James River Report 12/22

[FishRxDr]

Had planned on going tuesday but the wind forecast was much better for yesterday the 22nd so we held out a day and we were glad we did. Put in at Jordan point at 6:25 am and headed out on the bait hunt that we heard had been tough. Pulled around and checked the usual spot and had scattered marks of bait on the ol lowrance so I knew I could enough to fish with there. It wasnt easy by any stretch of the imagination but I would catch 1 big shad about every 3 or 4 throws. Did catch 3 in one throw. Had 15 after about 30-40 minutes and were ready to hit the water fishing. Had an hour or so of the outgoing tide and pulled up and immediately caught a 45 and a 42 lber. Tide slacked and we did not fare as well on the incoming for the most part. Caught 6 fish and all were in the 20 to 25 lb range on the incoming. Made one more move about 3:30 pm to one last stop and pulled up and caught a 50lb during the last part of the incoming tide. We quit on that. 9 fish total, with 3 citations so it was again worth the drive up. Water temp 35 all day long.
fishrxdr

[jimmybeach]

Where about did you find bait. and were you catching a lot of the little shad. bait has def been a struggle last place i did real well with bait was at the benjamin harrison at dark but it a little cold for fishing at dark now.

[N4ZNH]

Glad you found some bait and had a good day on the river. :thumbup: Sounds like you made the same decision we did on waiting a day. We did pretty good on the striped ones. Sure hope mother nature smiles on us in the new year with some milder temps. Thanks for the report..........

[FishRxDr]

we caught bait in the creeks. no little shad at all, all we caught were real big ones which is what we wanted anyway.
hope this helps.
fishrxdr