Life's Revenge Fishing Reports

	Recent Fishing Reports
September 28, 2009: The first cooling has started to happen and the fish are responding accordingly. Water temp's are on the way down and the james river was between 73 to 75 degrees as of 9/19/09. The big cats are starting to prowl and we boated a 52 pound blue last saturday along with a 38 and 27 pound blue. The bite for me has been day time mostly with evening at dusk most productive and the tide moving either side of high. Shad & bream have been best fished live or cut on or near the bottom. The fish are moving around quite a bit right now and starting to school up, so look for schooled up big marks near or on the bottom around drop offs and along the edge of channels. Recent trips have been good for citation catfish with 7 fish over 40 inches caught in 2 half day and 1 full day charters. These numbers don't include the other dozen catfish caught that were less than 28 pounds. I look for those number to increase with each trip and larger fish as the water continues to cool. The stripers have also started to become active and we are seeing birds working as the feeding stripers start to feed on top in the evening. Top water plugs and swim baits should produce some nice fish and the season opens in a couple weeks. Trolling bucktails and deep diving redfins can also produce results. Crappie are biting also and report that I got was that the docks in richmond had produced some nice silvers lately. Bass fishing continues to be good and I have caught a few smallmouth lately in the upper tidal portion of the james while bait fishing for bream fishing with a cork and worm. Croaker fishing is decent with fat fish being caught at the pumunkey rive bridge at westpoint. Cat fishing has been good also in the mattiponi river and on a recent charter Jerry sprouse of churchville va. was able to take a dozen nice size blue & channel cat's 4 to 15 pound home along with a dozen big croakers, plus we also released a trophy blue catfish. The saltwater fishing has also started to heat up with some fish getting ready to move out any day. Cobia fishing has been great this summer and big schools should be a the tunnel and off va. beach in the next few days. Live bait or casting big bucktails will be the most productive when site casting to the schooled cobia. Flounder fish has been off the charts lately and several big door mats from the cape charles,concrete ships and the ccbt complex and york spit areas. Puppy drum continue to be caught up the james river up to jamestown and from what I hear just about anywhere around the bay with some fish 24 to 27 inches being landed this past week. Speckle trout are starting to hit lures and a few fish have come from the mobjack and hole in the wall lately. I am looking forward to a great fall fishing season and can''t wait to drift some eels for giant rockfish in nov.& Dec. and hopefully best my 48 pound fish I landed in december 08. If you have never hooked up a striper on a drift with live eel and had her take 200 plus yards off the reel then you need too, you will never forget it. Give us a call and set your striper or cat fishing trip today before the best dates are taken and it also makes a great xmas present. I will be offering trips off Va. beach for costal striper fishing from 1/1/10 thru march 10.
April 13, 2009: I love it when the fishing really comes on like it is right now. Friday we caught an uncountable number of shad plus in about two hours of bottom fishing, we caught two citation blue cats and a beautiful 36" striper. We caught fish on saturday wherever we went and ended the day with 3 fish in 10 minutes and we almost had a triple hook up. We had just taken the picture of a 56 & 26 pound blue catfish double and returned them to their lair when a 35 pound fish bowed over another rod. These guys were referred to me from previous clients from PA and they ended up with Blue's 56,35,30,26,21 and over a dozen 4 - 16 pounders also a 8 pound flathead & a small striped bass. I sent them home happy and with noddle arms, all 3 were done after the hard fight these last 3 cats put up. The shad & herring are biting well and will continue to for the next 3 weeks. Crappie are on the flats up in the creeks and we caught them while trying to catch shad everyone of them was over a pound and full of roe.
March 29, 2009: We have fished a couple days and had decent results and great weather. The shad have started to show in force in the James river at the fall line. White shad & Hickory shad are being caught from the 14th st, bridge down to the docks on darts,gold&silver spoons and white & cartreus mister twister tails carolina rigged. I like to use 2 ft. of 6 LB. Vanish for my leader and experiment with weight and retrieval speed till I find a consistent strike zone. Usually 3/8 to 3/4 oz egg sinker is what I use. The sibinki rig is also taken herring and shad with consistency. The catfish and stripers are biting well and I took my son and we went down river after shad fishing for a little over a hour and Thomas landed 6 catfish in short time from 8 to 19 pounds. Hopefully the ground will soak up this rain coming in tonight and the river stays fishable next week.
September 15, 2008: Wanted to let you know We had Great Fishing Trip on the James River 9/5 - 9/6/08. Russ Wetzel & Douglas McCarney of PA. caught 8 Citation Catfish this past Weekend. We also caught 5 Flathead Catfish and Landed Aprox. 50 Fish and Most were Adveraged 10-12 lb. Russ Boated a 41,38,27,21 and Doug Boated a 43,33,271/2,22 also a 39 1/4'' 21 lb. Flathead. Fishing from 4 am to 9 am Sunday morning was non stop on the Incoming Tide and the River was Rising Rapidly with the 4-6 inches of Rain the Night before Dropped by Tropical Storm Hana. My camera timer got forwarded a couple hours. I called Them on Thursday and They were Determined to follow through Despite the Storm Approaching. We fished closed to Richmond on Friday Night and around 4 am Sat. morning we started to get rain bands from the storm but we held are own and Fished till 7:30 AM Sat. They caught fish to 28 lbs. We hit Perfect and got out just before the Wind came through and was back out that Evening at 8:30 pm and We wouldn't have even know a Storm came through if not for Bands that came through that morning. It was a Awsome Night with Perfect Condition Abound. Striper Season is less than a Month away! Good Fishing and Hunting to Everyone.
August 18, 2008: Halfway through August and Weather has been Ideal for the Saltwater Scene Inshore and Offshore. The Bay is Producing Excellent Flounder Catches and I have personally been Catching some Nice Flatties out on the Channel Edges and along the Shore in the Inlets using a Cork Baited with Live Finger Mullet or Minnows in 4 to 6 ft. The bottom fishing is producing some #1 Norfolk Spot over a 1 lb. and Huge Croakers to which One was Caught By 5 year old Dillon Belcher of Hampton , Va. who Caught a 21.5 inch 3 LB 2 OZ.Citation Croaker on Saturday 8/16/08 while fishing the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel with his dad Chris, Congratulations Dillon. The Offshore Fishing has been slow for the Trolling, But the Deep Drop Bottom Fishing is Outstanding with Boats using Electric Reels Returning with Snowy Grouper, Red Rock fish, Conger eel, Tilefish, and a host of other tasty 600 ft Bottom Dwellers. We set Out on 8/7/08 on the 30' GW Marlin and had Jim Baugh Outdoor Productions aboard with his Cameras Rolling. The footage Jim shot will air sometime Next Year and I will Report the date when I know. We caught 35 Dolphin (Mia Mia) 4-12 lbs. in about 1 1/2 Hrs. Fishing around a long liner's Buoy. We Return to the Same Area on Saturday 8/16/08 to find the Same Buoy still there and Caught 22 Dolphin of the Same size range. We also caught 5 Bonito,1 Albacore ,1 amberjack and a 12 inch Bluefin Tuna. We also raised a White Marlin but Failed to Hook up when it disappeared as quick as it showed up. There have been some Citation Pompano caught along the ocean front on the pier's and from the Beach From Sand Bridge to Ocean View. The King Mackerel and Spanish are Biting very well and will continue to do so to the middle of September,before starting to Migrate South. If you have never caught a King this is a Thrill you won't soon forget with Sometimes 200 Yard Drag Ripping , Reel Screaming Run's and Live Bait on float's or Kite Fishing w/ Clothes Pin Rig is the way to Enjoy this exciting Fishery and see the Initial Hit as the Smoker King Sky's downward on your Bait. Troller's are finding a few fish also but Live Bait seems to hold a advantage on Number's and Size of King's Landed this year. Look's like the Noddlers will get there chance on Saturday 8/23 to see if they are up to the challenge. The River is Starting to dry up we need some Rain badly and Hopefully we will Get some out of the Storm that is coming ashore in the Florida Key's as I write this Report. The lower James is Producing citations for Blue Catfish and if we get a enough rain to muddy up the river we should expect to see the Catfish'n become exceptional going into the September. Fall and winter Cat fishing as well as Fall Bay Striper Season will be here Before we know it, so Book your Trip early While some of the Best Dates are Still Available. I would be happy to take you Out for the day to Catch any of the fishing mention above or anything you may want to Fish for. Capt. Mike Hoke