Big Cats

Just returned from a week down in Virginia with my wife and kids, visiting friends and family and sneaking in some fishing as well. I've been waiting for a chance to fish some of the James River blue catfish for quite a while. This fishery has gained a national reputation for producing some of the largest cats in the country. I called up Capt. Jim Garrett at Tripout Catfishing to see if he could take me out for a day. This was a last minute decision, and as tends to happen with me, we had a front moving in with a mass of cold air behind it.

We initially planned a Tuesday afternoon through the night trip, but the forecast forced us to push back to Wednesday morning. I was too excited about the chance at some trophy cats to get much sleep, and by 10:30pm, Fredericksburg had yet to see much of the rain and severe storms predicted. Much of the weather was pushing well north, and my sister in Philly reported 12" of rain and severe flooding. When I rolled out at 2:00am, the air was still warm and the wind was barely noticeable.

I met up with Capt. Jim in Hopewell a bit before 4:00am, and soon we were on the river. The winds were beginning to build to 10-15 knots as we ran down river. Now, if you're looking for fishing with all the bells, whistles and creature comforts of a salon, frou-frou luncheon etc., better charter elsewhere. If you want to catch some monster cats and don't mind a bit of slime, fish with Jim. By 4:30, we were bait in the water, and not long after that, reeling in the first cats.

We had a nice incoming tide, and were fishing a ledge at the mouth of a creek with fresh cut baits on big 8/0 hooks. The catching started of with a 12 pounder and kept getting better from there. We were regular hooking fish in the 15-20lb. range, and soon after sunrise I hooked my first citation fish of the day, a fat 33lber. I was amazed at the tail slaps I could see all around us and out in the main channel. It was like being surrounded by 30-50lb. stripers crashing the surface. Some of these fish had to be well north of 50lbs. These things are the apex predator on the river, and will chase shad or anything else around. Not too long after the first big fish, citation number two at just over 30lbs. was brought on board. It between, I'm pitching numerous 20 pound fish back into the water. (I did take two smaller fish for some fried catfish!)

By about 11:00am, the tide was changing and the wind was blowing 22 knots. The fishing had slowed, and I was guessing we were nearing the end of the day. The front rod doubled over and line began to peel. I knew I had a decent fish on, but he came up pretty quickly...until he saw the boat. Back to the bottom a few times before we brought my biggest fish of the day, a beautiful 43lb. Virginia blue catfish, on board. This is what I had come down for!

Jim asked the one question I love to hear from captain, "You got anywhere you need to be?" Hell no. We continued to mark some big catfish, and I was more than happy to fish a while longer. We set up for another hour, landing one more good fish, before taking the ride back up river. It really was a pretty ride, past plantations and some beautiful countryside that I hadn't been able to see during the ride down. One shocker was the fact that we never saw another boat the entire trip!

I can't wait to fish for these beasts again, and will certainly be giving Jim a call whenever I head back to VA. That 100+lb. fish is out there somewhere. Maybe we'll have a catfish fry for Christmas!