osbornj2

There has already been some great advice here! Just to throw in my $.02: without knowing any other conditions on your river, what I would probably try is actually finding some of that deeper, still water that has some good cover (i.e. boulder piles, chunk rock, laydown trees, etc.), and fish medium to large-sized swimbaits over, around, and through the cover! By medium to large size, I mean something like a 6" Hudd, a 5" Mattlures Babybass (in the smallmouth color), even a Lucky Craft pointer 100. More than likely, there are "big" fish in your river....these baits will help you select for them Tight Lines, and be sure to let us know how you do...

I'll echo what everyone is saying: Nice fish, regardless of weight! What you remember about them is the fight, how tired your arms were, how it was bigger than your buddies', etc!

Amen

Preach it, Brother Stuart !

:)...you make a great point! Hard to argue logic like that, esp if you know of the smallies' nature!

smallies - ABSOLUTELY Yes! I really like this new Rage! I have been a St Croix fan for many years, so I figured that I would like this...but, ya never know, right? But, once I got a reel on it and cast it...it is great. Was never really convinced about the micro-guides, but now that I have used it, it does seem to increase accuracy and distance (maybe I'm "wishfully thinking" ). I'm also a bit of a traditionalist about cork handles, but I allowed the salesman to "convince" me that the handle was nice, and even gets better when wet. Well, I haven't had it out in the rain yet, but I can say that it does have a nice feel; it is sensitive; and what little bit of water has splashed up on it definitely has seemed to enhance the grip and feel. Crest - funny that you mention the 8" . Stu and I have been talking about that here of late, and we're def committed to throwing them. Don't mean to "make excuses", but I'm wondering if we ought to wait until the late summer / fall bite to throw such a (realtively) bigger bait. What are your thoughts? The lake we really like to fish stocks fingerlings in the spring, which accounts for a lot of our success ( I think) with the 6"'ers. My logic, flawed as it may be, is that we stick with the "smaller" baits from early spring through mid-summer, then transition to the 8" for the fall and early winter bite.

I know that a lot of guys are throwing Thundersticks and Red-fins right up on rip-rap now at night. Hope this helps, and I'll look forward to your report!

Crest and Crooked - excellent points you both make! Thanks for the advice. Stu pretty much stayed with the 6" Hudd all day, and that's what he had all of his action on. We kinda figured out that the "bigger" fish were not thumping the bait, rather they were just coming up behind it and sucking it in! All of the pigs were solidly hooked, with the hook perfectly placed in the roof of their throats, with most of the bait sill in their mouths. The "smaller" fish, which we think were coming up to it, swiping, thumping, flashing...whatever...then if you felt the thump, you would "kill" the bait and let it flutter/sink for a sec, then they would turn around on it. Most often, these fish were hooked in the lips or jaw. Note: we both use the standard, stock, single hook (i.e. no "stinger" trebles, and no hook on the bottom of the bait either). I switched around a little bit, between the 6" Hudd and the Mattlures BabyBass, which is 5". Whereas the Hudd is a "swimmer", I usually retrieve the BB like an overgrown jig...dragging it through rocks, through grass, over laydowns and roots, etc. Maybe because it has a single hook on top, and it is a little smaller bait, but I rarely get thumped without hooking up. I think that the bass will get over top of it (and this is just my imagination, mind you...so please just fancy me for a moment ), and as you would imagine that they would do to a crawdad, they just suck it in! Not to say that I don't miss fish with it...but it doesn't seem to happen real often unless I am swimming it along.

Nodda - I have been SML a lot more lately, as I have been living in Burnt Chimney (used to live in Botetourt about 5 mins from the Cove!); and I have caught numerous lmb in the 4-5 lb range; however, I have never caught any toads there (smb or lmb). Most of my big smb come from the New or James River.

It's funny seeing so many guys post the same things, and I have to agree...one of my favorites is the plain ole white spinnerbait. However, I am surprised that noone has mentioned this yet: my absolute fave is with a swimbait...usually, there is no "slurping" involved: they will literally try to take the rod out of your hands! I like to throw the 6" Hudd or a 4" Mattlures Baby Bass. Jerkbaits are great; deep cranks are super fun...but nothing beats that shallow bite on a swimbait!

Awesome fish! Looks like you had a great time! The same thing happened to me 2 years ago...I went on Monday, and caught my new PB. I was so excited about catching her, that I arranged my schedule so I could take Fri off of work as well. Well, wouldn't you know, I ended up besting my just-set record again! Congrats on your Footballs

Went out on Fri with Stu and caught a couple of nice 'uns on swimbaits! Stu caught a couple of real pigs, but I'll let him post pics if he wants. In addition to these that were landed, we must have had 2 dozen "encounters" - i.e. follows, swipes, flashes, chases that end at the boat, bumps (we watched a couple come up and hit the bait from the side, I guess to "stun" it, but then wouldn't commit to eating), etc. I love it when our buddies think we're crazy for targeting smallies with such "big" baits

It's hard to argue with what Brad said - I LOVE the DD22's, exactly the way he described..bangin' and clangin'. At night, I like to throw the Chilibowl color (dark craw with some glitter mixed in). Another deep crank that I am just in love with, is the BassPro Shops "pro series" or whatever is the name of their upgraded store brand is ( I think it's the XPS). Anyways, the stock hooks (red) are not the best, so I will usually replace them. But, it has a kinda coffin-shaped bill which allows it to take a lot of abuse down in the rocks. It is surprisingly well-made (durable), and it will absolutely catch some fish!! My fave color is the Ayu Shad. They're usually a buck or two more than the DD22's, but they work and they stand up well to a lot of grinding.

Very nice! Where on the Lake were you? I was fishing on Sat up near Magnum Point (upper Blackwater). Water had dropped to about 60-61 deg. Only caught one bass all day

Hokie - sounds like you had a decent day. In fact, you were fishing MY favorite stretch of the New!! I can't believe you were able to launch at Pepper's Ferry....how is the bridge work coming along? Is it now re-open to the public?