Smallmouth - NF Rivanna (VA)

In 2009, I had the urge to see if the North Fork of the Rivanna River had the potential to match what I experienced fishing below Charlottesville on the main stem. Adopting a road attack strategy to leverage that the VDOT easements, I drove across the North Fork at two different locations – one at VA 606 and the other at Advance Mills. The picture below tells the sad story. From the 606 bridge, the river is uniformly sandy both up and downstream. When I followed up with a satellite reconnaissance, it did not look like the sand ended anywhere between these two locations. Up at Advance Mills, while there is some parking on the side of the road, posted signs line the banks and restrict your ability to access the water. Not that it looked any good up there anyway – there is a dam that backs up the water to the north, restricting wading and the sand persists downstream. I got an email from Aaron - one of my local Charlottesville experts - who confirmed this assessment - random, small smallies.. not worth it. Bottom Line: Take a pass on this one. View Larger Map

No rating... did not fish it Purchase Switchfisher's books using the links to Amazon below for: Wade Fishing the Rappahannock River of Virginia (more info) Wade Fishing the Rapidan River of Virginia (more info) Wade and Shoreline Fishing the Potomac River for Smallmouth Bass (more info) Trout and Smallmouth Fishing on the North Branch of the Potomac (more info) Getting There: Not worth it... but... if you insist. Turn north on VA 763 from US 29.  It turns into VA 606.  Follow it to the river. Tell a friend about this article by clicking on this link  Date Fished: 4/7/2010

 Unless stated otherwise, this article was authored by Steve Moore

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