First Trip to the upper Rappahonock

[TOXIC]

Made our first trip out to the Rappahonock River out of Hopyard landing.  Lots of small fish snakeheads were chewing and bowfin in spawning colors.  Ned rigs did the most damage.  

[Kyle S]

Beautiful! I was headed to the Pamunkey this upcoming weekend but I think you just changed my mind! Do you recall what the water temps were? Those snakes come off of topwater or did the Ned bring in everything!?

[TOXIC]

3 hours ago, Kyle S said:

Beautiful! I was headed to the Pamunkey this upcoming weekend but I think you just changed my mind! Do you recall what the water temps were? Those snakes come off of topwater or did the Ned bring in everything!?

Yes, everything was on a Ned, I throw a custom poured Ned head with a 4” Senko.  My partner throws the Zman setup both head and trailer.  Water was 55-60.  Not too much junk and clarity was 2’.  As usual most productive areas were creek mouths.  We fished both tides.  We fished both up river and downriver from Hopyard.  Downriver was better.  

[Kyle S]

Thanks a bunch for the info @TOXIC I'm thinking of putting in at Randolphs on the river and heading down river. Chincoteague creek will certainly see a lure or two as well as the massive pad field to the right on the way to the creek. 

The Rappahannock is sort of a mystery to me. After I hit the handful of 'good' spots that I know pretty well I feel like I'm almost just randomly casting. Tons of great looking cover to target but a little overwhelming at times. Admittedly I spend a LOT of time in the creeks on the Pamunkey River and rarely fish the main river. Creeks are where i find comfort lol The few creeks that I do fish on the Rapp are either very shallow and seemingly lifeless at times.

Do you and your partner mostly fish the main river? 

 

[TOXIC]

@Kyle S in the areas we fish that are from Little Falls to Port Royal, our spots consist of almost all creek mouths.  We don’t go into any of the creeks.  There are some bays that we fish but very few.  After all the trips over the years we have spots that are on the main river.  Ledges, drops, rim rock, boulders, channel cuts, etc.  shoreline structure is not consistent because it is constantly changing with storms and tides. You have to be very aware of the tides because the fish set up differently depending on the tide.  We will be out there again this Sunday. 

[TnRiver46]

Colorful specimens!