 |
| Swift Water Shoals = very uniform w little character |
I had scouted Swift Shoals upstream of the Rt 50 bridge over the lovely Shenandoah several seeks ago and today I returned with James determined to fish in and around the shoals for 3 hours to begin my Labor Day Sunday. The shoals were an easy 12 minute paddle straight upstream from the bridge which is still visible from the shoals. I had hoped to find a defined rapid so we could cast into the strong current and slowly swing barrel-head-weighted black and green buggers into the deep slack water on the shoulders of the rapid.
 |
| Pretty Feeder -- yielded one smallie in pool on left near stump |
To my interested disappointment the rapid was so uniform that it didn't readily present those shoulder seams I planned to work and was so gradual that there never was a defined pool at the end of the rapid. The rapid just ended in a seemingly featureless lake. We fished in and around the wide shoal/rapid and up an unnamed feeder stream below the rapid.
 |
| Typical smallish Shenandoah Smallie |
We picked up a half-dozen bronzebacks generally in 3-5 feet of cobble bottomed water and as many sunfish, but the shoal was very readable and didn't seem to have many secrets. This place is very accessible but less fishy than James and I had hoped.
 |
| Emerging from the Depths |
 |
| Smallie bends James Rod |
No comments:
Post a Comment