Shenandoah River ( Egypt Bend )

[Nitrofreak]

Got the chance to fish our wonderful river system yesterday for about 2 and half hours, never seen so many big boats on the river before in that area, ended up with one bass for roughly a pound and a half after making adjustments, had some fun though.

When I got on the water it was all muddied up from the boat traffic, anglers that spoke to me said that the fishing was null and void, I tried to find some water that was clearer but to no avail, everything was mostly chocolate milk.

I kinda like these days myself, once you figure out that baits with a lot of vibration aren't cutting the mustard what's next?

A hint from fishing muddy turbulent waters that we learned from in here is that the bass won't move very much at all when their surroundings become very limited with visibility suddenly, your focus becomes much more set on areas that bass may be using to feel a little more comfortable for them, lay downs, brush piles, docks, something that they can tuck in close to and give them some sort of point of reference, the fishing becomes much more precise and your working areas inch by inch instead of yard by yard, basically hitting them on the nose with your presentation, it's very difficult to keep a presentation in front of them for very long at all when boat wakes are rocking both you and the waters, keep your baits weighted with as little weight as possible, smaller jigs can be rigged with larger trailers to help slow the rate of fall, split shot rigs can help get your plastics in strike zones and hold them there for longer periods of time, it's a great time to work with your pitching, keeping your landings as subtle as possible is important, bare in mind that a lot of times these fish are spooked, it's basically the same thing as you walking into a well lit room and suddenly having all the lights turned off on you, it takes a few seconds to adjust and find your way around, same general thing for the fish.

Pick your areas apart because they can be holding to just about anything and at any depth in situations like this and you will find fish.

[brotekind269]

Where is Egypt Bend? I enjoy fishing the Main Stem where the south and north meet to the dam, and would love to find another launch with deeper water..

Fished there for the first time over the weekend and cannot believe how drunk and inconsiderate some of the speed boats are. I under stand the need to stay in the channel and there isn't a lot of room to pass (and having a few beers while on the water), but I had a boat pass at full throttle between me and the bank while I was at mid cast. We could have given each other a high five. I love that place and have pulled out some good fish, but it will strictly be a weekday thing.  

[Nitrofreak]

In Luray, I can get specifics for you, road names etc... If need be my friend.

There was one guy there in a big red boat this past weekend the got almost that close to me as well.

[brotekind269]

What boat ramp do you use? or nearest place on google maps. 

[Nitrofreak]

I used the one on Egypt bend road, it's the only public access ramp that I know of.

[brotekind269]

Looking on the map, it looks like it launches into deeper water just above the dam. Is there a good stretch to fish before it gets shallow? The boat traffic is a problem, but when the water and weather gets cooler I plan on spending as much time as possible on the Shenandoah. It will be good to have a spot on the South Fork, which is about an hour from me. Thanks for the info,

[Nitrofreak]

It's roughly about 1/2 to 3/4 of a mile stretch of river you can fish from a bass boat, if you have a yak you can pretty much consider it unlimited, they have tournaments there as well, although I'm not sure which club puts them on but there can be up to 20 bass boats there on occasion that pretty much wipes out the parking area.

Most of the time though if you get there early there is only a handful of anglers if that or later in the evenings are good as well.

Hope to meet up with ya sometime.

 

[Avalonjohn44]

Man, I was just there this weekend, scouting the area out and that ramp looked kinda harrowing.  I don't trust my boat skills in the river or my ramp skills on that steep/narrow ramp... There were only two jetskis and a jon boat out on Saturday when I went...

[Nitrofreak]

13 hours ago, Avalonjohn44 said:

Man, I was just there this weekend, scouting the area out and that ramp looked kinda harrowing.  I don't trust my boat skills in the river or my ramp skills on that steep/narrow ramp... There were only two jetskis and a jon boat out on Saturday when I went...

It's not as bad as it looks, the bad part is unloading and loading, only because you have to back in so far, if the ramp is soaking wet you may need 4wd if you have a bigger boat, other than that it's a decent place, I was there on Sunday after the storm working on my skipping, rat nested one that I just got, gave up and went fishing instead LOL ! what worked for me was zoom lizards pumpkin/chartreuse around all the wood in the upper regions of the river, nothing over 2lbs but caught 9 in an hour.

[BoomerVT]

Hi all

I'm renting a canoe from Downriver Canoe Co. on Saturday, looking for LM and smallies with my bro.  We plan to fish trip #3 - Burners Bottom (http://www.downriver.com/canoe-trips/).  Has anyone ever done this one, or have any advice?  We're looking to fish for the majority of the day, so I'm not sure but we may want a longer trip distance-wise.

Any advice on locations or lures?  I've read good things about spooks in the morning and evening.  Also, we're loaded up on senkos, plan to fish plenty of wacky and texas rigs, maybe some drop shot flukes as well (w/ JJ's magic of course).

Appreciate the help!

Boomer

[Choporoz]

@BoomerVT, I've never fished above Downriver Canoe more than about a half mile.  But, I did float from Low Water Bridge (right at DC) to State Park last Saturday and Sunday.  Smallies were holding tight to bottom and wouldn't touch much until you slid it slowly past their faces.  Few caught on spinners or cranks....no topwater bite before dusk that I'm aware of.  (Couple of the guys continued on to Front Royal and didn't come off until after 10PM!)

    Crazy Flappers, Mega Bug (minis), flukes, and four inch senkos bounced with the current turned out to be just the thing.  I believe that everyone caught fish, with some in the upper teens (and one 20".) 

    Rigs I prefer are Owner Finesse ball heads, OMTD finesse tungsten jig heads, wacky heads, slider spider heads.   Those come through the rocks pretty well.  Bitsy/finesse-y jigs are good, too. 

     Small bug/craw like plastics seemed to be working best in dark browns, blues, black.  Flukes gotta be white right now....no idea why, but greens were ignored when whites killed 'em.  Any green/brown worms in four or five inch lengths are good.  Stick worms generally better than thinner ones, but I did get a 14 1/2 on a four inch slider worm. 

     We found that drifting with current was often too fast in a lot of stretches.  Try to stop on the rocks, or at the bank close to holes.  It will allow you to cast in and work the drops a lot slower than while you're drifting past.   

    I'm going out again tomorrow, but not sure what stretch we'll float.  I'll update on Thurs.

      Good luck.

 

[flyfisher]

I almost fished there last week because we were staying at the jellystone campground but decided not to...i just might next trip there though  

[Nitrofreak]

4 hours ago, flyfisher said:

I almost fished there last week because we were staying at the jellystone campground but decided not to...i just might next trip there though  

Say when !!!

[Nitrofreak]

There is a good chance I may be over there again this weekend, anyone else ?

[lakeannaangler]

I live about 20 minutes from Egypt bend. Some of my friends have their own tournaments on Egypt bend, front royal, lake Anna, Shenandoah dam. I like fishing on Egypt bend in the spring with craw colored crank baits and bright colored jerkbaits. In early summer I fish deep diving jerkbaits in the timber and catch some. Never been productive this time of the year.

Next time you go, bring a spinning rod that can throw 1/16oz jig heads and Charlie brewer crappie grubs. They catch everything that swims . I floated from Elkton to Shenandoah on Sunday using those grubs and caught over 50 including a 4 pound large mouth.

The ramp at Egypt bend is a pain in the butt to load and unload because of how far you have to back in. I haven't done it by myself but I imagine it would be really hard.  

[Nitrofreak]

Thanks for the tips man!!

As for the ramp, I've done it so many times I just don't give it any thought, I used to have the family with me but they rarely go anymore.

[Choporoz]

***Not Egypt Bend....I should probably just start a new thread, but I'm lazy atm....

Floated Bentonville to State Park once again yesterday....a little less focus on fishing than previously, because wife and kids were riding tubes and I was alongside...more of a leisurely day.

However, conditions were same as last weekend.  I had no more Crazy Flappers and only two mini MegaBugs.  Once those were gone, I worked through 'substitutes'....RT Menace, which is great there at times were no go....Baby Brush Hog (I had exactly one left) got me a 15" and a bunch of smaller fish.  After that, I was throwing RT Structure Bugs.  Fewer bites, but larger fish on average.  Caught about two dozen total in 31/2 hours.  Good day.  As before, get yourself slowed, anchored, stuck, and drag creatures through the holes.  Or rip them through the rapids.   Finesse worm bite was almost non-existent for no apparent reason.

 

[Nitrofreak]

3 hours ago, Choporoz said:

***Not Egypt Bend....I should probably just start a new thread, but I'm lazy atm....

Floated Bentonville to State Park once again yesterday....a little less focus on fishing than previously, because wife and kids were riding tubes and I was alongside...more of a leisurely day.

However, conditions were same as last weekend.  I had no more Crazy Flappers and only two mini MegaBugs.  Once those were gone, I worked through 'substitutes'....RT Menace, which is great there at times were no go....Baby Brush Hog (I had exactly one left) got me a 15" and a bunch of smaller fish.  After that, I was throwing RT Structure Bugs.  Fewer bites, but larger fish on average.  Caught about two dozen total in 31/2 hours.  Good day.  As before, get yourself slowed, anchored, stuck, and drag creatures through the holes.  Or rip them through the rapids.   Finesse worm bite was almost non-existent for no apparent reason.

 

No need for a new thread if you don't want to, I put Egypt Bend in because that's the part of the shennandoah I frequent the most, anyone can use this as they see fit if they wish.

I had some luck with worms when the water was not so stained back a few weeks ago, most of the time it's creature baits that they like more anyway, not much in the way of other food sources along that stretch, small jig configurations seem to be preferred almost year round, sounds like a great outing Dave, thanks for the helpful tips man !!

[Nitrofreak]

I meant to note the current, worms work better when there is little current in the river, such as when it's low and the dams are closed or close to being closed.

[lakeannaangler]

So I just got off the water after about 6 hours of fishing. Me and 2 others caught a combined 20 bass. We caught them on crank baits, jerkbaits,  and drop shots , the bigger fish were caught on tubes near docks, drop shot near any cover you can see. 

We also saw 4 muskies , the biggest being about 40 inches

[Nitrofreak]

Nice !!! Where at ???

[lakeannaangler]

5 hours ago, Nitrofreak said:

Nice !!! Where at ???

Down near the dam.

[Nitrofreak]

I'll be there tomorrow, Sunday, in the am, if any of you venture out to the bend I have a black and silver Pro Craft, feel free to say howdy if ya want !!

[BoomerVT]

Floated the south fork on Saturday with my brother (started 7mi south of low water bridge).  Got 26 smallmouth between the two of us, most of the biting came in the afternoon with the cloud cover.  The overwhelming majority were on weightless wacky rigged senkos.  They loved the baby bass color, we burned through a whole bag (with o-rings!).  Also took a few on the pumpkin w/ black flk, as well as carolina rigged crawdad plastics.  they were biting hard after rapids, in the middle of the river, probably under grass waiting for baitfish.

cant wait to go back.  tight lines!

[Nitrofreak]

Great job Boomer !!!!!