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Was given the option of swapping an IOU spa weekend out for a weekend of camping and kayaking by the girlfriend, needless to say it wasn't a very hard decision 
Made last minute reservations with Downriver Outfitters for a campsite and a kayak/shuttle service on the South Fork of the Shenandoah and made the run out to Bentonville / Front Royal on Saturday morning. Had some light rain on Saturday but otherwise the weather was great. Fishing was basically as expected with a couple exceptions. Lots and lots of smallies 3-12 inches, plenty of warmouth and sunfish, a couple rockbass and some surprise (to me) largemouth and fallfish. Fished the slow moving pools, the riffles and everything in between and caught fish in them all. Started out throwing a teeny torpedo and a senko, moved on to a bettle spin then a finesse worm on a pegged texas rig and caught fish on them all. Best fish actually came on live crayfish drifted through a deep run. The water was pretty clear with visibility to about 7ft. Gave me lots of chances to see what was hanging around. Saw plenty of channel cats hanging around, and a few largemouth (5lbs) and smallmouth(20iches) that were much bigger than I expected. Even a muskie/pike/pickeral of about 15 inches. Went there with a hope of catching a 15 inch smallie and just managed that but was slightly disappointed after I missed some bigger smallies and saw that pig lm hanging around. Anyways, a great trip and here are a few pics!
15.5 inch smallie
Early morning fish with some pretty nice scenery
Chunky LM
Rocky
Fallfish
Made last minute reservations with Downriver Outfitters for a campsite and a kayak/shuttle service on the South Fork of the Shenandoah and made the run out to Bentonville / Front Royal on Saturday morning. Had some light rain on Saturday but otherwise the weather was great. Fishing was basically as expected with a couple exceptions. Lots and lots of smallies 3-12 inches, plenty of warmouth and sunfish, a couple rockbass and some surprise (to me) largemouth and fallfish. Fished the slow moving pools, the riffles and everything in between and caught fish in them all. Started out throwing a teeny torpedo and a senko, moved on to a bettle spin then a finesse worm on a pegged texas rig and caught fish on them all. Best fish actually came on live crayfish drifted through a deep run. The water was pretty clear with visibility to about 7ft. Gave me lots of chances to see what was hanging around. Saw plenty of channel cats hanging around, and a few largemouth (5lbs) and smallmouth(20iches) that were much bigger than I expected. Even a muskie/pike/pickeral of about 15 inches. Went there with a hope of catching a 15 inch smallie and just managed that but was slightly disappointed after I missed some bigger smallies and saw that pig lm hanging around. Anyways, a great trip and here are a few pics!15.5 inch smallie
Early morning fish with some pretty nice scenery
Chunky LM
Rocky
Fallfish
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