I am looking at planning a weekend trip to Lake James to go after some small mouth some time this year. It is about a 2.5 hour drive from me so I do not get to fish this lake often.

 

What month would you say is the best time for me to come if I have extremely little to no knowledge of this lake and will be primarily junk fishing? I will do some graphing but likely very little due to only having 2 days to fish.

 

Thanks!

IMHO late April or May will be best.   Lake James is the first lake on the Catawba river system.   It's fed by the Catawba River, the Linville River and Paddy's Creek.    The Linville side is best for Smallmouth.   There's a big flat we call James' bottoms where the Linville River enters the lake.  Smallmouth spawn there, or at least they used to.  An 11 year old kid I took fishing there ~40 years ago caught an 8 pound Smallmouth there.  I caught a 6 pounder(my PB Smallie) the same day.  I sold my boat 31 years ago.....bought my current boat in Dec 2021.  I only went to Lake James 1 time last year.   I went in March.  I caught 3 (pre spawn?) Smallmouth on the Linville side, and 3 Largemouth near Paddy's creek.   Water temp was lower 50's.   

 

Historically (speaking decades ago) the Linville side was best for Smallies.  The Catawba side was best for Largemouth, and sheer numbers.   

 

Unless things have changed a bunch over the years they'll be plenty of Smallmouth around the Linville river entrance in April and May.   You can easily pick out the area I'm talking about on a map, even Google Maps.   

 

Decades ago there were NO houses on Lake James.  There's some houses now, but it's still a beautiful lake, with nice scenic mountains around it.