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Last fall, I fished about a quarter-mile downstream from this location. Upon my return last week, I don't understand how I missed the obvious turnoff to the river that is a much better place to park than being scrunched onto the short shoulder in the other location.
Once you park, you have two choices -- the typical choices. Upstream or downstream. The answer should be obvious to you as you stand at the river's edge. At this location, it appears that there was an old dam that backed the river up and created a muddy, flat mess behind it. While the dam is gone, the sandy bottom and muddy banks still exist. Just to make sure that the character of the river did not change just out of sight, I walked upstream for a good distance, poking my head through the thick brush to see what the river looked like. It remained a muddy morass in this entire section. With that, I cut back over to the road and walked to the parking lot.
Lon had already begun to work down the southern branch of the river. Curious as to what was on the other side of the island, I waded across, took up few halfhearted flips into the lake and then started to walk down the northern branch of the Rapidan. The first 25 yards looked encouraging as it was a riffled bottom running across rocks spilling into a reasonably deep pool. Unfortunately, beyond that, the river turned into a flat, shallow desert that was home to a few wandering sunfish and not much else. I quickly walked down that side of the island hoping for better water. Nothing.
On the other hand -- or better put -- on the other side of the island, the story was completely different. Lon and his son were picking up a reasonable number of small smallies in the 8 to 12 inch range. The southern bank of the river is high and steep and throws plenty of shade over the river. The deeper water is on that side and, when magnified by the shade, the smallies collect in this section of the river. In fact, after my recon upstream, I kept throwing hints that I was ready to move on to the next spot given the lack of interest I had in anything I had seen. I kept telling them to finish fishing the hole they were in. Given their good luck, that hole extended downstream a good 300 yards. But, it gave me the opportunity to do a complete recon of the other side of the island so I'm happy that I know it's bad and will not waste time there the next time I'm out at this location.
Bottom Line: In the last post, I recommended not fishing down river from where the road bends away from the river. It's funny how your perspective can change if you walk in a different direction. As you can see from the red lines on the map, the good stretch that Lon fished is exactly upstream from where I started last fall. This proves the point that you need to move in both directions before you come to a conclusion on any particular place. While this would not be a destination location to justify a long drive, if you happen to be in the neighborhood, this is a place where you can spend an hour and catch some smallmouth.
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Remember to refer to my rating explanations - these are based on what I look for - so RED for Physical Fitness translates to easy physically - you do not need to be in shape to fish this section. I prefer terrain that is tough to get into and out of.
Getting There: From US 29 near Culpeper, take US 522 / VA 3 exit towards Culpeper. Turn left onto 15. Turn right onto 522. (in other words, take 29 to 522 and stay on it). From 522, turn left onto Raccoon Ford Rd (VA 611). Follow Raccoon Ford Road. The river is to the left of the road and you will not be able to see the river. At the point where the river comes back into sight, there is a 1 truck capacity turnoff. Park there.
Google Local Coordinates: 38.361664,-77.942033
Secrets Revealed? No. This is a very public location that is documented on the Virginia VDGIF
Date Fished: 07/24/2009
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