Virginia Fishing

In this second edition of Bob Gooch’s Virginia Fishing Guide, M. W. Smith offers an updated version of a classic work of Virginia outdoor literature. Providing a new preface and appendices, Smith also recasts the volume’s introduction and site listings to reflect such changes as new "catch and release only" designations and stocking schedules (for trout streams). This edition features a fresh design with new maps and photographs.

To catch fish, you need to know where to fish.

The Rapidan River is an angler's dream that can be fished year round since the watershed includes tough, cranky smallmouth bass as well as aggressive mountain brook trout. Following the precedent set in his other CatchGuide books, Steve starts the coverage at the mouth of the Rapidan where it slams into the Rappahannock at the smallmouth bass fishing heaven known simply as "the Confluence" and ends above the old presidential retreat at Camp Hoover high in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

There are 18 different access points between those two locations that open up over 34 miles of water. Even though the book runs over 50,500 words, that is not enough to describe the fabulous fishing on this premier river.

248 pictures, coupled with 21 maps, tell the rest of the story. Use them to put your experienced angler's eye on the water and make your own judgment before you drive to any particular location. In the Internet age, pictures and words are not enough. The book includes 162 GPS coordinates to obtain customized directions via the Internet or put the coordinates directly into a GPS receiver to guide your day on the water.

Beyond wade fishing, Steve discusses each access point in terms of its compatibility to launch a canoe or a kayak. Once in the water, floating anglers will be well served to use this guide to move quickly to the good spots and not waste time floating over unproductive water. In particular, they will find the detailed coverage that covers every foot of the river from Elys Ford all the way to the Confluence exceptionally focused and useful.

To catch fish, you need to know where to fish. Updated for 2012

The Rappahannock River is home to some of the biggest, meanest smallmouth bass in Virginia. These cantankerous beasts cruise silently in the quiet pools and fast runs below old trench lines marking the remains of violent Civil War battles or in remote, oddly named places like Snake Castle Rock. Steve Moore shares his years of experience fishing this premier river to guide you to the best water between the fall line in Fredericksburg and Chester Gap high in the Blue Ridge. Using 252 pictures and 23 maps to round out the descriptions, the book covers 25 access points that open up over 43 miles of water to wade fishing. Even though the book is oriented at anglers who fish on their feet, kayakers and canoeists will find it equally useful to identify the productive water to target as they float downriver.

Given we are in the internet age, Steve includes 279 GPS coordinates usable for customized directions via the Internet or loadable into a GPS receiver to guide your day on the water. Finally, any discussion of the Rappahannock must mention the superb fishing available during the spring shad run. Steve dedicates a chapter to where to go and how to catch the fish called the "poor man's tarpon."

The first few paragraphs of Steve's introduction provide perspective:

"In the Algonquian Indian language, Rappahannock means "rapidly rising and falling waters" and, every Spring, the river demonstrates why the name is appropriate. During that stormy season, flood waters charge downriver with fantastic velocity and violence causing the huge spikes in turbulence that are an inescapable lure to legions of kayakers. But the name is inadequate to describe the quality and variety of the fishery that exists under its roiling surface. Although the name is unlikely to change to whatever the Algonquian translation of "angler's heaven" is, in addition to smallmouth bass, you are likely to scream a panicked "FISH ON" as massive redbreast sunfish, carp or even yellow perch and channel catfish pull hard against your smoking drag once the season drifts from frantic Spring into calm Summer.

Granted, I do not cover all 184 miles of the Rappahannock from its dim origin at Chester Gap in the Blue Ridge to the tidal flats lining the Chesapeake Bay, but I do cover the 59 (43+ wadable) miles that represent the interesting core of the river for smallmouth bass fishing enthusiasts. Besides, below the bridge, the river runs wide, slow and sandy; becoming the domain of largemouth bass pursued by hard-eyed anglers leveraging every ounce of technology packed into supercharged bass boats.

Above the fall line, the high-powered bawl of a 200 hp Mercury engine is replaced by the quiet dip of paddles or the hushed slosh of ragged sneakers moving through the shallows. While the book is useful for kayakers and canoeists since the good places are good regardless of how you reach them, my focus is on those who fish on their feet - the sweaty grunt, the fishing infantry. The book includes the well-known angler's playgrounds at Snake Castle Rock and the Confluence - usually the restricted domains of kayakers and canoeists who reach these honey holes via a long downstream float. As I describe later, a short hike, coupled with a bit of perspiration, gives you the opportunity to fish normally inaccessible locations."