PVA on the James River

[3dkicker]

Had not fished the James in a couple years but still had some areas that have held fish over the years. Went out with Greg from NC, a paralyzed Vet, and hit a well known main river point. We were on it for a few minutes when another boat came in, shut down, proceeded to push Greg off the point, and catch a 2.5lb fish in front of us...... Welcome to VA Greg.
We left and went to another spot. I explained the area we were fishing and Greg tied on a spinnerbait. Good choice as on the first pass this rod doubled over and the fight was on. I'm looking for the net and it's buried under the console.... Greg attempts to swing the 4lb+ fish and it shakes off at the edge of the boat. He couldn't lift the fish. I attempt to grab the fish and trip and land hard on my chest....ouch. I'm still hurting today. Fish is gone .



We continue fish, he insists that I fish even though I'm supposed to be a guide the first day and fish the second. I pull out a Bullet Craw and work behind him. I feel the pick up and shake the line trying not to set the hook as the bass swims out towards me. Greg tells me to set the hook and I do. Nice bass but skinny, post spawn or needs a burger or two.



So we continue to hit locations but not much luck and I'm trying to put him on fish. He does hook up with another bass on a crankbait later in the day but once again he tries to swing the bass and once again it shakes off at the boat. Just wasn't meant to be.

On the positive side my fellow club member Tony wins the event and climbs in to first place for AOY with one event to go.

On Sunday we head out with a change planned. We'd hit the one area that he missed the good fish and then we'd make a run to one of the feeder creeks. Nothing at the first spot and we make the 30 min run. We get into the creek and I see laydowns, cuts, arrowhead pads, and grass.....
We fish a pad edge with nothing but we head across the creek and Greg hits his first keeper on a craw. I had a 1/4oz blade rigged up and I hit a couple small keepers along the same edge. We work this area for 45 minutes and we have a small limit in the boat..... why couldn't we have run here the day before!!!! Oh well. We fish the creek for the rest of the day and catch small bass everywhere. The better fish are shaking off on the way to the boat but we slowly cull our way up. Here's a few pics of the area.





It's almost the end of the day and we come across the Boogie Man. Typically it's a banded water snake but not this time. This time it's a real water moccasin, a young one, but still very dangerous. Used the zoom feature on the cell phone to get the pic. It had very nice coloration and doesn't show well on the pic. Wish I could have gotten closer to get a better pic......



It was a great two days of fish and had a very good time fishing with Greg. If you haven't fished one of these events and you hear of one being in your area please get out and fish it. You'll have a great time and meet some great people.