Catfish Angler Forum at USCA banner

Vacation to Shanendoah Valley

2K views 7 replies 8 participants last post by  Khh27 
#1 ·
Hey guys and gals im from western ky and me and the fam are taking a trip over to shanendoah valley this week to spend little time. Weve got a cabin and from pics its right on a little river( from my research i think its the shanendoah river?) Anyway ive seen some pics on the ads of people with catfish. Im pretty avid catfisherman here locally but never been to this area so not sure anything about this. Is this river worth bringing some gear? Anything specific i need to know. Thought might bring some of our froze skips and few gills but guess need to check regulations on baits. Any help be greatly appreciated
 
#2 ·
I vacationed up there this past June. I didn't catfish but I did smallmouth fish. If you're interested in smallmouth you won't find a better river to fish on. I did see some nice catfish while i was floating the river, nothing huge just nice 5-10 pound fish. We were staying in a little town called Bentonville, VA.
 
#3 ·
This river of great for channel cats if you are on the south fork. They have a huge population of 2-3 pounders with many going higher than that. In fact my pb channel cat is from this river which is the picture below.

Fish Catfish Fishing Bass Recreation


I use a simple slip sinker rig with nightcrawlers or cut gills. This guy came on cut bait but I've had evening where I can't get all four rods set because one is going down on crawlers. The river does have a fair share of bullheads too so they can be a bit pesky at times. Now if you are on the main stem then there are both channels and blues in that river but I personally have always been not he south fork. If you like smallies it doesn't get much better than the south fork of the Shenandoah.
 
#4 ·
I live on the south fork. Excellent smallie population with a few big ones here and there. Excellent Musky fishing. Also a lot of carp and Channel cats. And yes basshead is correct the bullheads can make you mad when catfishing for channels. oops is see this is an old thread. sorry.
 
#7 ·
My wife and I went to the Shenandoah Valley this past October for our Anniversary.

I thought we could try an do some fishing while there, but the freshwater fishing license with trout stamp was nearly $80 for one person just for 3 days.

Needless to say, I didn't bother getting us the fishing licenses. We spent our time wine tasting and hiking the National park.

It was the last time we will visit VA, unless it is near the beach. The SW non resident license is much much cheaper.

Chincoteage is an awesome place to visit and spend time if you want to go to VA and do some fishing too.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top