After our disappointing morning on the Pamunkey River, Lon and I headed back up to Fredericksburg in search of both new and better water. We had driven across the Rapidan River at the Germanna bridge on our way back from fishing the Robinson a month and a half earlier, so it seemed like a logical place to go. Your first challenge is to figure out where to park. If you drive into the facility on the south side of the road which is immediately after the bridge (where it says "Roadside Park" on the map), and follow the road to the right as far you can go, you eventually come to a locked gate with a sign posted which restricts access only to those individuals who have a pass issued by the facility.  The sign clearly says they will be happy to tow your car if they catch you there.  We knew this was the situation but wanted to see for ourselves. Lon had had a conversation with facility and they indicated they would be happy to sell him a pass to access the river from their property for $100 a YEAR. Clearly, not a good deal and just as clearly, they are not interested in selling many passes. Our approach was to pull off directly after going over the bridge on the eastbound side. There is a wide spot next to the bridge that would probably hold two or three trucks. From the looks of the beaten-down grass and the limited amount of trash, we were not the first ones to attack the river from this location using the VDOT easement. It took a little bit of scouting, but we eventually found the beaten path down to the river. It's a bit steep and eventually you skitter and slide down the last 10 or 15 feet to land on a sandy beach next to gently flowing water directly under the bridge. Looking up and downstream, my initial impression was exceptionally favorable. Downstream appears to be flatter water while upstream featured a moderate gradient with a reasonable amount of flow tumbling over the rocky structure. Given our mutual predilection to working upstream, Lon and I headed in that direction. While you can start to pick up small smallies immediately (and I did catch a six incher here) a better bet is to walk upstream through the grass and narrow current breaks for 25 to 50 yards.  Here the river widens out into a swiftly moving pool that is about 20 yards wide and 2 feet deep. The pool features densely overhanging trees on the northern bank with what appeared to be deeper pools of water that may have approached 3 or 4 feet deep. I immediately began to flip my popper as close to the shore and under the trees as I could.  I was rewarded with a few small bass; nothing to brag about, but they were fish. There are bluegills here as well and they offer up intense competition with the smallies for your floating presentation. The initial two hundred yards upstream is picture-perfect smallmouth water. The bottom is full of rocks and boulders with enough poking above the surface of the stream to offer some exciting scenery. Beyond this stretch, the river widens out considerably and gets very deep. In fact, I would only recommend you attack this section in the summer when you can wet wade because you will certainly step in the wrong place and fill up your waders - something to avoid when the water is colder. There is decent access along the south bank, but the northern bank is very deep. In a number of places, I tried to work my way closer to the northern bank but never could get within casting range to drop a popper or a grasshopper as close as I wanted.  This was torture as that bank has all of the great structure you can ask for. There are fallen trees, overhanging trees, logs askew all over the place - providing perfect shelter for the big fish. It has to be at least 10 feet deep over there. While I did pick up one smallie that was about 13 inches long, I was otherwise skunked in this section. About half a mile upstream, the river returns to its shallow character. In the final section, the riverbed is mostly sand with a few rocks spread around. The northern bank continues to be the better bank to fish as a result of its greater depth. At the point where I turned around, it looks like the river returns to a rocky bottom. I could see many rocks sticking up out of the water as the river faded into the distance around the bend. If you look at the map, you see a road that leads to that point. While we did not get to the trailhead of that road, it is my understanding that this is a launch point for several of the canoe outfitters who focus on both the Rappahannock and the Rapidan. Lon and I tried to drive down the road in an attempt to get a little bit farther upstream from the bridge but discovered that access is blocked by a locked forest service gate.  You will have a 1 mile hike to reach the river from that point. We did not have the time on this day to invest in hiking so we'll leave that for a future expedition. Bottom line: I really enjoyed this section of the Rapidan. Hopefully, the water was a bit high on the day we were there and on our next trip that tantalizing northern bank will be within range of my casts. I did not see much evidence of other fishermen working this area. Hopefully, that just means that the slobs who leave all their trash have found other places to go.  Maybe the hike provides an effective filter to leave this water for those of us who care. While we did not catch a staggering number of fish and, in fact, did not catch any fish worth taking a picture of, I know the big guys are there.  They have to be huddled under the logs on the northern bank where the deep water and the fast current sweeps all the right food directly to them.	Pressure Trout Size N/A Physical Fitness Bass Size Access Regulations Hard to Find Stocking Scenery Overall 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. 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: From Fredericksburg, head west on Route 3.  Look for the bridge over the Rapidan when you hit Germanna.  We did not investigate parking on the westbound side.  You can go across the bridge and make a U turn to return to the wide spot on the eastbound side just after the bridge. Secrets Revealed?  No.  The Rapidan is a public location that is discussed on the VDGIF web site (the Rapidan is discussed with the Rappahannock).  In fact, the site says: "Access may also be gained via several non established points. These consist of VDOT right-of-ways along bridges." Bingo.  Germanna Bridge.
Upstream from entry point	Downstream from entry point
100 yards up from the bridge are nice riffles	Lon working the north bank near the riffles
Downstream in the lake area	Upstream in the lake
Looking upstream where I turned around	Downstream where I turned around