Hot day on the James

[nhornback]

Floated from hootentown to marble ground yesterday in the heat and and had surprising amounts of success. Got on the water about 10 and stayed out til dark. 

The fishing started off slow but came alive just below the arch.  Had a 100 yd stretch where 12-14 inch smallies were fighting over my texas rigged critter craw on every cast - quickly made me forget about how insanely hot it was! 

Deeper pockets, edges of current and shade lines proved most effective. And SLOW presentations were key - the bass were picking it up off the bottom while bait dead still.  Hard to fish that slow in the heat!  Craws, tubes and brushhogs worked with consistency, and green pumpkin browns or watermelon candy were the best colors.  

Had some success at dusk on poppers and a mini torpedo, but the topwater bite was slower than anticipated that late in the day.

Best part was I got to introduce river smallies to a fishing buddy who calls Lake Ozarks his home lake and hadn't kayak fished before.  By 9 when we were loading up the boats he commented that he still wasn't ready for the day to be over even if he was sore and worn out...

Gotta love that stretch of river! 

 

[curtisce]

Is marble ground the campground just before Mcall Bridge? Went by there last week and they have a new sign up> looks like they are trying for business.

[curtisce]

Hows the water clarity. I tried to float right before the last big rise in the water. Even the the water was on the higher side of fishable water and also colored.we started at Ponce went down thruogh 2 riffles when the rain hit hard for 1 hour. We decided to pull the boat back up to the put-in.Goff creek was running chocolate water into the stream.we were in my 17ft paddle john which we launched off of the trailer. The put-in requires 4wd when it is dry so we had to carry all our gear to therode and then pull the boat up oever the mud bank and up to the road. Didn't have as much fun as you had ysterday.

[nhornback]

Marble ground is a couple riffles down from mccall bridge.  Some people call it "mudbank" or "extension of V" but I know it as marble ground.  

Actually talked to either the owner or an employee of that campground as I floated by.  He was loading canoes and mentioned hot showers, flushable toilets etc, as well as decent shuttle prices if using your own yaks/canoes. jamesrivercampground.com is the website.  

Has potential to be a nice campsite but some flooding messed it up from the looks of the concrete slabs that fell when the bank washed out.  

[nhornback]

Water clarity was normal-ish or a little on the stained side but that was a positive in my mind.  Had been monitoring water levels all week and saw it had about stabilized so I'm sure that aided in the smallies aggression.  It wasn't quite like a low pressure day in late may, but the fish were cooperating well for such a hot day.  No trophies, only 1 that MIGHT have been 15" inches (i dont bring anything to measure with) but plenty of 10-13 inchers made for lots of fun fights.