{Tidal Potomac Fly Rodders} Re: Floating the James River?

Wow thanks both Connor and Greg. Super helpful information. 

Flows do seem low, so I was thinking a shorter float with less paddling. Would like to maximize fishing not paddling/portaging if areas are super shallow. 

Any special bugs I should know about on the James, or the usual smallie candy?

On Tuesday, August 13, 2019 at 8:51:25 PM UTC-4, Connor Donovan wrote:

We have used Twin River Outfitters a few times and they are great.  They operate out of Buchanan and offer trips and rentals from Iron Gate to Balcony Falls and have private campgrounds along the way. This past Memorial Day, a group of us floated Iron Gate to Buchanan (35.5 miles) over 3 days - 2 nights, camping both at TRO sites. The sites were nice and chopped wood was plentiful. Over labor day a few years ago, we rented canoes from TRO for one-night trip from Buchanan to Glasgow and DIY-camped on a small rocky island. Overall, you can't go wrong with any of those stretches.  But 10+ miles/day on that river at summer low flows, although amazing and beautiful, is definitely more paddling than fishing.  Try to keep it in the 5-8 miles/day range if you want to get in quality fishing time.  Or even 3-5 miles if you want a shorter second day.  If you're renting, go with a canoe so one person can steer/control the boat while the other fishes.  

Here's a great resource for the upper James:

https://upperjamesriverwatertrail.com/

On Tuesday, August 13, 2019 at 12:07:24 PM UTC-4, Gregg DiSalvo wrote:

We didn't have any issues as there are official launches.  That being said, you run the same risk that you run leaving your car anywhere in rural areas.  

On Monday, August 12, 2019 at 4:44:22 PM UTC-4, Morgan Cosgrove wrote:

Considering a float on the James over Labor Day weekend. Thinking of renting kayaks. 

Anyone have any insight? I've never fished smallies down that far, so if any one has any good ideas for a 1-2 night float, kayak rentals, campsites ect. would be much appreciated. 

Thanks! 

--
http://www.tpfr.org
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Tidal Potomac Fly Rodders" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to tidal-potomac-fly-rodders+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tidal-potomac-fly-rodders/55c88951-80b0-4375-bc46-9d665adfff2e%40googlegroups.com.