosen spot and drop anchor, letting the boat drift back to within about 50 ft or so of the area I want to be fishing. Try a spot on both incoming and outgoing tides. Often a spot that is terrible on one tide will be awesome on the opposite one.

Sometimes the fish just don't seem to be where you think they should be. At times like that I stop looking for them and just move out next to the main channel edge somewhere. Often this will pay off with a big fish or two by finding fish that are moving around and not oriented on structure. Just make sure to stay out of barge traffics way. And remember, it is illegal to tie up to a channel marker.

SETTING UP

Depending on whether I am fishing alone, or with others, I fish anywhere from 4 to 10 rods at once. I like to put out a variety of baits and different cuts until I find out what they are hitting the most at that particular time. Chunked shad, fillet shad, live eels, and some perch or bluegill are my usual baits. Don't hook your baits deeply. Make sure to leave the hook's gap open to ensure a good set when the fish takes the bait. This is especially important with circle hooks. I like to hook big cuts of gizzard shad under the keel along the underside where the scales are hard and thick. I weave the hook in and out of smaller "candy" shad to sew it on with the leader going into it's mouth and the hook hanging free just below the tail. I then use a scrap of monofilament tied around the tail just above the eye of the hook to secure the hook from backing back into the bait. (See- Candy Shad Rig)

Rods are baited and cast out in a fan pattern from the rear of the boat and placed in rod holders with the drag set at about where I want them to be when fighting a fish. Additional rods can be fished from the front or sides of the boat, usually dropped straight down and suspended off the bottom slightly. In a strong current all the lines and baits will be carried downstream and away from the boat, even with a large weight so some thought is required as to line placement to prevent line crossing and tangles. Cast to any eddies or visible structure if possible.

When a fish bites on a circle hook let him go until the rod bends over and stays there. With a circle hook the fish will almost always hook himself this way and will often do so on a J hook as well. Its awesome when a rod tip slams down and the whole rod starts shaking. When you can hardly get the rod out of the holder you know you have a good fish! When a rod goes down, grab it from the rodholder and give a tug (not a hard hookset) to ensure the fish is stuck solid by the hook.

WHEN TO FISH

Blue cats are fished for year round here with some of the most productive months being from November through March. A few weeks before, and right after spawn, ( Water temps around 70-75 ) can be one of the best times of the year too. ( See spawn, right. ) The last two state records came right after spawn and it seems every year a really big fish or two turns up around this time. Things slow down a bit during the hottest months of summer around August. ( Water temps 80+ ) Try fishing flats near deep channels at night in hot weather. During the summer months the cats seem to lay low in the deep holes during the day, and come up onto the flats at night to feed. Things pick back up around October as the water starts to cool again and the blues start feeding heavily to build up stores of fat for the winter. In the winter the cats will stay more in the deeper holes and are easier to target as they will roam less. ( Water temps >50 )

GUIDE SERVICES

For someone traveling a good distance to fish the James, the best way to insure catching some monster cats is to hire one of the areas many skilled catfish guides, especially if it's your first time here and you are unfamiliar with the river. Most guides will guarantee citations and have fairly reasonable rates. Just make sure to call well in advance to book a date. It really is a better way to go than putting the time, money, and effort into coming a long way with your own gear and boat, and it will probably wind up costing you about the same or less. Plus you get to be escorted around the river by someone who knows where to find the big fish, and you will have to do a minimum of the work. Just show up, fish, and pay the man!

FISHFINDER

I have a Garmin Fishfinder 250 on the toon, but I don't always look for fish on my fishfinder simply because I can't tell you how many times I have set up on a spot that showed no big fish on the fishfinder and started catching fish almost immediately. I have higher confidence in an area if I do mark some big fish, but it's not a deciding factor in my choice of location. More critical factors to me are depth, water temps, bottom type, structure, current, and tide.

DAYTIME OR NIGHTS?

I fish during daylight hours Nov to March and switch over to nights April through Oct. Switching up helps to avoid the crowds of pleasure boaters, jet skis, and the blazing heat of the summer months, and makes fishing a little warmer and safer in the winter.

LOOK AT THE MAP!

Get a good chart of the river that shows topographic features, depths, channel markers, known shipwrecks and as much other information as possible. Study it. Many good areas worth closer inspection with the depthfinder can be located just by sitting at home and looking at a chart. Look for deep spots on or near flats, channels that converge, and current breaks. Next time your out on the water check them out more closely and drop a few lines to see if the fish are there.

SPAWN

The Blue cats here will spawn around May when the water temps get in the mid 70s. The bite will slow WAY down for the big trophy cats for a few weeks once the spawn begins. I still fish during the spawn, but expectations are much lower. Live baits such as eel, white perch, or bluegill seem to do better during this time. I have noticed that eels will sometimes be attacked over and over until dead during the spawn, then left alone as if the cats are just trying to eliminate a threat to their nests.

TACTICS