Smallmouth fishing in VA

[VABassin'14]

I want to start doing more smallmouth fishing. I don't know of many places to fish for them other than Smith Mtn lake, Shenandoah River, and Lake Moomaw. I don't get to go to Smith but once or twice a year, and Moomaw two or three times a year. what are some other great places to catch smallies, and what techniques work the best?

[Aluma-Bass]

upper james & new river always produce nice smallies every year! Small jigs, senkos, flukes, dropshot, shallow runnin cranks, jerkbaits, topwater, spinnerbaits, craws/ kreature baits, tubes, and t-rig yamamoto twin tail skirted grubs  all work great on the river!

[Dan:]

Pretty much any river. Near you there is the Shenandoah, the North, the South, and the Middle. Also the James and the New.

[T.R. Express]

James river produces SMB's!

[pennyankees]

the new river produces great in the sping,summer,and fall. your biggest fish will certainly come in the spring; after that its mostly fish that are less than 14 inches. Im taking my son there this spring or summer and its the first time hes been in a long time. We're pretty excited.

The New River is great though!

[Sam]

Sorry you missed the Richmond Fishing Expo as you would have met a lot of guides and others who know about smallmouth fishing in Virginia.

I do not usually go after smallmouth so I did not pick up any information.

You may want to check out some Virginia guide services web sites and they may list the places to fish for smallmouth.

We all know about the James and New Rivers but there are lots of other places in the state.

Good luck and let us know what you find out. 

[NewAngler]

I would check the RObinson river, Rose river and upper rapidan up that way. I've had little success on the lower Rapidan in Fredericksburg, but have heard the upper rapidan is where it's at. I've been wanting to make the trip with my fly rod, but havent yet.

[VABassin'14]

Thanks everyone. I will be sure to post how it goes when I get to make it out onto the water.