Gonna Try Shelvin

[Daveinozark]

new to the area, and sport.

gonna try Shelvin on Thursday, or actually the bridge above Shelvin - anyone know if there is parking there? I need easy access, with the inflatable and am looking for deeper water to avoid scraping. Is this area relatively deep on the James w/o much current?

[smallmouthjoe]

I'm pretty sure you can't park at the bridge, there's a farm house right there so you could ask them if you could park there. I think the water down from the bridge is a shallow run with lots of bed rock, not very many fish in there. But there is a giant hole down from that run that does hold some good fish. The next riffle and hole also has some nice fish in it, last year I caught a 19" smallie on a grub out of there. Honestly I would just go to Shelvin and if you can get past the first shallow area you can make your way up to those two riffles. I wade it so it shouldn't be too much of paddle in an inflatable. Hope all goes well.

[Daveinozark]

thanks!

yeah, I don't mind the wading. I just saw that huge opening on the bend of the river on Google maps as a good spot to try. If you can't park there at the bridge, then going from Shelvin up would be the only option for me

[smallmouthjoe]

Now I'm not saying it's the easiest wade, I'm just saying that I do it. If you do wade it stick to the left side of the river after you get pass the riffle that's at the upper end of the access. There's on big hole where you'll have to really hug the bank and walk through a foot of muck in order to get around it. But up from there is the first riffle that consists of a submerged gravel bar with water flowing over it, that's a decent spot but it seems to be really hit or miss. In the big hole above I would suggest crossing the river at that riffle with the wood in it, fishing it first, then walk your way on to the clay bank and fishing the big hole from there. I honestly have better luck there in the winter that half mile stretch above Shelvin is my favorite winter wades. There's a submerged log that is about half way between Shelvin and the first hole that always has fish on it in the winter but only seems to hold eyes in the summer.

I haven't been to The James in a few weeks but I would imagine that they might be a little scattered now and could be anywhere in that initial run. I hope you find them. Good luck.

[crawfly]

The fishing has been tough the last week or so. The plus side is you'll have the river to yourself. I haven't seen anyone else on the river my last three trips.

[Daveinozark]

yeah I ended up parking through a cleared road through the field after the bridge. By the looks of some trash, it looks like others had parked there before so I took the chance. The big section of the river there held some bites but no takers under the tree. I headed down river and didn't have to wade going down. I found a section of strong current that was broken up by a tree stump forming a small pond area. I cast a tube and got a red eye right away. Cast several more times and got tons more bites. The tube may have been too large. I got as far as Shelvin access and decided I better think about going upstream since it wasn't going to be as easy going down. Lots of wading and frantic paddling finally got me back. Didn't catch much, but found a good hole there and areas there that should hold fish. It was a bit more current then I'm used too, so I got a good workout if nothing else. Funny part is I was fishing from a large tree with moss, and while trying to get back in the boat fell neck deep in the water. Good thing no one else was around, oh well, still a rookie

[smallmouthjoe]

Fishing is really tough this time of the year. I have a buddy, who like crawfly, has had some tough days lately. The fishing will get better as winter approaches, I can't wait for a good, chilly wintertime float. Over winter break will be the next time i can dedicate a whole day to fishing. Only three months away.