James River Striper Shad & Catfish

[senko sam]

I have been travelling a good bit down to the James and having some fun with the shad and herring and then using them as bait for the catfish and stripers.

Havent had too much look with thee stripers but have picked up 6-8 with most being between 18-22 inches.

Did hear of some guys using fresh herring and picking up some fish in the 30+ inch size range.

As for the catfish we have done much better with fish up to 45 pounds and plaenty of 5-8 pounders.

The shad - always a blast on light tackle.

Check it out if you havent - the action will start to slow as the shad contniue to move out of the river over the next few weeks.

Will be headed back out to Lake Anna this Saturday though.

[gman]

senko -

Thanks for the report. I've never fished the James - any recommendations of a good spot to put in? Also - how is depth of the river as it relates to rocks, laydowns, etc. I always get a little nervous on new bodies of water about stuff like that.....

[senko sam]

I usually fish every where from the 95 bridge in downtown to Dutch Gap a few miles down. Right now I am using small tube jigs to catch herring and shad at the 95 bridge and then will head down to a few different holes along the way. Jimmy Dean (the sausage guy) has a house on the James which is pretty recognizable - there are a few holes around his place on the river that are pretty deep. I look for the drop offs and small rock structure. I also will look for some of the flats off the main channel that are around 15-18 feet. At this point you really want to know where the main channel is and stay out of it because there is a lot of barge traffic and you will not come out on top.

My tyipical setup for catfish and striper is a medium heavy setup with either a penn spinning reel with the bait runner or a bait cast reel with a good clicker and drag. 20# line is needed because of the structure and the fact that 40-50# cats arent out of the question. I use a half herring on an 8/0 Octopus hook on a 36" leader usually 40# test. I use a slip sinker above the leader so he can run with it.

Rarely do I ever have an issue with gut hooking fish with the octopus rigs.

I am no cat expert but I usually get 6-7 in the boat each trip from 5-30 pounds. Biggest has been about 45#.

Just one mans way of trying it out.