Smallies on the Rapidan River? Also brief SNP Fishing Report

[Andrew Chaney]

Hey all,

Does anyone have any experience going after smallmouth bass on the lower Rapidan River? I'm curious how far upstream from the confluence with the Rappahannock River one can reasonably fish for smallies.

Also: I explored a couple brook trout streams in SNP last weekend, but didn't fish much. I tested the water temperature in several places. It was consistently between 65-66 degrees and for the most part, the trout were all huddled together at the bottom of every deep pool, moving as little as possible. The rain earlier this week may have cooled things off enough, but I think it's still too warm for trout, in VA at least.

[Danny Barrett]

Use to fish the Rapidan for smallies semi-often.  I always just fished right at the confluence.  I maybe fished a half mile in all directions of the confluence.  Haven't been down there in 2 years.  Use to be a lot of eager to eat 12" smallies.

Thanks,

Dan Barrett

dannyt...@gmail.com

(540)-222-8064

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[TurbineBlade]

Danny - You have spent a dizzying amount of time fishing in a hell of a lot of places.  

I've concluded that you are either a 400-year-old vampire, or you skipped history class in every grade. 

No worries though, I've pieced much of it together from oatmeal packets.  We landed on the moon, Napoleon was defeated at Waterloo, and those are both chronological.  There hasn't been much since. 

If the former is true, no one share a boat with Danny!   

Gene

On Wednesday, September 21, 2016 at 7:47:59 PM UTC-4, Danny Barrett wrote:

Use to fish the Rapidan for smallies semi-often.  I always just fished right at the confluence.  I maybe fished a half mile in all directions of the confluence.  Haven't been down there in 2 years.  Use to be a lot of eager to eat 12" smallies.

Thanks,

Dan Barrett

dannyt...@gmail.com

(540)-222-8064

On Wed, Sep 21, 2016 at 3:17 PM, Andrew Chaney <andrew...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hey all,

Does anyone have any experience going after smallmouth bass on the lower Rapidan River? I'm curious how far upstream from the confluence with the Rappahannock River one can reasonably fish for smallies.

Also: I explored a couple brook trout streams in SNP last weekend, but didn't fish much. I tested the water temperature in several places. It was consistently between 65-66 degrees and for the most part, the trout were all huddled together at the bottom of every deep pool, moving as little as possible. The rain earlier this week may have cooled things off enough, but I think it's still too warm for trout, in VA at least.

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[Danny Barrett]

Thanks Gene.  I can say the same about you.  Love seeing the pictures.    I have great fun fishing new places, always keeps me on my toes.  I'm only in my 20's (but my dad got me hooked on fishing at a early age), fishing has come before girl friends so far (maybe this is why they don't stick around) haha.  College and my job has caused me to live in about 4 or 5 states so far.  For me fishing is why i get up for work every morning.  I try to get out on the water every other weekend and try to find a few different rivers every year.  Currently looking for water in KY and TN.

Tight lines,

Dan Barrett

dannyt...@gmail.com

(540)-222-8064

On Thu, Sep 22, 2016 at 4:40 AM, TurbineBlade <doubl...@gmail.com> wrote:

Danny - You have spent a dizzying amount of time fishing in a hell of a lot of places.  

I've concluded that you are either a 400-year-old vampire, or you skipped history class in every grade. 

No worries though, I've pieced much of it together from oatmeal packets.  We landed on the moon, Napoleon was defeated at Waterloo, and those are both chronological.  There hasn't been much since. 

If the former is true, no one share a boat with Danny!   

Gene

On Wednesday, September 21, 2016 at 7:47:59 PM UTC-4, Danny Barrett wrote:

Use to fish the Rapidan for smallies semi-often.  I always just fished right at the confluence.  I maybe fished a half mile in all directions of the confluence.  Haven't been down there in 2 years.  Use to be a lot of eager to eat 12" smallies.

Thanks,

Dan Barrett

dannyt...@gmail.com

(540)-222-8064

On Wed, Sep 21, 2016 at 3:17 PM, Andrew Chaney <andrew...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hey all,

Does anyone have any experience going after smallmouth bass on the lower Rapidan River? I'm curious how far upstream from the confluence with the Rappahannock River one can reasonably fish for smallies.

Also: I explored a couple brook trout streams in SNP last weekend, but didn't fish much. I tested the water temperature in several places. It was consistently between 65-66 degrees and for the most part, the trout were all huddled together at the bottom of every deep pool, moving as little as possible. The rain earlier this week may have cooled things off enough, but I think it's still too warm for trout, in VA at least.

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[Misha Gill]

Andrew, I fished the Confluence two weeks ago. The water was low. My advice is to skip over the good looking pocket water that is running too shallow at the moment and fish the deeper pools. Use woolly buggers, and if you feel like getting double hookups throw a damselfly imitation behind it. I tried poppers, clousers, etc. no luck. It makes me think the fish eat a lot more invertebrates in the Rapidan/Rappahanock. There are decent sized fish around (I've caught em to about 15" there before), but good luck getting into them. I caught about eight to ten 8, 9 and 10 inch smallies, and hooked one that may have gone 12 (see my instagram for the shot of the double hookup). I fished from the confluence up to the top of the island in the Rapidan, took about 4 hours. It's beautiful, enjoy!

[Eric L]

I've fished for (and caught) decent smallies up at the rt. 15 bridge - it's just smaller water up there. So I'd say you can reasonably expect to catch them all the way up til you start catching trout, and a little beyond.. Good luck out there!

[Ben H]

As Eric said, there are smallies the entire length of the Rapidan up to the mountains/foothills. You can fish at any of the boating access areas and most of the major bridges. I've generally caught more bream than smallies at most spots I've tried. Numbers of smallies tend to be higher in the spots with more rock/gravel habitat. As a connected watershed, the Phelps WMA area around Kelly's Ford on the Rapp is also a decent wading spot.

[Andrew Chaney]

Thanks for the advice!

[Andrew Chaney]

That would make for a great fishing/backpacking trip. Thanks for the info!

[Andrew Chaney]

Thanks for the info!

[Andrew LaVigne]

Last year around this time I hit several spots on the river, working at bridge crossings. 

-Started at the James Madison Hwy/15 pull off at Madison Mills, just north of Orange. good looking water upstream, including a deeper slow pool

-There's a pull-off at the 522/Taylor Highway bridge that offers decent access upstream and down, caught fish on both sides. Only downside there was that one of the nearby landowners was apparently having a shooting party, heard like a solid 30 minutes of heavy gunfire from fairly near the river.  

-Ely's ford is an easy access, but the water near the bridge is sort of meh, especially if it's low.  Haven't been very far upstream there, but never saw anything that enticed me that much. wade downstream to the first big bend, and things become much more appealing - deeper pools, lots of cuts and ledges. I've caught good fish there in the past. 

-The confluence was interesting looking water, but I had more luck in the section of the Rapp above the Rapidan. Slippery wading there, nearly busted my ass a couple times. 

On Wednesday, September 21, 2016 at 3:17:03 PM UTC-4, Andrew Chaney wrote:

[Misha Gill]

I second the slippery wading. I was saved by my wading staff a lot but even still I found myself ice skating a few times. I think smallie streams are harder to wade than trout streams...