{Tidal Potomac Fly Rodders} Re: [legally] wadeable smallmouth spot within 90 mins of Arlington?

I was on the S. Fork Friday and Saturday. The water was still kicking at around 1200 CFS to start the day Thursday; it was cloudy in a lot of spots, but not terrible for the most part. I fished from a float tube from the Bentonville low water bridge to Andy Guest park both days - it was slow the first day, only picked up a few fish on the float, all on either a Kreelex streamer or a chartreuse clouser minnow. 

The 2nd day, the water had dropped another 200 CFS, clarity was improving, and the sun was out - fishing improved markedly. Still no topwater action, but caught plenty of little smallies through the day. Most were in the 7-inch range, couple 10-12, nothing bigger. Very few sunfish as well compared to years past, although that may have been a function of the size of fly I was throwing. 

There was almost no topwater bite, despite scads of damselflies on the water. I think another few sunny warm days, and things will start to kick off on that front. 

On Thursday, July 2, 2015 at 8:13:34 AM UTC-4, Steven Butler wrote:

Has anyone been out on South Fork of Shenandoah this week? Floating it on kayaks either way, but heard the SM bass are tearing up buggers in the riffles in the past month or so. I figure it has to be up a lot with recent rains.

On Wednesday, July 1, 2015 at 11:31:23 PM UTC-4, Bob R wrote:

Hemlock Overlook on the Fairfax, Prince William county line is close and has a fairly good bass population, both small mouth and large mouth.   

Today I fished the North Fork of the Shenandoah at the Gooney Run public boat landing and did O.K. (2 small mouth and 1 huge bluegill).  All the other access points in the area were too high and muddy to wade safely with a 10yr old kid.  However, Gooney was running gin clear and cold, and there's a couple small islands right at the confluence with the Shenandoah that shields the main current.  Between the lee from the islands and clear water from the creek, we found good fishable water behind and just down stream of the islands.  Takes right at 90 minutes to get there but it might be worth checking out, plus Shenandoah River State Park is just 2 miles away.  Couple negatives are that it's a drop off point for at least one outfitter, so there's constantly shuttle buses dropping off kayakers.  And some of the locals bring their kids there to swim, but neither bothered me at all.

 
On Friday, June 26, 2015 at 10:01:29 AM UTC-4, Ashley Frohwein wrote:

Some friends and I are looking to fish for bass around July 11. We're trying to keep things low-budget and local - so no boat or guides. One of the guys is a moderately experienced fly fisher, and the other is a casual spin fisher, so going after carp may be a bit too much of a challenge for the latter.

Any ideas on somewhere relatively close to NoVa where we could wade (legally and at least somewhat safely) for bass? Ideally, I'm looking for somewhere nice looking (so no 4MR, for example), relatively easy to figure out/fish, and that is off the beaten path/not full of people.

If there aren't any great options, I guess we could fish a lake. But that's not the most exciting prospect. If we go the lake route, I think we'll probably head to Burke.

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