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Idk he’s getting a little soft these days!
You’re right about the gettin soft part. We (myself, dad, and a buddy) decided to go try the James again this year but waited till daylight instead of going out at midnight. I’ve not been down there since 2018. We had four males and I caught two sows. One was a new Pb for me at 82 pounds and the other was 65 pounds.

Wood Road surface Fish Asphalt Ray-finned fish
Blue Fish Grey Ray-finned fish Seafood
Water Outdoor recreation Fisherman Fish Jigging
 

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question, on a good day how many "hook-ups" (if that is the right term) do you have or what is good action, how many per hour? Or is the action determined by the sonar and the chase to snag them???
If you're running forward-facing sonar and know how to read the graph, it's a pretty well-guaranteed fish and doesn't take long. For the more traditional methods (graphing at the console and trolling around), I'd say 1/2-2 fish per hour is "average". A lot of it depends if the fish are schooled up or scattered. The more schooled up they are, the easier it is to hit them.

For example on opening day this year, we graphed and snagged the usual way for a few hours and caught four fish. That's about average for us. We ended up talking to another angler who had Livescope on his boat and asked if we could hop in and try to snag a few spoonbill. In less than 20 minutes out of the same hole we'd been blind casting, I boated an 82 and a 65 pounder. Livescoping paddlefish is stupidly easy.
 

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MDC could definitely take a few notes from Oklahoma when it comes to managing for spoonies. I'm sure they are too proud to admit that another state did something better and tweak its rules to be similar....
 

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I would be shocked to hear that the guides are booked solid through the weekdays.
I stay in touch with a couple of guides and they aren't mad when a trip so they can have a little break. They stay busy and it definitely becomes a grind! Fishing is my favorite hobby, but I'm ready for a break after two-three days of hard fishing. I couldn't imagine doing anything almost every day for 45 days straight.
 

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The divers and livescope make it a lot easier. But you don’t get the THUMP like you do jerking and surprise of what’s coming up.
I’m not against it but almost like shooting a booner in a high fence .
I've always compared it to trolling crankbaits or spider rigging for crappie versus single poling for them. You're catching fish, but it's just not quite the same.
 
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