The Maiden Voyage of The Spring

            Spring may be a strong word for late February. But it happened to be about 60 degrees that day and my dad wanted to get his bass boat in the water and see if we could find any largemouth on the James River.

            60 degrees is definitely still cool. And I have learned the hard way when you are running on the boat out in the open air 60 degrees feels a lot more like 32 so I was prepared and wrapped up with a coat, gloves, and a facemask. It still was a bit brutal.

            But we made our way down the river to what my dad calls the cut through. I don’t know what the actual creek may be called. But I was just happy to be warming up once we were still and started fishing. I started throwing a spinner bait around every grass edge and cypress tree we went by. No bites to be had.

            We fished all the way through and around the cut through hoping to catch a bass on a warmer mud flat or just happen to have one swimming by and put my bait in front of it’s face. To no avail.

            So our next idea was to go to kittiewan creek. We have always caught fish there and again know where several mud flats are where apparently the fishing report had said were a good place to catch fish because they warm up fast.

            At the opening of kittiewan is several large cypress trees where I have caught fish in the past. There is a lot of cypress knees along the edge that make there way up to a smaller creek where we have fished several times. The first time we went in there I caught a crappie and my dad caught a couple of bass. Every time since we have had no luck in that creek.

            We both started throwing chatterbaits. Spinnerbaits and Crank baits didn’t work in the other creek so had to try something different. We worked are way down the cypress knees with no action to be had. Then we went into the small feeder creek.

            We made it not far in with no action and my dad talked about how he hasn’t caught any fish in there the last few times we have tried it. So we turned around and made our way back to the main creek.

            We fished our way down the one side of the main creek where we have always had success in the past. We weren’t having any luck. But also when you haven’t caught a fish in a few months every time you come through a tuft of grass or get snagged on a stick or log you start to get excited and have high hopes. We did reel in a couple of sticks that day.

            We fished the entirety of that creek where there are some shallow spots and good wood where fish should be. Again no bites.

            My dad had one last idea so we headed to flower dew creek. Last spring the first fish I caught was a 7 pounder in flower dew creek. Later in the spring I caught another 6 pounder in there so I am always excited to give that one a try.

            Flower dew has a lot of good wood and small shallow feeder creeks we thought might be good. We went in and drove not quite all the way to the back. But flower dew is a very long creek that winds back and forth quite a bit. It has a lot of good different places to fish.

            I went back to the spinner bait. My hopes hadn’t dwindled completely yet. I just needed one bite and I try to never lose faith. I personally think when hunting and fishing if you ever put negativity in your mind you will not have success. If you think you aren’t going to catch a fish or kill a deer for even just a second I believe it won’t happen.

            But we fished all the good spots in flower dew and had no luck. So it was time to wrap it up and head back to the marina. Again got myself wrapped up coat, gloves, and facemask. It had gotten warm enough that to be wrapped up like that might have made me look ridiculous to someone sitting on a dock. But to anyone running in a boat I looked awfully smart.

            Not catching any fish doesn’t make for a great story. But it’s always about appreciating the opportunity to fish and spend time with my dad.

            You have to appreciate the beautiful views. Seeing bald eagles fly above the river. Seeing thousands of geese flying over and hundreds of ducks all over. You have to appreciate a good boat ride even if it’s cold. And you have to appreciate being optimism that next time you’re out on the river a big bass will hit your bait like a freight train.