ATTENTION: SWVA

[Dan:]

We fished a stretch from Eggleston to Pembroke and also a little near Radford.

[SMfisher]

you guys have any pictures?   the water was probably still up a little. i was wade fishing today without my waders and the water seemed a little cold for this time of year.

[A.Do?]

copy and pasting from another forum.

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Simonsays:

I'll start the report off and the other guys can post up their pics.

In a nutshell we got owned.

I only caught one decent fish (just shy of 2lbs) with about 15-20 dinks (10in or less). I did see a 3-4lber come out to peak at my crank before turning as well as a MASSIVE 6-7lber, seriously THE largest smallmouth I've ever seen. I also caught my first Tiger Musky at 31 in on my 66MF, got lucky it didn't have the line in its mouth...unlike Andrew's

To start off the pics....

How many Asians does it take to set up a tent?

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A.dO: Here are the pix I took and my contribution to the report.

Simon, Dan, Thai, Josh and I headed to the New River on Friday.

We found a campsite right at the launch point and chose to camp there. It was right on the water but we were a little nervous about what kind of conditions we'd discover considering that this was the campsites website.

http://gilescounty.org/newriver/Eggl2c.html

Notice the "contact mini mart for more info" :shock:

We all got there at different times. Simon got there around 730pm, thai and I got there at 9pm and josh and dan got there AFTER everything was set up.... :roll: We had some hotdogs for dinner with Josh's awesome chili and called it a night. Not sure if it was the excitement of fishing or the train that ran by the camp site every 15 minutes and blew its horn, but most of us couldn't get any sleep.

DAY 1:

We woke up the next morning at 5am to get our gear together and get to fishing!

I think we were ready to start the float at like 7am....

"You guys ready to fish?"

"Hell yeah!"

First stretch of the river by the campsite. I think everyone was workin topwater first. The water wasn't bad. I think it was around 67-68* in the AM and the flow wasn't too fast. Float was from Pembroke to Eggleston (or vice versa, I can't remember)

Not much action but the weather wasn't as bad as the weather man predicted so we (or maybe just me) were glad to be able to get on the water.

Lots of scenery

There were a few other canoes/boats on the water. We weren't having much luck at all but some of the canoes were. Simon and I overheard that they were throwing shallow cranks in crawfish color so we thought we'd give it a try.

Paid off shortly. Simon was able to land a dink smallie but didn't want a picture.

The only shallow crank I had with me was my megabass griffon but it got me some dinks.

We had a few intermittent showers but nothing too severe.....UNTIL the last stretch!

Day 1 (part 1) summary: MAJOR SUCKAGE.

The rain ended shortly and the sun came out. We went back and ate some BBQ chicken and corn that simon made and decided to try a different stretch while we still had some daylight. We went to Radford University, put in the yaks and fished it for a bit. We did some wading too.

Day 1 (part 2) summary: JUST AS MUCH SUCKAGE just with no rain.

ended the day with some of josh's delicious chili and wings and some "steaks" Thai bought from walmart. Called it a night and we all passed out.

DAY 2:

Woke up at 6am (or tried to) got our gear together and headed back out to where we started day 1. We had some success with crank baits so a few of us started the morning with cranks. I hear Simon nailed 17"er right off the bat but no picture.

Josh got onto a nice one here, I believe it was also 17"

The weather was supposed to be really nice and it was nice not having to worry about storms.

I believe we were all catchin fish on cranks. I wanted to try something different but couldn't buy a bite so I folded and switched to a crank. It's not how you catch them right, just that you catch'em!

caught a lot of these rockbass too.

I hooked up with a musky but it broke off after a very exciting fight! almost jerked the rod out of my hands a few times and pull drag like crazy! I thought I had a flathead at first. I wish I landed it

musky that Simon caught.

The river went from smooth and flat to rocky/choppy to deep (60'+) and grassy

Day 2 summary: MUCH better than day 1 with multiple fish being caught. BIG fish spotted and the bite just seemed to be a lot better. The sun came out for the majority of the morning and shoulders were burned. If day 2 ended like day 1, you'd have a hard time convincing me to go back but luckily that wasn't the case and I think everyone wants to go back!

I'm so sleepy, i'm ending the report here.

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Adding that most fish were caught on cranks in less than 7 foot of water. I tried jerkbaits, tubes, senkos, flukes, jigs, topwater, creature baits deep diving cranks (where it was 60 plus feet deep and I was marking a lot of fish).

[1inStripes]

Those redeyes would have made a nice meal if you had a few.

[Dan:]

SimonSays:

NewAngler:

[NewAngler]

Wow. i look like one of passing by trains hit me. And I don't know how to hold a fish. I gotta gotta give Thai's method a whirl.

[mudkart]

Hmmm...now I wonder where you ALL got the idea to pose like Vanilla Ice?

[SMfisher]

nice report. great pictures, looks like you guys had a good time in spite of the weather and the river not being low and clear.

[burleytog]

You girls need to come down and fish the Clinch and Holston.

[1inStripes]

What Burley said.  Mom Dad and I are putting in the jon in the Clinch on Monday.

[Dan:]

What section of the Holston has the best bass fishing? What is the river like? Is it fast, deep, lots of rapids, etc...?

[Nitrofreak]

Wow really great pic's guy's looks like a whole lot of fun!!!

Do any of you fish the shennandoah anywhere between Luray and Front Royal?

[NewAngler]

  Quote

You girls need to come down and fish the Clinch and Holston.

Your challenge has been accepted. But then you southern folk need to come up and fish the Potomac.

[Dan:]

  Quote

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You girls need to come down and fish the Clinch and Holston.

Your challenge has been accepted. But then you southern folk need to come up and fish the Potomac.

x2 and don't forget your frogs.

[burleytog]

  Quote

  Quote

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You girls need to come down and fish the Clinch and Holston.

Your challenge has been accepted. But then you southern folk need to come up and fish the Potomac.

x2 and don't forget your frogs.

I hate frogs, grass and braid.

[Dan:]

  Quote

  Quote

  Quote

  Quote

You girls need to come down and fish the Clinch and Holston.

Your challenge has been accepted. But then you southern folk need to come up and fish the Potomac.

x2 and don't forget your frogs.

I hate frogs, grass and braid.

Oh, well you should just bring your finesse stuff and spinning rigs.  ;D

[burleytog]

  Quote

  Quote

  Quote

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You girls need to come down and fish the Clinch and Holston.

Your challenge has been accepted. But then you southern folk need to come up and fish the Potomac.

x2 and don't forget your frogs.

I hate frogs, grass and braid.

Oh, well you should just bring your finesse stuff and spinning rigs. ;D

If I'm not throwing a jig, crank or spinnerbait, I'm not happy.  You don't know how miserable I've been over the last couple of months using spinning tackle 75% of the time.  If I never throw another splitshot rig or shaky head, it will be too soon.

[Dan:]

haha, I know, I was just pulling your leg. You can throw jigs, shallow cranks, and spinnerbaits on the P'mac also.

[1inStripes]

I on the otherhand I love a topwater bite.  Trying my hand at some frogs is something I would really want to do.   Burley and I are almost polar opposites.