New here but not new to boating. From Richmond, Virginia area & fish the James River

[River_Lizard]

New here but not new to boating. From Richmond, Virginia area & fish the James River

Been boating for years. I've owned several boats: Astroglass Fish/Ski 150 Evinrude, Fisher Hawk 3V w/40 Merc and my current 24 ft. Harris Float Blote (89) w/90 Johnson.
99.9% of the time I fish with my toon on the James River. I've stripped all the furniture off except 1 bench seat and my captain's chair. I have rod holders all the way around the front railings of the toon (currently fishing from the front of the toon). Got a gangbox storage in the rear area. I have a VHF w/8ft Shakespeare antenna, which is mounted to the top of the hardtop (I've talked with people 15 miles away on the river and picked up radio discussions over 30 miles away with it mounted so high).
I fish year-round so for winter months I have a 1200 watt 2 cycle generator, a propane heater, a twin 500 watt shop light stand and of course my recliner (never go fishin' without it)
My main target fish is Blue Catfish and my current PB is 68.4 lber.

Currently I'm having my 90 rebuilt (in fact it's ready to be picked up this Saturday) it seems that I blew a head gasket on # 1 cylinder. The spark plug looked ugly when I pulled it a couple of weeks ago. Never seen one completely covered by melted aluminum before.

Here's a shot of my toon the day I went to look at it sitting in the POer's yard.
I'll post up a current image sometime this weekend. I've got a design planned out when the floor needs to be replaced (another year or so) that will include a cabin mounted towards the front and a third custom log.

Anyway, thought I'd post up to let you know there's another pontoon owner on the board.

 

[sunkatchers]

Re: New here but not new to boating. From Richmond, Virginia area & fish the James Ri

Re: New here but not new to boating. From Richmond, Virginia area & fish the James Ri

River, Welcome to the board. Have you got a frypan large enough to cook that fish you are holding?????

 

[lncoop]

Re: New here but not new to boating. From Richmond, Virginia area & fish the James Ri

Re: New here but not new to boating. From Richmond, Virginia area & fish the James Ri

Welcome aboard Lizard. You know those whiskerfish will slime up your purty barge, right?

 

[River_Lizard]

Re: New here but not new to boating. From Richmond, Virginia area & fish the James Ri

Re: New here but not new to boating. From Richmond, Virginia area & fish the James Ri

River, Welcome to the board. Have you got a frypan large enough to cook that fish you are holding?????

LOL.....no fryin' pan. CPR only. Catch, Photo and Release.

 

[River_Lizard]

Re: New here but not new to boating. From Richmond, Virginia area & fish the James Ri

Re: New here but not new to boating. From Richmond, Virginia area & fish the James Ri

Welcome aboard Lizard. You know those whiskerfish will slime up your purty barge, right?

That slime is carpet protection, plus it repeals water too.

 

[5150abf]

Re: New here but not new to boating. From Richmond, Virginia area & fish the James Ri

Re: New here but not new to boating. From Richmond, Virginia area & fish the James Ri

Ma, you guys down south are so spoiled, I would kill to get a cat that big, the biggest I have ever gotten up here in Indiana is 22lbs and the biggest I have heard of out of this area is 26.

I am at Bennington and have often though about pricing an 18'er with a full camper top, 2 captains chairs and 5-6 seat bases so you could put the seats anywhere you want, it woould be a pretty cool fishing platform.

 

[River_Lizard]

Re: New here but not new to boating. From Richmond, Virginia area & fish the James Ri

Re: New here but not new to boating. From Richmond, Virginia area & fish the James Ri

Ma, you guys down south are so spoiled, I would kill to get a cat that big, the biggest I have ever gotten up here in Indiana is 22lbs and the biggest I have heard of out of this area is 26..

Got a friend that fishes Wabash River whenever he's up that way (every couple of months). I'll have to ask him what his largest is up there. I think it's definitely over 26 llbs. If I'm not mistaken I believe he uses Asian Carp quite a bit for bait because they bleed alot or at least that's what he told me the other day when we were discussing the jumping Carp in the Wabash River.
We use BIG baits (any where from 1/2-2 lbs slaps) I've used a 2+ lb Crappie and had a 61 lber take it like a Bluegill takes a cricket. No nibbling when he ate that Crappie, just sucked it into his mouth, turned and went full speed down river with it. Took me awhile to get the rod out of the rod holder on that one because he wasn't slowing down even with my reel drag set a max!

 

[River_Lizard]

Re: New here but not new to boating. From Richmond, Virginia area & fish the James Ri

Re: New here but not new to boating. From Richmond, Virginia area & fish the James Ri

5150,

Here's a report I found that might be interesting to you:

The Wabash River is a catfish hotspot in both the northern and southern parts of the state; but for numbers of catfish as well as the opportunity to tag a trophy fish, the stretch of the Wabash running through Huntington, Wabash and Miami counties is at the top of the list.

It’s been several years since the Division of Fish and Wildlife completed an electrofishing survey here, and it’s hoped that another study will be done this year. In the past, the DNR’s Stefanavage has found big cats in the Wabash in several spots. “We’ve seen 20-pound flatheads up to Lafayette, but they’re more abundant downriver,” he said. “Most of the blue cats are downriver from the confluence of the White River. A 60- to 70-pound blue was caught a few years ago around New Harmony. We found a 50- to 60-pounder during a survey in the Posey County reach.”

The blues, the beasts of the river, can be found in the deeper pools. Flatheads are second in line when it comes to trophy-class sizes; they’ll be found in the tangled logjams near deep water. Channel cats are anywhere the bigger cats aren’t eating them.

The whiskerfish angling is good from the Andrews area downstream to the state line, which is an excellent place to plan a float trip. Launch a canoe in Andrews, and within the next 12 miles or so, the Salamonie River flows into the stream, while several islands break up the river’s flow. A takeout point in Wabash is three blocks west of the state Route 15 bridge.

The favorite spot for Martin Durden, a local angler who’s caught his share of cats, is upstream from the Wabash to the Salamonie Dam. Chicken livers and minnows do well for eating-sized channel cats right at the base of the dam, he reported.

The next section of the Wabash is where the Mississinewa River flows in and where channel cats are king. There’s a takeout point on the river’s north bank about a mile below the first bridge past the town of Wabash. The next one is near the power-generating station by the Wayne Street bridge in Peru.

Submerged rocks characterize the area downstream from Peru. Fishing can be good in any slack water around rocks and eddies. The launch is in Logansport at the 18th Street bridge.

Channels, flatheads and blues can all be found from here downstream. Fish the habitat as you find it. Flatheads will lurk in logjams and collected debris over a deeper hole or cut for prey to float on by. The occasional blue will be in the deepest water available. Channel catfish will be in holes, under laydowns and in the backwaters.

According to fisheries biologist Ed Braun, the upper Wabash River’s tailwaters are probably the best places to find good numbers of cats. They’ll concentrate in the stretches below Roush and Mississinewa lakes. “I’ve heard of flatheads in the 20- to 40-pound class being caught in this area and the channel catfish are everywhere,” he said.



Sounds like there's some good Blues in certain areas of the Wabash. Another section of the article talked about he Ohio River and big cats also.

 

[River_Lizard]

Re: New here but not new to boating. From Richmond, Virginia area & fish the James Ri

Re: New here but not new to boating. From Richmond, Virginia area & fish the James Ri

5150.
The friend I mentioned had just called me on the phone a few minutes ago, so I asked him what his biggest Blue has been on the Wabash. He said he's had a number of 40 lbers and several 30+ lbers using either cut shad or cut Asian Crap for bait. I'd suggest trying areas that are talked about in the article above and use some large cut baits on 10/0 hooks.

 

[5150abf]

Re: New here but not new to boating. From Richmond, Virginia area & fish the James Ri

Re: New here but not new to boating. From Richmond, Virginia area & fish the James Ri

Ya I know about the Wabash, maybe I will take a Saturday and get down there, I am 15 minutes from the Michigan line and 30 miles East of Notre Dame so it is a good 2 hour drive but sounds like it woudl be worth it, we did make it to Missesinawa once or twice.

Thanks for the info Lizard, I will certainly look into it.