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Rob and I met up with CT at 7a and off to shuttle a car we went.
At the ramp, CT had to rig up Rob's rods so I decided to work the Sammie off the ramp using my 5'3' "walk the dog" rod.
After a few casts in the same general place, I got slammed. Now mind you, Rob and CT are rigging rods but they heard the explosion. And then they saw the jump! This was not a small fish!
After a good net job at the ramp, this guy graced the camera.
It was 19.5"!
What a start! But...was this a good thing or a bad thing? We are about to find out.
So now it was tine to head on down the river...
Rob got the skunk off 1st...
...and then another one.
My skunk off came next!
We were steady catching most of the day except for a 1 hour period. Sometimes we would catch a few and sometimes we would just pluck one here and there but it was steady and we were happy. The fish were not big but they were hungry and fought hard...gave us a thrill!
We stopped and ate lunch under the shade of a tree and as we sat there, a slight breeze came up and I swear, we were ready for a siesta. Man that was relaxing!
OK...time to fish some more.
As we floated down, CT anchored up and suggested we throw do to the middle and see what was there. The current was strong and I really did not expect any action. That is until we started catching!. It was one after the other. We had 6 doubles here which included one double on top water. At 2 pm with a bright sun. We were whooping it up!
This bait was money for me!
They would not stay off it...
We caught and caught!
Then, we both get hit again! Two nice fish landed at the same time.
Rob's was over 15" and mine went 18"!
Out of this hole, in one hour, we estimated catching 35 or so smallies. It was epic. CT was beyond exited! Oh...so were we!
Right before I caught the 18"er. two ladies came by in kayaks. They were friends of CT's wife and of course, they knew CT. We chatted a while. They also took some pictures of us catching a few. After they were down river a bit, that's when I caught the 18"er and I let out a huge yell. They hollered back too! It was so cool!
We continued our float and we caught fish fairly steady. Not like the 1 Hour Hole but we caught 'em. Rob was catching them on top at 3pm!
Man, what a day!
I'm glad Rob took some shots because I was too busy with the catching to take more pics.
Here are some of them...
We caught fish everywhere: eddies, seams, foam, bubbles, fast water, push water etc.
I guess we could call today a resurgence of the river. The future looks bright.
Did we catch 100 today? I don't know, someone else would have to be counting because both Rob and I lost count around 10 at 8:30a...
This was Rob's 1st time out with CT. How does he top that performance?
Incredible fishing!
Amazing catching!
And a great time was had...a most satisfying day.
I am sure I've left out a bunch of stuff, hopefully Rob will chime in.
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Ernie,
Great report and some outstanding results. Where does this float start and end?
Bruce
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Bruce- Luray area...sent you an email.
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Fantastic trip and report! To start with a 19.5" at the ramp and then go on to an epic float, priceless. Great read too. So glad to see.
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Thanks for the invite Ernie! It was an excellent day for sure and Ernie’s write up is on point. The fishing was outstanding, our guide CT Campbell was an excellent teacher too . When the guide tells you to “cast over there to that seam”. You do it!!!
I will add a few things here. The wildlife in that area is amazing. On the way to the ramp there was a doe with two of her fawns scampering across the field. I get that the deer are everywhere, but it is always a treat to see them. Additionally, we were treated to seeing both immature and mature bald eagles all through out the day. Also green herons, blue herons and a ton of Kingfishers.
This stretch of water has very little human activity except for an occasional Canoer. And they were very polite.
Thanks again Ernie for helping create another great memory!
I will be back to do that trip again!
Rob
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I think that last picture says it all for Rob. Gonna be hard to top that day...
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What a way to start the trip! On topwater at that
Nice day
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Excellent report! What a great read.
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Now that's some old school Shenandoah fishing. Great report!
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SOOOOOOOO JEALOUS!!!! Great report!!! When is our next trip with CT?
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