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Upper James Woes

1K views 4 replies 4 participants last post by  mark12 
#1 ·
For several years I have been fishing around Lynchburg in Elon and Big Island area rather successfully for catfish. I use perch for flatties then most anything else worth mentioning for channels and blues (stinkbaits, doughbaits, liver, night crawlers, etc...). This year however has got me stumped. I have done pretty good fishing flatheads but can’t seem to find the channels. Blues have always been scarce for me but I’m wondering if anyone else is having the same problems this year?

If not maybe a little advice? Thanks
 
#4 ·
Fishing the upper James has been very poor for me and everyone I have talked to. We have been fishing farther upstream in the Eagle Rock and Buchanan area. We haven’t manage to even get on the fish at all. We fished a wide variety of live and cut bait. We have caught two blues in the 8-10# range. No flatheads or channels.

I believe a lot of things have came into play affecting the fishing. The repeated spring floods and late spring cold weather delayed the spawn considerably. Then the water levels dropped with all of the hot dry weather which I believe drove the fish into the deepest holes.

I also believe the massive increase in the musky population has substantially reduced the numbers of all other fish in the upper James. I know guys that spend several days a week floating and fishing the upper and all have said the last few years the number of fish has decreased drastically. They fish solely for smallmouth and cats and are raising hell about shreds by muskies on pretty much every trip out.

One of the guys has already caught over 30 muskies this year with the average being around 40”, all of which were on bass and cat rigs from his kayak. He is an exceptional fisherman spending at least 3-4 days a week on the water between the upper James and the New River. He keeps a diary of every fish he has caught over the last ten years including species, measurements, location, weather/conditions and bait. His numbers has shown drastic changes.

The New River is not fairing much better.
 
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