Virginia report with Sam Scott

March 12, 2021|Gregg Thomas||General

Another epic week hunting muskies in the mountains of Virginia with Sam Scott of Blue Ridge Musky ! More high stained water started the week off with lots of action! As the days went on , however , our rivers started to recede and the fish started to spread back out From their high water sanctuaries!

To start the week off I had Jim and Eric, two first time musky hunters coming out to see what all this fuss is about when it comes to muskies! Well they both had to fish very hard and learn quite a few new techniques but we were ultimately rewarded with a 41” and 44” fish for their firsts!

Both fish were caught using the Lake X Toad , letting it sink down to the bottom in about 10-12ft of water , and “hopping” it off the bottom in short slow cadences. These muskies both hit the baits during on the fall! The Lake X Toad continues to be one of my favorite high water winter baits!

We got action throughout the remainder of the day on not only the Toad but also OLT Suckers and Jigs !

The next day I had a group Of 4 first time musky anglers and after everyone learned how To operate the casting tackle, we started putting fish in the bag! 11” Whale tails in our exclusive Blue Ridge Musky Dark Sucker pattern were the hot bait for most of the day! 3 out of the 4 first time anglers got a fish in the boat , all of which were 40-44” ! The name of the game that day was working the whale tails slow and vertically

Jigging them off the bottom. We targeted current seams along the deep eddies and structure filled banks! The more active fish always seemed to be right at the tops of these eddies along that current seem!

The very next day I had a young man come out fishing solo from the previous days group. We got into position for the Major that morning which was set to peak at 845am! At 8:40 my customer caught a 41” musky, we released it, and within the next 2-3 casts we hooked and landed a 43” around 9:00am! The action was very short and sweet right around that morning window and because we had planned our morning with that window in mind, I was able to get my customer on active fish at the exact time they were feeding! No more action that day until the evening when we hooked and lost one of the bigger fish I’ve seen all season. This fish ate a black and Blue Mobster while we worked it painfully slow on the bottom following the long current seem next to fast moving water.

And to cap off the weekend , I had another solo trip with a repeat client , Scott, who started about a year ago with me and has since gotten so ate up with everything musky fishing he’s now making his own crank baits and glide baits and has a dandy collection of customs he brought out in his huge Lakewood! Scott didn’t take long to bag his first fish of the day, again right in that morning Major! We were working a creekmouth where the fish can dip into and get away from that main river current. After getting a few bites without hookup, I made a small color change to the Gold Nugget 11”

Whale tail and the fish fully committed this

Time! Scott’s 2nd musky ever and a solid 41” . The river was much lower and much clearer by this point and our fish started spreading out a little bit. As we made our way down river Scott

Had a few follows on Hard Body Pullbaits like his opossum colored Suckubus. And then we pulled into an area and I told him to really focus up, we’ve got big fish here! After making the first drift without any action we came up on a minor for an afternoon bite window and at the very beginning of the next drift Scott caught his new PB on a Dark Sucker Whale Tail, a 46” big headed stud!

Another 9 fish week, 5 new anglers catching their first muskies and now full blown musky addicts! I’ll take it, that’s a good week at work in my book! If your interested in coming out for a musky hunt with Blue Ridge Musky, give me a shout on social media or email me at BlueRidgeMusky@gmail.com ! I’m currently filling up fast for this Fall season and Winter 21/22 ! Thanks for stopping by MuskyHunter and good luck out there on the water guys and gals 🤙🏻

Sam Scott

BlueRidgeMusky@gmail.com

434.258.8142

~ Tight Lines!