Smallmouth Bass Streams Fly Fishing Report - November 4, 2021

The North Fork of the Shenandoah River is clear and fishable.  The water temperature is cooling and the bass are moving to the deeper pools. In conditions like this the bass are feeding on streamers and nymphs.  Many years ago I developed the Strymph (a cross of a streamer and a nymph) so that I didn't have to keep jumping back from streamers to nymphs and back at the whims of the fish. The design of the fly and the materials with which we tie it enable it to be fished effectively at any angle in the current. In these deep pools you want to fish it as deep as you can and as slowly as you can along the bottom. The size 4 and 8 in either olive, black or cream are equally effective. 

The South Fork of the Shenandoah River is still higher than normal but it is starting to clear. I would give it another day or two to return to normal levels.