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Any upper James locals?

7K views 104 replies 4 participants last post by  Khh27 
#1 ·
Anyone on here from the Roanoke area? I'm in botetourt county and I'm looking for some local advise. Ive fished the upper James (iron gate to Arcadia) for smallmouth for years and recently my interests have turn to catfish.

Does anyone local have any advise on where to go/ what to use through this stretch for flatheads/channels? I've fished a few spots near eagle rock with limited success. Also if anyone would like to fish (kayak or bank) I'm already down.
 
#11 ·
What are you throwing at them. I'm not familiar with the area but in the day time thier going to stick more near deep holes and structure( rocks, tree brushpiles.. ect) at night is when they tend to do more roaming. Not to say you won't catch a nice flatty roaming in the day.
 
#10 ·
I live in Craig and have fished the James several places in Bot. Co. and never got on the fish. I have heard a lot of guys brag about big flatheads down there though. I would also love to find the key to catching some big cats without driving across the state. I just came back from fishing the lower James at Chester, Va. We had a fair weekend with one citation flathead and one citation blue out of the 11 fish we caught.
 
#13 ·
I'm only 5 minutes from the Craig line in botetourt. I'm familiar with the area as far as smallie fishing goes but for cats I'm just bouncing around hoping I find some.

The only cat I've hooked so far was in gala and it hit sonnys dip bait. It was a good sized channel cat.
 
#16 ·
Aerial photography Land lot Photography Vehicle Landscape


That's what I've heard from other people. The times I've thrown live gills I never got any hits.

The last time I threw cutbait I got some attention but I believe it was a smaller musky and not a cat. The sonnys dip has produced the most bites so far which is weird.

That's an image of the spot in gala.
 
#17 ·
I agree that the bait to use will be live bait for flats. The missing part of the puzzle will be locating the feeding grounds and patterning them. I have caught tons of cats in a lot of places with several flats over 40# and several blues in the low to mid 50# range. I would say at least 90% of all flatheads I have caught were on live bait. They will eat just about anything that will fit in their huge mouths. I have found they can be particular as to what they hit at different times of the year. Once you locate some suitable holes, then start experimenting with various types of live bait.
Goldfish
Eels
Crayfish
Various species sunfish/panfish
Suckers
Shad
Bullheads

I am working on getting a boat together for cat chasing. I will get serious with locating some local hot spots soon. I will be looking for someone knowing where to access the river and where some big holes are.
 
#18 ·
Varying the size of bait can make a huge difference with flatheads. Some of the bigger ones I have caught were on smaller bait. Other times I have had great luck with very large bait up to a foot long. Catfish feeding habits/preferences change as well. They may hit nothing but chubs or suckers this week and not touch them next. When I get into fishing new places I try to take four of everything in the bait bucket.
 
#20 ·
I fish a bit from my Mad River canoe but its not ideal for catfishing. If you get any chances to get out there at night it generally proves far better for bigger flats.
I know how it is to fish around screwy work schedules. Work and marriage pretty much stopped my fishing for several years. Self employed now and no longer attached to a ball&chain. Fishing/Life is better.
I hope to have this Jon boat functional asap. It was forgotten in the weeds for years by a neighbor so the price was right. Just got to engineer some rod holders, throw on some new seats, fishfinder and lights. Will give you a shout when its ready to go.
 
#22 ·
Flathead bait doesn't vary much between lakes and rivers.
3-5" sun perch
4-8" suckers
Small live shad/alewives
Goldfish

Channels
Chicken livers
Large shrimp
Dough bait- (I prefer Catfish Charlies)
Nightcrawlers (providing you can beat the perch off of them or not***Bait for bait.
 
#24 ·
If you get lucky and get some real small ones (under 3") they will often prove very effective. I use number 10 or 12 hooks a lot to get small bait to get the flats turned on. The small bait can be tricky to hook up without killing. I have tried various ways of rigging. Also in the lake try floats (I use 10" lighted pole floats) as well as bottom rigs. I set several floats at different depths ranging from 6" off bottom to about 3' below surface. If a flathead is in feeding mode it will not be laying on the bottom.
 
#31 ·
It's probably more of a location issue than the bait. Some guys that know exactly where to go on the lake wear them out. I have seen pics of flatheads coming out of there in the upper 40's. I'm not one of those guys though. I have fished SML maybe 3 times and was drove out by pleasure boaters or weather every time.
 
#48 ·
Will be nice to get up that way and check it out. Especially when I can get this boat ready. The fact it has deeper water is great. I hate fishing a lot of the New and upper James due to shallow, rocky water causing hang ups every cast and cutting line on half of the fish. Reminds me of trout streams rather than catfish country. Big cats like the deep holes, bends and eddys . If you can find cover in or near those holes you can generally find big flatheads.

We will have to go as soon as I get some stuff lined out. If can catch a chance to have a day to scout and night to fish it would be awesome.
 
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