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Here's a picture of the New River Walleye I caught...We figured it was a native Rockcastle river strain,,,that...jumped Wolfe Creek dam, swam down the Cumberland into the Mississippi, upto the Ohio, up to the Kianaw, and up the New...LOL!
Oh it ATE the APB....Wonderbread,,,,,
Billy
That's a nice eye redneck, but if it were a native strain it would have weighed 73 pounds and fought like a tarpon! The New is one heck of an experience isn't it? Some kind of water. Any good smallmouth?
Nice Walleye. Definitely a Rockcastle River strain...fer sure.
Sorry I didn't get there in time to take the picture...but...well...we all know that one rock was slippery...and it shall forever have my butt cheeks imprinted upon it.
At least I got there in time to take the picture of the smallie. :D
Welcome back! How many fish did you guys catch? Did you eat the Walleye or since it was the last of the Rockcastle clan you collected some samples and let it go?:)
Don, the fishing was tough...it's probably the hardest time of the year to consistently catch fish on the New River, so I'm told. That said, we did catch fish every day, but they weren't so easy to come by...many smaller fish. With a group of 35-40 river smallie anglers in camp together, there were some 18-19" fish caught over several miles of river though. Of course, also having 35-40 river smallie anglers in camp together leads to late nights around the campfire and late-morning starts for floats the next day, so you end up fishing in mid-afternoon when it's hot and slow, then picking up your fish near the end of the day when the bite gets going. We got on a couple of nice topwater plug bites early morning below some riffles near camp though and they were taking a fond liking to APB's handiwork and LC Sammys. The buzzbait trick was working late in the day in push-water for me on Thursday. The hot bait for numbers was a "Jack's Worm" made by Case Plastics. One of the guys (who guides on the New down in Virginia) was pitching it and catching numbers on Friday...believe he caught 30+ fish and he was the one ROWING the raft with two others in it, fighting an 18-20mph headwind. His 30+ fish in that scenario would have been twice that if he was fishing all the time.
For my first time on the New River, I learned ALOT of good things to take back with me next time. I was amazed. I would love to go back in the fall.
Nice catch Billy! Bet it tasted um, um, good!!!!
West Virginia DNR has been stocking those walleye for 5 years now. I know they were sharing eggs from VA, KY and also from shocked natives out of the New here in WV. They are fairly common now and alot in the 17-23 inch range. Still catch some fish that were left over from VA stockings that range in the 6-12 pound range. Fishing was still good even though alot of traffic. My guys ended up boating 50-60 each day mostly small fish but we did end up with 5 walleye keepers and 4 smallmouth in the 18 inch class. Hope you enjoyed the river.
Nice Walleye! Sounds like you guys had a fun trip.
Andrew
Nice fish!! Didn't realize that New River had that many walleyes. There great eating also!! The Greenbrier is a river overlooked by many outside of W.V. I've floated it a few times with good results on smallies and there isn't near the traffic you find on New Roiver. You might want to check into sometime if you plan on going back. Sounds as if you had a great trip wish I was there!!!