Chickahominy

[Dereck W]

Hello all,

    I'm from the other end of the state and was needing some info on the Chickahominy River. 

We are putting in at riverfront Friday of this week, and I've got a few ideas about places that look good on the map. We will be fishing out of a 17' boat. How bad did the hurricane hurt the area? Any methods or bait colors or patterns I should definitely give a try? Really hate driving 4-5 hrs and be clueless since I have never fished this particular area before or any tidal waters really. 

[Cheeseburger Eddie]

Head away from RTE 5 bridge and the first creek on your right is Gordons Creek. Fish all the outside bends. If no action there go back out to the main river and head North just a little ways up. To your left is Morris creek, fish all those outside bends. If there is no action in there head back out to the main river and go north just a little ways to buzzard bay which is on the right side of the river. Pick that place apart.  Last but definitely not least is just up from buzzard bay is shields point and black stump creek. These are my 2 favorite spots to fish so I would recommend making the run up there first and fishing down.  If the water temp is in the 60's first couple hours of incoming tide are when they are chewing.

Baits: Willow Blade War Eagles, Wacky Senkos in natural colors 3/16 oz jig head, Flukes (smallest splitshot you can find), Rapala Dt 6 in Ikes Old School, and a Spro Poppin Frog in BROWN.
 

[Dereck W]

Thanks Eddie, or Mr Cheeseburger! Fishing out of a smaller boat in probably a 60 or so boat tournament. So may be looking to get into the backs of some creeks. Knowing natural colors helps a lot. Again thanks!

[Sam]

I'm from the other end of the state and was needing some info on the Chickahominy River. - You need to check the tide charts and plan your day, accordingly. Tides will be outgoing in the mornings of Friday and Saturday. You want an outgoing tide. Check them out, here:

http://www.saltwatertides.com/dynamic.dir/virginiasites.html

Only problem you will have is the rain on Friday so check the weather for rain and winds. The Chick can be like the Atlantic Ocean if the winds get high.

We are putting in at riverfront Friday of this week, and I've got a few ideas about places that look good on the map. - Riverfront Park, aka Route 5 Bridge, is a nice ramp. As stated above, you can stay in Gordon Creek; go across the river into Morris Creek; or fish the grass banks on the outside edges; hit the docks and coves; cypress trees can be good this time of year. Shipyard and Yarmouth Creeks are good; Dick's New Creek may be OK; and fish the other creeks as you see them going up and down the river.

A 17' foot boat is fine on the Chick so don't rule anything out. Just check out River Rest for gasoline and fill up to be sure you have enough fuel to have a good time.

Word of Caution: If you have a GMCO map of the Chick study it and pay attention to the shallow areas. You can hit a sand bar or mud flat easily on the Chick if you are not careful or know how to get in and out of some of the creeks.

We will be fishing out of a 17' boat. - Boat size is Ok for the Chick. You just will take longer to get where you are going. So get an early start first thing Saturday morning and head to the dam before the Osborne Landing, Route 5 and River Rest's tournaments head up that way. And make sure you have a throw cushion on the deck even though you will never see any conservation officers on the Chick.

There is a big tournament out of Route 5 on Saturday and Sunday and they will hog the ramp. So get there as early as you can; go out into the creek and watch the guys unload their boats; and at the first glimmer of safe light take off for the dam to beat the Virginia BASS Federation Shoot-Out guys and gals and the boats coming down river from Osborne Landing in Richmond.

And I mean early. The tournament guys will be putting in starting around 3:30 to 4 AM, if not sooner. You need to get in line or get there really early to be in the water ASAP on Saturday morning.

If you get to the ramp early you can tie off to the dock and then hit the bathrooms which are to the west of the ramp at the end of the parking lot area. The weigh-in on Saturday is at 4, I believe, so wait until after 5 or 6 PM to trailer your boat or do so before 4. You can ask the guys at the ramp Saturday morning what time is their weigh-in.

The dock is small and not much room for any boats to tie off. Get on the "inside" side of the dock and tie off to stay out of the tournament guys' way or get into the creek and be ready to blast off ASAP.

Or.....you can launch at River Rest in the middle of the river and beat everyone to the dam. Check out a map of the Chick and you will see River's Rest in the middle of the river across from the "Thoroughfare." You can "Google Map Directions" to get to River Rest. With the Saturday tournaments you may do better at River Rest than at Route 5. And the bathrooms are better, too. They are on the first floor of the motel on the north side.

How bad did the hurricane hurt the area?  - According to reports all is fine and the hurricane did no damage to the Chick. Of course, the hurricane did over $5,000,000 of improvements to Petersburg.

Any methods or bait colors or patterns I should definitely give a try? - Yes. Junebug trick worms on shaky heads; Senkos, finesse worms and trick worms in watermelon red; all types of crankbaits; spinnerbaits; Chatterbaits; green pumpkin trick worms on shaky heads; jigs and pigs; and anything else you want to try. Who knows what they will want on Friday and then they change their minds on Saturday. Be sure to skip under docks and flip and pitch all over the place. Topwaters are doing great one day and then nothing the next. So throw your favorite topwaters all over the place fist thing in the morning and then during the day.

At the dam fish the grass to the west and float down river. You can also hit the Rock-A-Hoc area and their piers to the east of the dam. Or fish the water coming into the Chick from Chick Lake. Just fish that area as this is were the big ones live. Then go back to your tides and catch up with them from the dam down to the Historic James River.

Really hate driving 4-5 hrs and be clueless since I have never fished this particular area before or any tidal waters really. - More of a reason to drive 4 to 5 hours to fish a tidal river to learn about it. Just remember that an outgoing tide is best and there is about an hour of slack tide between the tides moving once again. And slack time is down time as all the fish take a break from eating.

The last two hours of an outgoing tide and the first hour of an incoming tide are usually the best but the fish have not read this rule and they will do what they want to do.

Check out the four Chick tides at the locations up the river and plan your day by following the falling tides. In other words, check the times for each of the four locations on the Tide Information link above and go from there. But remember, the guys will be running to the dam and you do the same, just bring along a lot of cash or a dozen credit cards so you can refill your gas tank at River Rest on the Chick or on your way to your motel that evening.

And speaking of motels, try to find one where you can plug in your battery charger.

Don't forget breakfast, lunch and snacks plus lots of water.

Have fun; be safe; and let us know how you do and what worked and what did not work, etc.

P.S. Just realized your are fishing a 60-boat tournament. Is this the Shoot-Out?

Get to the ramp ASAP and be ready to see the bigger boats disappear up river after blast off as they run to the dam.

Your best bet may be to fish Gordon Creek way in the back along the grass lines and the wood and dock to your right as you go into the creek and then float out back to the main river hitting the grass lines and the tree on the north side about a quarter of a mile from the ramp.

All of the good places at the dam will be taken by the time you get there. In fact, the guys would have fished the dam area and moved on into the creeks by the time you poke along to the dam.

Hope you can get a nonboater who knows the Chick and can help you fish the river.

Suggestion - Forget the dam and head into Diascund Creek and go to the back under the train bridge and start fishing. Watch your wake as you travel in Diascund Creek as the VG&IF guys will give you a ticket for throwing a wake within 50-feet of a dock or boat house. Only problem is that the guys blasting off in the last half of the blast off will hit Diascund so you do the same and try to beat the crowd.

[Sam]

Check out the winds. Going to be a rough day on the Chick this Saturday.   7:00 am	47 °F	42 °F	40 °F	78%		Clear	7%	0 in	9 mph WNW	8%	29.82in
8:00 am	47 °F	43 °F	39 °F	73%		Clear	3%	0 in	10 mph WNW	2%	29.83in
9:00 am	50 °F	45 °F	39 °F	65%		Clear	2%	0 in	12 mph WNW	6%	29.82in
10:00 am	52 °F	47 °F	38 °F	59%		Clear	1%	0 in	15 mph WNW	12%	29.83in
11:00 am	54 °F	50 °F	37 °F	51%		Clear	0%	0 in	16 mph WNW	18%	29.84in
12:00 pm	56 °F	52 °F	36 °F	46%		Clear	0%	0 in	17 mph WNW	23%	29.84in
1:00 pm	57 °F	53 °F	35 °F	42%		Partly Cloudy	0%	0 in	17 mph WNW	30%	29.83in
2:00 pm	58 °F	55 °F	34 °F	40%		Partly Cloudy	0%	0 in	17 mph WNW	36%	29.82in
3:00 pm	59 °F	56 °F	33 °F	38%		Partly Cloudy	0%	0 in	16 mph WNW	34%	29.81in
4:00 pm	59 °F	56 °F	33 °F	38%		Clear	0%	0 in	15 mph WNW

[Wayne P.]

Check out the updated Navionics Sonar Charts for Diascund Creek. I have not gone as far as the railroad bridge yet.

[Sam]

27 minutes ago, Wayne P. said:

Check out the updated Navionics Sonar Charts for Diascund Creek. I have not gone as far as the railroad bridge yet.

You have to go up that far and then under the bridge on your next trip.

Beautiful pads and lots of wood.

Check it out on Google Earth.

Hope you are doing well and enjoying a few beautiful days of fantastic weather until the front moves through Friday and messes up the weekend.

[Wayne P.]

Thanks, I am very familiar with all of the tidal Chick.

Yep, was at Sandy River Monday and Briery Creek today--tough job, but someone has to do it. 

[Dereck W]

Sam,

.    Thank you! That's a perfect run down of the type of info I was needing. Yeah I'm part of that federation group. The dam area looks great on Google earth, docks pads and trees, probably could camp out there and fish around all day. But I probable would be the 50th boat to get there. Who knows maybe everyone will go towards the James, Lol.  With high tide about take off time I'm looking for a couple hot spots to hit topwater first thing. Hoping to get 5 then look for the pig. 

      When you say rough, what might that look like?

[Sam]

2 hours ago, Dereck W said:

Sam,

.    Thank you! That's a perfect run down of the type of info I was needing. Yeah I'm part of that federation group. The dam area looks great on Google earth, docks pads and trees, probably could camp out there and fish around all day. But I probable would be the 50th boat to get there. Who knows maybe everyone will go towards the James, Lol.  With high tide about take off time I'm looking for a couple hot spots to hit topwater first thing. Hoping to get 5 then look for the pig. 

      When you say rough, what might that look like?

Dereck, please watch the wind. It will cause white caps on the Chick and James.

You can scoot under the bridge and hang a right and go into Upper Chippoaks but the water conditions may not allow you to do this.

Good luck and let us have the details and how you did.

Be safe. We need you to pay a lot into FICA!!!!

[Sam]

On ‎10‎/‎19‎/‎2016 at 11:06 PM, Sam said:

Dereck, please watch the wind. It will cause white caps on the Chick and James.

You can scoot under the bridge and hang a right and go into Upper Chippoaks but the water conditions may not allow you to do this.

Good luck and let us have the details and how you did.

Be safe. We need you to pay a lot into FICA!!!!

Derick, I read where Mike put the Historic James River off limits.

Add this to the fact that there was another tournament blasting off by Rock-A-Hoc by the dam made heading up and down river difficult. to hit the good places.

You guys were heading up river to the favorite places and the Rock-A-Hoc guys are heading downriver to hit the good places.

Go figure?

Is this you after day 1???

61 DERECK       2/ 2        2.82 lbs.

[Sam]

Which one is you???

[Dereck W]

On October 23, 2016 at 7:10 AM, Sam said:

Derick, I read where Mike put the Historic James River off limits.

Add this to the fact that there was another tournament blasting off by Rock-A-Hoc by the dam made heading up and down river difficult. to hit the good places.

You guys were heading up river to the favorite places and the Rock-A-Hoc guys are heading downriver to hit the good places.

Go figure?

Is this you after day 1???

61 DERECK       2/ 2        2.82 lbs.

Yup that was me. The Chick proved to be tough on me. Had some quality bites Saturday, just couldn't get them in the boat. We practiced Friday and rode around a little. Found a few places that looked great, caught fish on the main body with a spinnerbait. Every fish came off a cypress tree, had one about 3.5. Felt confident I would boat 5 fish. But then Saturday came and brought the wind with it. It blew hard and constant and seemed to affect the tide. Caught the first fish early on the bank we started on. Lost another right after. Moved up river some more and stayed on the main body, lost 3 more before catching the other keeper. Fished that   spinnerbait without a trailer hook close to the trees. 

       Added the trailer hook for Sunday and didn't get the bites on it. Matter of fact didn't get many bites at all. Caught 1 little keeper that I gave a tour of the lake too. Ended up tossing him knowing I had no chance. That 20 degree drop in temp over 2 days messed me up. So my first time on the Chick was a little disappointing, but I learned a few things. I will go back. Seen the size and potential of a great fishery. So not a total loss. Thanks for your efforts to help. 

On October 24, 2016 at 6:47 AM, Sam said:

Which one is you???

Yeah, lol not in that pic. Congrats to the guys who made the Va Federation state team. The guys that are pictured earned their spot, it was tough fishing.