Mark and I lost the first few we had on, mostly because of poor hooksets. Then, we started to perform better, thanks to Ostrander's tutelage. I managed to land a 6-pound flathead and then Mike asked Mark, near the end of our outing, if he wanted to try dueling with a flathead on light tackle.

The young man was agreeable, and soon after, he was playing one of the flatheads that the James is noted for. After a battle of well over five minutes and with much coaching from Ostrander, Mark managed to land a flathead that weighed just over 22 pounds, by far the biggest fish he had ever caught. The episode was the perfect way to end a father/son outing.

For guided trips with Mike Ostrander, contact him at (804) 938-2350 or www.jamesriverfishing.com or mike@jamesriverfishing.com. Readers may also enjoy staying at the Virginia Cliffe Inn. The inn features a pond filled with bass and bluegills in the back yard and such breakfasts as French toast with strawberries, croissants, waffles and pancakes. Interestingly, the inn is styled like the establishment that was George Washington's headquarters in New York City.

Nearby is the Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden, the Meadow Farm living history museum, and, of course, Richmond is just 12 miles south. For more information, contact the inn at (877) 254-3346 or VaCliffeinn.com For more information on planning a stay in Richmond, contact the Richmond Metro Convention and Visitors Bureau at (888)-Richmond or Visit.Richmond.com

TIDEWATER PANFISH
Obviously, there are many types of family fishing, but the bread-and-butter family fishing trip usually involves panfish.

There can be little doubt that the Tidewater region offers the best and most varied family fishing opportunities for panfish in the entire Commonwealth. Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries (VDGIF) biologist Chad Boyce said that such lakes as Prince and Western Branch garner much of the attention, but impoundments such as Lake Airfield, a VDGIF-owned body of water in Wakefield, and Meade, a Portsmouth water supply reservoir, deserve attention, too.

"Meade has a lot of variety when it comes to panfish, although the lake doesn't produce the number of trophy panfish like Western Branch and Prince," Boyce said. "Meade has relatively undeveloped shorelines on the majority of the lake and shoreline cover is excellent, and the lake has an abundance of sandy points and shallow coves for spawning, too. Also, Meade has good macro invertebrate and snail populations due to its good water quality, making it a great lake to catch quality shellcrackers (redear)."

Anglers can expect to encounter bluegill, redear, red breast and pumpkinseed sunfish all in the same trip. The typical bobber, split shot and crickets or red wigglers combo is hard to beat, Boyce said. He advises anglers to concentrate on shallow, sunny shorelines early in the summer and look for the redears to be found off the points and ledges in 8 to 10 feet as the water warms in the summer. Sometimes just finding the right shoreline will produce good numbers of panfish early in the season."

The biologist added that Meade does have a convenient bait and tackle shop at the ramp. The business sells licenses/permits, bait and tackle and drinks/snacks. Also, Meade is a perfect lake as far as access goes, since it is located near the city of Suffolk and is right off Route 58; gas motors up to 10 horsepower are allowed.

Regarding Airfield, Boyce confirms that bluegills, pumpkinseeds, and fliers are the premier panfish attractions for children.