I just got back from a pair camping trips that were centered around fishing, and I thought I'd share my experience.
The first trip was 2 days one night at the James River State park. I took my nephew on this one and we stayed at the "canoe landing" campground. This campground is right on the James. We had no problem catching green sunfish, and bluegill for bait, we also brought some shrimp, and some dip bait which we didn't use. From the campsite we caught a single #6 channel cat early in the evening, and got nothing else the whole night. The river by the campsite had a lot of weeds floating in it, and I spent a lot of time trying to pick the weeds off of my line after each cast. Overall, the fishing wasn't much fun, even if we had been catching fish the weeds were really bad. On the second day we gave up on the fishing and took a hike instead, it is a beautiful park.
The second trip was to the New River Trail State park alone. I stayed in the "Millrace" campground. Not all of the campsites in the campground are directly next to the river so check the map before you make your reservation. However, the river is not really fishable where the campsites are directly on the falls. I did see quite a few people fishing in the falls, but I didn't see anyone catching anything. I took a short hike and fished above the falls. On this three night trip I had a really tough time getting bait. I caught no bluegills, no creek chubs nothing, so I fished with chicken livers, and shrimp. On the first night I didn't fish, but the second night I caught three fish, all channel cats. The first was an #8 with shrimp. He had a nasty sore on his side, infected with leaches on it real horror show stuff. The second one was like a #2 (I ate him for breakfast the next day) on chicken livers, and the third was a respectable #12 channel on the shrimp. I also got a lot of bites here that did not result in hook ups, I think there were a lot of smaller fish around, the bait would come in all picked at and chewed up. The third night wasn't as good I caught one #4 pound fish. Overall the fishing was better here than the James River park, but I wasn't able to get the bait I wanted. If I come here again it will be with a cast net. It was also disappointed that the river wasn't really fishable by the campsite. They have 3 other campsites in this park and I'll try a different one if I ever come back.
The first trip was 2 days one night at the James River State park. I took my nephew on this one and we stayed at the "canoe landing" campground. This campground is right on the James. We had no problem catching green sunfish, and bluegill for bait, we also brought some shrimp, and some dip bait which we didn't use. From the campsite we caught a single #6 channel cat early in the evening, and got nothing else the whole night. The river by the campsite had a lot of weeds floating in it, and I spent a lot of time trying to pick the weeds off of my line after each cast. Overall, the fishing wasn't much fun, even if we had been catching fish the weeds were really bad. On the second day we gave up on the fishing and took a hike instead, it is a beautiful park.
The second trip was to the New River Trail State park alone. I stayed in the "Millrace" campground. Not all of the campsites in the campground are directly next to the river so check the map before you make your reservation. However, the river is not really fishable where the campsites are directly on the falls. I did see quite a few people fishing in the falls, but I didn't see anyone catching anything. I took a short hike and fished above the falls. On this three night trip I had a really tough time getting bait. I caught no bluegills, no creek chubs nothing, so I fished with chicken livers, and shrimp. On the first night I didn't fish, but the second night I caught three fish, all channel cats. The first was an #8 with shrimp. He had a nasty sore on his side, infected with leaches on it real horror show stuff. The second one was like a #2 (I ate him for breakfast the next day) on chicken livers, and the third was a respectable #12 channel on the shrimp. I also got a lot of bites here that did not result in hook ups, I think there were a lot of smaller fish around, the bait would come in all picked at and chewed up. The third night wasn't as good I caught one #4 pound fish. Overall the fishing was better here than the James River park, but I wasn't able to get the bait I wanted. If I come here again it will be with a cast net. It was also disappointed that the river wasn't really fishable by the campsite. They have 3 other campsites in this park and I'll try a different one if I ever come back.