Update for May 4, 2024 at 10a.m. The North Fork of the Shenandoah River in Edinburg as of right now doesn't look to bad but there is alot of high and muddy water coming from the Mount Jackson area. It will take a few days for it to work its way through so I would not recommend fishing the North Fork in the next couple of days. The South Fork of the Shenandoah River has some extra water coming from upstream so it will be working its way downstream over the next few days. My advice for this weekend--go to the native brook trout streams off the Skyline Drive until the bass rivers clear.
Posted May 1, 2024 For the last several years we have had very large increases in the populations of the natural crayfish in both the North and South Forks of the Shenandoah River. I start seeing large numbers about this time of the year and they are present until Fall.
The cobblestone river banks where the water is 2-4ft deep hold great numbers of crayfish. My favorite way to fish this is to wade down the river fifty feet out from the bank and cast a Murray's Crayfish (olive) size 6 straight in toward the bank so it lands 2 feet from the bank. As soon as it sinks to the stream bottom, I begin a line hand stripping action that swims my crayfish among the cobblestones 4-inches every two seconds. I wade slowly down the river pausing every three feet to make a new cast. By fishing my crayfish out thirty feet from the bank in this way, I catch many smallmouths as I wade slowly down the river.
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