Phillip and David joined us on the water for a full day of fishing. The guys had big plans for the day taking advantage of our hellcat giveaway. They wanted to catch some eater fish to take home and also a trophy fish so they could win a rod. We showed the guys how we use livescope to catch bait with the cast net while we set the gill net out and let that work its magic. We had a couple pieces of bait to start fishing with and decide to move onto our first fishing location. W

Trevor and Joey took advantage of a last-minute cancellation to jump on the boat Friday night. We had fresh gizzard shad ready to go when they stepped on the boat and we got right to fishing for a six hour trip. The guys were looking for some trophy fish so we started anchoring on spots that were holding good fish and plenty of bait. The first anchor had a couple takedowns and some really finicky bites, but no fish came in the boat. We went through a series of about five more

Xavier reached out and told us he was looking to put some meat in the freezer and break his personal best of 6 lbs for a blue catfish. We invited him to the James river and got to work. We started the morning off catching bait with the cast net and had a large variety to feed the fish. We caught gizzard shad, threadfin shad, and mullet. We started off with chunks of gizzard shad and small threadfin shad. Rods started getting hit immediately and the fish keyed in on the thread

Ernie the Hog Snatcher came down for a trip and had never done any dragging for catfish. We decided to show him how much fun it can be. We collected a bunch of gizzard shad for bait and headed off to some calmer waters to drag baits. This was our first trip with our new AlphaBoardz . The new design updates were a very nice touch and everything worked flawlessly. I can’t wait to test them out in the dark with the led light pods.  The plan was to set up 6-8 planer boards and dr

Stan and I ran a guide trip  Sunday morning and wanted to check in on some high water locations. We had leftover bait from the guide trip and the weather was unseasonably high for a February afternoon so we pulled the boat out of the river and launched ina new location. The water was so high we had to get creative launching the boat as the ramp was completely underwater.  We We launched safely and slowly made our way up river, careful to watch out for any debris floating down

Lisa booked a half day trip to celebrate her Dad’s 80th birthday and brought her Mom and Daughter along for the celebration. We had some bait in the cooler when the group arrived and had the gill net soaking to collect a little bit more. We loaded the crew on the boat and showed them how we use the gill net to catch fresh bait. The gill net is a great tool and we had all the bait we needed for the trip and got to fishing.  The recent weather patterns had the fish scattered bu

After spending the first few days of 2025 working on some projects, it was time to hit the review for my first fishing trip of the year. I did not have a trip planned so I decided to take the jon boat out and let the motor run some. I did a quick workout and did not rush to the river. I knew bait would be easy to find and I’ve been on a good pattern of fish so I let the sun rise and start warming the world up. We hit the river, marked shad immediately and sunk the gill net in

We had Austin, Tori, Mason, and Kayden on the boat to celebrate Kayden’s birthday. The goals for the trip were simply to catch some fish and if we came across some good ones, that would be a bonus. We had the gill net in the water when our guests arrived. We let it soak as we loaded them on the boat and got organized. We collected the net, showing our guests how it works, and only had a few pieces of bait. We moved to a different stretch of river and set the net on a giant sc

66 lb Troph Blue Catfish Chris, Sam, and Dieter joined us on the James River with the goal of taking some fish home to eat while chasing monster catfish. Leading up to the trip, we noticed a large wind front moving in before a cold snap. We decided to move the trip up to a 6am launch so we could enjoy a bit more fishing before the wind kicked up toward 20 mph. It was a cold morning but we showed the guys how to catch gizzard shad while they were deep in the water column. Our

Max and Patrick joined us for a joint birthday party. These youngsters are eager to learn more about the James River and we packed as much info as we could into a half day trip. We launched the boat and took off to catch some fresh bait, explaining the importance of having the freshest bait possible on the James River. It took a couple tosses of the cast net and one set of the gill net and we had all the bait we needed for the next few hours of fishing. We also caught a coupl

Zac drove up from Charlotte, NC and wanted to chase some big fish! We launched the boat in a chilly 18 degrees and set off to catch some bait. Bait was very tough but we eventually rounded up some gizzard shad to chop up. The sunrise was very relaxing to watch as we cruised the river. We spent the first few hours of the morning anchored on a ledge and as the sun rose into the sky, the bite shifted from deep to shallow, with rods getting hit constantly all morning. The first f

We had a 7am trip this morning so we got to the ramp early to set up. The group arrived early so we jumped on the boat and took off for some fresh bait. With an inconsistent weather pattern, bait was deep and scattered. We marked schools of fish but were not able to catch much with the cast net. While we threw the net, we had the gill net soaking in the shallows. The gill net caught us a few pieces of bait and we were able to get started. Bait was proving to be tough but we s

Katherine and Bruce reached out to set up a guide trip for their son, Henry’s, birthday party. After meeting the group at the ramp, we showed the kids how we catch bait. We had the gill net soaking while we picked them up but didn’t expect much bait in the net with the cold snap. They watched us pull the net in and to no surprise there was no bait in the net, which we set in the shallows. We had experienced one of our first very cold nights, with morning temperatures at 36 de

Tuesday morning started off with very heavy fog cover. Everybody made it safely to the launch location and we loaded our gear on the boat. Everybody was out for one purpose, to chase monster fish. Chris and Stan tagged along to help work the boat and we got right to it, catching bait. The gill net caught just a few shad but it was enough to get started fishing. We took off down the river, with all our eyes scanning through the fog. After a bit of a ride, we got to our first l

Tim was looking to cross paths with a trophy blue catfish and bring home a cooler full of fish to eat. We started our trip at 6am with some brisk weather conditions. Tim’s sister-in-law brought her SONY A7III camera to document the adventure and we were able to grab some photos of a gorgeous sunrise as we motored out of the marina. We made a run up river to grab some gizzard shad to use for bait. After a few minutes of soaking the gill net, we had enough bait to get started f