James River Float

[Jeffrey Silvan]

I went out with Matt Miles this past Saturday and did a float on the James. It was by far the best trip I've ever done. I caught so many big fish, we stopped measuring and counting. I'm guessing we had at least ten 16" or greater smallies, with most of them being 17-18", a couple at 19" and my personal best (and the second fish of the day), a solid 20" smallie in the picture. The 20-incher was fat as all heck too. I had one more that might have pushed the 20" mark, but it evaded the net, got under the boat, and broke me off. All the fish came from up top. Huge difference from the Shenandoah, where the small fish of this trip (12/13") were bigger than big fish on my last float on the Doah. I also got a nice sized spotted bass and we saw some big gar and one massive catfish. Best of all, I brought my wife and Matt got her casting like a pro. I learned all I need to do on this trips is bring her a case of beer and she'll be perfectly content taking in the sun and casting for 20 minutes every couple hours.

[Charlie Church]

Looks awesome. I need to get down and fish the James some time. Were they keyed into a certain color?

[Daniel Davala]

Awesome report Jeff, and AWESOME FISH!!!  Cameron A. and I are floating with Matt tomorrow, so needless to say I am pretty fired up.  Whoever hasn't floated the James with Matt Miles should put it on their very short list of things to do.  It's easily as good as any float trip anywhere and better than many.

I'll be sure to post a few pics and a report on Wednesday.

Dan Davala

On Sun, Aug 23, 2015 at 10:26 PM, Jeffrey Silvan <jeffre...@gmail.com> wrote:

I went out with Matt Miles this past Saturday and did a float on the James. It was by far the best trip I've ever done. I caught so many big fish, we stopped measuring and counting. I'm guessing we had at least ten 16" or greater smallies, with most of them being 17-18", a couple at 19" and my personal best (and the second fish of the day), a solid 20" smallie in the picture. The 20-incher was fat as all heck too. I had one more that might have pushed the 20" mark, but it evaded the net, got under the boat, and broke me off. All the fish came from up top. Huge difference from the Shenandoah, where the small fish of this trip (12/13") were bigger than big fish on my last float on the Doah. I also got a nice sized spotted bass and we saw some big gar and one massive catfish. Best of all, I brought my wife and Matt got her casting like a pro. I learned all I need to do on this trips is bring her a case of beer and she'll be perfectly content taking in the sun and casting for 20 minutes every couple hours.

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[Jeffrey Silvan]

Matt didn't seem too concerned about the color, but we never used anything but chartreuse. Apparently the fish think they're cicadas. 

On Sun, Aug 23, 2015 at 10:43 PM, Charlie Church <charlie...@gmail.com> wrote:

Looks awesome. I need to get down and fish the James some time. Were they keyed into a certain color?

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[TurbineBlade]

Jeff I've taken a few looks at that fish, and that's really a great one.  I'd be tickled to death to catch it!

Gene

On Monday, August 24, 2015 at 9:40:04 AM UTC-4, Jeff Silvan wrote:

Matt didn't seem too concerned about the color, but we never used anything but chartreuse. Apparently the fish think they're cicadas. 

On Sun, Aug 23, 2015 at 10:43 PM, Charlie Church <charlie...@gmail.com> wrote:

Looks awesome. I need to get down and fish the James some time. Were they keyed into a certain color?

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[Charles.Tapp]

Nice fish, Jeff.

A buddy and I fished the James with Matt yesterday, and I can second everything said previously -- Matt is a great guide, and he put us on the fish. We floated a different stretch of the James, and had a solid day of fishing. Steady throughout the morning, with fewer, bigger fish in the afternoon. We didn't break the 20 inch mark, but not for lack of opportunities. We lost count of the number of fish caught, but both set new personal bests with a couple above 18", topping out at 18.5 inches for the day. All were caught on the big chartreuse sliders Jeff mentions. We also spooked a monster that was pushing 23 inches. 

Do yourself a favor and book some time with Matt. The topwater bite should continue for at least another month.

Charlie

[TurbineBlade]

Nice fish Charles!  We've been messing with picky brown trout when it appears we should be jumping on the Matt Miles bandwagon --

What kind of presentations do you guys typically make on a drift trip?  I float (canoe) frequently and find that one of the benefits is from the front, standing position in being able to make longer casts out in front of the boat to fish which aren't yet aware that there are humans in their habitat.  You get some fun takes that way.  That's on clear, fairly "small" river fishing though. 

Do you do the same on the James?  Stop and wade fish pockets?  Flip around to hit back eddies? Throw toward the bank, mend, and repeat?  Do you throw streamers also, or just surface stuff?  I've never been on the James and am just trying to picture what a day would be like. 

Gene

[Jeffrey Silvan]

There were plenty of situations where we made 30 foot casts or shorter, but also situations where I could drop a 60 foot cast. In general, Matt likes shorter casts because you'll have a hard time setting the hook on a big fish with a long cast. You can really fish however you like. For the big fish, Matt likes using poppers dead drifted with no more than a twitch after it's been sitting for a few seconds. He says you'll catch more fish on streamers, but the biggest typically come from the surface. We just floated the whole time, but there's no reason you can't stop and wade. Try the typical smallmouth habitat - weed lines, grassy edges, rocky banks, etc. My big fish came from maybe a foot of water along a line of grass on the bank. If you want to fish deeper water, you'll need to throw streamers because the fish generally won't come up if they're holding on the bottom in 6 feet of water.

On Tue, Aug 25, 2015 at 6:36 AM, TurbineBlade <doubl...@gmail.com> wrote:

Nice fish Charles!  We've been messing with picky brown trout when it appears we should be jumping on the Matt Miles bandwagon --

What kind of presentations do you guys typically make on a drift trip?  I float (canoe) frequently and find that one of the benefits is from the front, standing position in being able to make longer casts out in front of the boat to fish which aren't yet aware that there are humans in their habitat.  You get some fun takes that way.  That's on clear, fairly "small" river fishing though. 

Do you do the same on the James?  Stop and wade fish pockets?  Flip around to hit back eddies? Throw toward the bank, mend, and repeat?  Do you throw streamers also, or just surface stuff?  I've never been on the James and am just trying to picture what a day would be like. 

Gene

On Monday, August 24, 2015 at 1:06:37 PM UTC-4, Charles.Tapp wrote:

Nice fish, Jeff.

A buddy and I fished the James with Matt yesterday, and I can second everything said previously -- Matt is a great guide, and he put us on the fish. We floated a different stretch of the James, and had a solid day of fishing. Steady throughout the morning, with fewer, bigger fish in the afternoon. We didn't break the 20 inch mark, but not for lack of opportunities. We lost count of the number of fish caught, but both set new personal bests with a couple above 18", topping out at 18.5 inches for the day. All were caught on the big chartreuse sliders Jeff mentions. We also spooked a monster that was pushing 23 inches. 

Do yourself a favor and book some time with Matt. The topwater bite should continue for at least another month.

Charlie

On Monday, August 24, 2015 at 11:49:14 AM UTC-4, TurbineBlade wrote:

Jeff I've taken a few looks at that fish, and that's really a great one.  I'd be tickled to death to catch it!

Gene

On Monday, August 24, 2015 at 9:40:04 AM UTC-4, Jeff Silvan wrote:

Matt didn't seem too concerned about the color, but we never used anything but chartreuse. Apparently the fish think they're cicadas. 

On Sun, Aug 23, 2015 at 10:43 PM, Charlie Church <charlie...@gmail.com> wrote:

Looks awesome. I need to get down and fish the James some time. Were they keyed into a certain color?

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[Clever Knickname]

Are any of these areas accessible by kayak? If so, any recommendations on where to park/put in?

Those are some impressive fish and big smallies on the top water is incredibly alluring.

[Jeffrey Silvan]

There are lots of public put ins and take outs that have parking areas on the James. DGIF website should have all the locations detailed out. The specific area I fished with Matt has too much water between public ramps to do a single day float, but luckily for Matt's clients, he has access to private ramps that let's him float less pressured sections of water.

On Thu, Aug 27, 2015 at 8:51 AM, Clever Knickname <andy.r...@gmail.com> wrote:

Are any of these areas accessible by kayak? If so, any recommendations on where to park/put in?

Those are some impressive fish and big smallies on the top water is incredibly alluring.

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