Fished the stretch between Watkins and Bosher yesterday and found an interesting and scary spot down near the boat association.

My dad had just caught a 3 - 4lb smallie off the rocks at the pump-house(I think Henrico's) above the boat association. I decided to set the anchor since the wind was pushing us quick and I wanted to see if anything else was there.

After about 15-20 minutes of sitting there I heard a noise and all of a sudden the water next to the boat is "exploding" and blowing 3+ feet in the air.

I assume this is some sort of blowout/cleanout feature for the pump house, but there is no warning sign. The wind was causing the tail of the boat to move in several directions, including one that would have had us over this spot. Luckily we were not over top of it, otherwise we would have more than likely flipped.

My dad is going to call the county tomorrow(his name and title have a little more pull than mine) and discuss this issue with them, but in the meantime I figured I'd pass along the info. Scared the crap out of me and I'm sure it could have done more than that given just a slight difference in where we were anchored.

Kirby, did the blow out stop or continue?

Was there a sign not to anchor by the pump house?

Do you think your anchor damaged the line?

Glad to know you had a good time in this part of the river.  I fish it during the summer but have not had the chance to get out so far this year.

I go out early during the week before all of the ski boats and jet skiers show up.

Did you all venture down to Tuckahoe Creek by Bosher's Dam?

Let us know what you find out about that blowout. 

Hey Kirby,

I took the liberty of sending a copy of your post to George at GMCO maps so he look into the situation and add the hazard to his Upper James River map.

If he needs any additional information I will either have him contact you and your dad or I will give you his information and you can get back with him.

You can contact George at GMCO Maps via Google.

Great information. I will be on the lookout for the hazard when I head back out onto the river later this summer. 

Sam,

There was a marker buoy of some sort, but nothing was written on it. One area of blowout was right at the buoy, the other was about 50 ft downstream, which is where we were.

It definitely stopped, so I'm fairly certain we did no damage. The sound I mention actually came from the pumphouse itself, so I'm fairly certain this was normal.

Our thought was that it could be blowing sediment/silt off of the pumps in the river. When it happened the fish finder went black and a cloud of dirt floated downstream.

I'll let you know what my dad finds out when he gets back into town tomorrow. Thanks for passing the info on.

As far as fishing when the ski boats and jet skis aren't there...it was real quiet Saturday and the boat association was just putting together their docks. Would have gone out before if I had known it would be this quiet right now. Real easy for me to get to since I'm in Powhatan.

I live down by Bosher's Dam and unless I can get onto the Traylor Park Estates ramp I put in a Watkins.

Nice ramp since it was updated last year.

Thanks for telling us about the blowout. I have never seen it but then I don't fish along that area other than floating down the river with the tide and going past the pump house.

Maybe one day we will run into each other on the river. 

Don't know much about the update. Just started using it last summer. Won't complain anymore after seeing Ancarrow's during the shad run.

Would be nice to catch up, you seem to know what you are doing around here and I need help. Been hard fishing since I finally got to the other side of the bank. I guess the Ike quote works for me, though, as cheesy as it is...never give up.

"Never Give Up!"

Caught one more keeper on Lake Gaston with 10-minutes to go in that tournament and another keeper on the James River at Hopewell Marina as we waited our turn to trailer the boat.

"Never Give Up!"

We can get together in June as my May is slammed with work and social activities.

Fishing Chesdin on the 22nd and looking forward to some success if the bass cooperate.

"Never Give Up!"        

My dad spoke with someone with the county who at least acted concerned over the phone.  They are going to check and see who the pump house belongs to and add signs to it if it is there's.

They believe that it was indeed a clean out system for the pumps.

I guess we'll just have to wait and see if anything comes of this.

Keep in touch.  Only planned trip I have is taking my dad to Lake Moomaw for Father's Day weekend.

OK, maybe in June.

And thanks for the update.

Just think what would happen if one of the ski boats had hit that blowup.

Have fun at Moomaw. 

Just an update...was out there today and ran down to see if they had posted anything. Still nothing, so please remember to stay away from it.

Fishing report...one little bass. Too d**n hot and hard to fish deep with all the ski boats.