Graham

bahahaha

Its a whole different beast for sure. I know we've got some river fisherman on here! Where you at?

Senko

12 feet in 10 seconds

I like the zoom chunk trailers, or a strike king menace grub

Thanks for the tip, I'll give that a try!

Welcome to the forum! To get started I always recommend people try a soft plastic stick bait (something like a Senko, or a Yum Dinger). Its a really nice technique to pick up early on because it is an excellent fish catcher and a relatively simple technique. There are plenty of videos on this technique on youtube. Essentially though you just select your rigging method, wacky or texas rig, the toss the bait out, let it sink on slack line, and once it has stopped falling pull it back up and let it fall on slack line again. Often with this style of fishing the bites come when the bait is falling so stay alert and watch your line! A few other baits I'd recommend would be a spinnerbait and some shallow crank baits (square bills or lipless cranks) these baits can both be fished with a steady retrieve and catch fish, however you can do a variety of things with them once you feel more comfortable. A fluke is essentially a soft jerk bait, I fish them with a hard twitching motion and pause for a few seconds and feel for a bite. Most of my fluke bites have come during that pause, so be ready. Hope that helps, fishing is a blast I'm glad you've decided to pick it up

Just received an L.L. Bean Quest II in 8wt, excited to get the hang of it, played with it in the yard and the learning curve was not as steep as I had imagined. Anyways nice fish and thanks for the post!

This is sick I'm down for the cause! Every time I break a pb I will donate 20$, any fish over 5lbs I will donate 10$ If for some reason I don't accomplish either of those this season, I will donate 20$. Woohoo what a cause, good-luck folks!

I'll probably be fishing the James tmw, gonna go down with some friends and hang but I always bring my gear with me! Private ponds are some of my favorite to fish, if I were you I'd go there! If not, maybe see you on the river, let me know if you wanna go down there (I've got a couple cool spots for LMB).

100% personal preference imo. I switch hands for regular casts (cast with my right and reel with my right), but when I pitch I pitch with my left and reel with my right.

Maybe I got the wrong stick because my Cabelas rod is garbage

Shimano

Learning these knots and then going out on the water and being able to tie them properly is so satisfying

Most of my bass fishing has been in ponds and lakes, and I recently have started fishing rivers more, specifically the James River. Looking for some general tips particularly bait selection, what to look for, best ways to fish stronger current...etc. In flatwater scenarios with light current I feel pretty confident, but the stronger stuff is foreign to me. Any help would be appreciated, and any James River specific knowledge would be awesome as well. Thanks in advance!

I just picked up a Pelican Catch 100. It’s a 10 foot sit on top fishing kayak. Really like the 10 foot size as I can easily handle it by myself. I believe it weighs about 60lbs. Since it is a bit shorter it does not track as well as some yaks I’ve used. It’s pretty perfect for the applications that I use it for though (primarily smaller lakes, ponds, and flats). It’s designed really well and is a little more squared off, giving it a bit more stability. Standing in it is definitely doable in still water but with any chop things get sketchy (and I have a good sense of balance). Overall a very nice kayak in the 600$ range, comes with rod slots and a decent amount of space for tackle...etc. the dry storage in the front of the boat is the main thing I don’t like about it. If you put smaller objects in it they will slide all the way back in the kayak as there is no piece that separates the storage from he rest of the hollow body. This can easily be fixed, but just something to note. Anyways, awesome kayak for the applications I described.

Some of my favorite spots in the Midlo area: Trophy Club Apartment ponds - Located off of Polo Parkway, three small ponds, very productive, but not many of good size Stony Point Apartment Ponds - Located off Huguenot and Forrest Hill (Bon-Air), Theres good ones in these ponds I've had the best luck in the back of the complex Salisbury Country-club- (Sam's instructions are spot on) Stonehenge Golfcourse pond- Right across from the Walmart on Midlothian Tnpk, only fished it once but wasn't hassled and they were biting Pond off Lucks Lane- Super clear water with lots of grass, theres some tanks in there but I haven't had luck. Buddy pulled an 8 out on a minnow tho. Most of these spots are heavily pressured, but can be fun. Pm me if you have any questions, and sorry if I repeated stuff, just wanted to list some of my personal favorite spots in the area. Last time I rode by that pond behind Friday's it was completely covered in algae. Arboretum looks so juicy I worked them pretty hard one day with no luck, but good to know theres some big girls in there!

I'd suggest using a lipless, something like a Bagley Rattlin B Minus. I can run those in like 6 inches of water with no issue.

Welcome Will! What a nice place to live, Charleston is a blast!

I really like dark pumpkin with purple black and emerald flake wacky style with 1/8oz hook

My best advice as a bank fisherman is to fish the structure, read local fishing reports, and be persistent. Structure is not always shallow, and a good way to find deep structure is to drag a heavy weedless bait along the bottom to find the deeper stuff. Once you've located that you can have some idea where to huck baits to. If I know the body of water I am fishing is heavily pressured I try to make subtle differences in my presentation, sometimes those slight differences will get you that bite you are looking for. A lot of days I'm just happy to be outside, If you keep that mentality and stay persistent, you WILL catch fish. I don't know how many ponds I've found myself saying, "the bass population must be struggling here", and then met folks who would prove me wrong. Just a few things I've picked up along the way! Best of luck Kursten!

Great fish, and on the fly rod as well, makes it even more special! Just picked up a fly rig, can't wait to give it a go this season and see what happens!

What a fish dude, congrats! I'm from Midlo as well, glad to see someone from the area is getting em, its gonna be a fun season!

Welcome!

Welcome, I've spent a lot of time out there on the bank myself in highly pressured ponds. I find the most luck near structure, or anything about the pond that stands out and looks different. As far as bait selection goes its a matter of trial and error and that can change daily depending on conditions. A good starting place for me was soft plastic stick baits. There are many different techiniques to learn, and that is all part of the fun. Keep fishing, and good luck from the bank!