Anybody on here fish the upper James during early spring? Also what lures work the best?

White one and two inch grubs weightless on light weight spinning tackle.

 

Black and blue mini jigs on 4 to 6 pound test.

 

Watch the rocks.

Zoom flukes black and green pumpkin. U can throw weightless or w/belly weighted hook and fish them like jerkbaits.

dead drifted nose hooked stickbaits in 3,4 or 5" sizes, suspending jerk baits and depending on the day spinnerbaits and cranks can do well too.

Thanks guys for the info. Any of y'all fished on the James between Lynchburg and bent creek.

Welcome to the forums, slicker84!

 

Never fished the upper James, but might get an opportunity sometime this year as I've got relatives in the western part of VA close to the JR.

Flukes! I forgot flukes.

Flukes! I forgot flukes.

Flukes are great smallie baits as long as it is a day ending in "y"

Are yall useing flukes when the water temp is in the upper 40's and lower 50's. I use flukes in the late spring and all summer long. But never tried them in early spring.

Yamamoto hula grubs on the upper james are killer, small jigs , tubes, senkos, top water , spinnerbaits.

Thanks guys for the info. Any of y'all fished on the James between Lynchburg and bent creek.

I do a canoe float trip down the James every year. It's northwest of Lynchburg through alpine, Glasgow, and balcony falls. Last year my tackle was left in a car that was driven to the take out. We camp on the side of the river the first night, and By the time i realized it, we were too drunk to make it back to the car. Let me say, I was highly disappointed in myself at first for this mistake, but **** happens. I had two 1/4 rooster tails to fish with for the three day trip. One white, and one dark yellow. I caught probably close to50 fish each day, and also had the biggest of the trip. this is more of a drinking trip than a fishing trip, so I wasn't even fishing that hard. I caught more fish than the other five boats combined. by the end of the trip the lures were so beat up they were unrecognizable, but they were still catching fish. Best spots were below riffles. Cast them across stream and reel em just fast enough to get the blades spinning. Let them swing down stream as they come back to the boat.

Go far enough west and the James has monster brown trout, between the dam at Moomaw and Covington

Be very careful, friend.  Drinking and boating can have some very unwelcome and unwanted results.  

Zoom flukes black and green pumpkin. U can throw weightless or w/belly weighted hook and fish them like jerkbaits.

 

+1 This works well for me.

Be very careful, friend.  Drinking and boating can have some very unwelcome and unwanted results.  

We aren't  running wide open in a bass boat tick drunk on a crowded lake, or hitting class V rapids in a canoe.  This stretch of the river is not exactly the Mississippi.  My dog has actually swam almost this entire stretch next to my canoe with no issues.  

 

Go far enough west and the James has monster brown trout, between the dam at Moomaw and Covington

I believe that you are talking about the Jackson sir.  

lol, been down South too long, lol I don't know why I confuse the two

white fluke weightless,hooked thru the nose,looks like a dying shad.killer!

We aren't  running wide open in a bass boat tick drunk on a crowded lake, or hitting class V rapids in a canoe.  This stretch of the river is not exactly the Mississippi.  My dog has actually swam almost this entire stretch next to my canoe with no issues.  

 

I believe that you are talking about the Jackson sir.  

It is the Jackson that Brick is referring to. There are some monster smallmouth below the papermill. Tubes, rapalas, and 1/4 ounce Joes Flies work well. A kayak,canoe, or john boat works great.