I always have a spook or 3 with me and I have caught a bunch of fish off them usually use them first thing in the morning or late evening or cloudy rainey days. I usually throw the flitter shad or baby bass.
I dont run lines of any kind on the lower james unless im camping close enough to see or hear if anyone is tampering with them. I have had to many of my lines cut in the past few years and they seem to get cut faster when plainly marked.
And getting your crankbait hung up on someone's line does not justify stealing or cutting a persons line.
I have used the same pair of skeletoes for 3 summers now they are the neoprene slip on ones if you get them a size small they will keep out most rocks. I think I paid $30 for them.
Worms are great smallmouth bait I like to rig them long ways threading them about 2/3 the way down the body with a split shot about a foot above and let them drift. It's hard to keep the perch off them sometimes grasshoppers are even better.
Catfishing has been pretty decent lately ive been fishing further up in the river using sucker minnows. Anywhere in the james river arm or flat creek should be good right now using cut shad for blues and channels or or bluegill/sunfish for flathead.
Drifting the flats with cut shad would probably be good right now as well.
Buzz baits have been pretty good for me lately and the catfishing is picking up if you're into that sort of thing.
There are lots of big fish in the lower section, Galena to blunks is one of my favorite floats to fish.
The past 4-5 days have been pretty good early morning and in the evening for bass and catfish. Ive been catching cats in deep pools just below some fast water on netted sucker minnows and bass on buzzbaits and anything that looks like a crawfish.
Not tonight I gotta cook some fish first.
if you go ive been doing my best above Taylor's just above the next shoal throwing purple w silver flake on a 16th oz head.
I did pretty good this evening caught my limit in two and a half hours or so my buddy ended up with 7 before we got to cold to stand in the water any longer.
1/16 oz jig heads I always have white , purple, chartreuse and blue thunder swimming minnows and use the lightest line you can get away with I like 4lb.