Thread: chik lake/river

Good report. I'm having the same problem this year--tons of little ones--no matter where I go. We didn't have a hard winter there should be a lot more big ones out there.

I was just there this past Saturday and caught 50 but only one was at 1lb with a lot of small ones. I have only fished the river twice in the winter and did not do well. I know there are some nice ones in the river but for what it's worth, I hear a lot more of the river crappie have worms than do the lake crappie.

Originally Posted by TapOut64

I was just there this past Saturday and caught 50 but only one was at 1lb with a lot of small ones. I have only fished the river twice in the winter and did not do well. I know there are some nice ones in the river but for what it's worth, I hear a lot more of the river crappie have worms than do the lake crappie.

Yes and Yes worms haha they been in em for as long as I remember Ifn you using that for an excuse not to become tidalfisherman we understand ,,,,this aint all freshwater wich I live right near 9600 acres of fresh but the consistant biggguns in the james and its tributaries ...........Slabby moved away and tells me he has found tons of big fish right near the ferry and all behind jamestown island......Its a river thang ....whole different world from lakes...

Originally Posted by Slack Tide

Yes and Yes worms haha they been in em for as long as I remember Ifn you using that for an excuse not to become tidalfisherman we understand ,,,,this aint all freshwater wich I live right near 9600 acres of fresh but the consistant biggguns in the james and its tributaries ...........Slabby moved away and tells me he has found tons of big fish right near the ferry and all behind jamestown island......Its a river thang ....whole different world from lakes...

translation?

Originally Posted by drb

translation?

smART,,,,,, HUH YOU NEED TO BE EXPLAINED TO THAT MORE BIG CONSISTANT FISH IN THE RIVER WHERE THE TIDES PREDICT ARYTHANG THEN YOU BEEN EXPLAINED .......RIVER GOT BIGGER FISH ON AN ONGOING BASIS BOYS THAT CANT FIGURE EM OUT CLAIM WORMS IN THE FISH MAKE UM CHOOSE NOT TOO.....DONT KEEP EM

The worms in the fish,if its true cant be no worse than the crap we eat from public places where people do who knows what to our food . ima go figure it out.havnt never fooled with tidal craps but thats the whole thing that turns me onto crappie to start with .its the hunt as much as fishing.thnx for the info.good luck to everyone!!!!!!

Well where's the pics of 2.5 lb river crappie? I've never fished for crappie in the James or tidal however I've found that the lakes have far more citation size crappie than the blackwater/nottoway/northwest. I do understand that these are not tidal rivers however....I've heard stories of big JR crappies but have never seen the pics.

I haven't seen any number of real biguns just below Walker's in quite a few years.

For what it's worth I think there are two reasons, not necessarily in this order:

The huge number of large blue cats in (mainly) the river, but also in the lake are putting a hurt on the primary forage, that being shad. I have personally watched a man catch over 20 blues, all over 25 lbs, out of one hole in about an hour. Living on the river, I have fed fish off my dock for years. The fish that come to eat these days are blue cats. I routinely have more than 50 in the 2-8 lb range next to the dock. There used to be a lot of bream, crappies and bass that would come in and feed, now it's mostly blues. Old timers will remember the huge schools of small shad that would roam the Chick on the moving tide. Don't see much of that anymore. So, the excellent forage base that fed the giant crappie (and bass) of days past seems to be gone. Weather because of catfish or other reasons, the result is a slower growth rate for gamefish in the Chick. The State confirms that while the Chick has better reproduction rates than the James, the growth rate is slower in the Chick.

The other reason for the lack of large fish is us. I can remember when taking any fish from the Chick was illegal, a complete moratorium, because of the Kepone contamination. Those of you who fished catch and release back then can confirm what I am about to write- there was no better large fish fishery anywhere on the East Coast. Not to brag, but I routinely caught 5 lb bass and 1 1/2 lb crappie during those years. Anything less was a disapointment. During the late 70s and early 80s it was the equal to even Back Bay. Well, what changed? Fishermen once again started taking fish home. Too much take and not enough release and the fish never reach their potential in terms of size. Combine that with a reduced food resource and slower growth rates and you have the formula for smaller fish.

It isnt safe to eat the large catfish, and no one seems to bother them much, anyway. Add to that the fact that some gamefishermen feel like failures if they don't eat their catch and I really don't see what is going to change to bring the fishery back to its former glory.

It is what it is. We need to learn to enjoy and protect the resource that we have.