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   Fishing Conditions

                                              

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Last Updated: October 26, 2011


Date:  10-25-11                                                   Time:  9:30 - 4:30
Water:  Crystal clear                                           Water temp:  54
Weather:  Sunny                                                 Temp:  70
 
Well, the river was up at a nice level.  I did the SP2 trip from the State Park to Karo Landing.  I  got all the way down without any canoe dragging.  There was a lot of debris in the water, leaves, algae and assorted crap.  Lots of cleaning algae off my lures.  It was a real nice day, good fall weather and beautiful leaves.  But the fishing was pretty slow.  Don't know if it was the rain during the night before, or the cold water, or what, but they just weren't biting.  I got a sum total of fifteen smallmouth for the entire day.  Averaged out, that was less than two fish per hour.  Not real good fishing.  I was figuring on using the spinner a lot, like I have for the last few weeks, but that was mostly a waste of time.  I caught two small bass on the spinner.  All the rest of my smallmouth were caught on 4" senkos (green pumpkin).  I caught most of them in deeper water.  Super slow bottom fishing in slow moving water was the only pattern that worked for me.  When I say slow fishing, I mean SLOW.  You would not believe how long I was letting those senkos drift.  Most of the time I was drifting the lure on the bottom for a minute or so, reeling in one turn, then drifting it some more.  Not exactly fast exciting fishing.  Getting fish off the hook, they felt like I had pulled them out of the refrigerator.  At least half the smallmouth I caught were ten inches or smaller, very few went as big as twelve.  That said, I did manage one fourteen and one sixteen, both fish in the deep area in front of the houses.  Also somewhat insulting was the fact that I didn't get a single bluegill yesterday.  It was just one of those kind of days.  I enjoyed the nice day on the South Fork, its always nice to be on the river on a nice sunny fall day.  But the fishing was less than perfect for sure.  It was my last trip for the year.  No complaints, this year has been a lot of fun.  I love my weekly fishing trips on the South Fork.  Hope you folks get a chance for a last trip before Front Royal Canoe Co. closes next Monday.  Good luck with your fishing.

Ed T.


Date:  10-18-11                                        Time:  9:30 - 2:00
Water:  Moderate stain                             Water temp:  58
Weather:  Sunny                                      Temp:  70
 
Another nice day of fall fishing on the South fork.  Today's trip was a little unusual.  I did the short trip from Karo Landing to F.R.C.C., instead of my usual SP2 trip.  I also used a Jackson Coosa fishing kayak instead of my canoe.  It was the first time I ever used a kayak.  I must say it worked quite well for me.  If you've never used a kayak to fish, or if you've never tried a fishing style kayak, you might give one a try.  It had a nice high and comfortable seat and it was very stable.  I was surprised at how comfortable it was.  The water level was up real nice, so it was an easy float.  There was some debris in the water, but not bad.  The water temperature had only dropped a couple of degrees since last week.  Best of all, the fish were biting.  Not super hot, but steady and reasonable all day long.  Caught most of my smallmouth and a good number of bluegill fishing my trusty #3 Mepps spinner (gold blade).  Best pattern was dragging the spinner through fast moving water below rock ledges.  The best spots were usually a good ways down from the rocks.  Didn't get anything very tight to the rapids.  Another pattern that worked a few times was hitting the slower water off to the side of the rapids.  At times the smallmouth seemed to be sort of pooled up.  I found several honey holes where I pulled out three or four bass from the same little area. The smallmouth were aggressive and hard hitting, but most of them were small to medium, very few over a foot.  Caught a decent quantity of bass today, but not much in the way of size.  I was also fishing a 4" senko (green pumpkin) in the flat areas, usually in deep water.  I didn't get a lot a smallmouth with the senko, but that was how I got the bigger ones.  The last three fish I caught were the biggest I got all day.  I was fishing the senko in King's Eddy, the large deep area just upriver from the F.R.C.C. landing.  Got three nice smallmouth, all over a foot, and the very last fish was the biggest of the day.  I normally measure my bass on the stay of my canoe.  I have it notched off in inches.  Since my canoe was back at the barn, I had no way to measure.  If I was to guess, I'd say the big one was about sixteen, 'cause it was bigger than anything I've caught in a couple of weeks.  Sure was a good way to end up a nice trip.  The weather was good.  The leaves were real pretty.  And most important of all, good fishing.  Short trip, but I was happy with the results.  And it gave me time to beat out the worst of the traffic back in D.C.  Next week will be my last trip for this year.  Hope you get in one or two more yourself.  Good luck with your fishing.

Ed T.



Date:  10-11-11                                       Time: 9:30 - 4:30
Water:  Clear                                          Water temp:  60
Weather:  Overcast                                 Temp:  70
 
I fished my usual trip, the SP2, from the State Park to Karo Landing.   The river level was still up just enough to get through without climbing out to drag the canoe.  Did some serious scraping and rocking through a few of the worst spots, but never had to climb out.  Remember, this trip is the most shallow of the bunch.  Other trips are easier paddling.  There was very little debris in the water.  Some grass and algae growth on the bottom, but not a big problem.  Just got to clean your lure off pretty often.  The water temperature has dropped eight degrees since my trip last week.  I heard people fishing over the weekend found the fishing to be a lot like I reported last week, caught lots of really active mostly small fish.  However, that wasn't what I saw yesterday.  I started out throwing a spinner yesterday, but had very little luck with it and switched over to 4" senkos (green pumpkin).  My first fish were some nice smallmouth I caught down in the lower end of the park.  Slow fishing the senko produced several smallmouth ranging from a foot to fourteen inches.  I also caught a fairly large bluegill on the senko, just shy of nine inches.  That's an unusually large bluegill for the South Fork.  Later on, I caught a lot of bluegill, including several big eight inch fellows, mostly on the #3 Mepps spinner (gold Blade).  I caught almost all of my smallmouth with the senko.  It was slow fishing.  First of all, it was slow in method.  I had to drift the lure real slow most of the time.  And second, it was also slow as far as the bite.  I only caught about a dozen bass by one o'clock.  But most of the smallmouth were nice midsize fish from twelve to fourteen inches.  By one o'clock I had only caught one smallmouth under a foot.  So the size thing was a pretty good deal.  I was trying the spinner in fast water around the rocks, but with very limited success.  Mostly getting a bluegill here and there.  I caught most of the smallmouth by fishing deep water with the senko.  Rather odd to be fishing a typically summer pattern in such cold water, but that was what worked for me.  Did pretty good in that deep area out in front of the houses (past mile marker 33).  Saw some really big largemouth in that area again, but I just can't seem to score on those guys.  I swear the only lure that's gonna work on those big largemouth is dynamite.  About one o'clock the fishing just shifted into high gear.  I started getting smallmouth and bluegill left and right on the spinner, like about every five casts or so.  I was getting a lot of small bass, but I was also getting a few big ones, up to fourteen inches.  Really good fishing for about an hour and then it just died down suddenly, back to the slow fishing it had been.  The rest of the day was pretty much like it had been in the morning, slow, but nice size bass.  Kind of weird huh, the way it got hot for about an hour and then it just went away.  Strange day.  I don't know, its all how you look at it.  Which was better?  A day like last week where I caught lots of bass, but a lot of them were borderline sardines, or a day like yesterday, where I didn't catch all that many but at least they were decent size.  Well, neither day was exactly perfect, but both days weren't half bad either.  At this point I'm happy just to get in some last trips before winter rolls in.  If the fishing is reasonable, I'm happy.  And I've seen some great fishing in the fall in years past, so I've always got my fingers crossed.  Yesterday was ok.  Not great fishing, but good enough.  Good enough that I had a nice day out on the South Fork.  The leaves were starting to show some color and there weren't a lot of people on the river.  Nice and quiet and pretty.  Fishing is sort of like a form of meditation to me, very relaxing and good for the spirit.  Know what I mean?  So its always good to get in a day of fishing.  Good luck with your fishing.

Ed T. 

Date:10-4-11                                                 Time:  9:30 - 4:30
Water:Clear                                                   Water temp:  68
Weather:Cloudy                                             Temp:  65
 
Missed a couple of weeks, so it was nice to get back on the South Fork.  I fished the SP2 trip, from the State Park to Karo Landing.  The river level was decent, just high enough to get all the way through without getting out of the canoe.  Sure has been a good year for water level.  Little bit of debris in the water, but nothing to worry about.  Throw in the cooler water temperature and you got some real good conditions.  It was kinda windy and cool, but hey, its October already.  I heard that folks have been getting some good fishing since the water cooled, and that certainly turned out to be the case yesterday.  The fish were quite active.  I started getting smallmouth pretty much right off the bat.  I spent most of the day throwing a #3 Mepps inline spinner (gold blade).  With cooling water temperature the bass sense the oncoming winter and start chasing baitfish, trying to stock up for the winter months.  So a spinner or a crankbait becomes the lure of choice.  They were hitting the spinnerbait hard.  Only problem was getting mostly smaller bass, most of my smallmouth were in the eight to ten inch range.  Not many fish over ten inches.  I think that was because smaller bass were more hungry and willing to hit a lure faster than the larger fish.  The bigger, older, bass are just a little more wary.  They tend to size up the situation a little more before they hit.  Sort of like adult humans as compared to teenagers.  The younguns are hungry and by god they charge right up and hit it.  See, the river is full of large bass.  With the clear water I could see lots of large bass swimming all over the place.  The deep area around the housing development is loaded with big largemouth.  But the only two bass I got over a foot were two fourteen inch smallmouth I caught in that same deep area with a 4" senko (green pumpkin).  When it came to the spinner, the little guys were beating the big boys to the punch just about every time.  Oh well, even though it wasn't a great day for big bass, I caught a ton of small guys.  And only lost one spinner all day.  Only other complaint I have was I didn't catch but a few bluegill.  But again, a minor complaint.  While I was out in front of the houses a family of beavers swam out and got out on some nearby rocks.  They jumped back in and swam over very near to my canoe, sat there bobbing and looking at me.  It was a mother and four pups and they seemed curious about me and my canoe.  After awhile they lost interest and swam back over to the woods.  It was all very cool.  Beats the heck out of seeing them on TV or in the zoo.  It was pretty good fishing all day, worked the crap out of those spinners.  Had one bass fly up out of the water and shake off the spinner.  I cranked just a few turns more and a second smallie nailed it.  They were really chasing it down, coming in groups.  I got down to the deep part of the river just above Karo Landing a little early.  I don't usually have much luck in that area 'cause it gets so heavily fished, so I usually just paddle on through.  But yesterday I had the extra time so I fished it it with a 4" Power Worm (green pumpkin) on a 1/8 oz. split shot rig.  I got three twelve inch smallmouth and a bluegill.  A nice way to end the day for sure.  Sure was good fall fishing.  The bass are in the mood, cooler water, time to eat.  You can bet the bigger ones will be feeding for winter soon enough.  Fall is usually a good time to get some big bass.  I shall see in the upcoming weeks.  F.R.C.C. closes at the end of the month, so its time to get in your last trips before that long winter ahead.  Good luck with your fishing.

Ed T.



Date:  9-13-11                                             Time:  9:30 - 5:00
Water:  Slight stain                                          Water temp:  74
Weather:  Sunny                                              Temp:  82
 
Beautiful fall day on the South Fork of the Shenandoah River.  Did the SP2 trip from the State Park to Karo Landing.  Just a few days ago the river was up pretty high from all that rain last week.  But it had already dropped down by yesterday.  It was still high enough to get through without any canoe dragging.  I was surprised to find very little debris in the water, a little bit of lawn grass from runoff was about it.  No algae at all.  In fact, I couldn't see a bit of algae anywhere.  That high water just flushed the river real clean.  Nice!  The fishing was fairly good.  Much like the last time I went, they weren't just slammin' it or anything.  Just a pretty typical day of fishing on the South Fork for this time of year.  Caught a decent quantity of fish, some good sized ones in the mix.  About 90% of my fishing was with spinnerbaits.  Most of my fishing the last couple of monthes has relied on soft plastics, so it was a nice change of pace.  The fish were pretty aggressive, starting that fall thing of chasing down smaller fish, stuffing out for the winter to come.  I was getting most of them throwing the spinner in the faster water around the rocks.  A lot of times they hit it right at that edge/line between the fast stuff and the slack water.  But I also had good luck dragging the spinner along rock ledges in the deeper flat areas.  I started out with a Shad Rocket (chartreuse) for the first few hours, then switched off to a #3 Mepps (gold blade).  One thing nice about using the spinner was all the bluegill.  I had about the best day for bluegill I've seen this year.  Caught almost as many bluegill as smallmouth.  Some of them were sure enough worth throwing in the frying pan.  Most of the bass were under 10".  Only caught a few bass over 10, but surprisingly managed to get three that went 14".  Two of those were caught on spinnerbaits and one went to a 4" plastic worm  ( green pumpkin) on a 1/8 oz split shot rig.  I was throwing the worm in the flat areas the last hour or so of the trip.  Super good weather yesterday.  Good day of fishing.  Good way to start the fall season.  Good luck with your fishing.

Ed T.

Date:  8-31-11                                               Time:  9:30 - 5:30
Water:  Clear                                                     Water temp:  78
Weather:  Partly cloudy                                      Temp:  82
 
I did my favorite South Fork trip, the SP2 from the State Park to Karo Landing.  Hurricane Irene dumped just a smidgen of rain in the river, brought the level up a few inches.  So it was just a little bit easier to get through this stretch than last week.  Had to get out to drag the canoe over a few of the worst spots.  Not too bad.  There's a lot of algae.  Keeping my lures cleaned off was difficult.  In the worst areas I had to clean that junk off after almost every cast.  In other words, less than perfect conditions, but nothing that was really that big of a deal.  The fishing?  Pretty good.  Not a four star knock your socks off day, just good.   About what I would consider average for this time of year.  Fair number of fish, mostly midrange size.  I started out with a #2 Mepps spinner (gold blade).  My very first cast of the day gets me a bluegill.  I caught several more bluegill and a smallmouth with the spinner.  I tie on a 4" senko (green pumpkin) and get a couple of smallmouth.  One of them hit the senko right on the top, so for the fun of it I tie on a Tiny Torpedo (baby bass) and start throwing it in the shadows near the bank.  I caught several nice bluegill and smallmouth with the Torpedo by the time I reached the end of the Park.  Never got any more hits on the Torpedo after I left the park.  From that point on, I mostly fished the senko and occasionally tossed a #3 Mepps (gold blade) in the fast water around the rocks.  The fast water did give up some decent fish, but the deeper areas in the generally flat rock bottom spots was the prime pattern.  What I really looked for was a deeper area with some rocks or ledges, some kind of structure.  That's where they like to hang around and ambush prey.  I was usually jerking the senko on the top, then letting it sink down to the bottom, and finally letting it drift.  The bass were hitting it at different points, some on the top, some on the way down, some of them after it had drifted for quite a while.  The fishing was consitant up 'til about noon, then it went dead.  I caught I think one fish between noon and one.  The it picked right back up, in fact even better than it had been, and stayed pretty good the rest of the day.  I did most of my fishing in the afternoon with the senko, but I was also using a 4" Berkley Worm (green pumpkin) on a 1/8 oz. split shot rig.  I fished the worm mostly in the shallow spots.  Most of the smallmouth ran 8 to 12 inches, with a few a little larger.  The two best went 14".  I hit a couple of good spots in the afternoon where I just sat and caught fish after fish.  Overall, a pretty good day of fishing.  Nice way to end the summer season.  Like I said, not a great day.  Just a good average day of fishing on the South Fork.  But what a nice way to spend the last day in August.  Looking forward to the fall season.  Good luck with your fishing.

Ed T.


Date:  8-23-11                                                                 Time:  9:30 - 5:30
Water:  Clear                                                                  Water temp:  78
Weather:  Sunny                                                             Temp:  82
 
I did the SP2 trip, State Park to Karo Landing.  Its getting shallow through some parts of this section now, summer level.  Had to get out and drag the canoe a few times through the worst areas.  Still not a major issue to my way of thinking.  Seen it worse for sure.  Quite a bit of algae now.  Gums up your lures.  Didn't have to clean off my lure every time I cast, but it was still somewhat of a hassle.  As far as the bite, there was good and there was bad.  The bad side of things, it was pretty slow fishing in the morning.  It improved some after noon, but it never got really rolling.  The good side, I caught mostly decent size bass all day long.  I caught a few bass, including a fifteen incher, in the faster water around the rocks with a #3 Mepps inline spinner (gold blade).  I didn't catch a whole lotta' fish around the rocks, but it was worth hitting them occasionally.  Surprisingly, I didn't get a single bluegill yesterday, even though I saw lots of them in the water.  Fact is, I saw tons of bass all over the place as well, but the fish seemed kind of skitterish, scooting away real fast when I got near them.  And I got a lot of quick grabs and slams on my lures, lots of missed hookups.  The fish were kinda jumpy.  I caught the majority of my bass with 4" senkos (green pumpkin), usually slow drifting them on the bottom.  The best spots were deeper holes in rocky flat areas.  A lot of times I had to just dead stick it and let the senkos drift for extended periods of time.  Slow way to fish, but it can get you some decent size smallmouth.  I caught a fair number of 12 to 15 inch bass.  Which helped to make up for the not so impressive count.  It improved after noon, and it really wasn't half bad after two thirty ( I guess the earthquake scared them into biting a little better).  But even in the afternoon it was a kinda slow fishing.  Like I said, it was a good thing I was catching nice size fish.  Not a bad day of fishing.  I felt mellow, happy, and just a little bit tired when I got out of the river.  The weather was just outstanding.  Sunny, not too hot, gentle breeze.  Outstanding!  Only saw a couple of people on the river.  Quiet and beautiful.  Summer's about done, friends.  Hope you got in some good trips this year.  We still got the fall to go, and fall fishing can be excellent.  So plan ahead.  Good luck with your fishing.

Ed T.

Date:  8-16-11                                                                   Time:  9:30- 5:00
Water:  Slight stain                                                           Water temp:  80
Weather:  Partly cloudy                                                     Temp:  87
 
We have been lucky this summer with the water level.  Just when it was starting to get pretty shallow, it rained up in the mountains last week and brought the river back up to a comfortable level.  I did my usual trip from the State Park to  Karo Landing.  It was a breeze getting down the river, didn't have to get out of the canoe a single time.  There was some debris in the water, grass leaves and a fair amount of algae were floating around.  So I had to clean off lures quite a lot.  But all in all, it was good conditions.  The fishing was fair, but a little odd in the way it was off and on.  I would go through a period where I was catching them pretty good for awhile, then it would get real slow, then it would get good again.  So I didn't catch a whole lot of fish for the day as a whole, but I went through some periods of pretty good fishing.  I fished a variety of lures and caught fish on about a half dozen of them, but I will mention only the two that accounted for the majority of the catch.  The #3 Mepps inline spinner (gold blade) got me some good sized bluegill and smallmouth.  I was working the Mepps mostly in the fast water around the rocks.  In fact, my largest smallmouth for the day, a nice fifteen incher, hit the Mepps.  But I'd have to say about 90% of my bass were caught with 4" senkos (green pumpkin).  I fished the senkos all sorts of different ways.  I slow drifted them in deeper holes part of the time, but most of my fish were caught using the senko as a topwater jerk bait, same as you would fish a fluke.  Throw 'em out and jerk 'em on the surface, then let it sink.  Sometimes they would hit them on the surface, more often as it sank or after it got down on the bottom and drifted a little.  I tried throwing flukes of course, but didn't have much luck.  They really wanted the senko.  The deeper slow moving water was the best bet, usually in the flat areas.  I had no luck at all right next to the banks.  But a good deep pool five feet or so off the bank was a good bet, especially if it there was some shade involved.  Like I said, the bite was an on again off again affair yesterday, but when it was on, they were clobbering the senko pretty good.  Highlight of the day came when I tossed the senko out in a spot just downriver from the second big creek.  Tossed it out, gave a jerk, and whammo, right on the top a big bass nailed it.  So big she was towing the canoe around.  Turned out to be a nineteen inch largemouth.  Fat and pretty.  I didn't catch as many fish as I would have liked yesterday, owing to the slow periods.  Most of my bass ran from eight to twelve inches, but I did get those two nice ones.  It really doesn't matter how I look at the count, it was a nice day of fishing.  And it didn't get real hot and I didn't get rained on.  And l watched a beautiful big bald eagle fly back and forth across the river.  Now you tell me how many places you get to see something that beautiful.  Its hard to beat a day of fishing on the South Fork.  Good luck with your fishing.

Ed T.

Date:  8-10-11                                                Time:  9:00 – 2:30

Water:  Clear                                                                    Water temp:  84
Weather:  Sunny                                                            Temp:  88

I felt a bit lazy yesterday, so I did the short trip from Karo Landing to the F.R.C.C. landing.   This stretch is a little deeper than the SP2 trip I usually do, so I didn’t have to get out of my canoe a single time.  Still no aquatic grass through this section.   A little bit of algae here and there, but not enough to be any kind of problem.  The fishing was real slow the first two hours, but it picked up pretty fast around eleven.   The rest of the day was half way decent fishing, better than I expected for summer fishing with hot water and all.  Didn’t do real great with size, but I caught quite a few bass.  I caught a largemouth on a Crickhopper, a smallmouth on a Rebel Craw and one smallmouth on a tube.  I caught everything else on 4” plastic worms (ringworms, green pumpkin and pumpkinseed) on a 1/8 oz. split shot rig.  Did my usual warm water thing, which means slow bottom fishing.  That pretty much sums up most of my fishing for the last few weeks.  My pattern was also the same its been for the last few weeks, fishing the deeper areas in mostly flat stretches of water.  I didn’t spend much time fishing the fast stuff around the rocks.  That pattern just doesn’t seem to produce many fish lately.  I caught mostly smallmouth bass, with a few largemouth and a few bluegill mixed in.  Probably could have caught more bluegill if I had thrown a spinner a little more.  Most of the bass were somewhat small, running from eight to ten inches, some smaller, some a little bigger.  The only bass I caught over a foot was a lone fourteen incher.  Not a super day for lunkers.  But I caught more bass than I figured I would, considering that’s not my favorite stretch of river and the water temperature was less than ideal.  So I was pretty satisfied.  A nice sunny day and a fun, if somewhat short, fishing trip.  Hard to beat a good day of fishing on the South Fork of the Shenandoah.  Ain’t  much left of the summer, folks.  Might want to get in a trip before its over.  Good luck with your fishing.

Ed T.

Date: 7-26-11                                                  Time: 9:30 - 5:30
Water:  Clear                                                   Water temp:  82
Weather:  Sunny                                              Temp:  92 
 
I did my ususal trip, the SP2 from the State Park to Karo Landing.  The river is somewhat low, but not bad for this time of year.  I had to get out and drag the canoe over a few shallow spots, but only a handful of times.  No grass to speak of either, and that's a real bonus for this time of year.  Most years by this time the river is getting pretty choked up with aquatic grass.  The water was crystal clear and debris free.  Nice summer conditions.  Only thing that worried me was the high water temperature, 'cause that can really slow down the fishing.  So when I hadn't caught but six bass by noon, I wasn't all that surprised.  Last week was a bit on the slow side and the water was even warmer yesterday.  But around noon the bite started picking up pretty fast.  By one o'clock I was starting to get 'em at a pretty nice pace.  As the day wore on, it got better.  The afternoon dished up some fairly decent fishing, about as good as you can expect for summertime fishing.  Caught just about all my bass with 4" plastic worms (mostly pumpkinseed, some green pumpkin) on a simple 1/8 oz. Texas rig.  Got a couple of fish on 4" soft stickbaits (green pumpkin).  I tried spinners, crankbaits and flukes, but the worm was the trick.  I think just about any soft plastics, be it grubs, tubes, or whatever, would most likely have worked pretty well.  I did use a #2 Mepps inline spinner (gold blade) to catch a few bluegill.  At one point I tossed the spinner behind a rock in about a foot of water and managed to catch a 20" catfish.  Weird.  I guess the warm water made the poor boy go insane.  The smallmouth were scattered around, caught them in a variety of spots.  The most productive places were deeper holes with slack water.  One good pattern was hitting the deeper areas in the tree shadows near the banks.  Most of the smallmouth were on the smallish side, 8 to 10 inches, with a few that were downright dinks.  Not that many fish were over 10, best smallmouth was a 14.  Smaller fish is pretty much the rule during summer.  When the water gets warm the bigger fish just seem more reluctant to hit.  The clear water makes them more nervous as well.  So it was a nice surprise when I caught a fat 19" largemouth on the worm.  Just above the large set of rapids that precede the twin islands.  Sweet!  Got to say, with the shallow clear water, you can see fish everywhere.  The river is just chock full of fish.  I saw schools of smallmouth.  Saw quite a few really big bass swimming so close to the canoe I wished I had a dip net.  'Cause you know, seeing 'em don't mean catching 'em.  Those big bass can be so wary this time of year.  Still, its nice to see so many fish in the river.  Catfish?  The place is just loaded with catfish.  The South Fork is very healthy, really good fish population.  Nice sunny day, catching plenty of smallmouth, hard to beat that.  Another fun day on the river.  Good luck with your fishing.

Ed T.

Date:  7-19-11                                                                    Time:  9:30 - 5:00
Water:  Clear                                                                      Water temp: 80
Weather:  Mostly cloudy morning,  sunny afternoon       Temp:  94
 
Hi folks.  Sorry I missed three weeks, but I had to go help my mom down in Houston.  So it felt real good to get back on the South Fork yesterday.  I did my favorite trip, the SP2 from the State Park to Karo Landing.  We have our usual summer water level now, its somewhat shallow through this stretch.  I had to get out and pull the canoe over a few shallow spots.  Not all that bad.  Some debris floating in the water, bit of grass and such, but again, not all that bad.  Pretty nice condidtions.  The bite was a tad on the slow side.  Not too shabby, but not quite up to what I would call a really good day of fishing.  I had to work for my fish, slow bottom fishing with soft plastics all day long to get the smallmouth.  The bluegill were hitting a #3 Mepps inline spinner pretty good.  However, I caught the bigger bluegills on 4" Zoom Dead Ringer plastic worms (green pumpkin) on a 1/8 oz. split shot rig.  I used the worm and 4" soft stickbaits (green pumpkin) for almost all of my smallmouth.  Like I said, slow bottom fishing was my game all day long.  Mostly dead sticking the stickbait, throwing it out and just occasionally reeling a turn or so to make sure it wasn't snagged.  Just letting it drift about.  Slow stuff.  Same with the worm.  Cast it out and let it sit, a little bit of a hop every now and then.  When the fish aren't going after faster lures, that's the way I fish.  I tried spinners and crankbaits and flukes all day long, but the smallmouth just weren't cooperating.  My ususal pattern is to spend most of the time fishing the slack water around the rocks.  That worked some of the time yesterday, but I had my best luck fishing the deeper holes in flat areas.  Slow pockets near the banks were pretty good as well.  You know how I always say whatever works for YOU is what works.  Yesterday I didn"t have any luck getting smallmouth to chase any kind of action lures, much less hit anything topwater.  But there was a fly fisherman doing the same trip as me and he got them to hit little poppers right on the top.  What can I say, I have my methods and my lures I'm confident with.  Got my own style.  But there's more than one way to skin a cat.  Speaking of which, I saw a ton of decent catfish swimming around.  With the HOT water temperatures, catfishing is a definate option.  The water was very warm yesterday, 80 degrees, and I have no doubt that was most of the reason the bass fishing wasn't exactly rockin'.  But it was good enough to make for an enjoyable day on the South Fork.   As usual, I had myself a real good time yesterday.  Tell you one thing, it was hot as all get out yesterday.  But the nice thing about the river is you can always take a little dip to cool down.  I tell you friends, even though the fishing was a bit slow, it sure was nice to get back on the South Fork.  My favorite place to fish and one of my favorite places in the whole world.  That said, I want to mention a little something in closing.  I've heard that a few people have been leaving a lot of trash on the river lately.  In my book, that's just not acceptable.  This is a beautiful place and there's just no way we can allow it to get trashed out.  I like to think that most of you who fish know better than leaving your crap behind.  I figure most of you love nature too much to do something so stupid.  But if you see some litterbug messing up, say something to him, or pick up behind him.  Bottom line let's do what we can to keep this place nice.  Good luck with your fishing.

Ed T.

   
Date:  6-28-11                                                               Time:  9:30 - 5:30
Water:  Clear                                                                 Water temp:  79
Weather:  Partly sunny, afternoon thunderstorm        Temp:  88
 
I did the SP2 trip, from the State Park to Karo Landing.  River level is still holding.  I got through this section without any rock hopping, but just barely.  There was a little bit of floating debris, including some algae.  The water was a little higher a few days earlier, so some of it was probably left over from that.  The surprising thing yesterday was the bluegill fishing. Some of the best bluegill fishing I've seen in I don't know how long. Toss an inline spinner into some fast water around the rocks and there you go.  I was using a #3 Mepps (gold blade).  I caught an amazing number of bluegill yesterday.  They ran the whole range in size, from pipsqueak to pan ready.  They hit just about anything, spinner, Rebel Craw, plastic worms even.  But the inline spinner was their favorite.  They were killing the spinner.  On the other hand, the smallmouth fishing was just so so.  It was alright, but just a little bit slower than I like.  Didn't get many big bass, either.  A lot of them were around 10 inches, a few a bit bigger.  Best I caught yesterday were two that were a tad over 14.  I used various lures for the smallmouth during the day.   I started out getting them withh  a Rebel Wee Craw (ditch)  In the afternoon I switched over to the Mepps spinner and  4" senkos (green pumpkin).  The last hour or so I was using a 4" tube (green pumpkin).  I caught most of the smallmouth in the same pattern as the bluegill fishing the fast water around the rocks.  Like I said, the smallmouth fishing never really took off.  I was catching bass all day, but it was kind of off and on and I never really caught a lot of them.  Not bad, but not up to my South Fork standards.  I blame the fluctuating water levels over the last couple of weeks, along with the rapidly changing weather.  I sat through a drenching thunderstorm yesterday.  Certainly not the first thunderstorm to roll through the South Fork in the last few weeks.  So once again I'm saying that when the weather calms down and the river gets into a stable pattern we can expect to see the good fishing that's normal for the South Fork in the summer.  Couple days of sunny weather and the fishing should be pretty good.  In the meantime, if the bluegill fishing keeps up like it was yesterday there's not really much to complain about.  That was some really good bluegill fishing yesterday.  If you don't have much experience with lures, bluegill are more tha happy to gobble a nightcrawler hanging below a float.  When I want to get some bluegill for a meal, that's what I do, a worm and a bobber.  I hope you get a chance to get out on the Shenandoah for some summertime fun.  Good luck with your fishing.

Ed T.

Date:  6-20-11                                          Time:  10:00 - 5:00
Water:  Stained                                         Water temp:  78
Weather:  Mostly sunny                            Temp:  88
 
I did the SP2 trip, the State Park to Karo Landing.  The water level got up pretty high last weekend, but looked to be a pretty nice level when I put in at the State Park.  The water was stained and there was quite a bit of grass, leaves, twigs, even branches and logs floating down the river.  The leftovers from the high water.  But there wasn't so much debris as to be any kind of hassle with messing up lures or anything.  I got two nice size smallmouth, a twelve and a thirteen incher, in the first fifteen minutes of getting on the river.  I was tossing a #3 Mepps Aglia inline spinnerbait (gold blade).  Two decent size smallmouth was a good way to start things off.  I was also throwing a 4" Zoom Salty Dead Ringer worm on a 1/8 oz. split shot rig as well.  As usual, I was mostly fishing the slack water around the rocks.  Most of the rocks were underwater, but I could still tell where they were by the water patterns.  The water was moving pretty fast, but there were still areas of slower water around the rocks.  With the fast water, I wasn't getting many with the worm.  In fact, I wasn't getting a lot of fish with the spinner either.  After those first two quick fish in the morning, it turned out to be kinda slow fishing.  Most of the smallmouth I caught were in the ten to twelve inch range, most of them around twelve inches.  The best I got was a fourteen.  I did get some nice bluegill yesterday, some good pan size beautys.  The bluegill were hitting the spinner pretty good all day.  But the smallmouth just weren't cooperating.  Later on I switched from the worm to a 4" senko (green pumpkin), which got me a few in places where the water was slow enough.  But the spinner was my main lure yesterday.  The water level was coming up at a fairly fast rate, especially after noon.  I could acutally feel it starting to push a little harder.  It was also taking on more stain.  The fishing,which was already pretty slow, just went downhill.  I caught maybe five smallmouth from one o'clock on.  Thank god I was still getting some bluegill.  But as far as smallmouth fishing, the afternoon was pretty much a wash.  Oh well, it was still a fun trip.  Its always fun to be out on the South Fork.  Once the river gets settled down, the fishing will get back to normal.  Which is to say good.  Summer fishing on the South Fork of the Shenandoah is pretty good and usually pretty consistant.  But when you get high water it sometimes throws things out of whack.  Just part of dealing with an outdoor sport.  I love fishing the South Fork, so I just take an occasional slow day as part of the game.  Good luck with your fishing.

Ed T.
 
Date:  6-14-11                                          Time:  11:30 - 5:00
Water:  Slight stain                                   Water temp:  79
Weather:  Overcast                                  Temp:  78
 
The boss (wife) made a rare appearance on the South Fork yesterday.  Been a long time since my favorite fishing partner made a trip down the river with me.  Why is she my favorite fishing partner?  'Cause after over thirty years together we don't have much to say to each other.  So we don't bother talking much.  Perfect fishing partner.  Those of you that have been married a long time will recognize the beauty of this kind of arrangement.  Part of the deal is Sue doesn't like to spend as much time on the river as me, so we started out a couple of hours later than I usually go.  We did the trip from the State Park to Karo Landing.  The river is in nice shape.  Still holding at an excellent level.  We got all the way down this stretch without getting out to drag a single time.  Pretty good for mid June.  Since the water temp was pretty high, I assumed soft plastics would be the best bet.  We fished 4" ribworms (green pumpkin) on 1/8 oz. Slider jigheads and 4" senkos (green pumpkin).  I was also throwing a Rebel Wee-Craw (ditch) to test whether or not they would chase fast moving lures.  Only caught a couple of fish with the Craw, so I kinda' figured we'd mostly stick to soft plastics.  Neither one of us likes to fish around the banks too much, 'cause neither one of can cast with any degree of accuracy and we end up leaving a nice collection of lures in the trees.  So we stuck to fishing out in the middle.  The slack water around the rocks was the most productive pattern.  The first couple of hours was pretty slow fishing.  We only caught a few fish per hour.  Almost all the bass we caught were from ten to twelve inches, most of them right around eleven or twelve inches.  So many of them were  right around the same size I swear it was like we were catching the same fish over and over.  That turned out to be true for the whole day.  To make a long story short, turned out the fishing was slow only because we were fishing the wrong lures.  In the afternoon we tied on #3 Mepps inline spinnerbaits (gold blade).  Started getting fish at a pretty nice clip.  One of those "duhh" moments.  Why did we wait so long to try a spinner?  Hey, hindsight is easy.  So we enjoyed some pretty decent fishing for the rest of the trip. Caught quite a few smallmouth the rest of the afternoon, along with a few nice sized bluegill.  We never caught anything much over twelve inches, but we caught a good number of fish.  I had been raving about that area near the twin islands and while we were there Sue nailed a big one.  I watched her pole bend over real good, so I said, "Don't muscle him.  Use your drag.  Don't muscle him."  So of course Sue just reels him on in fast as you please, pole bending like crazy, line jerking and straining.  We look down and this really big, I mean BIG, bass shoots up close so we could clearly see him, then crosses under the boat.  The rod bends down under the boat and the line goes ping!!!  Goodbye Mr. Smallmouth.  Just as well, really.  I mean, how would I have felt if my wife had been the one to score the big lunker for the day.  Well, friends, in all truth, we had a real fine time yesterday.  It was a nice cool day.  My girl said many times yesterday that she had forgotten just how beautiful the South Fork is.  If I had figured out the lure thing better we would have been catching lots of fish all day.  As it was, we had a pretty good day of fishing.  All in all, it was just a real fun way to spend the day.  Its hard to beat summer fishing on the Shenandoah.  Good luck with your fishing.

Ed T.

Date:  6-7-11                                             Time:  9:30 - 5:00
Water:  Clear                                             Water temp:  77
Weather:  Overcast, at times sunny        Temp:  88
 
Summer fun on the Shenandoah River.  I did my usual trip from the State Park to Karo Landing.  The water has dropped to pretty much normal level.  Fair amount of rocks showing, but still easy to get down the river.  Got through the whole trip without any rock hopping.   We've got warm summer water temperature now, so I used mostly soft plastics yesterday.  When the water warms up, I seem to have better luck with soft plastics than I do with fast moving lures like spinnerbaits or crankbaits.  But, you know, different people fish different ways.  Last week I had very little luck with a Rebel Wee-Craw, but yesterday I heard of a woman who caught a boat load of monster smallies with that same lure last week.  So, you know, it pays to figure out what works best for you.  All I do in this report is tell you what worked for me.  I tried hard lures throughout the day.  I caught a few smallmouth and a few bluegill with a Mepps #3 inline spinnerbait (gold blade) and the Rebel Wee-Craw crankbait (brown).  And one thing I must point out, if you're after bluegill, go with a small spinner or a small crankbait.  Soft plastics are not the best lures for bluegill.  But like I  said, I spent most of yesterday fishing soft plastics, a 4" grub (green pumpkin) on an 1/8oz. jighead in the morning.  The bite was fair to middlin' in the morning.  Mostly fishing the slack water around the rocks, occasionally getting a few around the banks.  The bite picked up later in the morning.  I was getting a few decent ones with the Rebel Craw in the fast water around the rocks but mostly catching them with a 4" ribworm on an 1/8 oz.jighead.  Most of the smallmouth were running in the eight to twelve inch range, only a few were over twelve.  Not a real hot bite, but steady and reasonable.  I was also using a 4" soft stickbait (green pumpkin) in the deeper areas for slow drift fishing.  The stickbait got my best bass for the day, a seventeen inch smallmouth, in the deep  area in front of the houses.  The bite slowed way down from about one o'clock 'til about two-thirty.  Don't have a clue as to why.  During that time I switched off to fishing the worm on a split shot rig.  I was still getting fish, but it really slowed down.   After about  an hour and a half of slow fishing, the bite picked back up.  I changed over to a 4" tube (green pumpkin) on an 1/8 oz.  jighead and started scoring pretty well and getting a few bigger bass.  When I got to that rocky area above the twin islands, I tied on a Super Fluke (watermelon w/ gold flake) and started getting some nice smallmouth.  Most of the bass that busted it on the surface either missed the lure or didn't get hold of the hook.  Most of the fish I landed hit the fluke under the surface, so I was working it underwater most of the time.  Got several nice bass in the mix, a couple of fifteens and a sixteen.  One real big bass broke off on me.  So, much like the last couple of trips I made, I spent the latter part of the trip mostly tossing the fluke, ocasionally using the tube.  Except for that little slow period, it was a pretty good day of fishing.  About what I expect around this time of year.  Not as good as last week, but I still had a good time.  Summer fishing on the South Fork is pretty consistant.  A little better some days, a little slower other days.  Its unusual to have a truly slow day once we get into summer.  Good luck with your fishing.

Ed T.

Date:  5-31-11                                                  Time:  9:30 - 5:00
Water:  Light stain                                            Water temp:  74
Weather:  Sunny                                               Temp:  94
 
 I did my usual trip from the State Park to Karo Landing.  The water level was down quite a bit from last week, but its still higher than normal.  Not a lot of rocks showing.  Light stain, no floating debris, good conditions.  I started getting fish in the park within minutes of hitting the water.  The water is warm and the bass already seem reluctant to hit fast moving lures like spinnerbaits or crankbaits.  Soft plastics seem to work better for me when the water warms up.  I did get a few bass and a few bluegill with a #3 Mepps spinner (gold blade) and a few fish with a Rebel Wee-Craw (brown), but I spent most of the day fishing with soft plastics.  Smallmouth were hitting just abut anywhere.  Banks, flats, or around the rocks.  But the slack water around the rocks was the most productive.  I caught most of my bass up 'til about one o'clock with 4" tubes (green pumpkin) on a 1/8 oz. split shot rig.  Working it slow, down on the bottom, not a lot of fast movement.  Fishing was pretty good in the morning and getting better as the day went on.  Getting good size fish as well.  Only a few under ten inches, a decent count between twelve and fifteen.  It was surprising how many fifteen inch smallmouth I caught yesterday.  When I started running out of tubes I switched off to 4" Berkley Power Grubs (green pumpkin) on a 1/8 oz. jighead.  Worked just as well.  In fact I think just about any kind of bottom fished soft plastic would have worked just as well.  The bite was getting better and better so I started getting some with Zoom Super Flukes (watermelon w/ gold flake).  They weren't too good about hitting the fluke on the top, usually hit it  after it started sinking down.  Sometimes it paid to work it underwater or let it drift occasionally.  When they started hitting the fluke better, I pretty much switched over and only tossed the grub once in  awhile.  They were biting real good the rest of the afternoon, got better and better as the day wore on.  I was catching a lot of smallmouth.  And the size was holding up well, most of them were over ten.  The last couple of trips I've made, that rocky area just upriver from the twin islands has been THE SPOT, especially the area upriver from the island to your right (as you look downriver).  I've been really scoring in that spot.  Yesterday I got a nineteen inch smallmouth, on a fluke, in about two feet of water, about thirty feet up from the island.   Busted that fluke!  It was nice.  Lunker time. Yesterday was a darn good day of fishing.  Best day I've had this year by a solid margin.  Good fishing.   The weather was hot as all get out, but a little dip in the river goes a long ways.  I heard just about everybody was having good luck the last few days, so maybe you ought to think about getting out on the South Fork yourself.  I sure had a good time yesterday.  Good luck with your fishing.

Ed T.

Date:  5-25-11                                                                     Time:  11:00 - 5:00
Water:  Stained                                                                    Water temp:  65
Weather:  Sunny                                                                  Temp:  82
 
Missed last week 'cause once again the river was super high.  Yesterday I returned to my usual trip from the State Park to Karo Landing.  The river was still quite high, hardly any rocks were showing.  My usual game plan when the river level is that high is throwing crankbaits or spinnerbaits.  I usually start with pretty big lures.  I usually don't catch a lot of fish that way, but sometimes I score some big lunkers in the process.  When the water is high and stained the big ones are less timid. So I spent the first hour tossing various spinners and plugs.  I didn't have much luck, only caught a few bass and a couple of bluegill.   Nothing all that big, either.  So I switched up and started slow bottom fishing with 4" tubes (green pumpkin) on a 1/8 oz. split shot rig.  Started getting bass at a reasonable rate, around four per hour.  Not red hot fishing by any means, but not half bad considering the less than perfect conditions.  Most of the smallmouth were in the 8 to 12 inch range, a few a little bigger, a few a little smaller.  They were holding tight to the bottom just below the rock ledges.  The ledges were underwater for the most part, but still visible and still setting up current breaks.  Never had any luck around the banks and not much luck on the flats, either.  Bottom fishing around the rocks was the best pattern.  Around three o'clock I started tossing some Zoom Salty Super Flukes (green pumpkin) in the rocky area just above the twin islands.  Started getting some nice bass right off and catching them at a good clip.  More often than not, the smallies were hitting the fluke right on the top, right after the first jerk.  Aggressive!  I started getting a few larger bass, including my best for the day, a sixteen incher. For the rest of the trip the fluke was my main lure.  Occasionally they wouldn't hit the fluke, so I got them with the tube instead.  The rest of the trip was fairly consistant fishing.  Again, it was not super hot fishing, but I felt it was pretty good considering the high water.  I started the trip hoping I'd catch at least a few fish and wound up with a pretty good day of fishing.  Nice hot sunny day (not a single thunderstorm for a change).  And lord knows I didn't put much effort into getting down the river.  So, you know, I had a good time.  I have a lot of good times on the South Fork.  As the level drops next week and the water temperature goes up a little, I think its safe to assume the fishing will improve.  Looking forward to next week.  Hope you get a chance to get out on the South Fork and good luck with your fishing.

Ed T.


Date:  5-11-10                                                                              Time:  9:30 - 5:00
Water:  Slight stain                                                                                 Water temp:  64
Weather:  Sunny                                                                           Temp:  70
 
 
High water and bad weather had cost me over a month of fishing since my last trip.  Oh well.  I got right back to my favorite trip, from the State Park to Karo Landing.  The river looked great yesterday.  Good level and perfect conditions.  The fishing was pretty darn good as well.  Started getting smallmouth pretty much right off the bat in the park. I was getting them out in the river around the rock ledges with a # 3 Mepps inline spinnerbait (gold blade).  Also getting a few near the bank with a 4" senko (green Pumpkin).  Most of them were around 10 to 12 inches.  The bite gradually picked up as I moved down the river.  Scored my first big one, a nice 16 incher, on the first set of ledges past the park, with the spinner.  At the next set of ledges I switched to A Rebel Wee-Craw crankbait (brown) and started getting more hits and bigger fish.  Around eleven o'clock I caught a 19" smallmouth.  I knew it was a big fish when she nailed the Craw, so I let her run around on a loose drag for what seemed forever and brought her in very slow.  Sure felt good getting her in the boat.  Little while later I caught a nice big largemouth in the big creek across from the houses, on a senko, only to have it shake loose right in front of me, not four feet from the canoe.  Ouch.  Not ten minutes later I had another large bass on the senko in that deep hole across from the creek (by the stone wall), running hard taking lots of drag.  Broke off the line.  Later in the day another big one broke off on me.  Let me tell you folks, there were some big smallmouth cruising around.  I use 8 lb. line with a 10 lb. leader and I'm prtty handy with the drag.  So when a fish breaks my line he 's usually a pretty big boy. From about eleven o'clock on I was mostly fishing the Rebel Craw and doing pretty well with it.  Caught several 15 and 16 inchers.  I was occasionally throwing a 4" tube (green pumpkin) on an 1/8th oz. jighead near the banks and that worked pretty well.  Around three o'clock, a couple of guys named Jimmy and Bradley came by in their canoe.  They had been fishing the Rebel Craw and getting their fair share.  Great minds think alike you know.  So anyway about that time I tied on a Zoom Superfluke (green pumpkin).  Never hurts to try a fluke.  Sure enough, I got a couple of bass pretty quick.  Jimmy says what you throwing over there?  Soon enough the three of us start throwing flukes for the rest of the trip.  Very few of the smallies were hitting the fluke on the top. You had to jerk it and let it sink.  Sometimes they hit it as it sank down, sometimes you had to work it underwater or let it drift.  But the bottom line was they were hitting the fluke pretty good and any time you can get them hitting a fluke this early in the year is a bonus.  It was a good day of fishing.  Only minor complaint I had was not a single bluegill.  But I cught a lot of smallmouth and quite a few decent size ones, especially the one lunker.  It was a beautful sunny day as well.  Good fishing, good weather, beautiful river. The kind of day that keeps me coming back to the South Fork time after time.  For your sake, my friend, get in some spring fishing on the South Fork.  Good luck with your fishing.

Ed T
     
Date:  4-6-11                                                  Time:  9:30 - 1:00
Water: Clear                                                   Water temp:  50
Weather:  Sunny                                             Temp:  60
 
 
Finally.  Time for my first trip down the South Fork this year.  For some stupid reason I didn't wear my heavy duty winter gloves on the motorcycle ride out.  My hands paid dearly for that little mistake.  I decided on the short trip from Karo Landing to the  F.R.C.C  Landing.  The river looked real nice.  Good water level, nice clear water and no floating trash.  Sure was nice to be on the Shenandoah once again.  About a week ago the water temperature was up near 60 and I heard at least one local was catching a few.  Of course by the time I hit the water yesterday the recent cold spell had dropped the water back down near 50.  Fish just don't go for water temperature taking a dive back down.  Not a good sign.  Well sir,  I didn't get a bite.  Not a single bite all day.  Its called getting skunked.  I got to tell you, its been years since the last time I got totally skunked.  Oh well.  Like I've said many times, fishing is not just about how many fish you catch.  I had a pretty good time just getting out on the river again.  It warmed up and turned into a very enjoyable day.  So I look on the trip as sort of a good shake down run.  Plenty of good fishing trips ahead this year.  The water will warm up and the fish will start biting.  So I'm looking forward to my next trip.  Early spring fishing is a bit of a gamble, but some of my favorite days over the years happened pretty early in the season.  I urge you to get out on the South Fork and take a whack at it.  Its always fun.

Ed T.
 

Water Temp 44.6                                Clarity - Clear

Clyde reports that fishing has improved a lot since the middle of March. He was catching big smallies off the landing before the water came up. With good river flow and warming water temperatures, the fishing is only going to get better from here. Ed T. will be on the river starting next week and will submit reports the rest of the season. Get out here and wet a line!

Don R.



Guides And Links We Recommend


Riversmallies.com - Great place to hook up on all the current info. and chat from real anglers who love their Bronzebacks!!

River Hawk Tours - Tom McFillen - Main Stream-Shenandoah River

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