You can choose more than 1 date
Poll will expire Jan 30th
You can choose more than 1 date
Poll will expire Jan 30th
I vote for 1st or the 8th see what the weather brings on that date just, won't to fish
Im voting the 15th. Hope i can make it.
My first post ever here! I could come on the 15th. If I come, could someone point me in the right direction. Fished there about 3 times but really don't know the river at all. Oh, and would it benefit me to have a NC licence?
Welcome Actstn2. I try to get to the NWR bash each year. 2 hours for me. I don't know a lot about the area, but I will share what I do. Family stuff my keep me away this year. But I'll mark up a map and email it to you.
Good group here and lot of good bass, crappie and perch in the North West river.
Dayton
Thanks Dayton, that's very thoughtful of you. Can't wait to see it!
Well looks like rain for the 1st of February I vote for the 8 of February
It might help, I have had one in the past but there is plenty of water to fish on the Virginia side. I won it one year with a crappie caught in Virginia and the next year my buddy won it fishing with me in Virginia for what that's worth.Quote:
Originally Posted by Actstn2
LOL just noticed I won it 10 years ago, how time flies.
Attachment 364907
Let see if this loads. This is the NWR from the highway down to NC line. I agree, you don't need a NC license. Plenty of water in VA. Shallow and deep.
Here is a closer view.
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And here, the yellow line, is the way I have navigated it each time. Seems to be shallow water on the north side of all of those islands.
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Here is some info around "The Park" and the big curve.
The circle is a big, deep hole. Always mark fish in it. Have never caught a fish out of it. I don't know what they are down there.
The shaded red area is really shallow (best I can tell), but there is a channel close by. Normally many boats circling the area from the park to the curve. That is no secret.
Attachment 364910
From the curve, south to the NC line there is some very deep water in the channel. Some of which come up gradually to the shore and other that have a nice steep drop off. The channel winds fairly predictably compared to the shore line and I have never got into any tricky (shallow) areas down there. Lots of crappie in the channels and bends. Sometimes they are deep, sometimes they are suspended, sometimes they are shallow. Just like every where and every time I fish.
Once you pass the curve and headed south towards the NC line there is an "island" on your left. Standing trees in the water. Just steer clear of it and you will be fine. Stay to the right as you go by it to the south.
Here is some detail about the ramp area and the bridges. Old wooden tressle and the highway bridges (2) Most boats can get under the tressle. Mine is a walleye boat and if I duck down, my windsheild clears by a few inches.
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There are a few things I know about down river that I can't share, as they were shared with my by other in confidence. But these bridges and the area I learned on my own and can share.
The dark line is the wooden tressle. The marks on the highway denote that there are a LOT of bridge pillings. All but the outer most have good water around them. If you like fishing bridge pillings you may find crappie, bream, warmouth, bass and bowfin there. I have never caught perch off of them.
The area between the tressle and the highway , the bottom is scattered with what looks like old bridge debris. I don't have the side image pics here, but there is a lot of structure, not tall, but just debris laying on the bottom. I have caught perch around this area by fishing a minnow under a float, just off the bottom.
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The round mark is a deep hole just past the highway. Lots of fish marks in there too. I always think I have hit the motherload there and it turns out to be small bass and bowfin. Moving past the deep hole there are some lay down trees from the bank and some scattered brush piles. Shallower channel and flats.
I don't know a lot about perch. But they are fun to catch and good to eat. I do know that they like the bottom. But they may be in 10' or 1' of water depending on the time of year, water temp, moon, water level, wind, or what I had for breakfast and the amount of unpure thoughts I have recently had for which The Good Lord punishes me by having me fish where ever the fish aren't! I've returned to the ramp with almost nothing and have JimB tell me "go here. The fish are in 1.5' of water and ready to bust. Run back down a ways and they were right where he said.
One of the cool things about NWR is you can anchor and cast to 1' of water on one side of the boat and 8-10' on the other in many places. All I can say is the fish are where every you find them.
Oh yea, most of the local guys don't anchor. They spider rig or slow troll pulling corks. Two of the best days I have ever had there, I found a spot to hide from the wind and anchored. Put minnows out different depths and found some. The water in the NWR is sorta like the Chickahomny river. But the NWR is dark, but not muddy. Almost like diluted black coffee. The crappie have a cool colorization from it.
Dayton
Going to try once again to make the NWR bash. Hoping for some nice weather like we've had lately on which ever weekend it takes place.
Holy cow Ranger690, much more information than I deserve. Thanks very much. I was never able to find deep enough creek arms or anything off the main river. So it sounds like most people fish the main river area.
Thanks for the advice Tapout64. I'll probably hold off to see if it helps later in the year.