Long Rodding on the Shenandoah

Earlier in the week James asked me to go fishing on Thursday and I was only too happy to work an early day at the Pentagon and head out to some of my favorite waters.  When presented a ripe peach, always take a bite, never turn it away as you never know when you'll get another.  

James with his first feisty smallie

We met in south parking and slipped out 66 West enroute to the Shenandoah's intersection with Rt 50.  Our plan was to fish a timeslot later than I fished this area last week and see if once the sun fell beneath the tree-lined west bank the east bank fishing would heat up.  We arrived while the sun was still high in the sky with few shaded banks so we drone south along Swift Shoals Road for a mile until we found the shoals that are the road's namesake.  The river is generally deeper south of the Rt 50 bridge, steeply-banked and looks very fishy.   Both sides of Swift Shoals Road is posted so the best way to access this portion of the river is via canoe from the traditional Rt 50 put-in.  I think I'll hit this next time I try this area. 

The smallie action today was subsurface -- note the bugger in mouth

We went back to the normal put-in, suited up and headed to the river.  The river was at an optimal (low) level reading 1.76 at the Millwood Gauge and flowing clear at 80 degrees.  James decided used an LL Bean reel (7 wt line) paired with an 9' Okuma SVR 6 wt.  This combo paired VERY well and the heavy bellied-line shot like a champ as we'd uplined it by one-weight.  I paired my Access 5 wt with 6wt WF line and the tip flex rod loaded earlier and better than with 5wt line. We began by fishing down the west wide of the river and found sunfish on the bank as expected.  

Visit Duber, Kaitlyn and Mark at the Orvis Woodbridge store to learn more about local smallmouth -- tell'em Scott and Matt sent you

The water got too deep after a 100 yards so we turned around.  I tried to cross the river 50 yards upstream of the bridge, Conor may have been able to make it, but unless I went into UDT-mode, I wasn't going to make it -- I ended up swimming back.  James and I practiced tossing mends and long distance roll-casting (hammer that nail) and saw some interesting wildlife as we worked back to the bridge where we crossed to the east bank.  We worked our way downstream (South) and James caught his first smallmouth in downed-tree structure along the bank.

James works the east bank above the bridge

It wasn't a monster, none of them were today, but jumped it for him a couple times.  A fly-fisheman's first smallmouth is a treat and James deservedly had a monster smile on his face.   He'd go on to catch alot more fish today but this first bronzeback was a highlight.  We worked our way down the river for another 200 yards then made our way back to the bridge.  I ended up catching my largest smallie of the day not along the bank where I had planned, but in the center channel by the bridge pilings snapping my popper on a long drift through the swift, center-stream current.

Shenandoah peach -- take a bite

Unfortunately it turned out that the fishing actually slowed as the sun fell.   This perplexed and frustrated me as I had expected the east bank bite to heat up as the sun fell beneath the west side trees.  The last 90-minutes we both ended up catching a fish here and there, but nothing remarkable.  We both ended the day sore (lotsa casting) but happy.   Reminder: Make sure you bite the peach when you can.