A day on the James near Hopewell......8Feb08
6am ......its early, Dennis (hookinfinger) pulls in the drive way and picks me up and we head over to Tony's (tonydivefish) house......he was hooked up and ready to roll when we got there.......headed up the road and off we went to Hopewell, Arrive at the ramp at low tide and Tony threw his cast net several times and we picked up a dozen or so 5 inch shad for bait, also one cast a hogchoker,kinda like a little round freshwater flounder fell out of the cast net - Hogchoker - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Then we set out the other net and proceded to let it soak for 15 minutes or so.....in came 8 nice cutters ( Gizzard Shad ) and we were set for the day with fresh bait. I took us to a couple places I know of that might hold a fish or two and we set anchor, cut bait and put out 8 rods......tic toc tic toc .....no more than 20 minutes goes by and a rod is doubled over and we ( Tont & I ) yell at the same time- Dennis ! fish on get that rod.......get the big blue to the boat after a nice fight by the hookinfinger fella, net it and put it on the scale - 37 pounds for Dennis's FIRST BLUE CATFISH and its a CITATION !! CPR and release back to the water it went.......fish the area another hour or so and pull anchor.......up around the bend and into the mighty Jamer River we go.....hang a left into that creek below Jorden Point and settle off of some logs in deep water where I have fished a few times before......instantly we start getting hits. I get a 28 and Tony boats a 24 or so. For the next 2 hours we boat a few more fish in the teens from 14 to 18 pounds and 100's & literally 100's of STRIPER bust the water all around us.....so close they splash water up on the windshield of the boat........then come Dennis's second citation of the day a 34 pound fat cat and Tony gets another in the teens......tide slows and we pull anchor and head back into the Jamer River........those were my 2 spots I showed them that I had been to before, then Tony is gonna go to a creek he has fished before, I knew of this creek because I have pulled all nighters there......as we gewt out in the big water and get up on plane Tonys mark some very nice drop ood into 65 feet to 80 feet of water.......we get to the power towers and turn around to go back and set on the ledge he wanted to try. Nice move Tony !! Here we hooked up on and landed fish after fish.......fish on ! Double - Dennis and I both have fish on while Tony takes a photo .....another rod goes down and Tony lands the third fish as we get ours in the boat too.....not monsters but hell a triple hook anyway !! We fish this drop off another hour and boat several more nice fish.....up anchor and head to the mouth of the creek and set an hour on slack tide w/ no takers.......head back up towards the ramp and set in the channel...no takers here either........its after 5 and the sun is fading over the trees so we load the boat and head for home.........tally for the day was somewhere between 12 and 16 fish all together.....we lost count.......but Dennis got his first citation in freshwater on his very first fish........If I had to take a guy to one of my favorite spots he would be the guy I wanted to get the big fish - well done buddy and congradulations on BOTH citations today man !! Awesome fishing with you today Tony and look fwd to many many more trips in the ocean and sodium free waters of the James River .....Hopewell is indeed the mecca of big blue cats on the entire east coast !! Tony threw all his fish back so fast Dennis couldnt get the camera out - and you have seen enough of me - so heres Dennis with his best 3 cats -
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...is37pounds.jpg
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...is32pounds.jpg
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...is28pounds.jpg
and of course 1 for my catfish kissing sweethart at AIG Outdoors
(she likes kissing cats too)- I think I am winning kissing the most fish !
http://all-in-general.com/index.php?cPath=84
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...N35/Kisser.jpg
You gotta love fishing the big river of the James near Hopewell-
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...insfeb2008.jpg
