yaknar

Lvn2Fish, I floated down to Shelvin. I forgot to mention the float usually takes me 7 hours to float, I fish slow, float slow, and wade often. But Friday it took me 4 1/2 hours to float this section.

I've been fishing a couple times since my last post, but until now I didn't have much too say. But Friday changed that....With the river up and rolling, I told my wife my goal was to catch one fish. The river report for Friday: no debri, trash or trees across the river, a couple of new tree parallel to the bank. I finally found the smallmouths. I caught almost all of them on deep diving crankbaits, 5 to 8 feet. I did use swallow diving and started catching goggle-eyes again. The pattern was cranking and long pauses. As a bonus I caught 3 cats. One cat was caught on a long pause because I was swatting at a horsefly buzzing around my head with my hat. When I started reeling again I had a catfish. And as you can see by the last picture ..Dougie and I have each got a double this year. I got rained on pretty hard the last 30 min but what a great day on the river.....as always too may pictures, didn't take pictures of all of them but released them all to fight another day....

http://ccheadliner.com/news/nixa-man-dies-of-apparent-snake-bites/article_f084382d-c082-542e-94f7-8bd7523175a0.html?mode=jqm

I usually kayak alone, but with all this talk about Ned, I thought I would invite him to come along. He didn't have to ride with the rest of my lures, I made him a seat up front. I caught my first fish standing on the ramp at Shelvin before I even got the kayak in the water. The fish wanted slow crankbaits today, reeling in slow and pausing. Caught smallmouth, goggle eye, bluegill and pumpkinseeds. Saw a canoe. They said they had only caught one today as they paddled by. Before he went around the bend in the river I had caught 5 more. If he had just slowed down... I had to perform a hookectomy on the last bass pictured. I caught her and after removing the lure I thought I saw a crawdad antenna in her mouth. But it was a hook with a line on it in the roof of her mouth. It came out easily. I think I get granted 3 wishes. Took a few pictures, released them all, Great day on the river....

I'm on a three year streak. I have caught one walleye, per year, for the last 3 years. All of them have been down stream from Delaware and on crankbaits. So I now have three walleye holes on the James and when I get to them I start calling them out. You do know how to call walleyes? I found pictures of the last two......

Thanks everyone for the comments and thanks Johnsfully for correcting me. My son can now brag he's the best "stoneroller" fisherman in the family.

I've taken a lot of pictures going up and down the river but I now have a new favorite. My son took my 3 yr. grandson out for his first fishing/float trip down the James or I should say his first fishing, crawdad catching, rock throwing, tadpole catching, float trip. He caught his first fish, not on a worm, but on a Rebel bumble bee crankbait. My son caught a "hornyhead chub?"... bumps on head and down back? ...remember don't forget to wear your waterwings when you go floating.....Just a proud grandpa posting pictures........

I started out Friday morning with an air temp of 46. Burr! I caught a couple early in the morning on a wake bait. But the main bite was from goggle-eyes. If I kept all that I caught I could of had a big fish fry, never ate one so I don't know if they are good eaten. They were hitting anything,everything. Maybe that's why I didn't catch a lot of smallmouth, the goggle-eye were more aggressive? I probably cast three different lures, each one about ten times, close to the same spot, before my biggest bass hit. I also caught another gar, but once again when I got it along side my kayak it let go. Maybe it's the angle of my rod when I get them along side? There was tree across the river but not all the way across. Instead of telling you where I floated, I thought I would just post a picture. It was a good trip, here's a few pictures and I released them all....

Thanks for the report. Sounds like a good float. I've wondered how the Ned rig would work on the river. I have never tried it. I'll be going in a couple day. I think the river and weather will be perfect. Do you think the river warm enough to leaver the waders at home? I do more wading than kayaking.

I got the kayak out for the first time this year, didn't really need the paddle. Caught my first bass within 2 min. of putting in. I caught a mess of smallmouths, a few goggle-eyes, a sucker and a gar. The gar took a crankbait but let go at the side of the kayak, the sucker also took a crankbait. I caught most of the bass out in the middle of the river, on soft plastic lures, instead of the bank or around logs, dont know why. Lost an ugly stick in the "blue hole" south of the 14 bridge. ouch. In the middle of my trip I spotted an eagle, but couldn't get a good picture. Took pictures of a few, released them all, and recorded the river "discharge and height." Nice to be able to get out and float again

With snow on the ground and nothing to do, I was looking around the internet for new lures and found these. They are all topwater, I have never seen them, made me smile, And from a company. in Singapore. I'm afraid they might scare the fish...

ness, Mofloatjunkie, Daryk, KCRIVERRAT.....thanks for all the comments. CHuddleston, I floated down to Delaware.....Here's a few more...

I got out this weekend for my last float of the year. Everything came together for one last perfect float, temp,the fall colors and the weather. I caught fish, mostly average size, plus one. But the main purpose was to enjoy the float and the beautiful colors of the Ozarks. So set back and enjoy.....

I was checking out crankbaits on eBay yesterday and these came up, made me laugh. I hadn't seen these before. I'm sure they are just a gimmick, but you wouldn"t have to paddle your kayak up stream. I'm not buying one but thought they were clever. And I know , long extension cord or strong drill....

I got out Friday, after the big rainfall. The rain brought out all the trash. So if your floating down the James grab your red bag, I got mine, free, at the Nature Center in Springfield, and pick up some fish and trash on the way down the river. I did manage to catch a few but not near as many as normal and try out my new pfd. The river was on the way down but you never know. Still a great day on the river. Took pictures of a couple and released them all..

Got the kayak out this weekend. I had to pull leaves off my lures all day long, but......I caught my second walleye, on the James, for this year. I now have a new walleye hole. My streak is three years in a row, just bragging. The camera was acting up, so the first bass pictures are a little out of focus. I caught the cat on a 2 inch swimbait next to the bank and the crappie, which was a surprise, was caught on a crankbait. Green and yellow crankbaits were the colors today. I was in St. Louis last week and bought a kayak pfd for those cold days at the beginning of next year or when the river is up. I had an inflatable but as afraid I wouldn't be able to pull the cord. All in all I had a great day on the river. Took pictures of a few and released them all....

Mofloatjunkie, I fish with 3 Shakespeare Ugly Stiks, 5 ft, with light action. The reason for length is so it does not stick out past the end of my kayak, for when I crash into any thing, and I like using light action for the fun of it. I have never had one break yet and I dont know of any fish I lost fishing with a light action rod. I have to buy them at Bass Pro as a combo and pitch the reel, it's junk.

Went out this weekend and thought I would post a couple pics of my trip. As we all know the river is a little low, has a little leaf litter, and the tree is still across the river above Frazier Bridge. I caught more goggle eye than smallmouth, everything on crankbaits, both deep and shallow. I had a double last year and got another one this year, you dont know what it is until you pull it in. And I had a big gar come up and bite off one of my wakebaits. Next time I will put on a wire leader. I took pictures of a few and released them all...great day on the river...

Nice fish, I always enjoy pictures with post. I float this section but never really stop and fish it. Looks like I need to. Do you normally just use spinnerbait on the James ?

I put in at dawn and kayaked down the James this weekend. Caught a lot of goggle eye, some smallmouth, bass, 2 cats and a hogsucker. The two lures that were catching fish were H2Os and Savage Gear crankbaits. I caught all the ones in the pictures on a Savage Gear. The retrieve that was working was a slow retrieve- pause- slow retrieve -pause and when I paused it, they hit it hard. I has rewarded at the end of my trip, when 2 deer showed to check on me, the stealth of a kayak. Over all a great day on the river. Took a couple of pictures, posted one for RSBreth, and released them all....

Just an FYI, there is a tree across the river upstream from Frazier Bridge. Maybe it's been there awhile but it's new to me. NO problems getting around it. I don't know who bring the chainsaws, but it's all the way across. I did a little fishing today. Good day to be on the river, caught more goggle-eye than smallmouth, This was about the size I caught and everything on crankbait. Most of the bits came early in the morning.

Thanks for all the comments. Trapshot25, before I go to the river, I strip down my truck. The only thing I leave in my truck are the floor mats. When I park at the access I leave my glove box and center console open so hopefulIy people will see there is nothing in my truck to steal. I also put on a locking gas cap. I don't know many on this forum " paddle up and float back", but for myself, the best experience is using a shuttle. I use my wife, but call James River Outfitters or Hootentown. Or you could do what this guy does... https://www.facebook.com/pages/Solo-Shuttle-Trailer

Put in around 6 am, the river was a little up and moving a little. I was catching an occasional goggle-eye and pumpkinseed. It was like this for about 2 hours. I put away my go-to lures and started trying everything in my tackle box. I dont know if it was the lure, time of day, or the fact the E-Coli level 8 times the normal level, but......One of the big smallmouth I caught, I was in the kayak and she took me for a little ride. The other was caught in waist deep water. It was great. The gar, my first one ever, was caught on a crankbait. I knew the lure would not stay in its mouth for long so as soon as it came along side the kayak I grabbed it, thats when the lure fell out of it's mouth. I did have an experience I have never had. On one of my cast, the crankbait treble hook got caught on the line. As I reeled it in, it would not dive, but only sputtered on the surface. Haft way to the kayak a bass hit it and knocked it up in the air. I read if this happens, let it set and maybe the fish would come back. It did and I caught it. 2 big smallmouth bass, one gar, one walleye, one sucker, plus smallmouth, goggle eyes and pumpkinseeds. What a GREAT Day on the river....Took a few pictures and released them all.