# York river fishing report



## sandspikes1

Woke up early this morning so I could take the Yak out on the York before work. I was on the water by 5:50 and fishing by 6:00. 

Caught about 15 good sized croaker and spot and about 5 BIG Croaker all on an ultra light rod and reel. The big croaker are a blast to catch on that ultra light. I would recomend it. Used a flounder rig that I made myself and squid for bait. 

I got into a huge cow-nosed ray with my ultra light and it spooled me in about 6 secs. haha.

Saw some shad and a few blues jump but couldnt get one to bite a variety of lures I offered.

When I beached my kayak the ranger was waiting for me. He said that launching from any point on the parkway is a no no. Does anybody know why that is? Seem strange to me.

Anyhow it was a good morning fishing.


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## basstardo

I wonder why the Ranger said that. I was planning on launching from a couple spots out there myself to check some things out. That's kind of silly. Time to fire off a couple emails.

Edit: fired off an email to the NPS asking what the official policy is. Also asked them if there is a policy prohibiting kayak launching, why is that policy in effect? People swim, crab, and fish out there all the time. I can see no reason why a kayak wouldn't be allowed unless they are worried about people going into the creeks by the weapons station, but that is a simple matter of people following the signs and staying away from there. I'll post whatever information I get back.


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## basstardo

Well, looks like it's definitely not allowed. That's pretty lame:

Terry:

Colonial National Historical Park park prohibits the launching of canoes and kayaks as outlined in Title 36 Code of Federal Regulations, Section 7.1
(a) which states " Except in emergencies, no privately owned vessel shall be launched from land within Colonial National Historical Park and no privately owned vessel shall be beached or landed on land within said Park."

The primary reason for the regulation relates to the park's mission. As a national historical park, the park's primary mission is to preserve and interpret for visitors the historical significance and relationships of the sites and events at Jamestown, Yorktown and Colonial Williamsburg. The Colonial Parkway and its associated pullouts with interpretive signs and waysides connects the three sites and adds to the visitor's overall knowledge of the park along with the motorists enjoyment of the Parkway’s historic and natural resources.

Providing for active recreational uses of the park such as the launching of vessels would be disruptive to the preservation and appropriate use of the park’s historic resources. The launching of watercraft from park land has been determined not to be a compatible recreational use of the park and is therefore prohibited.

With residential population increasing on the peninsula and in the Williamsburg area, many visit the Colonial Parkway looking for recreational opportunities. Your request to launch a kayak from the Parkway is one of many requests we receive each year. But a primary concern with allowing the launching of vessels is that the practice would grow with the associated problems of limited parking, traffic congestion, erosion, visual impacts and the capacity of National Park Service staff to maintain the launch areas and manage such use. In addition, there are no restroom facilities at potential launch sites that would address extended stays by visitors using the waterways, thus leading to sanitation concerns. The launching of vessels would change the historical character of the Colonial Parkway and threaten the natural resources we work so hard to preserve.

As an alternative, there are private and public launch facilities located along both the James and York Rivers, and their tributaries. For a listing, visit http://www.visitwilliamsburg.com/williamsburg-attractions/outdoor-recreation-and-parks/index.aspx

Mike Litterst
Public Affairs Officer
National Park Service -
Colonial National Historical Park
Ph: 757-898-2409
Fax: 757-898-6346


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## sandspikes1

Man what a load. A couple kayaks and canoes are going to increase erosion and be a threat to natural resources? Gimmie a break. Oh well. What can you do?


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## NC fishing

Any 1 fish Cap Charles latly 
Just joined so checking this out
help??


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## basstardo

sandspikes1 said:


> Man what a load. A couple kayaks and canoes are going to increase erosion and be a threat to natural resources? Gimmie a break. Oh well. What can you do?


That's my thought. Load of garbage. I drove by Felgates and Indian Fields today and they were PACKED with people. Yet a kayaker who just launches in the water and goes out away from shore is going to cause a problem.


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## ibboone

I have been warned about launching my kayak from the colonial parkway on the James River. A guy I fish with occasionally got caught loading his kayak back on his van and was warned about launching from the parkway.
So as it stands there is no launching from the parkway on the York or the James.

Dan


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## KEVIN

you can launch from college landing park


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## basstardo

KEVIN said:


> you can launch from college landing park


That puts you out in College Creek though, which leads to the James. We're looking at fishing the York. There are tons of flats out off the parkway and some very nice bars and sloughs as well. I've heard of good fish being out there, but they are in spots where a boat wouldn't reach.


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## FishHOOKA

If you are military you may be able to launch from The Coast Guard Base. I know they rent boats and canoes.


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## sandspikes1

I lauched from Yorktown the other day. There was no sign prohibiting it and the ranger watched me do it and said nothing. Fished the Coleman bridge. Caught a few croaker. I plan on launching from there from now on if I want to fish the York.


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## Jabouty

You can also launch from the York River state park in Croaker (yes, there's a bloody town named after them) to fish the york. Costs $6 a day and you gotta be out by closing. My suggestion, find a sneak spot in Yorktown and launch from there.


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## basstardo

FishHOOKA said:


> If you are military you may be able to launch from The Coast Guard Base. I know they rent boats and canoes.


You can get to that area as well from Wormley Creek. It's about a 1.25 mile paddle to the area around the CG pier.


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## sandspikes1

So yesterday I was catching bait with the cast net on the Parkway section of the James and who should come barreling out of college creek but a large speedboat and a jet ski which happened to be pulling a guy water skiing. I cant help but think how THAT will effect erosion and also "change the historical character of the Colonial Parkway and threaten the natural resources we work so hard to preserve". So I guess having jet skis and other boats that make alot of noise/wake are fine and not a threat to the colonial parkway's historical character, but kayaks and canoes definitely do. Huh. I never really thought about it like that.


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## chefish

It does sound like a load of bs!!!

I've launched from Wormely creek. High tide is the way to go there!! It is an extended mud flat otherwise.....


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