First Hickories have been caught

[River_Lizard]

at the top of the Lower James River.....the shad run as started!! Stripers have been caught also, so they're running too. The game is on......

Remember that Herring is Officially closed this year. You can not have any in the boat at all.

 

[R Socey]

Re: First Hickories have been caught

Is that the blue back, or all? We have always gone by the Daffodils; when they are in bloom there are big female stripers in the river - they don't hang around for very long - maybe three weeks. This winter has been so crazy, who knows how things are going to play out-
the Daffodils have been in bloom for two weeks already!

 

[River_Lizard]

Re: First Hickories have been caught

Herring: The Virginia Marine Resources Commission has enacted a ban on the possession of river herring, effective January 1, 2012, due to the collapse of the stock over the past 40 years and in order to comply with an Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission fishery management plan directive.

Was out on the river yesterday evening and big sows hitting the top of the water so the Stripers are definitely coming up the river. Next couple of weeks will be prime time to fish for them.

 

[R Socey]

Re: First Hickories have been caught

The reason I asked was that DC and MD wouldn't let you take the Bluebacks - I hear the population is getting better. There are huge stripers in the river now but you can't keep them.

 

[River_Lizard]

Re: First Hickories have been caught

Yeah the Stripers are on their spawning run also, I think VMRC did it backwards, they set regs to help the population of Striper and it worked, the only problem is VMRC didn't first focus on the bait that needed attention first, now the Stripers are lacking the bait population that they need. It's like putting the wagon before the horse, doesn't work very well. Now they have serious problems with Herring numbers and the recovery of American Shad will get hit to make up for it also.