It was mid-October and Lon and I realized that winter was closing down on us quickly. Earlier in the summer, we hiked up the Rapidan River from its confluence with the Rappahannock and had promised ourselves that we would go back and try moving upstream on the Rapp as well. We finally found the time to do this on a dim Friday in October. After obtaining permission to cross some private property, we walked the short half-mile to the river and were stunned with what lay in front of us. In the middle of summer, when we started from the same place to fish the Rapidan, what lay in front of us was a lush, green jungle of vegetation growing uncontrolled on every small island sporting a patch of dirt. In mid-October, it looked as if a disease had swept through. All around us was the dead vegetation left over from summer. There were a few tufts of green poking here and there, but the overall feeling was one of dismal gloom. We hoped that was not an indication of the luck we would have as we started to wade up the rocky cuts; being careful not to sprain an ankle or break a leg on the slick rocks and thick algae that had accumulated in the river. We started fishing about 100 yards up in the various, isolated small pools in a section that was mostly 2 or 3 inches deep. We picked up the requisite bluegills and some very small bass in those spots. Hoping for better results upstream, we pressed on without much of a change until we got parallel with the campsite that is sponsored by the City of Fredericksburg. It's marked on the map and overlooks a 100 yard stretch of the river that is broad with the deeper part against the east bank. This was to be the best spot we found on the river. Just south of the campsite, the river pushes down a small gradient with enough of a dam formed by the rocks to back up the water and form the deep, broad section. Immediately above the "dam", the water drops off into deep pools -- too deep to wade. I was the first one to reach the pool, and I started to fish the lower pool with immediate results. Not only were there plenty of large bluegills here, but I also caught a number of decent sized smallies. I could swear that I saw a long nosed fish that could have been a musky or a pike grab my fly, take a strong run away, turn sharply in the water and cut the line. I know that tiger muskies were stocked in the Rappahannock in the 1980s but had a low survival rate, so it had to be my imagination and it was probably just a big smallmouth. By this time, Lon caught up with me and we spread out and began to work the pool. I was using my bass rig and he was using traditional flies. We continued to enjoy good luck (critical because neither of us have any skill) until we decided to take a break for lunch. After lunch, we moved a short distance upstream of the campground to where we saw some huge carp cruising around. Lon pointed out that the smallies usually follow these big fish to pick up anything that the carp stir up. I moved upstream from Lon and waded as close to the far bank as I could get to cast downstream. I saw some monster smallies cruising around, but I could not convince them to hit my bass rig, poppers, or terrestrial patterns. We probably fished this part of the river for a good hour or two before moving farther upstream. The northern part of the pool became very sandy with sparse smallmouth habitat - no rocks or weeds for shelter. Once we moved beyond the ridged rocks shown in the picture below, we stopped catching fish. We fished our way upstream for a considerable distance without any additional luck or discovery of good pools. We turned and headed back early enough to have time to hit the campsite pool again. It continued to produce until it was time for a start the long walk back to the truck. As we left the pool, Lon fished down the east run and I fished down the right run with a small spit of land separating us. There's a small pool off the east run where Lon caught five or six small bass on successive casts using a Bitch Creek nymph. I did not have any luck fishing down my side of the island. At this point, it was late so we decided to pack up and walk out. Bottom Line: I was amazed that the pool in front of the campsite would be the best one. The logical assumption would be that the campsite would focus pressure on this particular spot. I'm sure that's true during the height of the canoeing season in the summer. However, we were here in mid-October and the deep water provided the perfect shelter for the fish to spend the winter. I bet that fish migrated to this spot ahead of our visit and that's why we had such good luck. The Rappahannock and the Rapidan, as the Virginia website says, "provide excellent smallmouth bass and redbreast sunfish angling" -- Roger that!	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) It's worth investigating whether you can hike directly into the campsite area from the road.  While it will not matter during the summer when the entire river is productive, for late season, that easier hike would put you in the right place faster and avoid the challenge of canoeing or obtaining landowner permission to hike in from the bottom. Getting There: The best way is via canoe or permission from a landowner to cross their property to access the river. We had permission and could go overland. Google Local Coordinates: 38.367569,-77.618322 Secrets Revealed?  No.  This is a very public location that is documented on the Virginia VDGIF website.  The Rapp is also discussed in the Flyfisher's Guide to Virginia and Fly Fishing Virginia.
Dramatic difference from when we started at this same spot to work up the Rapidan during the summer!	Not much current - plenty of broad, shallow pools
The first 1/4 mile was all shallow and rocky	The river dropped to form islands and cuts
Once we reached the camp area, the river deepened and the bottom was covered with this stuff	Marked campsite on the map
Lon working the campsite pool - nice loop!	Typical bass
Area upstream of the campsite is all rock ridges like this.  Massive smallies and carp spotted cruising around tormenting us.	Upstream from the camp