07/03/08 Rappahannock River at Kelly's Ford

Location: Rappahannock River (Kelly's Ford, heading upstream ¾ mile)

Time: 11:00am 2:00pm

Today I decided to make a wade on my own to a new spot on the Rappahannock River that a friend had pointed me out too. I wasn't going to go far and was going to take extra caution (though I don't condone wading by your self to anyone). I ended up making a ¾ of a mile trek or so upstream as I heard this is where the best fishing was to be had.

The spot was Kelly's Ford, a small canal area where many canoeists, kayak enthusiasts, tubers, so forth launch. I saw a few people swimming later on my way back, but on my way upstream I was in solitude. What a beautiful morning. You could even hear the coyotes howling on the shoreline, though I wasn't lucky enough to get a picture of the solo one I saw. The left hand side of the river was very shallow and provided rock cover almost all the way up to where I made it today, making navigating deeper pools much easier (though most of them were on the right hand side of the river and harder to get to).

I managed two fish right away on a new Rapala Floating Jointed Minnow in a trout pattern (F-5 Model). It's a new lure I picked up this morning. This was the first time I'd try my luck out with hard stick bait lures while smallie fishing. Good choice.

The first one I managed to get under a fallen tree just barely above the water. There was current sweeping underneath it from a rocky area near the shoreline. I tossed in front of the tree, let the current sweep my bait down the rocks and then retrieved back through the current. I knew there had to be a fish or two here. Sure enough, fish on. It was only about 7-8 inches but was fun to land. The next one came off the same rock line (which went horizontal across the river). I tossed out to the other side of the river pulling through the main stream current that the rushing water coming over the rocks made. This fish pulled a lot harder when it hit. I got it to my feet and pulled it up seeing my first 10 smallie of the day. In the first 20 minutes I had two fish.

Throughout the next hour I caught two more smallies on the same lure. One of which was in a slower moving pool by a large boulder with underwater rock piles adjacent the left hand side of the shoreline. The other fish was caught off of an underwater rock line that was parallel to the shore. It was further upstream and the rock line with the current had made a deeper hole where the sand bottom had eroded. I basically pulled my bait down quickly and worked along it a few times. By the third or fourth time I had another 10 smallie on and pulled it up after a nice fight.

The only other smallie I caught today was a nice 14 incher pulled off a large boulder in the middle of the main stream current. It was later in the morning and came on a reaction bite. The fish hit as SOON as my bait hit the water by the boulder. I didn't know it was on at first and thought I was snagged. But the fish rocketed out of the water two times near the boulder keeping the hook on. The third one was closer to my feet, but I managed to pull him up. Just as I went to take a picture of a possible new pb, the fish shook loose from my grasp and dived back in the water. Story of my day haha.

Altogether today I caught five smallmouth. Two dinks, one 8 smallie, one 10" smallie, and one 14. I also caught a 8 fallfish, a decent sized rock bass, and two redear sunfish. All off the same bait. Tubes today was ineffective, though I only tried larger 4-5 models in one color (red/black).

9 - 10" Smallie

7 - 8" Smallie

8" Fall fish

Rock Bass or Green Sunfish?!?!?