someone told my dad we need to be catfishing in the river near milton.Ive never fished there before and he wants to take the pontoon.Can anyone give me some info on fishing the river up there,is it safe to take the boat,can I catch bait,or what kind of bait for catfish??? Im not thrilled about putting a pontoon in the river so please gimme some info. thanks in advance. Steve

Steve. Check the river flow always before you try to put in a Milton. The ramp is 90 degrees to the current without any way to get the boat out of the current as you trailer it. Upstream from that ramp a very short distance there is a rock riffle called Indian Falls. Be very careful if you try to navigate that (I do not think it possible on a pontoon unless you were born doing it) for two reasons: firstly the thing your prop will hit will be rock and secondly the river level fluctuates a lot there due to Smith Mtn power station way back up the river....point is that sometimes there is enough water to get upstream but then the water falls out so you cannot get downstream...I have a few "really fun" dents in the bottom of my jetdrive until I got the hang of this one.
If you come off the ramp (and I am still not sure about a pontoon at Milton ramp) and go downstream, I would think you'd be fine but again pay close attention to those flows b'cause up that far you sometime get very little warning of a water-change.
For the fish, my view is that they are pretty well scattered all the way up the rivers right now...jfo

thanks jfo I really dont want to do it but I hate to tell my dad no.Im gonna try to talk him into just going to the lake or bank fishing somewhere up river.

just downstream from the milton ramp and on the opposite side of the river, there's a bankhole up on dirt bank that seems to get a good bit of use. On the maps, this bankhole guards a small creek coming into the Dan. There are rodholders there a lot. I'm clueless if its public/private or how to get there but it looks too well used to be private. Alternately, put your pontoon in a staunton view or staunton state park and motor up into the mouth of dan or mouth of staunton....both are very riverine in less than 5 miles and off excellent "river" fishing...good luck...post us a pix on cotd of your dad...jfo

steve,i have lived on the dan near milton for 46 years,i strongly advise you not to launch a pontoon boat there.you can,t go any farther then the indian rocks and its too dangerous down the river for a pontoon.the water changes depths so much from danville opening and closing the gates.As far as the pipes in the ground at the mouth of countryline creek that joe was talking about,mostly locals fishing for small cats as the banks are too high to bring in any big fish.And the land around the creek is private.

thx db...the info from the ground side is pretty unknown stuff to me...jfo

I would also have to strongly advise against a toon going in at Milton. It may never make it back out! Thats a nasty piece of water in even the best suited boat for that type of water.

Thanks guys. I didnt want to do it.I just needed some that knew the area better than me to tell me I shouldnt.Guess we will be heading to the lake in a day or so.I think I can get used to being laid-off.I get to FISH FISH FISH TIGHT LINES EVERYONE STEVE

Looks like were going to the split and maybe up one of the rivers thursday Iwill post a report and maybe post a HOG on COTD. STEVE

You do NOT want to put a pontoon boaty (that you care anything about) in Dan River at Milton. I've been fishing it about 35 years and have nothing to gain by lying to you. I have a 16 foot flat bottom but still switch over to a jet drive when going in the river.

any of you remember seeing a bass boat put in at Milton and going UPSTREAM until it disappeared around the bend a couple of summers ago?That was an idiot I see in the bathroom mirror every now and then!

I've done some crazy stuff myself out of there but the water was always up! Hey shad whats up? I take it your the same guy from the BOC? I've seen that Dan River Yacht boat plenty of times too and thats a perfect name for it! How have you guys been doing on the flatties? I need to get another boat for the river, the new one I have is a bit too butt heavy for it!

... for the guy wanting to fish the Dan "Safely" ... you mentioned bank fishing ... got cha' a great place (depending on your physical health) ... go to Danville, get on 29 south (from 58)... 1st exit south is Dan Daniels park. go up the ramp turn right - go into the park (no charge) after going to the top of the hill bear left go to the end of this road (apears to end between two ball fields - but it does turn right at the end (still paved) ... go to the end of this road you'll see a decent parking area and you'll only be 50 yards from Brantley Steam Plant Dam. I 've been wading behind this dam dozens of times. You have a nice paved area to sit if you'd like. I prefer to put a box of hooks in one pocket- weights in another - catch my bait there (shad - with a throw net) or you can bring whatever you want - and I like to wade around behind the dam fishing pockets for catfish. I've also caught a bunch of small mouth bass with the biggest being alittle over 3 pounds.