Can I sleep along the Shenandoah?

[jsnyd86]

A buddy and I are planning a long float down the South fork of the "DOAH". This will be a first for us both and we think we can travel 25 miles over 3 nights and 4 days. Since it's our first time on the doah, there are some questions I can't find through a goodle search.

Such as, is it possible to sleep along the river? There are campsites and outfitters scattered throughout, but what are the possibilities of picking my own spot in the woods, dragging my yak back there and setting up camp? It's surrounded by Nat'l forests and state parks, there's plenty of cover.

Another question I have is where the hot spots are on the South fork. 25 miles is a good stretch but not even half of the fork. Which 25 miles should we concentrate on.

If anyone has some good references or personal experiences and would like to share I would really appreciate it. We will be headed over there mid march so I hope the weather holds up for us and the river isn't too high.

[jet]

sounds like fun!

this link may have some info for you, but doesnt mention camping

http://www.dgif.virginia.gov/fishing...3&section=maps

[Jaspratt]

Sounds like fun the distance might be Alil short for 4days, It nothing for me to drive 2hrs to Harrisburg pa, and float 10miles and drive back. You can definatly do 25 in 2days. I've always wanted to do a kayak camping trip on a river.

[jsnyd86]

Sounds like fun the distance might be Alil short for 4days, It nothing for me to drive 2hrs to Harrisburg pa, and float 10miles and drive back. You can definatly do 25 in 2days. I've always wanted to do a kayak camping trip on a river.

Ok, great. Thanks for the insight. I wasn't sure how fast or slow we would be. I figured a mile an hour. The 1 and 4 day will be some fishing but mostly pack out and travel. maybe 4 hours of fishing if we don't take all day.

[kevinfry]

DIstance depends on how hard you fish. the more you fish the less distance you cover. We planned a drift last fall but there was not enough water in the river. We were able to plan several camps.

[fredneckyaker]

Yes i have actually done a two day trip down it. A lot of fun. There is a camp ground 15 miles past Rt 50 bridge but there is a large island past it we camped on. Google Earth it and you can see the route. Good luck!

[jsnyd86]

Yes i have actually done a two day trip down it. A lot of fun. There is a camp ground 15 miles past Rt 50 bridge but there is a large island past it we camped on. Google Earth it and you can see the route. Good luck!

Awesome! We would really enjoy it if we could camp outside of a camp ground and do the trip completely on our own. An island would be pretty cool. Hope the river is low enough.

[fredneckyaker]

It was cool but it was the ONLY one. When we did it the river was really low and had to walk our then canoes over some spots.

Awesome! We would really enjoy it if we could camp outside of a camp ground and do the trip completely on our own. An island would be pretty cool. Hope the river is low enough.

[Johnboat]

I live in WV and fish/camp the main stem from Front Royal to Harpers Ferry. I’ve done a few trips on the south fork and you can camp on the national forest land with out any problem. Where to fish will depend on when you are going and the temps and water levels. In the summer I focus on the push water before ripples/ledges and ripples/ rapids them self’s and the well-oxygenated heads of pools just below the fast water. In this weather I’m throwing pig and jigs or tubing the deep pools, sometimes letting the tube sit still for minuets at a time.

[jsnyd86]

I live in WV and fish/camp the main stem from Front Royal to Harpers Ferry. I’ve done a few trips on the south fork and you can camp on the national forest land with out any problem. Where to fish will depend on when you are going and the temps and water levels. In the summer I focus on the push water before ripples/ledges and ripples/ rapids them self’s and the well-oxygenated heads of pools just below the fast water. In this weather I’m throwing pig and jigs or tubing the deep pools, sometimes letting the tube sit still for minuets at a time.

Sounds great. We're going mid March so I'm hoping that will at least be prespawn if not later. We will be floating from Inskeep to Butonsville. Spelling may be off in those two. There are three of us going so we're hoping to lock the pattern down pretty quick.

[mepps3]

Sorry I can't really help on the camping aspect. I have done a number of float trips above the Front Royal area of the river and I generally only use one lure: 1/16th ounce jig with a 3 inch twister tail. The twister tail is a brown body with orange tail. I have observed many crayfish in the water and believe that is the go-to pattern. I caught a 19 inch smallie with that lure last April. I have fished April-November using that lure. My buddy uses a 4 inch Case Plastics Jacks Worm in green/red flake color or a white fluke and usually catches a better size of fish but with less numbers. If you want to catch a meal of sunfish for the night, definitely use the 1/16th jig setup, you will catch a 100 sunfish a day! I like to catch numbers of fish over size, so that is why I stick with that lure. I always seem to catch a big smallie with it, so I never really bother to change!

[jsnyd86]

Hey guys. I wanted to add another thank you to the end of this. We ended up going if though we were about to call it. Water was still pretty high which made the fishing pretty difficult. But the float and camping were great and we really got a good look at a large part of the South Fork. Didnt have any problems camping along the side, but we were the only ones on the water all 3 days. The biggest lesson we learned was that early March is still to soon to be hoping for any numbers. We only hooked up to a few the entire trip and that was only in one hole. All in all a great learning experience for us both. Can't wait to go back.