Joe D

Thanks for the feed back Sam, your thoughts are always helpful. Look forward to seeing you at the tournament. Joe

Hello everybody, I am wondering if someone could offer some river help. I fished the BASS open last year on the James and my partners both days wanted to run the low tide. I have fished all over Virginia my whole life, but never the tidal portions of the James. So if was a great learning experience. I think I have a decent grasp of how to deal with the outgoing tide. I am fishing the open again this year and noticed the tournament days we are mostly going to be dealing with the high tide, unless we make a big run. So I am wonder how does this change the fishing style? And if it alters the presentations we will be making and possibly areas we may be targeting. I am trying to get my gear together and am wondering what to expect. Any and all feed back would be great. Thanks Joe

I fished it last year when it was in July, it was very hot, but a lot of fun. I have lived here and fished here all my life and it was my first time on the lower James. Shoot me an email and I will get you up to speed, there was a learning curve for sure. I'm in for this year too and really looking forward to it. JOe

In the summer I tend to do better with jigs than anything else, two of the lake I fish are timber choked. Jigs are my first choice and a 10" worm is second, Sweet beaver third. Some days one works better than the other, but just another though on fall rate. You may be surprised but a 1/4 oz jig with trimmed down skirt and a stream lined trailer will fall alot faster than a 1/2 oz jig with a full skirt and a bulky trailer. Also a Texas rig with a 3/8oz will fall way faster than a 1/2 oz jig. So fall rate has more to do with bulk than weight size. Also don't over look the penetration factor. This year especially I have gone to much heavier weights than normal for shallow flipping. 3/4oz jig and 1/2oz texas rigs are pretty standard for me in heavy, heavy cover. I think if you try to much for a slow subtle fall, you risk never getting through the cover your are fishing. I came in behind some other guys fishing a beaver dam the other day and still pulled 7 fish out of it behind them. I truly belevie the reason is because they fished over the dam and I was fishing down in it. If I can get a jig through the cover, that is my first choice this time of year, but a 1/2 texas rig gets the call if the cover is too thick. joe

I would go with a Spro frog 65 in red ear, or a 3/8 oz jig Texas craw with 4.20 blk/blue sweet beaver trailer. If you were allowed to use only one lure but replace it if it is damaged ie soft plstics. I would scrap the above and go with a trick worm Joe

I've used that rig and didn't like it, it goes into tge grass well but coming out it grabs EVERYTHING, there is no "cone" coming out of the grass to help the bait come out, it is just a blunt bait. Hangs up alot, very frustrating I am much happier with a standard setup Joe

I'll offer a little different opinion, I like a 7'0 Med action Team Diawa rod, Revo S in 6.3:1 and 65lb braid. I have used this setup for years with a lot of big fish in some pretty nasty stuff. I like a rod with a good back bone but a pretty soft tip. I have caught most of my biggest fish either slowly walking the frog in small holes in the grass or firing the frog way under overhanging limbs, sometimes so far back I can't see the frog, you just hear the strike. I think the soft tip is more important for walking the frog and skipping it that extra back bone for me. I broke my rod last week. So now i am using a veritas MH 7'0 with a 7.0:1 Orra SX. So far the jury is still out, but I think I am going to be in the market for a Medium action Veritas pretty soon.

Just to add to what has been said, and just FYI, on friday the lake will be PACKED. Probably hard to find a parking spot. I have been going mostly on tuesdays and thursdays so far this spring and it still has 30 trucks in the parking lot, though some belong to shore fisherman. As far as getting around, you will not have any problem hitting stumps. Just don't ride to close to the shore. From the ramp you can go left or straight. There is standing timber to the left and if you go straight and then left down the creek arm you will find more timber. But there are plenty of fishy looking places along the way. Have fun Joe

For what it worth, one of the lakes I fish is absolutley choked with timber and I flip alot. I have several of the F700's and they are great for me. One of the reasons I really like them is that with the smaller spool you waste alot less line, but a plus I didn't expect is that they are very easy to skip under docks and overhanging limbs. Small spool, less line, alot less backlash on a bad skip. I'm not sure if I like the preset drag, but that is a small trade off for me. Also they pitch small baits very well. As far as rods I have three older team Diawa and am about to buy my second America Rodsmiths Wreckin Stick, I really like this rod and it works for me. 350.00 for the combo, but if you wait a bit it will be on sale for 20% off at tackle warehouse or bass tackle depot buring the spring sales.

And remember the knees on a cypress can be huge, 6 or 7 feet away on each side, so don't just cast right up to the tree, make sure you fish around it well. Joe

We have a couple of lakes around me that are very similar to what you describe and the biggest mistake i have made in the past is going out and fishing " the trees" What works for me is to try and thin out what I am fishing. Trees on points, trees near the channel, trees in a certain water depth, and specifically with cypress trees are they in groups, do they have low branches, are they isolated. Day in and day out the majority of the fish will be in one of these types of sub groups. So when you catch a fish really analize why it was caught on that particular tree and then try to duplicate that. This time of year I would start with trees on point near deeper water or along migration routes into the creeks. The more shade would probably be the best. As far as lures. I love cranking cypress trees, but the grass is an issue. Try a slow rolled spinnerbait, soft jerkbait, swim jig. Or my favorite pitching a jig or worm. A wacky rig senko works well for me also. I hope this helps. Joe

I used to keep my jigs in 3700 boxes, then I went to binders, now I am back to a 3703 (I think) whatever the extra deep model 3700 is. My biggest problem is putting wet jigs back in the box, in time it quickly rotts off the collar as I'm sure you know. So as was mentioned I use a jig then throw it on the deck to dry, put it in a 2x3 baggy (Walmart craft section - 100 for $2.00) and then return it to the box. Never leave a trailer on IMHO, and I am slowly replacing all of my jigs that have rubber collars, I bought some fly tying wire and am retying them all. Makes a good winter project. Joe

Thanks for all the info, I put some 10ld floro on a baitcasting rig, 7' medium action (senkos, small plastics, etc.) and it seemed to preform much better on a baitcasting reel. I also bought some 20 to try for flipping/pitching. I'll see how that works. Thanks again. Joe

Thanks for the tips, I will give those things a try. I don't normally use much spinning gear and I am looking forward to trying the floro for flipping and cranking. Good tips though and I will check out the review. Thanks

So I final broke down and bought a spool of Trilene 100% to try 10lb. Couldn't decide which rod to try it out on so I put it on my 6'6" med spinning rig for fishing wacky rigs, shakey heads etc. I got to the lake and made my first cast... about twenty feet and coiled like a sring. So I rode around for about ten minutes draging the line behind the boat, that took all the twist out but it still cast like a clothesline. I am very new to florocarbon and know that crankbait, flipping guys sing it's praises alot and I still may try it for that. But my question is Am I don't something wrong or is florocarbo just not suited for spinning gear? Any help or info would be great. Thanks Joe