Fishing the James River in Missouri for smallmouth bass

It never even crossed my mind that I would be fishing the James River near Nixa this fall. I have read about the river for years, and see plenty of instagram photos showing some great fish caught from there. It’s just a bit of a drive from St. Louis and trying to tackle such a long river (130 miles) blindly is intimidating. In addition, there are plenty of good smallmouth waters closer to home that I am more familiar with. But as luck would have it, with a little bit of guidance Billy and I ended up spending a beautiful fall Sunday catching fish after fish on this beautiful river.

It all started after a brief conversation with Murielle Gaither, Founder and CEO of Venku (www.venku.com). Venku is an online marketplace connecting hosts with outdoor enthusiasts in search of unique outdoor opportunities. Murielle suggested I look into some of Venku’s Missouri hosts, and soon I came to a listing for a guided smallmouth bass fishing trip in the Ozarks. Next thing you know Billy and I were booked for a half-day trip on a Sunday in September fishing the James River.

Ozark Smallmouth Alliance

Our guide for the trip was Ryan Walker, founder of the Ozarks Smallmouth Alliance. I have long followed his blog and social media pages, and respect his knowledge and experience. The only problem is that I had this crazy issue in my mind about fishing with a guide. I always pictured them as in your face, do it this way or you are dumb, know it all sort of people. In addition, I’m really not very good at taking instruction or having people tell me what to do. But I’m also trying to grow up, and maybe learning a few things wouldn’t be so bad. So the trip was on, and we were excited.

Billy and I stayed in Springfield the night before our float. We both labored through some restless sleep, so waking up at 4:30 was no big deal. It’s funny that no matter how old I get, I still get so excited about an outdoor adventure the next day that I have trouble sleeping. We grabbed breakfast on the go and drove off toward the river access through a very dense fog. Even after a missed turn or two we still arrived at the river just in time. Billy and I found Ryan already there, kayaks ready and on the ramp. As the morning light slowly crept through the fog, we talked fishing and tied up the rods for the day of fishing the James River. Ryan discussed techniques, and showed us the most effective way to throw the baits we would be using for the day.

Fishing the James River

We finally pushed off, sometime close to 7:00 and started fishing right away. Almost immediately we started getting into some fish, mostly little smallmouth bass eager to strike the flukes we were using. The flukes, poured by Jackin Jaws Baits, were fished weightless Texas rigged on a circle worm hook. It took me a while to figure out how to fish the fluke properly. The trick was to fish it slowly, and twitch the bait just enough to get some erratic action. The current did the rest, adding quite a bit of movement to the fluke.

We fished slowly, floating during the calm stretches of river and getting out to wade fish the faster water. The fish were everywhere. We caught them in the current, up against rock banks, and under root wads or submerged trees. The biggest fish, though, were caught away from the bank near large chunk rock. We fished all day almost exclusively with flukes, but we did throw a shaky head craw with some success. Ryan helped us along by standing on his kayak and pointing out submerged boulders or even fish that we could not see from our lower vantage point.

Most of the fish we caught were smallmouth bass 10-12” long. We also caught a fair number in the 14” class. In addition, we brought a few decent spotted bass to the boat. Largemouth bass, green sunfish, bluegill, and longear sunfish rounded out the mixed bag for the day, all caught on flukes. These multi-species days using the same bait and technique is one of my favorite things about fishing Ozark streams. The colors of all of the fish were striking, adding to the beautiful setting.

Scenery was added bonus

Fishing the James River was also a great way to appreciate the scenery around us. Large, rocky bluffs lined the side of the river and the hillsides were covered in a wide variety of tree species. Cardinal flower bloomed on the banks. We saw osprey, eagles, a huge kettle of vultures, herons and pileated woodpeckers. At one point, a sharp shinned hawk was chasing an angry kingfisher as if it was going to catch it. Not really sure who would have won that battle.

But for me, the excitement was below the boat. Never have I seen so many fish of all species under the boat. All day long, at any moment, fish were visible in the clear water. Suckers of all types, all 3 black bass species, channel catfish, carp, crappie, sculpin, shad and minnows of all types were present. Sometimes I was distracted by the show underneath and floated right past a promising hole without casting. The variety and quantity of fish in the James river says a lot about the quality of the fishery.

Fishing the James River might have spoiled me a bit. The fish were aggressive. I caught 7-8 smallmouth bass in one 50 yard stretch with current. Often one fish would strike the bait but not get hooked, but 2-3 others would keep after it as I continued the retrieve until I would finally catch one. Even the bigger fish were active, striking sometimes as soon as the bait hit the water. Somewhere in the last half hour of the day I hooked into a beautiful smallie, probably around 17-18”. However, I lost the battle when it took me under a boulder and broke off. Losing the fish of the day stung a bit, but could not detract from our day fishing the James River.

OK so maybe I am growing…

Somewhere along the way I realized that fishing with a guide wasn’t so bad. Ryan was incredibly helpful, present but not overbearing. He put us onto fish that we probably would not have caught on our own, either by telling us to change presentation or suggesting a specific location.

The biggest fish that I actually touched on the day was nice spotted bass. Ryan guided me to a root wad to lean my kayak against so that I could cast into a specific break in the current. Immediately I had a fish on and Ryan was there with the net so I wouldn’t blow this one. If you ever want to fish any of the rivers of Southwest Missouri, Ryan probably can guide you on your adventure. Just check him at and book a reservation here:

https://www.venku.com/listing/b6a6979b-ca46-4f9b-a2e2-65b0c21c0e8a?preview=false

Bonus Day at Taneycomo

Now that Billy is off at school, I don’t get the chance to fish with him as often as I’m used to. Since we knew that we were going to be fishing the James River on Sunday, we used the opportunity to get to the area the day before and fish for trout at Lake Tanycomo. That was an adventure in itself, with plenty of fish caught. The feisty rainbows were hitting on hair jigs at first, then as the day wore on only size 16 or 18 scuds. Billy would stand in a riffle, kick up the rocks underneath him, then cast directly downstream and catch one every cast.

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True to form, I managed to lose the largest fish of the day on Saturday as well when a 20” rainbow broke me off when I tried to force her in. But this was a glorious weekend and a great adventure. I owe a bit of thanks to Murielle and Venku for leading on an adventure that wasn’t even on our radar a few months ago. Now that we got a taste, I have no doubt Billy and I will be back again soon fishing the James River.

Here are some helpful links. First, to see the experiences Venku has to offer:

https://www.venku.com

For information about the Ozark Smallmouth Alliance and some great fishing tips, check this out:

https://ozarkssmallmouthalliance.blogspot.com

For some information on the James River:

https://mdc.mo.gov/property/watersheds/james-river

Lastly, I mentioned that the flukes we were using were poured by Jackin’ Jaws Baits. I’m always happen to support a Missouri small business, so if you feel the same look them up on Facebook or on Instagram @jackinjawsbaits.

Thanks for reading, and remember to free the fighter!