A James River Small Mouth Trip

[BrokenolMarine]

A few years ago, I took a small mouth trip down the James with a friend of mine. Aaron was my Assistant Director of our Charity for the Veteran's Kayak Fishing Group here in Central VA and I thought it was time for US to take a day to do some fishing. We had a pretty good day, saw some sights and caught some fish. Aaron had a stressful job in the insurance industry, traveled a good bit, and worked hard. He is also a GREAT fisherman, eventually earning a pro-staff position with a major kayak company and a couple other fishing related suppliers. Way out of my league. He is also a respected photographer.

These pics are mine, not in his league either. They'll do.

One of the things we stumbled onto were a couple otters. These guys do pretty well for themselves. Fish, and freshwater eels.

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Aaron was the first to hook up... exciting on the fly rods and the small mouth put up a great fight, even the smaller fish... but the big ones can tow your yak upstream against the current.

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Not a bad fish...

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I hooked up a several times myself, and the fish I put in the kayak included a couple nice ones.

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Aaron does what it takes to land the fish, when needed, he'll jump out of the yak and yell for me to catch it, and fight the fish in the brush....

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I landed several that day that weren't bad.

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We spent the day floating down the river, catching fish and taking pictures. The float took about eight hours. I really enjoyed the day, and we had a great time. I miss those days... but times change as we get older. Kids grow up and need more time, promotions at work demand time, and physical changes mean we can't SIT in a kayak for eight to ten hours. But... we can still float short sections.

Maybe this spring and summer Miss T and I will be back at it.

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Tina knows how to work the river herself. She spends as much time standing and working the banks and rock ledges as she does sitting...
Let's just say she is comfortable in the kayaks.

[North Country Gal]

Now you're talking my favorite fish on any kind of tackle. Only thing that gets my adrenaline going as much as a good Smallie is a good wild steelhead. We do have an occasional Smallmouth in our lake, but it's mostly a Largemouth lake (and a good one). Much prefer Smallmouth in a stream, though. When I lived in the Chicago area, fished the nearby Fox River and it had some first class Smallmouth.

[BrokenolMarine]

I love smallmouth on a 5wt flyrod, and the James has some really nice ones. There are other rivers in VA with larger fish and larger numbers, but we mostly stayed with our home waters. I also took along a 7wt... I have hooked monster Gar in the river... three to four feet long... That's a fight. There is one huge overhanging oak on the float down, on really hot days, it looks like a Gar parking lot in the shade it provides. Twenty or thirty torpedo shaped shadows in the shallows, toss in the large fly and the water explodes into furious action.

[North Country Gal]

Gar are one strange, but interesting, fish. Used to catch one, now and then, when we lived in the prairie states.

[clovishound]

When diving, I have seen some pretty big gar. There have been more than a few that I would not really want to hook if I were in a kayak. I have mental images of skiing in a kayak.

[BrokenolMarine]

When we kayak fish (ed) in salt water, it wasn't unusual to get towed around. A number of the species could easily do it. Stripers, a good sized Blue, Sharks and Cobia of course. In the winter, the BIG striper heading south passed thru. Monsters. Four and five feet long... thick and powerful. We called THAT... a Nantucket sleigh ride.

[BrokenolMarine]

Check out this short video. Kayak Kevin is well known in the kayak fishing community, was generous with our charity when we ran it, and still setting records and living the life...

They catch and release, and kevin and his group have often worked with state groups in tagging programs...
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lWQ2IWGqCXY

[Squatch]

Now you're talkin'! Chasin' smallies is a big part of what I like to do. Where I fish all those rods sticking up in the yak would get you into trouble though. Too many overhanging trees. I sold my yak a few years ago and went back to a solo canoe. Much more comfortable for me. But I often fish from my river jet these days.

[BrokenolMarine]

The James is a wide flat river in most sections, although it narrows, focuses, and has numerous sections of rapids, even class IV which we avoid like a plague, choosing the legs we float carefully. We stop upstream of the faster water, and take down the rods and secure them and any loose gear prior to the runs... DON'T want a yard sale if we should roll the yak.

Our rod holders pop on and off, thanks to yakattack, so we can change the rigging to fit the waters. Small pond with lots of overhang, no vertical rod storage, and lots of sidecasting under overhanging brush. We have discussed eventually selling the kayaks and buying a power boat, but will keep the two Commanders. One would take just the right buyer anyway...it's one of one. The carbon fiber Commander 120cx.
There were supposed to lay up 25 in the series, and I bought 1 of 25, then they they stopped the run. Sweet.

We will stick with kayaks for now. Love the quiet. Power boats add taxes, maintenance, lines at the launch ramps. I don't think we will regret the years in the kayaks... we have seen amazing things.

[bmur66]

Pound for pound nothing fights like a river smallie. This is from the Alleghany River.

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