South Fork Shenandoah River; Luray, VA; 7/9/2016

[tomitrout]

Change of pace to hook up with an old buddy for some smallie fishing in VA. Bought an $8 one day out of state online then meet up at New Market off of Rt 81 7am, simple enough. Drive up over the mountain on 211 and find the put in at the Inskeep Boat Ramp/Bixlers Ferry for a float down to the Lot 8 Ramp/Bealer's Ferry. River was up about a foot above normal and stained when we started out around 8am. Slow action to start then we finally figured out that big black hellgrammites were the ticket, especially in the rifflely bits. Water began to clear through the day and the bite seemed to turn on a bit with a lots and lots of 6-8" bass to hand. Also had success with a sparkly olive wooly bugger, Clousers and some top water action late in the float with a smaller blue popper. We both had a handful of bigger fish around 10" and each topped out around 12-13". My fish was pretty clean, but as the picture shows, my buddy's catch wasn't the healthiest looking specimen...Susky ain't the only river with problems unfortunately.

All in all a good float, covered lots of water and reached the take out around 5:30ish. Only two mild tube/kayak hatches to contend with mid morning with some nice stretches of structured water but also lots of seemingly featureless flat water that probably gets more interesting with a bit lower flow and/or better clarity to identify the potholes or provide for a steadier top water bite.

Up over 211

Looking north, Kennedy Peak-Fort Valley

Thought it was a bear...

Not a bad view.

Ick.

Fish of the day, but looking a little rough...

 

[Dave_W]

Great report. It's nice to see some reports on the bass rivers just to our south. I was down at Harper's Ferry recently looking up the Shenandoah and thinking it's been too long since I have fished that river. Caught my first smallie on a fly there.

Such a beautiful area. Sure looks like a bear - big dog?

 

[tomitrout]

Turns out there were cattle grazing the meadow down there above the river...from a distance it sure had the profile of a bear as it ambled along the beach, but zooming in the pic and the legs look awfully skinny.