Secrets of the James

James River Guide Shares an Extraordinary Day

I can only guess that given this gift of what I saw on the James River, I must be doing the right things in life. I had just started out on an early fall guided fishing trip.  It was October, 2007 and we were leaving the Richmond Yacht Basin and headed upriver to fish for catfish.  As we passed the Dutch Gap power plant, and Osborne Landing came into view, I saw a huge splash in the middle of the river.  Then I saw another one.

I thought to myself, “Could these be sturgeon breaching?”  I saw another massive splash of white spray and said to the folks on board, “I think we’ll start fishing over here (on the south bank of the river across from Osborne Landing), and let’s see if these are sturgeon breaching.”

Over the course of the next 45 minutes we witnessed an amazing sight.  At least 25 perhaps 30 times sturgeon breached the surface of the James River.  For some reason, they shot out of the deep water, up into the air, some coming completely out of the water, then landing on their sides.  These five to nine foot legends of the river made splashes that resembled a ten-foot section of telephone pole being dropped from 15 feet in the air right into the water.  It was awesome.  And the story gets better.

After the show of great fish slowed, we proceeded upriver.  We were about a half mile upriver from our anchored position when out of nowhere, a sturgeon came out of the water right next to the boat, right next to us!  The six to seven-foot sturgeon must have been swimming right along with the boat and it shot out like a dolphin.  My jaw dropped and before I could say anything to the party on board, another sturgeon (or perhaps the same one) jumped in the same manner, right next to us again.  These fish were so close I could see the barbels under their chin and see their eyes.  I was forever changed, and continue to this day to get closer to this great river.

A funny thing happened at the end of the day.  Surprisingly, the out-of-town guests on the pontoon boat asked to me, “So, what is the most interesting thing you have ever seen on the river?”  I answered, “You saw it today.”

Captain Mike Ostrander guides fishing trips, teaches fish and fishing to people of all ages, and guides modern-day explorers of the James River on sight-seeing adventures on the Captain John Smith National Historic Trail. He can be contacted at  (804) 938-2350  or emailed at mike@jamesriverfishing.com.

Sturgeon jumping or breaching is a well-observed behavior that remains largely unexplained by science. One interesting theory is that the sound produced by jumping is used for communication. See links to these articles for more information and some great action shots of this amazing and threatened species:

National Geographic:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/10/061030-sturgeon.html

New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/04/us/04sturgeon.html