Smallmouth Bass Streams Fly Fishing Report - September 6, 2023

With the extremely hot days, most anglers are deciding to get up at 5a.m and fish on the Shenandoah River until about 8a.m. or leave work and fish from 6p.m. to dark.  They have the right idea.  The bass do not like the bright sunlight so they are going to find any ledge, undercut bank or downed tree they can for protection. 

Here is something I want you to try.  I cannot resist fishing the long shallow pools when the rivers get low. To catch these bass I wade cautiously upstream and make long casts. To help me make these long casts, I use deer hair bugs rather than hard poppers. Streamlined deer hair bugs such as the Murray's Frisky Frog and Blue Dragon are ideal for this.  

On topwater along the shady banks, early morning and late evenings the Shenandoah Blue Popper and Murray's Chugger Frog are working well.  Underwater the Bass Caddis Nymph, Murray's Regular Hellgrammite, and Olive Dragonfly Nymph are working well. Fish all of these on a 2X or 3X leader.

The South Fork of the Shenandoah River is fishing better than the North Fork just because of the low water levels.  Wade carefully and sneak so that you are not alerting every fish in the river that you are there. On the South Fork from Luray downstream to Foster's Landing is some of my favorite water to wade. On the North Fork if you wade downstream from Chapman's Landing you will find some deeper water as there is a dam further downstream.

Murray's Fly Shop will be closed for vacation September 9-18.  No online orders will be shipped during this time.  Shipping of orders will resume on September 19.  All emails and messages will be returned upon our return. We will not post a stream report while on vacation. Thank you for your patience.