Nottoway River fishing report for Friday, January 26, 2018. The General Vaughan Bridge boat ramp in Franklin, Virginia. The General Vaughan Bridge boat ramp in Franklin, Virginia. It’s one of those well maintained boat ramps by the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. Coordinates: 36.56651600, -76.94510100.

Nottoway River Fishing Report January 26, 2018

Today was a last minute get out-of-the-house and preserve some sanity day trip. What better way than time spent on the water out fishing.

We headed up to the Nottoway River General Vaughan Bridge boat ramp right off the Highway 258 near Franklin, Virginia. The last time we hit this spot was nearly two years ago.

Okay, it was a post-cold front day. The weatherman said clear skies with little wind and late day high temperatures forecasted in the 50s.

We hit the ramp close to sunrise with temperatures hovering near the freezing mark.

Scott launched the boat off the back of the trailer and tied up to the dock. Then we proceeded with the usual stowing of the gear and prechecks before we cast off the lines.

The water temperature was 46 degrees.

Scott had to finagle the motor innards to thaw out the water pump exhaust before pushing off the dock. It was frozen up and not drawing any water through the motor.

While Scott was doing the dirty work, I had my fingers clamped around a couple of warmers trying to keep them from numbing up as I casted a line around the dock area.

Soon, Scott had the motor purring like a kitten, shooting out a nice stream of water. We cast off the lines and soon we were motoring up river towards the Route 684 Bridge.

A boat-on-plane wind-chill kept me clinging to those hand warmers as I watched for critters in the woods. We did see a few deer along the riverbank. No Sasquatch sightings today.

We stopped near the Route 684 Bridge for a leisurely drift in depths between 20 and 30 feet.

Scott was marking fish near the bottom. Trouble was, I didn’t have anything in the tackle box that would get me down 20 feet to the bottom. Sigh …

So I continued to cast towards the abundant laydowns along the bank.

Scott rigged up some sort of drop shot rig. Something that might get down to the bottom. Maybe down the 20 to 30 feet the fish finder was hinting at.

Okay, Scott was working the bottom, I was working the laydowns.

Nottoway River Fishing Report January 26, 2018 – Skunked

Drifting back towards the General Vaughan Bridge boat ramp, neither of us had any luck.

Actually, neither of us caught anything, empty stringers. But being outside for the day was a nice treat. The water temperature and gone up from 46 to 48 degrees. Those few degrees had warmed up turtles who were now basking on the sun-drenched logs.

We got back to the ramp early afternoon and loaded up the gear in our vehicles and headed home. Neither of us had a bite, we both had a hit every now and again, but nothing in the boat.

Well, during the trip back to the house had me thinking about how to plan better. I should have packed some deeper running baits. I had some, actually, I had a lot of tackle that might have performed better. Maybe I need to better organize my gear. How can I be better prepared?

Any suggestions?