Fritz, Jacob and I hit the Bench Lock on the Rap this morning ahead of Tropical Storm Lee. Fritz and I had scouted it yesterday and the water looked as productive as we could remember it. After an easy but muddy bike ride in we geared up and stared looking for fish. The river was running at 2.24 and crystal clear on the Fredricksburg gauge. Fritz and Jacob used light weight spinning gear w small mepps-type spinners. I rigged up my 4/5 wt rod with a small white grub on a 32/oz jig head. This rig was still too heavy for the moderate flow so I quickly switched to a #6 bead-head bugger with a black and green sparkle skirt. We immediately started picking up sunfish and the occasional small bronzeback. We fished together scouting, casting and catching a fish every three casts. There's so much gorgeous water we never had to leave the 150 yards upstream and down stream of the lock. The most consistent action was found in the seam between the run outs and the slack water in about 2-4 feet of water. We fished for about 2.5 hrs and caught a 10 small bronze backs the largest being about 11 inches. I love this spot for it's easy access, bike accessibility and AWESOME rock-garden structure. This place is a winner.
