On my way home from visiting family in Charlotte, NC, I made a quick stop off on the James River just off of route 29. It was about 4 pm when I parked at the Joshua Falls access point and couldn't find a good path on which to walk upstream or downstream from the access point so I just hopped in right in front of the parking lot.
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Right off the bat I started having luck with a white CK baitfish catching decent sized smallmouth near the shoreline. But then I started to notice the action that was going on throughout the rest of the river... There were smallies jumping literally everywhere! They were seriously jumping at least two feet out of the water as they chased after some large dragonflies. So I quickly changed my tactic and put on a large glitterbug and started wading out into the middle of the river. Thankfully, the water wasn't moving too fast and wasn't too high for me to do so.
Within the next hour, I pulled in about 20 smallmouth, most of which were significantly larger than the rest that I've caught all summer. Right after I'd return a big guy back safely into the water, I'd spot another one about 30 feet away jump. In the hour I was there, I caught plenty of fish and yet I didn't even move more than 20 yards downstream from the access point.
I don't know if I had gotten there at just the right time of the day/month/year, but I definitely think that this section of the James was the best piece of water for smallmouth I've seen all summer... and I've seen a lot of water.
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