new to the james with a new boat.  its just about all new to me now.

we fished some structure last time i took the boat out but skipped the barge pits... thinking of hitting those up again

i always go out with texas rigged worms, i have shad raps in the box but have never caught a fish on one... is this the time of year that they break out and become my new favorite bait?

we will probably put in at osborne.  plan B is to ride over to the pamunkey, which is closer as the crow flies.

Fish the wood and jetties.

Crankbaits and spinnerbaits.

Shaky Head.

Shad colors.

Have fun.

Be safe.

Wear your PFD as the James is an unforgiving river.

Have your electronics running as you can get lost on the James. Just ask my son!!! 

The spinnerbait bite has been HOT!  I would make sure you have some white or chartreuse/white spinnerbaits. 

If for some reason that doesn't work for you I have been picking up some fish on a moccasin blue jig.

As a local tackle maker I know this may sound like a ploy to get people to buy spinnerbaits but its not the case at all.  I am telling you that everywhere I have been in the past couple weeks the spinnerbait bite has been GOOD.

you know oddly enough i have been hearing a lot of talk about spinners and cranks especially.

plan to hit the wood hard... will probably start on the james and then lift and go to the pamunkey to meet up with some guys from work.  should be an awesome day.

thanks for all the pointers!

just fished the pamunkey in brutal wind a week ago.  If you are going to throw crankbaits you may want to have some that are mostly gold and some that are mostly red in your arsenal.  Shallow divers like lucky craft RC 1.5's or bandit 100 series will get the job done.  We found more fish around rocks last week than we did wood but again the conditions were not what we would have normally fished. Focus on bends in the river (hint hint).

talked to a well versed guy earlier tonight that said orange and brown, anything crawdad colored... i suppose those autumn colors are what they want

First of all...you have mail. Check your pm's. 

Secondly, the pamunkey especially is a good place to throw baits that resemble craws. You have to understand that the crawfish do change colors during the year. I know what color they are during the summer and I can tell you that the phrase "match the hatch" definitely pays off! 

I have to laugh though. It is very easy to find out what color the craws are at the pamunkey but people just don't know about it.  :-X

thats great, glad to hear im on the right track.  when the guy at the cookout said brown and orange i started to think "crawdads" because i know how common they are to find on riverbanks.  maybe i am starting to make sense of this fishing thing.  ha.

pm sent!