Last Saturday we finally got out on the water. The weather was near perfect, not too warm and sunny. We were concerned with the approach of a strong cold front due to arrive that evening that could bring sudden severe thunderstorms, but the fishing should be good before a frontal passage, so off we went!
We decided to try fishing a different area of the James River that we had not been to before. The park with the launch ramp was small, but clean and well maintained. The ramp was designed by demons, I think! It was in great condition, concrete with a textured surface. But the approach has to be made at a 90 degree angle, so one must back in to the ramp making a sharp turn towards the passenger side. To make things even tougher, the ramp approach is so steep if you have a low-riding boat like I do, it disappears from sight as you back down making the turn…you just have to kinda guess where the trailer is until the tow vehicle starts down the ramp also and becomes visible again. It does not help that I am no expert at backing trailers. Still, the boat went into the water without problems.
She started right up and ran find out of gear. We threw off the lines and headed into the river. That’s when we found she would not run IN gear above a fast idle. Nothing like heading into a swift current, giving the boat some gas and… silence. She started right up again and we ran at fast idle, about 1200 rpm for a minute or two. I tried s l o w l y advancing the throttle and she began to respond, finally getting on plane. It seemed like once the secondaries decided to open, everything was fine again. Normal throttle response was restored and all was well. I know the big prop puts a lot of load on the engine, and I am planning to replace it soon, as funds become available. Still, I really like the way this prop cruises at midrange, giving us 40 mph at only 3500 rpm.
We saw a lot of bait fish on the fish finder and when we found a deep hole midchannel, we decided to give it a try. We were looking for catfish, but anything willing to bite was okay. No bites after 30 minutes. Several large striped bass, or rockfish, jumped after shad near us, but we could not get any takers on our few lures. We had loaded the tackle boxes with live bait stuff and only a single spinnerbait, one buzzbait and a lot of tiny jig heads.
The current was still ripping, so we decided to check out some heavy cover such as downed trees in some of the nearby coves. One small cove, about 20 feet across with a fallen tree on each side, yielded several nice cats between 15 and 20 pounds and several large channel cats also. The boys were thrilled to catch something, and especially glad that the fish fought with vigor and strength. Although we all caught something with some size, for once I caught the largest fish, a blue cat a shade over 20 pounds. He put up a real fight, as if he knew that red Cajun line I was using was only 10 pound test!
We used circle hooks exclusively this time and were very glad we did! All the cats in the lower James River are considered contaminated and unfit to eat. But all the fish we hooked except one was hooked in the corner of its mouth, and all were released without incident. We hope they all will continue to grow into something we can really tussle with in a few years!!
She started right up and ran find out of gear. We threw off the lines and headed into the river. That’s when we found she would not run IN gear above a fast idle. Nothing like heading into a swift current, giving the boat some gas and… silence. She started right up again and we ran at fast idle, about 1200 rpm for a minute or two. I tried s l o w l y advancing the throttle and she began to respond, finally getting on plane. It seemed like once the secondaries decided to open, everything was fine again. Normal throttle response was restored and all was well. I know the big prop puts a lot of load on the engine, and I am planning to replace it soon, as funds become available. Still, I really like the way this prop cruises at midrange, giving us 40 mph at only 3500 rpm.
We saw a lot of bait fish on the fish finder and when we found a deep hole midchannel, we decided to give it a try. We were looking for catfish, but anything willing to bite was okay. No bites after 30 minutes. Several large striped bass, or rockfish, jumped after shad near us, but we could not get any takers on our few lures. We had loaded the tackle boxes with live bait stuff and only a single spinnerbait, one buzzbait and a lot of tiny jig heads.
The current was still ripping, so we decided to check out some heavy cover such as downed trees in some of the nearby coves. One small cove, about 20 feet across with a fallen tree on each side, yielded several nice cats between 15 and 20 pounds and several large channel cats also. The boys were thrilled to catch something, and especially glad that the fish fought with vigor and strength. Although we all caught something with some size, for once I caught the largest fish, a blue cat a shade over 20 pounds. He put up a real fight, as if he knew that red Cajun line I was using was only 10 pound test!
We used circle hooks exclusively this time and were very glad we did! All the cats in the lower James River are considered contaminated and unfit to eat. But all the fish we hooked except one was hooked in the corner of its mouth, and all were released without incident. We hope they all will continue to grow into something we can really tussle with in a few years!!
No comments:
Post a Comment