Shenandoah River Report 5/3-5/4/18

Was off on vacation last week and fished the Shenandoah River in Page County in several places between Stanley and Luray, most time at Egypt Bend. In a word, fishing was SLOW. Unusually slow. Not sure if it's been the cold spring or if the fish are starting to spawn deeper due to the temps. The morning surface temps were only 62 degrees, warming to 66 by afternoon, but 8-10 feet down the temps were likely 5-8 degrees cooler.

We did catch a few smallmouths and one or two largemouths but nothing over 12". We only caught two small crappie around a boat dock (last year we caught 8 around the same dock with 6 of them 12"+). We caught some really, really nice bluegills in 8-10' of water but they were hard to come by, probably caught 12-15 hand size. They have not moved up yet and probably won't start nesting for a couple of more weeks. All the fish we ended up catching were mostly on lead head grubs in 2-3" sizes. Also caught a few on small spinners.

In my opinion, water needs to warm a few more degrees in this section of river. If the bass are nesting, they'll come off soon and be easier to locate and catch. Hope this helps. Talked to a number of other fishermen both days and all reported about the same thing I was seeing. Any questions let me know.