North Fork Shenandoah River, Shenandoah County, VA - 9/25/13

[CrusaderRabbit]

My first stop while vacationing in Virginia's scenic Shenandoah Valley was Murray's Fly Shop in quaint Edinburg. Harry Murray runs the fly shop/pharmacy/gift shop with true Southern hospitality. I told him my time on the stream would be limited and asked him for some local advice. Mr. Murray was quite honest about stream conditions and emphasized that fly fishing for trout in that part of Virginia was almost entirely a springtime undertaking. He did send me on my way with a tiny bit of optimism for smallmouths on the North Fork of the Shenandoah River. I wet my hellgrammite/bugger local pattern on the stream near Mt. Jackson at 8 a.m. the next morning. Typical autumn morn in northern Virginia with fog shrouding the slopes of both Blue Ridge and Allegheny Mountains. Air temp was crisp 55 with azure sky. No surprises so far. What I wasn't prepared for was extremely low, Nikon clear, 60 degree water. I didn't know I would be doing hands and knees approaches for smallmouths ! I did my level best stealth sneakies to a couple of promising pools and runs. Tried the local pattern from Murray's and other streamers, buggers and poppers. After a while it was evident I was going nowhere fast. I left, as we all have, with a renewed appreciation of how great it is to catch fish, especially in an unfamiliar setting.

 

[Fishidiot]

Good report.
Reports of poor or tough fishing are valuable too and help keep things in proper perspective.

I've often found that the sort of low, very clear conditions that currently exist on our bass rivers make for good wading but the fishing is often tough when the sun is high. Best to hit the rivers very early or at sunset under these conditions. With the cooler water temps, it's sometimes better in the evenings than morning - but yuh never know.

We could use some rain.