James River Catfishing August 27
Aaron and I headed down to the James still hoping to get him on a citation. Started off with plenty of bait and some nice temps. Woke up to mid sixties and the James still rolling at like 3.5 feet - I knew it was going to be a little lower but also clear as hell. Usually this means the catfish can be picky. As soon as we got to the first set of holes, Aaron found an empty pack of 8/0 circle hook from the day before - now I knew we were working with low clear water, and fish that have been beat on. Started the day with a few runs but no hookups. It quickly kind of became frustrating. I figured I wish fish the hole a little differently and it paid off with a nice flathead about 30-32" and Aaron managed a similar size blue cat. With the fish being beat on and the water conditions, you couldn't over fish a bluegill - today they only wanted the lively bluegill, nothing dead and drifting. Mid day, Aaron opted to go do a little searching and managed to find another hole with a citation blue cat, though I missed the fight, he says it was a river runs through it moment - swimming down river to keep from losing it. I was able to get over to him when he made it down river and help measure it and get photos. Kind of a slow day but given all the above we still managed several flathead and blues. And Aaron finally got his citation - though a flathead is what he really wants.
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Originally Posted by PsuHntr
