Shenandoah river smallie

TheLastRodBender · July 30, 2012, 04:50:45 PM

Caught these on JR Gila Monsters from El Grande in Green Pumpkin. The bigger one (clear pic) was just under 20" and the smaller one (hazy pic) was just over 15

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jocko · July 30, 2012, 05:46:28 PM

Nice ones!

Got to love smallie fishing the doah come summer time!

TheLastRodBender · July 30, 2012, 06:04:42 PM

Yeah man, it was a blast. Reminded me of the good ol' days. We pulled 12 smallies out of 1 single hole while i had the boat tied to stump so it was a very small area. Its great to see the river bouncing back and having quality fish again.

marriemb · July 31, 2012, 12:37:26 AM

I love the colors on the smallie...beautiful. Congrats!

garland7 · July 31, 2012, 06:00:32 AM

pretty fish, congrats

bigb201 · July 31, 2012, 08:21:55 AM

I can't wait. I'm heading there this weekend. I'll be on the river south of front royal. Any tips? I had luck last month with 5" senkos tossed into lay downs and slack waters

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jocko · July 31, 2012, 03:43:11 PM

When fishing any river for smallmouth, it's a series of pools and rapids. Generally this time of year, the fish will be in eddys, ledges, and seams just below the rapids and sometimes directly above it. The long slack pools are generally void of bass and it's best to paddle thru to more appealing (moving water) water.

A variety of baits will work. Flukes (zoom super fluke), tubes, grubs, senkos. A topwater popper, jerkbait, spinnerbait or buzzbait will also catch them.

bigb201 · July 31, 2012, 04:03:17 PM

Thanks for the tips

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Creel Limit Zero · July 31, 2012, 04:14:06 PM

Sweet action.

TheLastRodBender · July 31, 2012, 04:41:22 PM

Quote from: bigb201 on July 31, 2012, 08:21:55 AM
I can't wait. I'm heading there this weekend. I'll be on the river south of front royal. Any tips? I had luck last month with 5" senkos tossed into lay downs and slack waters

The river level is on the lower side of things so dont over-think it. Just remember that if you cant get through an area.. the fish cant either. All of the fish we caught this weekend were in deep water (relatively speaking). We looked for areas with enough current to move, but the primary x-factor was ultimately the depth. If you cant get over a set of rapids, neither can the bass, so the 12 - 18 inch deep water between rifle that NORMALLY holds fish was unproductive... we focused all of our efforts the larger, deeper holes and fished them with 4" yum dingers as well as (like i mentioned) the Jr Gila Monster from El Grande.

Any dark green (green pumpkin/watermelon) with pretty much any flake in it caught bass. Let the bait soak, and they will let you know when they are there.

I will throw this out there. The two larger bass did not explode on the bait. It was a subtle resistance and a very slow and steady movement to one side.

bigb201 · July 31, 2012, 04:48:50 PM

Thanks a lot. And awesome fish by the way. Did you find any behind lay downs on the banks or were they all in the pools? Last time I was there on the 4th weekend I found they were in the lay downs and by the grasses on the edges

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TheLastRodBender · July 31, 2012, 05:28:27 PM

Quote from: bigb201 on July 31, 2012, 04:48:50 PM
Thanks a lot. And awesome fish by the way. Did you find any behind lay downs on the banks or were they all in the pools? Last time I was there on the 4th weekend I found they were in the lay downs and by the grasses on the edges

open water. I hit the banks a little bit but no production. I'd imagine on the 4th they were pushed off with all the recreational boat traffic. When there are a bunch of boats blowing by i'm sure it sent them off to the sides.

That being said, i wouldnt leave it alone. The stretch i hit doenst have a lot of shore structure, and what structure is along the shoreline, it's in VERY shallow water