Weekend trip planned for Upper James River - Smallmouth

[Mookie]

Don't overwhelm yourself with gear

Ditto. I hunted river smallies for years with one rod/reel & a pocket full of jigheads & grubs.

exactly my strategy! I generally carry 2 rods, but one is just a back-up.
if I could only fish for smallies with one lure the rest of my life that's what it would be.

[BMP]

This time of year in these conditions.

3 rods: 1 for topwater, one for bottom presentations and one for mid column stuff


I would start with a mini pro buzz buzzbait on the topwater rod. Some days, its all you need.

I love tossing tubes or jigs on the bottom, but sometimes in summer the grass makes these presentations tough. Always worth having a tube around for the spot where the smallies are hanging in rocky bottom cover with no grass though. If grass is choking the river, this rod can double as a grub rod. Put a 1/8 oz slider head on the rod and add you favorite 3-5 inch curly tail grub. Hold on.

I would fish flukes or Senko type stick baits with the mid column rod. Tossing flukes along shorelines or around grass beds can be deadly on smallies. They can be fished twitched back as topwater or totally deadsticked drifting with the current, or anything in between. Try various retrieves until the fish tell you what they want.

You might also consider one rod rigged for muskie with a big jerkbait or something. They are plentiful up that way now, but you said you wanted to simplify.

[Doogie]

Thanks for all the tips and advice. I think we're planning to fish up near Eagle Rock.

I've got a Trident 13, so I may actually bring a heavy rod for Muskies, and just keep it in the rod pod until/unless it's needed.

Look forward to typing up a great after-action report -- hopefully with a lot of big fish caught!

[oubassman]

Have fun Doogie. Smallies are so stinking fun to fish for. I can't add anything else to the great suggestions. Look forward to pics

[Doogie]

First, let me offer a big thanks for all the tips I received.

My outing to the UJ was absolutely incredible. I caught so many smallmouth on both Saturday and Sunday that I lost count. In addition, I caught a ton of Bluegiill that were as big as your palm, and I got two "Suckers," that look a little like a skinny carp. I also saw a 24-inch Muskie come up under one of my smallies as I was bringing him in, but didn't get the take.

One of the guys in my group did hook up with one that ate his smallmouth. His Muskie was estimated to be about 42-inches long. It tarpon-ed twice, before finally throwing the hook, and launching the poor smallmouth to the other side of the river. I'm not even convinced he was ever hooked. I think he was just holding on to the smallie.

Going "light" (a relative term for me) was definitely the right answer. I actually managed to get out on the water with only three rods and a milk crate with two Plano boxes. I was very glad not to have to worry about loosing thousands of dollars of bass gear, when I hit the rapids. I was able to stay right-side up. One of our guys did flip, but we were able to recover most of his gear. Some of the others we saw weren't that lucky. One guy lost everything but his kayak -- I still don't understand how you can go out, knowing there are rapids to run, and not have things tied down or at least attached to floats.

I definitely am looking forward to going back. Any of you folks who live up there on the UJ should count yourselves blessed. That's some beautiful country.

Here is a video one of the guys put together:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1WDKd0SCWE&feature=plcp

[oubassman]

Glad you had a great trip. The James is a great river with nice smallies!

[mtncur]

Nice trip!! Just live a few miles from Eagle rock and fish the upper James all the time.

[UTVOLyaker]

Very nice vid and that is crazy with the Muskey. Still itching to get back to the Doah for some smallies. Good stuff.

First, let me offer a big thanks for all the tips I received.


Here is a video one of the guys put together:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1WDKd0SCWE&feature=plcp

[BMP]

Awesome report. Great video. Pretty country down there.

That flip looks very typical for river turtling. Sitting back down in a yak on moving water is not so easy as it seems if the keel or hull are angled just right when you sit down. Dip the upstream side of the boat and the current just pushes it right on over like a window shade. Been there done that once.

One other tip I'll offer, though I think in some places what I saw was just slow motion. To make your yak more stable in rapids, paddle all the way through the moving water. Your boat is more stable at higher speed, your paddle helps you brace when in the water, and you'll be more confident. Reading water is a good skill to pick up, but sometimes you can't change your mind and have to just paddle like hell till things calm back down.

[lconn4]

Now that was really entertaining!