12/26/2011 Report

Well some may think it's odd to go fishing the day after Christmas......but they probably aren't cat fisherman! Steve(Top Picture) is a local cat fisherman who wanted to take his son and his girlfriend out for a Christmas present. I think everyone but Steve ended up with their biggest catfish ever so that is always a great thing. The weather was pretty good except for the wind that showed up late morning. We cranked up the heater only once for a few minutes but that was all we needed.  The total for the day was a 12, 38 and 40 pound catfish.


38 Pounder - This fish fought it's butt off! You can see how calm the water is in this picture. This fish was caught at our first spot of the day.

Eater for the Table - Last fish of the day and notice the bumpy water and we were in a fairly protected area.

40 pounder - Mid day fish in heavy current. She fought this fish like a pro!

55 pound blue cat on skiff

 I needed to install new rod holders on the skiff and do some greasing of the steering today. After that I had to take it out and test it all out. I still need to make some adjustments to the rod holders but they worked OK. The river was a little muddy but not too bad. Water temp was about 49. The biggest issue for me today was the tide was slowing down when I got out there and the wind was blowing pretty hard. I tried a spot in the wind and didn't get any bites so I found a place out of wind and anchored to the bank. After setting up all the excitement I had for the spot went away and for whatever reason i lost confidence in the spot really quick. I stuck it out because I had a few smallish hits. A few minutes latter one of the rods doubled over and line peeled off the spool. This fish made 3 runs from the boat and since I was anchored in about 3 ft of water it made for an intense fight,especially since I was by myself. The only scale I had was a 50 pound spring scale and this fish bottomed that out easily and broke the handle. So I am guessing it was 55 pounds but that should be close.

55 pound blue cat on skiff

Later I met up with my dad and took Luke from him and we fished 1more spot together before calling it a day.



Total time out only about 3 hours.

The Sea Fox is for Sale

No I'm not quiting just making a boat change.

http://richmond.craigslist.org/boa/2738661718.html

Take a look and let me know if you are interested. Share this with your friends too!

$10,500

Blue Cat Mount

Today is Capt. Joe's Birthday and here is what we gave him...

For years we have been talking about getting a replica made so we can show people at our office and friends that dont fish what these monster really look like. The pictures never do them justice. It was supposed to be a 65 pound cat but I think it turned out to look more like a 78 which is fine cause we have caught those too!

The fish was done my American Fish Taxidermy and they did a great job!

More Government, less sense

Apparently someone high up thinks there is a shortage of herring on the rivers of Va. I don't know where they have been fishing but it obviously isn't the same place as us. This will not be good for some local businesses that benefit from the surge of people that fish the upper sections of the river mainly due to the herring that migrate up. I could have understood/dealt with a limit per person but a flat out ban is just DUMB!

http://www.mrc.virginia.gov/regulations/fr1260.shtm

Capt Joe and Luke

Capt Joe and future First Mate Luke went out yesterday for their weekly fishing trip together and had a pretty decent day. They caught some smaller fish and a 21 and a 44 pounder. It was a little rainy and windy but not a bad day.

Another notable catch on the river yesterday was Capt. Hugh who caught a 100lb Blue Cat.

Stripers 10/27/11

The last two nights we have caught limits of stripers while casting on the James. We used to do a lot of this years ago but haven't tried too much lately. Here are a couple of the fish. They were ranging from 19-21 inches.

Half Day Trip

Today Capt. Joe took out a half day Charter for a couple that won a trip we gave away in a local bank fishing tournament. As you can see they did pretty well. There weren't a whole lot of fish caught but when you leave with a picture holding 50 pound catfish I would call it a success.

There was also a wounded warrior event today on the James and I know some really nice fish were caught by those guys. So hopefully things will continue to pick up through out the winter as usual.



p.s. Blogging a fishing report is kinda boring without any interaction from readers. If you enjoy reading this and I know there are a bunch of you, then feel free to post comments, questions or send us a message. It really keeps us motivated to keep posting reports.

FWD:

Wilderness Systems Tarpon 100 Red $525

https://post.craigslist.org/k/pjvaTivE4BG4i2lzjlJeYg/v4xe4?s=preview

Check out My kayak that is for sale.

Wilderness Systems Tarpon 100 Red. $525

Think we got enough rain yesterday?

http://waterdata.usgs.gov/va/nwis/uv?cb_00060=on&cb_00065=on&format=gif_default&period=30&site_no=02037500

Temperature is cooling down and the fishing is heating up

Capt Joe went out last night for just a few hours. The water temp has dropped to the low 80's. The hurricane had no effect on the water levels even though we got 4+ inches of rain on saturday. The 2 biggest fish last night were 32 and 36 pounds.



Slow Fishing

I like to think I am pretty honest. Anyone who has called lately knows that I have been telling everyone to wait until Fall to go for the Big Cats. It has been very slow fishing this summer. So slow I havent even been going. My dad has still been going and it has been tough. Here is a picture of a 21 pound flathead from last night. It's not a guided trip just Capt. Hugh and Capt. Joe.

If you are planning on booking a trip this fall go ahead and start trying to nail down a date. I imagine weekends will fill up quick between hunting schedules and everybody trying to go during the best time of year.

Some pictures from the weekend.

Bass Pro Shops Premier Rewards Night

Tomorrow Night (7/10) I will be at the Hampton Road Bass Pro Shops for their Premier Rewards Night. They will be giving away a guided Blue Cat Trip with me. We will have a table set up by the Aquarium so stop by and visit.

06-25-2011 Report

Last night Capt Joe and myself went out together which doesn't happen often. We have completely different fishing styles so we usually just fish our own boats. I went out before he got there and easily caught 11 shad. I spent about 2 hours this weekend repairing my net so i was glad to see it do good. It was really windy last night but we only planned on staying out for a couple of hours so we had no big expectations plus reports from the night before from others were not very good. We headed down river a few miles and to our first spot and didn't have a bite there. After that the current was running pretty good so we went even further down river, not a good idea when its blowing 20mph. It was pretty rough but we fished anyway. About 15 minutes of sitting produced our only fish of the night. It was about 20 pounds. We didn't get a chance to weight him because we tried to pull him in by the leader instead of netting and he popped off. No big deal and we wouldn't have even tried this on a trip or in a tournament. We got a short video of the fish though.

06-23-2011 Report

Well last night finally marked the return of the Sea Fox to the River. It has been a long wait. It all started about a year ago when I left the plug out at the dock while replacing some stuff on my trailer and got water in the fuel. I've had the tank pumped out twice and all three fuel pumps replaced. It's been a real pain in the but. The shop fixing it has returened the boat to me 2 different times telling me that its running great and then I take it out to test it and it runs terrible. So yesterday when I got the call that it was all fixed and ready to go you can image my hesitance to be excited but also my eagerness to get it on the water. I picked it up around 4:30 and went to the river. It was an odd feeling to be towing my boat again and it felt like it had been forever. The boat ran great for the entire 3 hours I was out last night. I started out with a quick test run at differnet speeds. It was obvious it had finally been fixed so I went to find some bait. I put out my net and for about 10 minutes and started throwing the cast net. The first throw I got 1 shad and when I pulled the net in I had 5 more. I headed upriver because it was a little windy and I wasnt so concerned with catching fish as I was with just enjoying having my boat back.

I started out drifting and had a lot of action. They were pulling my baits all around but must have been small as they just wouldnt take it all the way.

I spent about an hour doing that then I head back closer to the dock to fish a deep hole that can sometime produce a nice fish. The current wasnt running as hard as I had hoped at this spot but I fished it anyway. It was a 50ft hole that came up to 35 ft. I anchored in the 35 and pitched my baits back to the fish I had marked in the hole. I got a couple decent hits early but then they stoped. I repositioned some of the baits and finally got one to commit.

It was not monster but it was great just to have the boat back out and pull something in.

6-18-2011 Report

Capt. Joe went out from 9:30 till 2am on Saturday night by himself and caught this nice 40# Blue.

New State and World Record Catfish

It seems this story happens every year. I think this one may stick around for a long time!

143 Pound Blue Catfish from Kerr Lake on the Border of VA and NC.

I dont know who these guys are but congrats to them. Awesome catch!

http://www2.timesdispatch.com/sports/news/2011/jun/21/tdmain01-record-blue-catfish-caught-at-buggs-islan-ar-1121999/

http://www.nbc12.com/story/14939333/143-pound-blue-catfish-caught-in-kerr-lake

Summer Special

T-Shirt quantities are limited so dont wait too long. Also let me know that you saw this ad when you call or email to get the deal!

check this out

I just thought this looked really cool.

Summer Special?

Its about that time of year where I send out my yearly promotional email. So don't be afraid to send us an email and get on the list 'cause it's usually the only email I send out all year. I haven't decided what the special will be but I'm pretty sure it will be only available to the first few that jump on it. So shoot me an email so I can add you to the list...

James River Tour Trip

Today Capt Joe took some people from the local YMCA on a tour of the James River. It wasn't a fishing trip just a sightseeing and boat ride trip. It sound like everyone had a good time and Hopefully we will have more trips like this in the future, especially with weather like we had today!