Twice no Dice.

By: Ryan Clark


     It was 0400 and 26 degrees when we were heading out of Virginia Beach for the second time this month.  Hopefully it would warm up a few degrees by the time we reached Hopewell.  Well, it didn't.  As we pulled into the parking lot it was still 26 degrees outside but we warmed up quick with the excitement of  what fish were lurking in the depths below us.  This was home to some of the largest Blue Catfish in the country.

     We got unloaded and carried the yaks down to the water right at sunrise so we weren't breaking any State laws about using a park before it was open. When we got there we had the perfect view of an amazing sunrise.

     It was now that I got the cast net out and tried to get a few shad for fresh bait before we launched but after a few throws by both of us we didn't catch any.  So we were stuck using frozen menhaden and eels for the day.

     We had decided on a plan for the day and stuck to it pretty well.  We were looking for 3 things; Structure on a drop-off with bait.  We found the first spot pretty quickly and decided to set up.  The bottom went from 4 feet to 20 feet almost vertically with some legs of a channel marker mixed in.

     We had bites immediately but not the size we were looking for and after about an hour we moved on.  Again looking for the 3 rights, we found a slow sloping edge with a quick step and some submerged junk underneath.  Again, bites but much smaller than we were looking for.  We pulled anchor and moved on again.

     After a few more moves and a bunch more small fish we decided to start heading back to the launch.  we found one last spot we wanted to try and this was going to be the spot; we just knew it.

     Nope, no big fat cats here either.  Just a bunch of sub-20inch fish.  We only caught a handful of small fish for the day due to the large 7/0 circle hooks we were using, but were getting bites at every spot we went to.  Could have been much more fun if I stepped down to a 2/0 hook with some smaller baits, but that is not why we went to the Mighty James.  Maybe the third time really will be a charm.