April 2008 
On a gloomy friday afternoon I decided to walk through the city of Richmond seeking new water's to fish. I headed towards the popular 14th Street area knowing that stripers and shad had finally made there way up the James River. Turns out days prior to this trip the river's flow had gone way up and shad fishing turned off.
On the way I found access to a new spot of the river: lots of boulders, nice runs, big rapids, sandy points and carp splashing around. Looked awesome, and I was kicking myself for not finding this area a year sooner. I saw several anglers casting what appeared to be broom handles cut in half and painted red and white. They were not really casting, but rather launching these top water lures entirely across the river. After chatting with these fellas I learned that the stripers/rock fish held in the area before moving upstream feeding on herring. Needless to say, I was convinced this would be the area to which I returned to the next day.
4:30am greeted me with the ever-so delightful sound we are all familar with (grrr) and rather cool temps (60 or so). I made my way to this new location, but fished z popular pool for a couple hours while I waited for the sun to fully rise. I eventually made my way the new stretch of river, waded in past some anglers and started drifting a swift run composed of boulders and gravel. After fishing this spot for two hours, I moved upstream to the next sandy point. I opted for a size 6 seducer tied with polar fibers and white hackle and weighted red eyes.
On a gloomy friday afternoon I decided to walk through the city of Richmond seeking new water's to fish. I headed towards the popular 14th Street area knowing that stripers and shad had finally made there way up the James River. Turns out days prior to this trip the river's flow had gone way up and shad fishing turned off.
On the way I found access to a new spot of the river: lots of boulders, nice runs, big rapids, sandy points and carp splashing around. Looked awesome, and I was kicking myself for not finding this area a year sooner. I saw several anglers casting what appeared to be broom handles cut in half and painted red and white. They were not really casting, but rather launching these top water lures entirely across the river. After chatting with these fellas I learned that the stripers/rock fish held in the area before moving upstream feeding on herring. Needless to say, I was convinced this would be the area to which I returned to the next day.
4:30am greeted me with the ever-so delightful sound we are all familar with (grrr) and rather cool temps (60 or so). I made my way to this new location, but fished z popular pool for a couple hours while I waited for the sun to fully rise. I eventually made my way the new stretch of river, waded in past some anglers and started drifting a swift run composed of boulders and gravel. After fishing this spot for two hours, I moved upstream to the next sandy point. I opted for a size 6 seducer tied with polar fibers and white hackle and weighted red eyes.
As the fly swung downstream, I felt this quick tug and my line took off. After hand-lining the fish I saw this blueish glow coming out of the water, and, sure enough, I landed my first striped bass. Now, this fish was only about 8-10inches in length, and after hearing reports of 40+ inch fish I realized this was just a dink. But, you must keep several notions in mind: there are no striped bass in the Finger Lakes, this was one of my first fish on the fly, and in 8hrs of fishing I saw no other fish caught.
As sad as it is, an 8 inch fish made my weekend and has me itching for next spring with a shot at one of the big cows!
No comments:
Post a Comment