South Fork Quick Hit on a Friday afternoon

The Gorgeous first Rapid always good for 3-5 smallies

standard Doah bronzeback

Share the river  :-)

James splits the river above the amazing second rapid

Not our quarry but beautiful colors and a good fight

this corner to the left of the main flow is my favorite spot in the third rapid

These were truly black bass -- dark dark on top

looking back up the wider 4th rapid -- lousy with bass

Biggest bass landed today (above) but I missed a WHALE while trying to land him and grab my camera

49 BTH / 4.5 hrs

Harpers Ferry Smallmouth Recon

A recent visit to Orvis inn Woodbridge and encouragement from Mark pushed me toward Harpers Ferry in search of Smallmouth.   I'd long wanted to fish the stretch from above Harpers Falls starting at the ruins of dam 3 down to the footbridge leading from West Virginia to Harpers Ferry so I didn't take much persuading.  A walk around the block convinced my neighbor Doug to tag along and ride his bike up the C&O Canal while I fished.  As we crossed over the 340 bridge from VA to WV I was reminded how big and beautiful this water is.  We parked about a mile above Harpers Ferry, Doug took off and I rode my own bike up to the head of the dam three ruins.  I found beautiful, deep, fast, stained water, my plan to wade in and out easily would have to be adjusted.  I never was able to fish the center-current flows as I simply couldn't get to them even swimming, there was just too much fast water.   I caught several small smallies in back eddies, but they were nothing to get excited about.  I also found that the wind, channelized by the notch made casting quite a challenge, it must have been a steady 20mph straight upstream.  I ended up wading out into a half dozen rock-hopping areas with minimal success.  My lesson learned here is to bring a kayak and heavier fishing gear and someone with local knowledge to clue me in to the better water.

Here's the section I fished from the WV side -- so much gorgeous water but hard to access w/o a kayak

The Confluence makes some new fisherman

Matt, Brody, Phil and Gavin ready to step off

Phil and I had been planning a fishing trip with his boys for several months and after my last foray on the South Fork I knew that we'd be better served to ditch the canoes and find a place to wade and play.  The confluence of the Rapidan and the Rappahanock was perfect.   Phil, Gavin, Brody and I met and chowed-down at Harold and Cathys then made our way south to Fredericksburg and then Northwest to Richarsonville winding our way through back country roads until we arrived at the Fredericksburg right of way.  The boys had played with fish before but had never been on a real fishing trip so I was anxious not to disappoint them. The water was beautiful and clear flowing at perfect mid-pool.  We stepped in loaded with spinning rods and beetle-spins and a lone 6wt for me.  We didn't have much luck in the Rapidan above the Confluence but as soon as the Rapidan joined the Rappahanock at and below the actual confluence the fishing picked up.   Gavin and I learned to look for fast dark water that we learned was also deeper water and found if you made a decent cast into the fast dark water you stood a pretty good chance of a bite.  Phil and Brody also began nailing them about 30m away.  Phil at one point caught several in a row in a honey pool.  I was actually the last one to land a bass and happily helped Gavin cast and quickly become a seasoned angler.  Seeing new fisherman catch fish is one of lifes great joys. The smiles on their faces tell the story.

Gavin in foreground , the view is back up the Rapidan

A great smile from Gavin's first fish

Gavin Quickly learned how to take a hook out, and yes he kissed this fish

Phil and Brody survey dark water

 

12" at top, finger, bail ....ready and cast

Brody was intimidated by nothing

Fish-on for Brody

Happy fisherman

Father and son at the Honey-pool

Gavin, fish-on in the dark water

surveying the confluence

lunch

Gavin with a VERY solid smallie, this guy foought like a 1992 Tyson

Gavin learning the long rod, strips in a nice smallie

Gavin's largest smallie

A Great smile says it all -- the four of us will have another fishing adventure 

Skinny Rapidan just off 29

In an effort to find a great place to take my friend and co-worker Phil and his two boys I decided to check out South River where it flows into the Rapidan just south of Madison, Va.   Scott had fished this area years ago and got a bit twisted around on the river and roads but found it loaded with river chubs....and heck yes...river chub are fun to catch especially if you are just looking for action.   As I pulled up to the bridge I Recon'd on Google maps I was disappointed by the lack of water in the south and didn't even wet a line.   Maybe someday Scoot will show me where he hit all those fish.   I turned around and decided to take a look at the Rapidan just east of where HWY 29 crosses it.   I found a farm/right of way and jeeped down to the water.   I was pleasantly pleased to see small but lovely water as I made my way down a short trail.  After a few casts a was  greeted with my first smallie of the day, a little feisty fellow.  As I made my way up and down the river from the entry point I found more silt and less rock than I hoped and while there were and are fish here, id only give it about 60-minutes of fishing fun.  I'm glad I hit this piece of water but don't think I'll be back.

South Fork Smallies

We were rigged and ready by 0920 and couldn't wait to get in the water

After decades in prison for some Nancy Reagan drug violation Norman Brown was pardoned by President OBama and reflected, "Now I want to do the small things that just mean so much. Like look at trees."   With good friends along, creaky knees and reminders of the fragility of life all around I slowed down and appreciated the trees, as I enjoyed my latest fishing adventure to the South Fork of the Shenandoah.

The Water was high, the center channel of the first rapid is usually more defined

gives a good idea about the river being full

The water was summer-warm, 5" higher than normal and discolored as we dipped into the rapids just downstream from Newport, VA.  For James and I the flow quickly crested our knees and pressed our legs making the footing sketchy and threatening a dunk downstream. Paul made peace with the current more easily with his fishing tube and soon we were catching smallies in the shadow of pyramid rock.   

No better lunch buffet on the River -- Dos Equis Amber for hydration of course

standard 9 inch smallmouths feel like bruisers as they fight in the heavy water

James: fish-on ~ smile-on

With an assortment of rods jutting at odd angles and a canoe-tube tether arrangement (not sure how I allowed Paul to talk me into that) we must have appeared an odd looking barge to the bald eagles marking our progress as we made our way through the lake portion to the second rapids where the fishing picks up.  

Paul, happy in his tube, got to lots of water

James throws a nice loop back toward some neighbors

Paul loves the right side pocket water just down from these cliffs

We weren't alone on the river, but the Doah has broad shoulders and is loaded with smallies so there's room for everyone and once in awhile we either paused or pushed through other anglers.  I really enjoy fishing with Paul and James as the wonder of a strike, hook-up and fight transports them both back to childhood wonderment.    I think they like catching fish as much as I do (well almost).

 

A Medalist 1496 from my Grandfather Jack Livingston

An upstream vista shows the pockets and runs of the middle section

James surveys a flow

We were catching smallies at a decent, steady rate in the rapids and on the shoulders of the flows.   Paul was also employing his tried and true, flip, sink and wait technique and began nailing bronzebacks in the pools and eddies off the main flow.   Curse me for fly fishing heresy, but the most effective "fly" was a 2" smoke-sparkle tube bait on a 1/32oz jig head, with this rig (even while appreciating the trees, eagles and grandeur of this river) we caught just over 200 smallies. This smoke sparkle-rig was outperforming my tried and true golden retriever on the order of 2:1!   I need to remember that in order to make actual fly-rod casts with a 1/32 jig head-rig I need to use 6wt line or better to account for its weight, my Access 5wt, while great for streamers, was just a bit light for my smallie-slaying redneckery. 

Paul fish-on, one of many for him in this rapids stretch at the bottom of the float

nice smallie in the fast water for brings out a great smile for  Paul

We moved down the river fishing within catch-admiring distance of one another and each had points where we caught a half dozen fish in 10 casts followed by slow portions that we quickly pushed through. 

We slowed down when we hit the rapids in the final 3/4 mile of the float and we were all glad to have saved some time to savor this last section which we frequently gloss over at the end of this float.  The smallies were thick as thieves in the shallow but broad rapids and there were several points where we were three abreast across the river all fish-on at the same time.   It was amazing.  Paul and James both caught several +13" hefty smallies and Paul took the largest fish of the day from a seemingly non-descript, but very productive center flow.   I had a devil of a time fishing downstream in this section, the water-sodden canoe tethered to my belt kept pulling we towards the next shoal and interfered exasperatingly with downstream casts but I still caught my fair share + a few for Scott, Fritz, Jacob, Bryan, Henry and my new philosophical mentor Norman Brown. 

Thanks for looking -- catch you later