Gumby and I floated the James River, Scottsville (route 20) to New Canton/Bremo Bluff (route 15), over the weekend. We drove up to Scottsville on Saturday, floated Sunday, returning home on Monday. Water was foamy (from Lynchburg I imagine, but clear (when we floated). Weather, fishing, and camping report to follow...
The weather was great during the float. On the drive up, we like to died when ambushed by an unbelievable storm cell that snuck in between Williamsburg and Richmond. Torrential rains, whipping winds, traffic was almost at a standstill. Many folks pulled over. Trees down on the interstate. Rain so thick you couldn't see your windshield wipers. I was expecting either the mother ship to emerge from the clouds or a tornado - I wasn't sure which. It was white-knuckle, 5 mph driving for about 35 minutes. But somehow that didn't stop us from pushing onward. It rained on and off the rest of the day including a pretty nice downpour during the evening campfire. We attached tarps to the sides of the pop-up dining fly, set out some pans to catch leaks, and hunkered down in the kitchen until we finally gave up and hit the sack. The weather was much nicer Sunday with only one rain and a few sprinkles throughout the day.
Up early Sunday, breakfast done by 8, shuttle done by 9. We shuttle south of the river using route 20 to route 652 to route 15. I liked this a whole lot better that the route 6 shuttle we used in the past. But then again, we didn't stop at Hardware River either. Put in at 10 o'clock at the campground launch. I was a little worried because it's 10 miles to Bremo Bluff and a rate 1 mph would put us at the take out at 8 pm. But we had good flow, took short breaks, and kept moving while on the water. We took out at 5:30. A long day but a good day. Fishing could have been better but the float was very nice.
Fishing was good during the first 5 or 6 miles but dropped off completely after we made our way through the Hardware River islands/rapids. I caught about 4 fish, Gumby about 7; all kinds, nothing too big. The most fishing excitement I had was when a hooked a 4" smallie (in the belly) which was then gobbled up by an 18" gar. When I first saw it I thought I had a snake on the hook. Well, when the gar saw me he spit out the smallie and swam away.
We stayed at Horseshoe Flats Campground. A bit pricey but well kept, small, and quiet. Peggy charged us $30/night/2-man tent. Although the CG was small, the tent sites themselves were large. We could have easily set up 6-7 tents in our area. Each two man tent would be charged the same rate. A wheelbarrow of wood costs...wait for it...you guessed it...$30, or about 1 buck per piece. The facilities were nice but limited to two - one for the men, one for the ladies (although I used both, which they didn't seem to mind). While pricey it was a nice place to stay. Right on the river bank (10 feet straight down to the river) with equal amounts of shade and sun.
Long float but a fun float and better than not floating at all. We had a good time.
r/Jay
Last modified August 13, 2013 - Back to the RRCC Main Page.