	Fishing Conditions

Date: 6-23-09 Time: 9:30 - 5:30 Water: Light stain Water temp: 75 Weather: Sunny Temp: 84 Summertime fishing, what can I say? Pretty darn hard to beat. I did the SP2 trip, State Park to Karo landing. The river was still a bit higher than normal, but the lowest I've fished it in several weeks. Still a fair amount of grass floating in the water, gotta clean your lure off fairly often. Pretty good conditions for nice fishing and yet still easy to get down the river. The fishing was good all day long. Caught a pretty fair number of bass and bluegill all the way down the river and for a short period of time, in the afternoon, the bite went into overdrive. I started out fishing a Strike King Mini-King spinnerbait ( chartreuse body, modifed with a gold blade). I was also using a 4" Cabin Creek tube on a 1/8 oz. Texas rig, but throwing the spinner most of the time. I was getting lots of nice size bluegill and a fair number of smallmouth. Most of my bass yesterday were good medium size bass, most were around 11 or 12 inches. Didn't catch as many small fish as I did the last few weeks. I was fishing my usual patterns, working the slack water around the rocks, occasionally working the banks with the tube. The fish were active and aggressive. The big bluegill pulled like a miniture freight train and the smallmouth were really clobbering the spinner. So many smallmouth came to the top and did their little air time and tail dancing. Good, steady fishing through the morning. I fished the creek across from the houses and managed to get one 15" largemouth. Got her right at the mouth of the creek, no luck up further. Didn't have much luck fishing the deep areas in front of the houses with the tube either. Mostly just getting fish around the rocks with the spinner. About two o'clock I started fishing the tube in some of the deeper holes near the ledges and started to score some good sized bass. In one little hole I took out a 14, a 15, and a 16" smallmouth in about fifteen or twenty minutes. Very nice! I was fishing the tube real slow, just put it in the hole and just let it drift around. The bass really inhaled the tube, it was way down in their gut and pretty hard to extract with the needle nose pliers. Anyway, from that point on I fished the tube most of the time, switching to the spinnerbait only when I felt like catching a few bluegill. For about the next hour and a half, I could do no wrong with the tube. It's hard to beat soft plastic when it's working right. Lots of nice bass, a lot of them a foot or better, three more went 15". Next to the twin islands, right up in the little hole to the right side of the right island, I nailed a really nice bass, a big old honker. It hit the tube right on the drop. Came out of the water with a nice big leap. I got a short look at her, and she snapped that line off in a flash. Forget the drag, it was over in a heartbeat. Score one for the bass. Beautiful. For some reason, it seemed like that was kinda the end of the game. The fishing seemed to slow down a bit after I missed that big one. I caught fish, mostly with the tube, for the rest of the afternoon, but it was a little slower bite and the size dropped down just a bit. The rest of the afternoon was pretty much your average summer fishing on the South Fork. Which, as I've said many a time, is nothing to sneeze about. Everyday average fishing on this stretch of the South Fork is darn fine fishing. You won't find many places with the level of smallmouth fishing you find in the South Fork of the Shenandoah. Even with the high water levels and all the cool weather and storms we've had this year, there's been a lot of excellent fishing. The fish population is the best it's been in years, no question. Take a look at the fish board in the office. You can pretty much bet on having a good day out here. Listen,do yourself a favor. Come out and take a nice float. Get a line wet. You'll have a blast. In parting, I'm sorry to say I won't be writing this report for the next month. My better half and I are riding our motorcycles out for a little 7,500 mile jaunt. We're heading out to ride a bit of the Pacific Coast and see about a half dozen of those wonderful national parks in the western half of this beautiful country we live in. God bless America. I sure as heck wont miss my job any, but I will miss my fishing. While I'm gone, the staff at Front Royal Canoe Co. will put the reports together. By the way, most of F.R.C.C.'s drivers fish all the time. Anytime you have a question about fishing, those guys can give you some good solid advice. Good luck with your fishing. Enjoy. Ed T. Date: 6-16-09 Time: 10:00 - 5:30 Water: Mild stain Water temp: 74 Weather: Overcast Temp: 78 Missed last week due to high water. Yesterday I did the SP2 trip from the State Park to Karo Landing. The water level was still higher than normal, still had some stain to it. With the level as high as its been, there's some grass and debris floating about. Sort of used to that at this point, so its not really much of a bother. Started out using a Rebel Craw crankbait ( the Wee size, in natural brown). The morning fishing was a little bit slow, as it often is. I was catching mostly smaller bass, most were around 8 to 10 inches, some even smaller. I was catching a reasonable number of bass, but mostly small stuff. I was catching most of them around the rocks, but also getting some by tossing a 4" tube (green pumpkin) on an 1/8 oz. jig head around the banks. I stuck with the Craw and the tube most of the morning. The pace never picked up much, but I did start seeing a little increase in size. Some of the bigger smallmouth were lurking up close to the banks. The trick was finding a large area of slack water near the bank, behind a current break, and working the tube slowly. I was looking forward to fishing the creek across from the houses. One of F.R.C.C.'s drivers, Ryan, scored an impressive largemouth there last week. Look for it in the center of the top row of the "fish board" at the F.R.C.C. office. So I naturally assumed I would bag me a big one in the creek, too. Hah! I never got so much as a nibble in the creek. Back out in the river. As it so often does, the bite started picking up around one o'clock. Started getting more bass and better size. Also started catching lots of good sized bluegill. Excellent bluegill fishing for the rest of the day My first biggish bass was a 16 " largemouth caught near some midriver rocks with the Rebel Craw. In the afternoon I spent most of my time fishing the middle part of the river around the ledges. I was using the tube as well as the crankbait, and the tube was catching some nice fish. In fact, slow fishing the tube in deeper holes seemed to get the larger fish, eventually getting me a couple of 16" smallmouth. By about three o'clock I lost my second Rebel Craw. The only one I had left wouldn't run right, kept popping to the surface. So I switched off to a modified Shad Rocket spinnerbait (chartreuse w/gold blade), and it seemed to work about as well as the crankbait. In fact, it worked great for the bluegill. I started catching tons of perch (as they like to call 'em around here). It was fun to be catching some fairly big bluegill. Its truly amazing how hard a large bluegill can pull. I found one nice honey hole where I kept nailing one bluegill after another, fish after fish, 'til I finally got tired of it and moved on. So I spent the last part of the afternoon mostly working the tube for good smallmouth and tossing the spinner for lots of bluegill and the faster, more aggressive, bass. On the whole, the afternoon fishing was pretty good, about what I consider an average afternoon on the South Fork. Not red hot, like it can get, but plenty of fish and a few decent size girls in the mix. That's why I fish the South Fork week after week. An average day of fishing here would be an exceptional day at most other places. Once again, I pulled in at Karo a very happy camper. Come out for a trip. You'll have a great time. The South Fork is amazing. Ed T. Date: 6-2-02 Time: 9:30 - 5:30 Water: Stained Water temp: 67 Weather: Sunny Temp: 84 Most of the time, for me, fishing is a quiet, meditative, form of recreation. I enjoy the peace of being outdoors in a beautiful environment. It centers me, gives me a sense of perspective, a foundation for dealing with the rest of the week. As such, I almost always fish alone. I just like it that way. No talking, minimal thinking, just fishing. But occasionally I enjoy good company while I'm out on the river. So my buddy Tom came by fairly early yesterday on his Kawasaki. I hopped on my bike. We tooled on out to Front Royal Canoe Co. for some good fun on the South fork. We did the SP2 trip from the State Park to Karo Landing, my usual trip. My favorite section of the South Fork. The river is still up pretty high, still stained and still a pretty fair amount of grass and floating debris. Almost identical conditions to when I was here last week. I got a small bass on my second cast with a Rebel Wee Craw (natural brown). When I reached for my needle nose pliers to get the hook out, I noticed I'd left my tackle box at the landing. So we had to paddle back to get it of course, and the guys at the landing got a good laugh of course. We had pretty good luck in the park. Got a few on the Rebel Craw, mostly fishing it around the rocks. Also caught a few fishing 4" tubes (green pumpkin) on 1/8 oz. jigheads near the banks. The fishing in the morning was a little slow, but steady. We were getting them here and there and never had to go real long between fish. We were fishing the patterns I mentioned before, working the Craw or spinnerbaits around the rocks, tubes or grubs along the banks. We were getting lots of small to medium bass, most of our smallmouth were under a foot. Some of them were true sardines. I can tell we're starting to get into summer fishing when I start getting more small ones, less of the bigger guys. Tom started getting experimental and started trying out a fair portion of his tackle box, with varying degrees of success. Since that involved numerous lures, I'm not going to attempt to list the lures he used through the rest of the day. The important thing is he was catching bass and having a heck of a good time. At one point I mentioned how I see Bald Eagles fairly often on the South Fork. And sure enough, a little while later we spotted one near the river. I caught my first large bass in the creek across from the houses. I slow bottom fished a tube to get a 16" largemouth. We stayed in the creek awhile, but that was the only fish we got. After noon we mostly concentrated on working the rocks. The bite picked up a bit, and we also started getting a few bigger bass, some 13's and 14's occasionally. Still getting a lot of small ones as well. We started getting a few medium size bluegill. Eventually, I nailed a 16" smallie on the Craw. Although the bite picked up some in the afternoon, it still wasn't what you would call "hot". I mean, we were catching fish at a fair rate, but not bang bang bang!, like it was last week. Anyway, we were catching plenty of fish and having a real good time. In the late afternoon, after three, it picked up a little more. It was getting pretty good. Tom was scoring on a pretty regular basis, and it being his first time on the South Fork and all, he was a happy boy. A nice way to end a very enjoyable trip. Another person no doubt hooked on the South Fork. The whole day was sunny weather with a mild breeze. We caught a fair number of fish and shared a fine day. I tell you, folks, it's really hard to beat a good day on the Shenandoah. Had a good ride home. I'm looking forward to next week. Ed T. Date: 5-27-09 Time: 9:00 - 5:00 Water: Stained Water temp: 70 Weather: Overcast Temp: 78 Wow! What a fun day on the South Fork. I fished the SP2 trip, from the State Park to Karo Landing. Once again the river was up pretty high. Still getting plenty of rain, seems like about four days per week for the last month or something. But it wasn't as high as the last couple of times I went, so I'm not going to complain. Still a fair amount of grass and debris in the water, but not enough to get upset about. I heard the fishing last weekend was pretty good. I can tell you for a fact the fishing today was pretty good. Got me a decent smallmouth on my second cast this morning, using a Rebel Craw crankbait (the brown color Rebel now calls "ditch"). Got a few more by the time I got to the bottom of the park. Also managed to get a couple on a 1/4 oz. hair jig (black) with a Paca Craw trailer (green pumpkin). I was using the jig in the slack water next to the bank. Most of the crankbait hits came in the slack water below rock ledges. The morning fishing went pretty well, not "hot" by any means, but more than satisfying. About the best morning bite I've seen in awhile. I was getting most of my bass with the crankbait, a few with the jig. There were a couple of guys from F.R.C.C. fishing near me in the park. Bones (one of F.R.C.C.'s drivers) fished near me all morning. Everybody seemed to be having pretty good luck, in spite of the fact that we were all fishing different lures. Bones was fishing mostly Yamamoto Skirted Double Tail Grubs. The other guys were using big jigs. I met some guys late in the day that had real good success with Rooster Tails. So, you know, when the fish are biting, its whatever works for you. The smallmouth came in all sizes, plenty of dinks, some middle size, some nice foot longs, and a few a little bit longer. But no big fish in the morning. Got my first fairly good size bass in the creek across from the houses, a nice sixteen inch largemouth. Got her with a 4" tube (green pumpkin) on a 1/8 oz Texas rig. The only bass I got in either of the creeks. Just a little while later, I was fishing the Rebel Craw near a ledge and got my biggest fish for the day, a seventeen inch largemouth. That was a little after noon, and the bite was starting to get cooking. For the next three hours they were biting like crazy. I continued to get most of my fish throwing the Rebel Craw in the slack water around the ledges. I also had pretty good luck fishing a Rebel Wee-R (brown crawdad). The Craw caught more fish, but the Wee-R seemed to get the bigger bass. I ended up losing both of my Craws to break offs, so the last part of the day I used the Wee-R exclusively. I got some bigger smallmouth in the afternoon, including two sixteen inchers. However, they were still running the whole range in size. I caught a lot of sardines, let me tell you. I only caught a few bluegill today. Sure wish the bluegill would start hitting more, 'cause I love fishing bluegill. At the very end of the day I caught a few using a Beetle Spin (gold blade with chartreuse trailer). Really, you could have used just about anything today, especially in the afternoon. The smallmouth were hungry and aggressive, a foot long fish could give me a pretty good workout. Like I said before, I lost two crankbaits to a couple of scrappy smallmouth. Slammed that sucker and tore it off. Man, what a good day of fishing. I was a very satisfied boy by the time I pulled the canoe out today. It was overcast and threatening all day, but not a drop of rain. Now days that's a minor miricle by itself. And when I think of the ton of smallmouth I caught this afternoon. Well, lots to be thankful for. I talked to a couple of guys getting out at Karo, who had just made their first trip on the South Fork. They had just about as good of luck as I did. Back at the shop I heard them talking about their next trip. Its so easy to get hooked on the South Fork. You won't find many places with the kind of easy fishing you get in the Shenandoah. I'm looking forward to my next trip. The water has warmed up, the level is dropping, and there's plenty of smallmouth just waiting to get caught. Summer weather and summer fishing, mighty good stuff. Ed T. Date: 5-20-09 Time: 9:30 - 5:00 Water: Stained Water temp: 62 Weather: Sunny Temp: 68 I fished the SP2 trip, from the State Park to Karo Landing. The water level was up real high again, about the same level as it was last week. I'm beginning to wonder if it will ever get down to normal level again. Pretty much the same conditions as last week, high, stained, cool water. Lots of grass and debris in the water. Hard to keep your lure clean. The morning fishing was pretty bad. Only caught about five bass before noon. Got most of those by flipping a 4" tube (chartreuse) on an 1/8 oz. worm weight. Got most of them in slack water areas near the banks. Had no luck in the creeks, but I did get a couple of reasonable bass in the deep area in front of the houses with 4' senkos (green pumpkin). Around one o'clock I started getting some nice size smallmouth on a big crankbait, a Lee Sisson 2 CB (summer craw). The pace started picking up pretty fast, almost like someone hit the switch or something. It was later pointed out to me that it was most likely the result of the water having warmed up a few degrees. Anyway, the fishing sure turned around. I switched off to a Rebel Wee-Craw (brown crawdad) and it just got better. They started tearing that Wee-Craw up. Caught tons of smallmouth the rest of the afternoon. Classic pattern, just working the slack water around the ledges. The current was pretty strong, so most of the fish were holding pretty tight to the rocks. The area of rocks and pools just above the ridge where the twin islands sit was hot. I just kept getting nice bass and bluegill, fish after fish. Stayed there for quite awhile, catching lots of nice 12 to 14 inch smallies. Finally managed a nice 18" honker, my best fish for the day. But not the biggest fish for the day, strangely enough. I paddled down below the ledge, across from the islands, and tossed out the Rebel Craw. I got a massive strike. I figured I had the bass of a lifetime. Then I got a look at it, and surprise, surprise. It was a big old catfish. A big old cat hit my crankbait. Weird or what. When I got it in, it was a 24" catfish. Put her back and went back to catching bass and bluegill. The next five or six sets of rapids down from the twin islands were very productive. This stretch of the river has been really good to me this year. The afternoon was pretty good fishing. Geat weather. Had a real good time today. The morning was somewhat painful, but the afternoon went a long ways in making up for it. When the water comes down and warms up a little the fishing should be top notch. Heck, its been pretty good fishing the last couple of weeks in spite of less than ideal conditions. Take a look on the photo board at F.R.C.C. at all the lunkers that have been caught this year. Folks have been getting some nice big fish this spring. Do yourself a favor. Come take that fishing trip you've been thinking about. Life is short, don't waste all of it on work. Have a nice relaxing day on the South Fork. Ed T. Date: 5-13-09 Time: 10:00 - 3:30 Water: Stained Water temp: 62 Weather: Mostly sunny Temp: 68 I fished the SP2 trip, from the State Park to Karo Landing. I missed last week because the river was super high. It was still pretty high today. Almost no rocks showing. Strong current. I really wasn't all that sure about making a trip with the water that high. But then I thought oh well, why not go for it. The water was stained, but not near as trashy as I expected. There's some debris of course. I spent plenty of time cleaning lures. But it wasn't a huge hassle or anything. The trip started off pretty nice. I was tossing a spinner in the creek at the State Park. You know, just trying it out before I launched the canoe. Sure enough, I managed to get a smallmouth and a bluegill right off the bat. Turned out to be the only bluegill I got all day. Got a few smallmouth in the park, most of of them with a #3 Mepps Aglia spinnerbait (gold blade and chartreuse skirt). I also got one on a Rebel Wee-R crankbait (brown crawdad). Down at the lower end of the park one of the guys from F.R.C.C. and his buddy were fishing with big jigs. I watched them pull in a heck of a big smallmouth. So of course I tried using jigs myself, but I had rather limited luck and only caught a couple of bass with them. When I saw the guys later on, near the end of my trip, they said they caught a ton of fish with jigs. Guess I need to learn jig fishing better. The fishing was pretty good through the morning. The fish were somewhat scattered, but working the slack water around the rocks was productive. Working the eddies and slack water near the banks was another good way to score. I got most of my morning fish with the spinner, a few with the crankbait. Most of the bass were around twelve to fourteen inches, a few a bit bigger, and a few little guys as well. I pulled into the creek across from the houses and scored three nice size largemouth with the spinner. The biggest went eighteen inches, the best fish I got all day. As is so often the case, the bite picked up in the afternoon. I was getting most of the afternoon fish with the Wee-R, mostly by working the rocks. Once again, the area that really shined was around the twin islands and the series of ledges past them for the next quarter mile or so. Some pretty decent fishing through that section. The biggest smallmouth I got today were a few fifteen and sixteen inchers. No lunkers. But still, not bad. Considering I almost blew the trip off. It was a pretty good day of fishing, better by a good shot than I expected. When the water drops down and clears up during the next few days, I'm sure the fishing is going to get pretty hot. Looking forward to next week. There are plenty of nice size bass in the river this year, Come out and catch a few. Ed T. Date, 4-28-09 Time: 9:30 - 5:00 Water: Slightly stained Water Temp: 66 degrees Weather: Sunny Air temp: 91 degrees Just a really fine day on the river. Hot sunny day, decent fishing. What more could you want? I fished the SP2 trip, from the State Park to Karo Landing. The river was at a nice level. Its dropped to a point that's good for fishing but still high enough to get down the river with no effort. Still some debris in the water. You gotta clean your lures a lot, but its not a major hassle or anything. Had my first luck down in the lower end of the park, fishing a 4" senko (green pumpkin) in a slow moving eddy up near the bank. Got a couple of nice size smallmouth. They were the only fish I caught on soft plastic all day. I switched over to a #3 Mepps inline spinnerbait (gold blade) and started getting a fair number of smallmouth working the pools below the rocks. The bass were holding pretty tight to the rocks or in the fast moving water. Got some decent size, in the twelve to sixteen inch range, but every so often I'd get a little guy. It wasn't real fast paced fishing, a few fish per hour, but I was pretty happy. Pretty good fishing. Then it kinda died down in the early afternoon. I started using a Rebel Wee-R crankbait (brown crawdad) along with the Mepps, and it was actually getting the better fish, including the best fish of the day, a seventeen inch smallmouth. I pulled up into the creek across from the houses to see if I could find any more of those largemouth I found in there last week. I did get one nice sixteen incher with the spinner. She was obviously bedding, had a scraped up tail. I ended up losing several spinners and both of my Wee-Rs because I was still using old line from last year. Can you believe it, lazy boy or what. So I finally gave up, took the new spool out of my box and put new line on. Well, the fishing had kinda slowed down and now I'd lost the lure that had been working. Great! So, I tried a Rebel Wee Crawdad crankbait (brown). Bam! Started getting some good hits immediately. Working the pools below the rocks with the Rebel Craw was bringing them in pretty good. I even caught a bluegill, the first one I've caught this year. From three o'clock on the fish were just nailing the crawdad. The area next to the twin islands and the next five or six rapids down from there were really producing well. It felt like summer. Hot weather and the smallies were biting good. As I said earlier, what more could you want? Feels like things have kinda' fallen in place now. The water level came down and the water temperature has risen. The fishing is kicking into gear. So far this year I've caught fairly good sized bass, so I'm optimistic about getting a few more big ones. Get on out to the South Fork and take a shot at it yourself. Ed T. Date: 4-22-09 Time: 9:30-1:00 Water: Stain Water temp: 56 degrees Weather: Cloudy and breezy Air temp: mid-50's Howdy folks. My second trip for this year. and I must say it was a rather unusual outing. All that rain we had on Monday found its way down to the South Fork, so the river was quite high. Running well over the three foot level. Very pushy stuff. Fairly dark stain and lots of stuff floating in the water. Grass, sticks, limbs, you name it. Not what you call ideal fishing conditions. Sure was easy to get down the river though. Practically ripped the paddle out of my hand. Well, it wasn't really that bad, but it was moving along at a pretty good clip. I intended on doing my usual SP2 trip from the State Park to Karo Landing, but I ended up going on down to the FRCC landing. Took me all of three and a half hours. My plan was to throw big noisy lures and hope some big aggressive lunker might nail one. That's worked for me a few times in the past in high water conditions. I was throwing a big 3/8 oz. Bomber Fat A (dark crawdad) and a #3 Mepps Aglia inline spinner (gold blades and copper blades) and some hairpin style spinnerbaits (gold blade and chartreause skirt). The crankbait was pretty much a waste of time because it always immediately got balled up with floating grass. The spinners weren't quite as bad about picking up debris, but they also didn't catch any fish. I tried all sorts of spots all over the river, but never got a bite. The only luck I had today was in the big stream across from the houses. I got six nice largemouth on the copper Mepps. The smallest was fourteen inches. The biggest was a nice lunker, twenty-one inches, with a massive gut. And I got the thrill of showing her to two guys who were fishing on the bank nearby. Naturally, they said something to the tune of yeah, whatever. No, actually, they were pretty amazed. I was pretty thrilled about it, to say the least. That was the biggest bass I ever caught in the South Fork. About ten years ago I got a smallmouth a half inch longer, but today's largemouth was a much bigger fish, by a long shot. Yeap, the biggest bass I ever got in the South Fork. But the guys fishing on the bank weren't doing too shabby either. They had a stringer of some nice largemouth, and several crappy as well. So one would have to say the creek was the hot spot to be today. So then I paddled back into the river and never got another bite the rest of the day. I was pulling the canoe into the FRCC landing about an hour and a half later. A rather strange day on the river. At one point I was pretty sure I was going to get skunked for sure. Then I end up getting the biggest bass I ever got in this river. I was expecting some cool rainy weather today, but except for being kinda breezy, it was a pretty nice day. All things considered, I had a darned good time. Very interesting trip. Last week and today I didn't catch very many fish, but most of the bass I caught were pretty big fish. I have good reason to believe that once the weather and the water levels calm down there's some real good fishing in store. There are some nice big fish in the South Fork this year. I think its going to be a good year. Ed T. Date: 04/15/09 Time: 9:30 - 5:00 Water: slightly stained Water temp: 50 Weather: Rainy Air temp: 52 Hi folks. I guess by now you thought I had switched over to golf or something. It was just a matter of bad luck with the weather. The weather just hasn't been cooperating. Today I fished in cold rain. All day. Got tired of waiting and just decided to go for it no matter what. Sure got cold today. It felt real good to be back on the South Fork, even if the weather sucked. There is no where else in the world quite like the Shenandoah. Such a beautiful place. The water level was very nice. There's a bit of algae floating about, but not much of a bother. All in all, the river is in very good condition. But what about the fishing? The first trip of the year is often a bit sketchy, been skunked more than once on the first one. Not today, thank god. I caught six smallmouth today. Not half bad. Some nice sized bass, too. The biggest two were just shy of seventeen inches. The rest of them weren't a whole lot smaller, nothing under a foot. And all of them nice and fat. Good healthy bass. Caught everything on spinnerbaits. I used a gold blade #3 Mepps', some 1/4 oz. clothes pin style spinners with chartreuse skirts and trailers, and a 3/8 oz. Shad Rocket (chartreuse). I tried other lures, but spinners were the only thing they hit. I caught most of my bass in deeper pools just downriver from rock ledges. Pretty much the classic South Fork pattern. With only six fish for the whole day, you can figure how long it was between bites. But this early in the year, with cold water and all kinds of changes in water temperature and level all the time... Well, I'm not going to complain. Six big bass was a pretty good haul for my first trip this year. Based on the size of those smallmouth, and how beautiful and healthy they looked, I'm pretty optimistic about a real good year of fishing ahead. Get out to the South Fork and get in on some spring fishing. Spring is usually the best time to get lunkers. If you like catching the really big ones, now's the time to get out on the river. Can hardly wait to get back next week. Ed T. Date: 04/01/09 Time: 9:30 - 5:30 Water: Clear Water temp: 50 Weather: Cloudy - a little rain Air Temp: 52 Clyde reports that fishing has improved a lot since the middle of March. 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! Check out some photos submitted by Guests: Picture 1 Picture 2 Picture 3 Check out these cool sites: Bass Fishing Reports for all States Fly Fishing Information Fly Fish America Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries Front Royal Canoe Company P.O. Box 473 ~ Front Royal, Va. 22630 540-635-5440 / 800-270-8808 fax: 540-635-1574 Click here to e-mail us!

Date: 6-23-09 Time: 9:30 - 5:30

Water: Light stain Water temp: 75

Weather: Sunny Temp: 84

Summertime fishing, what can I say? Pretty darn hard to beat. I did the SP2 trip, State Park to Karo landing. The river was still a bit higher than normal, but the lowest I've fished it in several weeks. Still a fair amount of grass floating in the water, gotta clean your lure off fairly often. Pretty good conditions for nice fishing and yet still easy to get down the river. The fishing was good all day long. Caught a pretty fair number of bass and bluegill all the way down the river and for a short period of time, in the afternoon, the bite went into overdrive. I started out fishing a Strike King Mini-King spinnerbait ( chartreuse body, modifed with a gold blade). I was also using a 4" Cabin Creek tube on a 1/8 oz. Texas rig, but throwing the spinner most of the time. I was getting lots of nice size bluegill and a fair number of smallmouth. Most of my bass yesterday were good medium size bass, most were around 11 or 12 inches. Didn't catch as many small fish as I did the last few weeks. I was fishing my usual patterns, working the slack water around the rocks, occasionally working the banks with the tube. The fish were active and aggressive. The big bluegill pulled like a miniture freight train and the smallmouth were really clobbering the spinner. So many smallmouth came to the top and did their little air time and tail dancing. Good, steady fishing through the morning. I fished the creek across from the houses and managed to get one 15" largemouth. Got her right at the mouth of the creek, no luck up further. Didn't have much luck fishing the deep areas in front of the houses with the tube either. Mostly just getting fish around the rocks with the spinner. About two o'clock I started fishing the tube in some of the deeper holes near the ledges and started to score some good sized bass. In one little hole I took out a 14, a 15, and a 16" smallmouth in about fifteen or twenty minutes. Very nice! I was fishing the tube real slow, just put it in the hole and just let it drift around. The bass really inhaled the tube, it was way down in their gut and pretty hard to extract with the needle nose pliers. Anyway, from that point on I fished the tube most of the time, switching to the spinnerbait only when I felt like catching a few bluegill. For about the next hour and a half, I could do no wrong with the tube. It's hard to beat soft plastic when it's working right. Lots of nice bass, a lot of them a foot or better, three more went 15". Next to the twin islands, right up in the little hole to the right side of the right island, I nailed a really nice bass, a big old honker. It hit the tube right on the drop. Came out of the water with a nice big leap. I got a short look at her, and she snapped that line off in a flash. Forget the drag, it was over in a heartbeat. Score one for the bass. Beautiful. For some reason, it seemed like that was kinda the end of the game. The fishing seemed to slow down a bit after I missed that big one. I caught fish, mostly with the tube, for the rest of the afternoon, but it was a little slower bite and the size dropped down just a bit. The rest of the afternoon was pretty much your average summer fishing on the South Fork. Which, as I've said many a time, is nothing to sneeze about. Everyday average fishing on this stretch of the South Fork is darn fine fishing. You won't find many places with the level of smallmouth fishing you find in the South Fork of the Shenandoah. Even with the high water levels and all the cool weather and storms we've had this year, there's been a lot of excellent fishing. The fish population is the best it's been in years, no question. Take a look at the fish board in the office. You can pretty much bet on having a good day out here. Listen,do yourself a favor. Come out and take a nice float. Get a line wet. You'll have a blast. In parting, I'm sorry to say I won't be writing this report for the next month. My better half and I are riding our motorcycles out for a little 7,500 mile jaunt. We're heading out to ride a bit of the Pacific Coast and see about a half dozen of those wonderful national parks in the western half of this beautiful country we live in. God bless America. I sure as heck wont miss my job any, but I will miss my fishing. While I'm gone, the staff at Front Royal Canoe Co. will put the reports together. By the way, most of F.R.C.C.'s drivers fish all the time. Anytime you have a question about fishing, those guys can give you some good solid advice. Good luck with your fishing. Enjoy.

Ed T.

Date: 6-16-09                                                                          Time: 10:00 - 5:30
Water: Mild stain                                                                     Water temp: 74
Weather: Overcast                                                                   Temp: 78

Missed last week due to high water. Yesterday I did the SP2 trip from the State Park to Karo Landing. The water level was still higher than normal, still had some stain to it. With the level as high as its been, there's some grass and debris floating about. Sort of used to that at this point, so its not really much of a bother. Started out using a Rebel Craw crankbait ( the Wee size, in natural brown). The morning fishing was a little bit slow, as it often is. I was catching mostly smaller bass, most were around 8 to 10 inches, some even smaller. I was catching a reasonable number of bass, but mostly small stuff. I was catching most of them around the rocks, but also getting some by tossing a 4" tube (green pumpkin) on an 1/8 oz. jig head around the banks. I stuck with the Craw and the tube most of the morning. The pace never picked up much, but I did start seeing a little increase in size. Some of the bigger smallmouth were lurking up close to the banks. The trick was finding a large area of slack water near the bank, behind a current break, and working the tube slowly. I was looking forward to fishing the creek across from the houses. One of F.R.C.C.'s drivers, Ryan, scored an impressive largemouth there last week. Look for it in the center of the top row of the "fish board" at the F.R.C.C. office. So I naturally assumed I would bag me a big one in the creek, too. Hah! I never got so much as a nibble in the creek. Back out in the river. As it so often does, the bite started picking up around one o'clock. Started getting more bass and better size. Also started catching lots of good sized bluegill. Excellent bluegill fishing for the rest of the day My first biggish bass was a 16 " largemouth caught near some midriver rocks with the Rebel Craw. In the afternoon I spent most of my time fishing the middle part of the river around the ledges. I was using the tube as well as the crankbait, and the tube was catching some nice fish. In fact, slow fishing the tube in deeper holes seemed to get the larger fish, eventually getting me a couple of 16" smallmouth. By about three o'clock I lost my second Rebel Craw. The only one I had left wouldn't run right, kept popping to the surface. So I switched off to a modified Shad Rocket spinnerbait (chartreuse w/gold blade), and it seemed to work about as well as the crankbait. In fact, it worked great for the bluegill. I started catching tons of perch (as they like to call 'em around here). It was fun to be catching some fairly big bluegill. Its truly amazing how hard a large bluegill can pull. I found one nice honey hole where I kept nailing one bluegill after another, fish after fish, 'til I finally got tired of it and moved on. So I spent the last part of the afternoon mostly working the tube for good smallmouth and tossing the spinner for lots of bluegill and the faster, more aggressive, bass. On the whole, the afternoon fishing was pretty good, about what I consider an average afternoon on the South Fork. Not red hot, like it can get, but plenty of fish and a few decent size girls in the mix. That's why I fish the South Fork week after week. An average day of fishing here would be an exceptional day at most other places. Once again, I pulled in at Karo a very happy camper. Come out for a trip. You'll have a great time. The South Fork is amazing.

Ed T.

Date: 6-2-02                                                                             Time: 9:30 - 5:30

Water: Stained Water temp: 67

Weather: Sunny Temp: 84

Most of the time, for me, fishing is a quiet, meditative, form of recreation. I enjoy the peace of being outdoors in a beautiful environment. It centers me, gives me a sense of perspective, a foundation for dealing with the rest of the week. As such, I almost always fish alone. I just like it that way. No talking, minimal thinking, just fishing. But occasionally I enjoy good company while I'm out on the river. So my buddy Tom came by fairly early yesterday on his Kawasaki. I hopped on my bike. We tooled on out to Front Royal Canoe Co. for some good fun on the South fork. We did the SP2 trip from the State Park to Karo Landing, my usual trip. My favorite section of the South Fork. The river is still up pretty high, still stained and still a pretty fair amount of grass and floating debris. Almost identical conditions to when I was here last week. I got a small bass on my second cast with a Rebel Wee Craw (natural brown). When I reached for my needle nose pliers to get the hook out, I noticed I'd left my tackle box at the landing. So we had to paddle back to get it of course, and the guys at the landing got a good laugh of course. We had pretty good luck in the park. Got a few on the Rebel Craw, mostly fishing it around the rocks. Also caught a few fishing 4" tubes (green pumpkin) on 1/8 oz. jigheads near the banks. The fishing in the morning was a little slow, but steady. We were getting them here and there and never had to go real long between fish. We were fishing the patterns I mentioned before, working the Craw or spinnerbaits around the rocks, tubes or grubs along the banks. We were getting lots of small to medium bass, most of our smallmouth were under a foot. Some of them were true sardines. I can tell we're starting to get into summer fishing when I start getting more small ones, less of the bigger guys. Tom started getting experimental and started trying out a fair portion of his tackle box, with varying degrees of success. Since that involved numerous lures, I'm not going to attempt to list the lures he used through the rest of the day. The important thing is he was catching bass and having a heck of a good time. At one point I mentioned how I see Bald Eagles fairly often on the South Fork. And sure enough, a little while later we spotted one near the river. I caught my first large bass in the creek across from the houses. I slow bottom fished a tube to get a 16" largemouth. We stayed in the creek awhile, but that was the only fish we got. After noon we mostly concentrated on working the rocks. The bite picked up a bit, and we also started getting a few bigger bass, some 13's and 14's occasionally. Still getting a lot of small ones as well. We started getting a few medium size bluegill. Eventually, I nailed a 16" smallie on the Craw. Although the bite picked up some in the afternoon, it still wasn't what you would call "hot". I mean, we were catching fish at a fair rate, but not bang bang bang!, like it was last week. Anyway, we were catching plenty of fish and having a real good time. In the late afternoon, after three, it picked up a little more. It was getting pretty good. Tom was scoring on a pretty regular basis, and it being his first time on the South Fork and all, he was a happy boy. A nice way to end a very enjoyable trip. Another person no doubt hooked on the South Fork. The whole day was sunny weather with a mild breeze. We caught a fair number of fish and shared a fine day. I tell you, folks, it's really hard to beat a good day on the Shenandoah. Had a good ride home. I'm looking forward to next week.

Ed T.

Date: 5-27-09 Time: 9:00 - 5:00

Water: Stained Water temp: 70

Weather: Overcast Temp: 78

Wow! What a fun day on the South Fork. I fished the SP2 trip, from the State Park to Karo Landing. Once again the river was up pretty high. Still getting plenty of rain, seems like about four days per week for the last month or something. But it wasn't as high as the last couple of times I went, so I'm not going to complain. Still a fair amount of grass and debris in the water, but not enough to get upset about. I heard the fishing last weekend was pretty good. I can tell you for a fact the fishing today was pretty good. Got me a decent smallmouth on my second cast this morning, using a Rebel Craw crankbait (the brown color Rebel now calls "ditch"). Got a few more by the time I got to the bottom of the park. Also managed to get a couple on a 1/4 oz. hair jig (black) with a Paca Craw trailer (green pumpkin). I was using the jig in the slack water next to the bank. Most of the crankbait hits came in the slack water below rock ledges. The morning fishing went pretty well, not "hot" by any means, but more than satisfying. About the best morning bite I've seen in awhile. I was getting most of my bass with the crankbait, a few with the jig. There were a couple of guys from F.R.C.C. fishing near me in the park. Bones (one of F.R.C.C.'s drivers) fished near me all morning. Everybody seemed to be having pretty good luck, in spite of the fact that we were all fishing different lures. Bones was fishing mostly Yamamoto Skirted Double Tail Grubs. The other guys were using big jigs. I met some guys late in the day that had real good success with Rooster Tails. So, you know, when the fish are biting, its whatever works for you. The smallmouth came in all sizes, plenty of dinks, some middle size, some nice foot longs, and a few a little bit longer. But no big fish in the morning. Got my first fairly good size bass in the creek across from the houses, a nice sixteen inch largemouth. Got her with a 4" tube (green pumpkin) on a 1/8 oz Texas rig. The only bass I got in either of the creeks. Just a little while later, I was fishing the Rebel Craw near a ledge and got my biggest fish for the day, a seventeen inch largemouth. That was a little after noon, and the bite was starting to get cooking. For the next three hours they were biting like crazy. I continued to get most of my fish throwing the Rebel Craw in the slack water around the ledges. I also had pretty good luck fishing a Rebel Wee-R (brown crawdad). The Craw caught more fish, but the Wee-R seemed to get the bigger bass. I ended up losing both of my Craws to break offs, so the last part of the day I used the Wee-R exclusively. I got some bigger smallmouth in the afternoon, including two sixteen inchers. However, they were still running the whole range in size. I caught a lot of sardines, let me tell you. I only caught a few bluegill today. Sure wish the bluegill would start hitting more, 'cause I love fishing bluegill. At the very end of the day I caught a few using a Beetle Spin (gold blade with chartreuse trailer). Really, you could have used just about anything today, especially in the afternoon. The smallmouth were hungry and aggressive, a foot long fish could give me a pretty good workout. Like I said before, I lost two crankbaits to a couple of scrappy smallmouth. Slammed that sucker and tore it off. Man, what a good day of fishing. I was a very satisfied boy by the time I pulled the canoe out today. It was overcast and threatening all day, but not a drop of rain. Now days that's a minor miricle by itself. And when I think of the ton of smallmouth I caught this afternoon. Well, lots to be thankful for. I talked to a couple of guys getting out at Karo, who had just made their first trip on the South Fork. They had just about as good of luck as I did. Back at the shop I heard them talking about their next trip. Its so easy to get hooked on the South Fork. You won't find many places with the kind of easy fishing you get in the Shenandoah. I'm looking forward to my next trip. The water has warmed up, the level is dropping, and there's plenty of smallmouth just waiting to get caught. Summer weather and summer fishing, mighty good stuff.

Ed T.

Date: 5-20-09 Time: 9:30 - 5:00

Water: Stained Water temp: 62

Weather: Sunny Temp: 68

I fished the SP2 trip, from the State Park to Karo Landing. The water level was up real high again, about the same level as it was last week. I'm beginning to wonder if it will ever get down to normal level again. Pretty much the same conditions as last week, high, stained, cool water. Lots of grass and debris in the water. Hard to keep your lure clean. The morning fishing was pretty bad. Only caught about five bass before noon. Got most of those by flipping a 4" tube (chartreuse) on an 1/8 oz. worm weight. Got most of them in slack water areas near the banks. Had no luck in the creeks, but I did get a couple of reasonable bass in the deep area in front of the houses with 4' senkos (green pumpkin). Around one o'clock I started getting some nice size smallmouth on a big crankbait, a Lee Sisson 2 CB (summer craw). The pace started picking up pretty fast, almost like someone hit the switch or something. It was later pointed out to me that it was most likely the result of the water having warmed up a few degrees. Anyway, the fishing sure turned around. I switched off to a Rebel Wee-Craw (brown crawdad) and it just got better. They started tearing that Wee-Craw up. Caught tons of smallmouth the rest of the afternoon. Classic pattern, just working the slack water around the ledges. The current was pretty strong, so most of the fish were holding pretty tight to the rocks. The area of rocks and pools just above the ridge where the twin islands sit was hot. I just kept getting nice bass and bluegill, fish after fish. Stayed there for quite awhile, catching lots of nice 12 to 14 inch smallies. Finally managed a nice 18" honker, my best fish for the day. But not the biggest fish for the day, strangely enough. I paddled down below the ledge, across from the islands, and tossed out the Rebel Craw. I got a massive strike. I figured I had the bass of a lifetime. Then I got a look at it, and surprise, surprise. It was a big old catfish. A big old cat hit my crankbait. Weird or what. When I got it in, it was a 24" catfish. Put her back and went back to catching bass and bluegill. The next five or six sets of rapids down from the twin islands were very productive. This stretch of the river has been really good to me this year. The afternoon was pretty good fishing. Geat weather. Had a real good time today. The morning was somewhat painful, but the afternoon went a long ways in making up for it. When the water comes down and warms up a little the fishing should be top notch. Heck, its been pretty good fishing the last couple of weeks in spite of less than ideal conditions. Take a look on the photo board at F.R.C.C. at all the lunkers that have been caught this year. Folks have been getting some nice big fish this spring. Do yourself a favor. Come take that fishing trip you've been thinking about. Life is short, don't waste all of it on work. Have a nice relaxing day on the South Fork.

Ed T.

Date: 5-13-09 Time: 10:00 - 3:30

Water: Stained Water temp: 62

Weather: Mostly sunny Temp: 68

I fished the SP2 trip, from the State Park to Karo Landing. I missed last week because the river was super high. It was still pretty high today. Almost no rocks showing. Strong current. I really wasn't all that sure about making a trip with the water that high. But then I thought oh well, why not go for it. The water was stained, but not near as trashy as I expected. There's some debris of course. I spent plenty of time cleaning lures. But it wasn't a huge hassle or anything. The trip started off pretty nice. I was tossing a spinner in the creek at the State Park. You know, just trying it out before I launched the canoe. Sure enough, I managed to get a smallmouth and a bluegill right off the bat. Turned out to be the only bluegill I got all day. Got a few smallmouth in the park, most of of them with a #3 Mepps Aglia spinnerbait (gold blade and chartreuse skirt). I also got one on a Rebel Wee-R crankbait (brown crawdad). Down at the lower end of the park one of the guys from F.R.C.C. and his buddy were fishing with big jigs. I watched them pull in a heck of a big smallmouth. So of course I tried using jigs myself, but I had rather limited luck and only caught a couple of bass with them. When I saw the guys later on, near the end of my trip, they said they caught a ton of fish with jigs. Guess I need to learn jig fishing better. The fishing was pretty good through the morning. The fish were somewhat scattered, but working the slack water around the rocks was productive. Working the eddies and slack water near the banks was another good way to score. I got most of my morning fish with the spinner, a few with the crankbait. Most of the bass were around twelve to fourteen inches, a few a bit bigger, and a few little guys as well. I pulled into the creek across from the houses and scored three nice size largemouth with the spinner. The biggest went eighteen inches, the best fish I got all day. As is so often the case, the bite picked up in the afternoon. I was getting most of the afternoon fish with the Wee-R, mostly by working the rocks. Once again, the area that really shined was around the twin islands and the series of ledges past them for the next quarter mile or so. Some pretty decent fishing through that section. The biggest smallmouth I got today were a few fifteen and sixteen inchers. No lunkers. But still, not bad. Considering I almost blew the trip off. It was a pretty good day of fishing, better by a good shot than I expected. When the water drops down and clears up during the next few days, I'm sure the fishing is going to get pretty hot. Looking forward to next week. There are plenty of nice size bass in the river this year, Come out and catch a few.

Ed T.

Date, 4-28-09 Time: 9:30 - 5:00

Water: Slightly stained Water Temp: 66 degrees

Weather: Sunny Air temp: 91 degrees

Just a really fine day on the river. Hot sunny day, decent fishing. What more could you want? I fished the SP2 trip, from the State Park to Karo Landing. The river was at a nice level. Its dropped to a point that's good for fishing but still high enough to get down the river with no effort. Still some debris in the water. You gotta clean your lures a lot, but its not a major hassle or anything. Had my first luck down in the lower end of the park, fishing a 4" senko (green pumpkin) in a slow moving eddy up near the bank. Got a couple of nice size smallmouth. They were the only fish I caught on soft plastic all day. I switched over to a #3 Mepps inline spinnerbait (gold blade) and started getting a fair number of smallmouth working the pools below the rocks. The bass were holding pretty tight to the rocks or in the fast moving water. Got some decent size, in the twelve to sixteen inch range, but every so often I'd get a little guy. It wasn't real fast paced fishing, a few fish per hour, but I was pretty happy. Pretty good fishing. Then it kinda died down in the early afternoon. I started using a Rebel Wee-R crankbait (brown crawdad) along with the Mepps, and it was actually getting the better fish, including the best fish of the day, a seventeen inch smallmouth. I pulled up into the creek across from the houses to see if I could find any more of those largemouth I found in there last week. I did get one nice sixteen incher with the spinner. She was obviously bedding, had a scraped up tail. I ended up losing several spinners and both of my Wee-Rs because I was still using old line from last year. Can you believe it, lazy boy or what. So I finally gave up, took the new spool out of my box and put new line on. Well, the fishing had kinda slowed down and now I'd lost the lure that had been working. Great! So, I tried a Rebel Wee Crawdad crankbait (brown). Bam! Started getting some good hits immediately. Working the pools below the rocks with the Rebel Craw was bringing them in pretty good. I even caught a bluegill, the first one I've caught this year. From three o'clock on the fish were just nailing the crawdad. The area next to the twin islands and the next five or six rapids down from there were really producing well. It felt like summer. Hot weather and the smallies were biting good. As I said earlier, what more could you want? Feels like things have kinda' fallen in place now. The water level came down and the water temperature has risen. The fishing is kicking into gear. So far this year I've caught fairly good sized bass, so I'm optimistic about getting a few more big ones. Get on out to the South Fork and take a shot at it yourself.

Ed T.

Date: 4-22-09 Time: 9:30-1:00

Water: Stain Water temp: 56 degrees

Weather: Cloudy and breezy Air temp: mid-50's

Howdy folks. My second trip for this year. and I must say it was a rather unusual outing. All that rain we had on Monday found its way down to the South Fork, so the river was quite high. Running well over the three foot level. Very pushy stuff. Fairly dark stain and lots of stuff floating in the water. Grass, sticks, limbs, you name it. Not what you call ideal fishing conditions. Sure was easy to get down the river though. Practically ripped the paddle out of my hand. Well, it wasn't really that bad, but it was moving along at a pretty good clip. I intended on doing my usual SP2 trip from the State Park to Karo Landing, but I ended up going on down to the FRCC landing. Took me all of three and a half hours. My plan was to throw big noisy lures and hope some big aggressive lunker might nail one. That's worked for me a few times in the past in high water conditions. I was throwing a big 3/8 oz. Bomber Fat A (dark crawdad) and a #3 Mepps Aglia inline spinner (gold blades and copper blades) and some hairpin style spinnerbaits (gold blade and chartreause skirt). The crankbait was pretty much a waste of time because it always immediately got balled up with floating grass. The spinners weren't quite as bad about picking up debris, but they also didn't catch any fish. I tried all sorts of spots all over the river, but never got a bite. The only luck I had today was in the big stream across from the houses. I got six nice largemouth on the copper Mepps. The smallest was fourteen inches. The biggest was a nice lunker, twenty-one inches, with a massive gut. And I got the thrill of showing her to two guys who were fishing on the bank nearby. Naturally, they said something to the tune of yeah, whatever. No, actually, they were pretty amazed. I was pretty thrilled about it, to say the least. That was the biggest bass I ever caught in the South Fork. About ten years ago I got a smallmouth a half inch longer, but today's largemouth was a much bigger fish, by a long shot. Yeap, the biggest bass I ever got in the South Fork. But the guys fishing on the bank weren't doing too shabby either. They had a stringer of some nice largemouth, and several crappy as well. So one would have to say the creek was the hot spot to be today. So then I paddled back into the river and never got another bite the rest of the day. I was pulling the canoe into the FRCC landing about an hour and a half later. A rather strange day on the river. At one point I was pretty sure I was going to get skunked for sure. Then I end up getting the biggest bass I ever got in this river. I was expecting some cool rainy weather today, but except for being kinda breezy, it was a pretty nice day. All things considered, I had a darned good time. Very interesting trip. Last week and today I didn't catch very many fish, but most of the bass I caught were pretty big fish. I have good reason to believe that once the weather and the water levels calm down there's some real good fishing in store. There are some nice big fish in the South Fork this year. I think its going to be a good year.

Ed T.

Date: 04/15/09 Time: 9:30 - 5:00

Water: slightly stained Water temp: 50

Weather: Rainy Air temp: 52

Hi folks. I guess by now you thought I had switched over to golf or something. It was just a matter of bad luck with the weather. The weather just hasn't been cooperating. Today I fished in cold rain. All day. Got tired of waiting and just decided to go for it no matter what. Sure got cold today. It felt real good to be back on the South Fork, even if the weather sucked. There is no where else in the world quite like the Shenandoah. Such a beautiful place. The water level was very nice. There's a bit of algae floating about, but not much of a bother. All in all, the river is in very good condition. But what about the fishing? The first trip of the year is often a bit sketchy, been skunked more than once on the first one. Not today, thank god. I caught six smallmouth today. Not half bad. Some nice sized bass, too. The biggest two were just shy of seventeen inches. The rest of them weren't a whole lot smaller, nothing under a foot. And all of them nice and fat. Good healthy bass. Caught everything on spinnerbaits. I used a gold blade #3 Mepps', some 1/4 oz. clothes pin style spinners with chartreuse skirts and trailers, and a 3/8 oz. Shad Rocket (chartreuse). I tried other lures, but spinners were the only thing they hit. I caught most of my bass in deeper pools just downriver from rock ledges. Pretty much the classic South Fork pattern. With only six fish for the whole day, you can figure how long it was between bites. But this early in the year, with cold water and all kinds of changes in water temperature and level all the time... Well, I'm not going to complain. Six big bass was a pretty good haul for my first trip this year. Based on the size of those smallmouth, and how beautiful and healthy they looked, I'm pretty optimistic about a real good year of fishing ahead. Get out to the South Fork and get in on some spring fishing. Spring is usually the best time to get lunkers. If you like catching the really big ones, now's the time to get out on the river. Can hardly wait to get back next week.

Ed T.

Date: 04/01/09 Time: 9:30 - 5:30

Water: Clear Water temp: 50

Weather: Cloudy - a little rain Air Temp: 52

Clyde reports that fishing has improved a lot since the middle of March. 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!