Tips for Fishing the Shenandoah River from a canoe

[Marnie D]

Good Monday Morning!!!

Heading out to Shenandoah River via canoe this coming weekend and would appreciate your advise/experience/things to know...especially when it deals with fishing from the canoe... 

My experience comes from Casting For Recovery and have done some wading and shore line fishing, but not while floating...

Thanks in advance!!!

Marnie

CfR 2013

[Rob Snowhite]

If I were to fish the 'doa I would dead drift topwater (blue or yellow) sliders, damsels, or dragonflies with a generic nymph dropper or a small black unweighted woolybugger below. 

The top water Fly would have several rubber legs. 

Drifting the flies along shoreline shade. 

Sent from my iPhone

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[Marnie D]

Nice, seen something like that before and am prepared to do it. Thanks.

[Brian Cohen]

Marnie - sounds like you - like me - are a beginner.   I floated the Shenandoah a couple weeks ago.  The Shenandoah is not a large river - it is wet-wadeable in almost all places.  So my advice is to find the good spots - riffles in particular- and park the canoe and get out and cast.  Then move on.    Much eaiser to do it that way, and you will find plenty of places to stop.  

We did great with woolly buggers - they particularly seem to like pink ones.

Brian

On Mon, Jul 17, 2017 at 5:17 PM, Marnie D <ru4u...@gmail.com> wrote:

Nice, seen something like that before and am prepared to do it.  Thanks.

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[Marnie D]

Thanks for the advice... Pink... really...LOL!!!!  I will make sure I take a variety of colors...  

On Mon, Jul 17, 2017 at 5:33 PM Brian Cohen <brian....@gmail.com> wrote:

Marnie - sounds like you - like me - are a beginner.   I floated the Shenandoah a couple weeks ago.  The Shenandoah is not a large river - it is wet-wadeable in almost all places.  So my advice is to find the good spots - riffles in particular- and park the canoe and get out and cast.  Then move on.    Much eaiser to do it that way, and you will find plenty of places to stop.  

We did great with woolly buggers - they particularly seem to like pink ones.

Brian

On Mon, Jul 17, 2017 at 5:17 PM, Marnie D <ru4u...@gmail.com> wrote:

Nice, seen something like that before and am prepared to do it.  Thanks.

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[Andrew LaVigne]

Good points made so far - definitely wade where you can, you can explore the water in more detail that way. Also, if at all possible, convince another person to paddle the canoe for you, or spilt time front/back with someone. It can be kind of frustrating trying to hit spots and control the boat solo. 

couple of other things I've gleaned 

1. - topwater bugs at the shade line/near the bank for sure. The sliders Rob mentioned are great - the blue ones look like a damselfly, fish go stupid for them. If you have a heavier rod, like a 7 or 8 weight, you can throw some bigger topwater patterns too. 

2 - baitfish patterns - the wool-body CK-Baitfish-style patterns can be a ton of fun to fish - they fish under the surface, but they are visible (especially the white one), so you can see the strikes. Work around drop-offs and the edges of pools with those. Shiny kreelex-type minnow patterns are also great; the basic clouser minnow will find fish too, but I like the CK's and kreelex the best.

3- crawfish - biggest bass I've caught on that river was on a crayfish pattern, weighted and bounced on the bottom. It's like nymphing without an indicator. Anywhere in the deep cuts between ledges or the bottom of deep runs is good for those. They are a great search pattern for a boat. 

4 - watch for woody structure. There are big largemouth in the slow-water woody stuff. 

[Greggory DiSalvo]

I second the crawfish patterns.  I catch the VAST majority of smallies on them in that river.  Late afternoon turns to the perfect topwater bite. blue poppers, shade, shoreline, and behind rocks is awesome!  

Also explore some of the back channels around the river bends as they have held some pigs in the past.  Word of warning as last summers float led two of our canoes down one of these channels and we interrupted a lovely couple in the midst of some mating ritual.....made ever more awkward by the fact they didn't see or hear us until we were right on them...Very awkward. Did I mention crawfish pattens are great? 

Gregg

On Monday, July 17, 2017 at 2:17:05 PM UTC-4, Marnie D wrote:

[TurbineBlade]

Word of warning as last summers float led two of our canoes down one of these channels and we interrupted a lovely couple in the midst of some mating ritual.....

Did the guy have a back tattoo that says "Bartenders do it till your barf!"?   

TB

[tperkins]

Did the "lady" have a L-O-V-E tattoo on her rear? 

[Marnie D]

Thanks guys!!!!

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[Rob Snowhite]

Could have been the same couple we passed above Georgetown along the shore last year during the shad run. 

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[Scott Stankus]

Thomas - L-O-V-E..... initials? ;-)

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[TurbineBlade]

In any event, I hope everyone reading this now knows how to identify naked people engaged in sexual reproduction while floating the Shenandoah river.  I'm too lazy to scroll up, but that was the original question right? 

Gene

On Tuesday, July 18, 2017 at 9:34:52 AM UTC-4, Scott S wrote:

Thomas - L-O-V-E..... initials? ;-)

On Tue, Jul 18, 2017 at 9:11 AM, tperkins <thomas....@gmail.com> wrote:

Did the "lady" have a L-O-V-E tattoo on her rear? 

On Tuesday, July 18, 2017 at 8:55:38 AM UTC-4, TurbineBlade wrote:

Word of warning as last summers float led two of our canoes down one of these channels and we interrupted a lovely couple in the midst of some mating ritual.....

Did the guy have a back tattoo that says "Bartenders do it till your barf!"?   

TB

On Tuesday, July 18, 2017 at 8:38:05 AM UTC-4, Greggory DiSalvo wrote:

I second the crawfish patterns.  I catch the VAST majority of smallies on them in that river.  Late afternoon turns to the perfect topwater bite. blue poppers, shade, shoreline, and behind rocks is awesome!  

Also explore some of the back channels around the river bends as they have held some pigs in the past.  Word of warning as last summers float led two of our canoes down one of these channels and we interrupted a lovely couple in the midst of some mating ritual.....made ever more awkward by the fact they didn't see or hear us until we were right on them...Very awkward. Did I mention crawfish pattens are great? 

Gregg

On Monday, July 17, 2017 at 2:17:05 PM UTC-4, Marnie D wrote:

Good Monday Morning!!!

Heading out to Shenandoah River via canoe this coming weekend and would appreciate your advise/experience/things to know...especially when it deals with fishing from the canoe... 

My experience comes from Casting For Recovery and have done some wading and shore line fishing, but not while floating...

Thanks in advance!!!

Marnie

CfR 2013

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[Marnie D]

It seems it drifted in that direction, but not the initial question....  (rolling eyes while smiling)

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[Greggory DiSalvo]

Let's just say, these..."fisherpeople" were not using any soft plastics...

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[TurbineBlade]

Sorry Marnie -- My wife and I floated the SF Shenandoah virtually every weekend the last 2 summers, until we had a baby....I generally fly fishing while standing off of the bow, while she spin fishes from the stern. 

If you want to catch the big smallmouth, my advice is to cast in the aforementioned shaded and/or spots very near to structure ("fishy" spots) out in front of the canoe.  If you can plot a huge popper or streamer in front of the fish before they're aware of you, you get more hook-ups.  Aside from that, just get out there a lot and experiment until you find what works and/or what makes you happy.  If you like to "beach" the canoe and drift a small woolly bugger through some sections with big redbreast sunfish instead of trying for 2-3 big smallies per trip, go for it.  If you want to squeeze the belly of a fallfish to hear it gurgle, go for it. 

I'm happier catching 50+ fat sunfish than I am having shots at 2-3 big smallies.  My wife tends toward the latter and calls my pursuit of sunfish "fishing for children" ;).  Both are acceptable. 

Gene

[Connor Donovan]

To piggy back off of what others have said, if your floating along and wanting to fish from the canoe, you can limit some of the stress of "where do I start casting" by targeting the banks.  I like to keep the boat facing directly downstream about a casts length away from the shore - 3 or 4 rod lengths off at a minimum but more helps.   Casting directly perpendicular to the shore works well.  Like Gene mentioned, casting angled 45-degrees downstream and toward the bank works well too because the fish will see the fly first and not you or your fly line. And if you can get your fly (topwater or subsurface) to land within a rods length or half a rods length from the bank, you'll be in the money.  

If fishing top water out of a boat, no need for big strips and lots of recasting, try to keep it simple.  Try to use a pick-it-up-lay-it-down-let-it-ride-style that one can fish sitting. Try to get a 15-30 second drag-less drift if you can.  A twitch of the line or small strip every 5-10 seconds or even 15 seconds works well and if it starts to drag badly, just pick it up and lay it back down to start over.  More than likely a quick mend following the cast will set your up well for a good drift, or adjusting the canoe's position does too.  

Also, if you can find two to four feet of water moving at a walking pace with a gravel bottom along the bank or in the middle of the river - you will find fish.  Grass edges will have hold fish.  So will the downstream side of log jams, shady spots under low hanging branches or around bridges, above rock ledges in large pool tail-outs, and in smaller pools formed between close together ledges.  These are all fantastic ambush spots.

And keep your eyes and ears peeled for small streams entering the river.  There are spring creeks that dump into the river on many of it's stretches and make for a great spot to cool down your ankles on hot summer days and will also harbor fish on the downstream side of it's mouth. 

This is all assuming you are floating with a second person in the boat who is steering.  If at some point they want to fish, don't let them cast over the middle of the canoe.  Nobody likes getting a sneaky pete stuck in their neck.  Roll casts or cross-body casts serve everyone well when fishing out of a boat, no matter the size or type.

Good luck this weekend and let us know how it goes!

[bryan....@gmail.com]

Gene

I love children, I have 2 and 2 granddaughters.  I would never fish for them. That's gruel!

Sent from my iPhone

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[Marnie D]

Connor, great info... we will have a two-some in the canoe, so I'll get to cast without steering... 

I'll let you all know how it goes next week....

Marnie

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[TurbineBlade]

Oh, I should have clarified that she doesn't consider sunfish fishing to be "only something children would do" but rather "like catching children, since they're often so excitable and willing to bite". 

I love sunfish. 

TB

[Aden]

I have never fished the Shenandoah because I am not sure where to go. I have a kayak and like to wade but I know access is a bit tricky on that river.

I have fished the Potomac at harpers ferry and if that was any indication of the quality fish then I want to go more.

Any suggestions for solo day trips from alexandria?

[namfos]

On Tuesday, July 18, 2017 at 8:38:05 AM UTC-4, Greggory DiSalvo wrote:

 

[Connor Donovan]

Access isn't too bad on the Shenandoah, you just need to stick to the boat ramps.  VDGIF has a great page on the access points along the river and you really can't go wrong with any of them.

If you are looking to solo fish without shuttling, put in a boat ramp and paddle up river, float back to the car.  Or if you are looking to solo float, get to the river between 8 and 9am to drop your stuff a the putin, drive to the take out and hitch hike back to the putin.  From my experience, it works like a charm on beautiful summer weekends.

[Carl Z.]

Do any of the outfitters run shuttle service?  I've had my wife drop me off, but that's when we were staying close by.

Carl

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[TurbineBlade]

Front Royal Canoe does -- we've used them for years and never had a problem.  

On Wednesday, July 19, 2017 at 7:14:51 PM UTC-4, Carl wrote:

Do any of the outfitters run shuttle service?  I've had my wife drop me off, but that's when we were staying close by.

Carl

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On Wed, Jul 19, 2017 at 9:55 AM, Connor Donovan <don...@gmail.com> wrote:

Access isn't too bad on the Shenandoah, you just need to stick to the boat ramps.  VDGIF has a great page on the access points along the river and you really can't go wrong with any of them.

If you are looking to solo fish without shuttling, put in a boat ramp and paddle up river, float back to the car.  Or if you are looking to solo float, get to the river between 8 and 9am to drop your stuff a the putin, drive to the take out and hitch hike back to the putin.  From my experience, it works like a charm on beautiful summer weekends.

On Tuesday, July 18, 2017 at 11:21:51 PM UTC-4, Aden wrote:

I have never fished the Shenandoah because I am not sure where to go. I have a kayak and like to wade but I know access is a bit tricky on that river.

I have fished the Potomac at harpers ferry and if that was any indication of the quality fish then I want to go more.

Any suggestions for solo day trips from alexandria?

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[Andrew LaVigne]

For an outfitter, Downriver Canoe Company near Bentonville has been awesome. They rent canoes, kayaks, and tubes, and have a bunch of different float lengths. They're right near the Andy Guest Shenandoah State Park; their floats cover a bunch of excellent water.  Wading access is a bit trickier; I have waded upstream from the crossing at Bixler's (just outside Luray), but you run into deep water. Same with Shenandoah state park. 

On Tuesday, July 18, 2017 at 11:21:51 PM UTC-4, Aden wrote:

[Steven Butler]

I'm a big fan of hopping on the South Fork in the area of Luray, VA - Inskeep Boat Ramp start with plenty of downriver options for take out spots. Shenandoah River Outfitter is there if you need rentals, but they've always been cool about answering any access questions despite the fact I have never actually rented anything. Plenty of options to hop out of your watercraft and cast as well and some beautiful scenery.

It's a bit farther than some other Shenandoah locations, but it also has the added bonus of quick access to good spots in SNP for brookies.