Date: 5-6-08 Time: 9:30 - 5:30

Water: Stained Water temp: 67

Weather: Partly sunny Temp: 72

Well, finally back for a day of fishing. The South Fork is still a little bit higher than normal. Not a lot of rocks showing. Real nice level. Easy to get down the river, but still low enough for good fishing. There was a fair amount of debris floating in the river, leaves, pieces of grass and stuff. The last leftovers from the high water last week. Still had to clean my lures a lot, but it wasn't near as bad as all that algae was a few weeks back. All in all, the river is in very good shape. I did my old favorite, the SP2 trip, from the State Park to Karo Landing. Only took a few minutes to start nailing some nice bluegills in the park. They were more than happy to clobber a #3 Mepps inline spinner (gold blade). Caught a couple of medium size smallmouth with a Rebel Wee-R crankbait (crawdad color). Pulled into a little spot of slack water next to the bank and got a nice 17 inch smallie with the crankbait. Alright! And not even out of the park yet. The first couple of hours was pretty fair fishing. A few here, a few there. A mix of smallmouth and bluegill. Not a real good bite, but not bad either. Tried soft plastics several times, but they weren't working at all. I stuck with the spinner and the crankbait, but I changed to chartreuse with black back for the Wee-R. About 11:30 the bite just pretty much turned off. Around noon I was in the area around the houses, where I usually get some of my best fishing. Well, I wasn't getting squat. The bite had just about vanished and I was just a little bit depressed. I switched off to fishing a 3/8 oz. Rocket Shad (chartreuse), a lure that's sort of like a beetle spin on steroids. I was slow rolling the Shad, reeling it in at a moderate pace so it would stay close to the bottom. But I didn't get many fish for a couple of hours. Around 2:30 I was in the area about fifty yards up from the twin islands, still slow rolling the Shad Rocket. A little sprinkle of rain rolled in. I started getting some fish at a good clip, bam, bam, bam. I got another big 17 inch bass. Then a couple more medium size bass pretty quick. Then whamo, somebody really bent my rod. I loosened the drag up and took my time, just reeling with the drag nice and loose and letting her wear herself out, letting her run on the drag for a good little while. I ended up with a heck of a nice smallmouth, a bit over 19 inches. My first spring lunker. I stayed in that area just upriver of the twin islands for better than an hour and caught quite a few bass and bluegill. A real honey hole. The fishing was pretty good the rest of the afternoon. The big lunker girl trashed my Rocket Shad, so I switched off to a similar homemade spinnerbait I had in the box. By some miracle, it held out for the rest of the day, although the skirt fell apart and I switched to a grub trailer. The rest of the day provided some fine fishing. Never too long a wait between fish. I was even getting bass in places I don't normally fish. Overall, a real nice day of fishing. It was nice to have the blugill in the mix. Got some decent size "perch". The bass ran the whole range in size. The majority were middle sized, 8 to 12 inch. But I did get a few that were miniscule, real sardine size. And, of course, I got some nice big guys as well. While the fishing never got "red-hot-a-fish-every-cast" good, it was pretty darn decent in the afternoon. After my first two trips this year giving me a grand total of three fish, you best believe it felt like a gift from God. So you see why I'm always raving about spring fishing. It can be a little spotty at times, with the weather patterns and rains and all. But it can also be a really rewarding experience. Bottom line, do yourself a favor and do some spring fishing. Its hard to beat a nice canoe trip down the South Fork. The beauty of the place is beyond words.

ED T.

Date: 4-30-08

Hey folks, I know you've been waiting for a new fishing report for several weeks now. Sorry about that. Don't think I forgot about you. Two weeks ago I couldn't make it because of work. Not my call, had to put in a little bit of overtime. I think you know how I feel about the work vs. fishing question. No need to dwell on that. And then last week, the river was real high and muddy. So what about this week? Well, I rode out from D.C. this morning, only to find the South Fork REALLY rolling. River level was somewhere around five feet this morning, which is about twice the normal height. Oh well, it was a nice ride out on the motorcycle, and it was nice to see the folks out at Front Royal Canoe. And look at it this way, now the river will have plenty of water to get us through the dry part of the year later on. Also, it should take care of the algae that was all over the place a few weeks ago. By now that stuff is somewhere out in the Chesapeake Bay. I'm hoping the river will be back down to a good fishing level by next week. The water temperature has risen a fair amount, that's a plus. With warmer water and a decent level and a little bit of luck... perhaps a springtime lunker? Anyway, I hope I can give you a report next week. Sorry it's been so long.

Ed T.

Date: 4-8-08 Time: 9:30 - 4:30

Water: Slight stain Water temp: 53

Weather: Partly sunny Temp: 62

I did the Sp2 trip from the State Park to Karo Landing, my favorite stretch of fishing water in the South Fork. The rain last week brought the water level up significantly. Hardly a rock showing through the whole stretch. The faster water tore a lot of algae off the bottom, so there's a ton of moss floating in the river. Keeping your lures clean is a real bear. Almost every cast required a clean off. But the real down side of the rain was that it lowered the water temperature to a chilly 53 degrees. Don't get me wrong, bass will bite at 53, but its not exactly prime temperature. In my case, exactly one bass was willing to bite. Ow! That's right, I caught exactly one bass yesterday. You would think it would have been on a slow fished soft plastic bait. But in fact I caught her on a #3 Mepps Aglia inline spinner (gold blade) which I was dragging across a deeper area downriver from a rock ledge. Nice smallmouth, seventeen inches long, fairly heavy fish. But that was it. Nary a bite the rest of the day. Fished mostly various soft plastics and jigs. I also tried small crankbaits and spinnerbaits at times. I fished the deep stuff. the shallow stuff, the banks, the few rocks that were showing. I fished all over the place. But the combination of higher water and lower temperature had pretty much turned 'em off the bite. It was decent weather, so it was still pretty nice to be out on the river. You know how often I come here, so an occasional day of sorry fishing is no big deal. I just enjoy the peace and beauty of this special place. The weather will get a little warmer. A few good warm days will bring that water temperature up and we'll be puttin' some nice bass in the boat. Be sure to get in some spring fishing this year. Its a great way to dust the cobwebs off your tackle.

Ed T.

Date: 4-2-08 Time: 10:00 - 4;30

First time back on the South Fork since last fall. Sure felt good to pull up in the parking lot at Front Royal Canoe. Showtime! Went for my usual trip, SP2, from the State Park to Karo Landing. River conditions were near perfect, great level and crystal clear. But there is a lot of algae. The bottom is almost completely covered. Spent a fair amount of time picking algae off my lures. I heard people have been catching a fair number of fish in the last few weeks, so I was optimistic about my chances. Dream on. I didn't get a bite for hours. I finally caught two bass in the deeper area in front of the houses, just down from the stone wall. That whole area was full of nice fish. I could look down and see all kinds of good size bass swimming around. Weren't biting worth a darn. Finally got a fourteen inch smallmouth on a 4 inch senko (green pumpkin) that I drifted on the bottom, for what seemed like forever. About ten minutes later I caught a fourteen inch largemouth the same way. I should have stayed there and kept working that senko. Instead, I moved on. And I never got another bite the rest of the day. I may not have got skunked, but I sure got pretty darned close. Anyway, let me tell you where I saw fish. I saw largemouths in the creeks, a few of them decent size. I found quite a lot of bass in the deeper areas of water, especially the area out in front of the houses. Look for schools of bass pooled up in the deeper canyons between the rock ridges. I saw a fair number of pretty big bass in the mix. Bodes well for the future. Can't really say for sure why I caught so few fish. I will say that it is by no means the first time its happened to me. No sir. I am no virgin to skunk territory. I will also say that it felt really good to be back on the South Fork, a very special place to me. The afternoon was warm and nice and it felt great just to be out on the river. Like I said, I heard other people have been catching a few. So I'm pretty sure next week will be a different story. As the water warms up in the next few weeks, the fishing will just get better and better. Don't miss out on spring fishing. It can be the best time of the year to get a lunker.

Ed T.