Fly Fishing Shenandoah NP

JagXJ684 · Jan 4, 2008

I'm trying to plan a camping/fly fishing trip to the Shenandoah National Park area, and I'm trying to see if anyone is familiar with that area. I've read a little bit about the park online and they say that many of the rivers inside the park can be fly fished, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they're any good. What I'd like to do is backpack in to a river area and camp/cabin and fish for a few days. Any ideas?

dshort · Jan 5, 2008

There are a ton of good spots. My favorite streams in SNP are on the Eastern slope because you can access them from the lower Park boundary. The Hughes, White Oak Canyon Run, The Rose, Rapidan and Conway are all great streams. There is a particularly nice camping spot on the upper Rose River between the 2 forks about a mile down the mountain from Skyline Drive. The Rapidan offers some nice car camping spots along the fire road that parallels the stream just outside of the Park boundary. White Oak Canyon offers several large waterfalls and the scenery and fishing are both great. You really can't go wrong with any of them. Besides the brookies, you'll probably get into some brown trout on the Rose and the Conway, left over from past stocking below the Park boundary.

On the Western side of the Park there is a really nice stream named Big Run. It is one of the larger Park streams and is home to some really nice sized brookies. It's about a 4 mile hike down from Skyline drive (no access from the lower Park boundary). The hike down isn't bad but it's a killer coming back up so it's best to stay at least one night. One word of warning on Big Run...the last time I was down there we saw 2 black bears and had one rumbling around in our camp during the night.

As for gear, 2 - 4 weight rods are best, no longer than 7.5 feet. Lots of overhanging trees, brush and tight spots make longer rods a hassle. Take your attractor dries and the standard nymphs like princes, hare's ears and pheasant tails. Beetles, ants and crickets in the summer.

Hope that helps. I can also recommend a couple good books with detailed directions on access, etc if you're interested. Have fun.

JagXJ684 · Jan 5, 2008

hey...thanks for all that info...that's awesome! Have you had any experience in the cabins that are run by the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club (potomacappalachian.org - Rental Info I'm not sure if any of them are near the fishing spots that you reco'd, but they'd be a heck of a lot easier to camp in than packing in a tent, etc. Any thoughts?

switchfisher · Jan 6, 2008

I'm not familiar with the cabins, but second all the info provided by dshort.

One caution - I have not fished the SNP this year, but I have heard that the drought has pretty much sucked it dry for now. You may find long stretches of the places mentioned that have very little water.

If you do some google searches - like "hughes river" trout or "white oak canyon" trout, you will find links to trip reports that show what everything looks like.

You may want to google each of the places you want to go. For example, you may hear a lot about Jeremy's Run, but I was really disappointed with it in April 2006 and have not been back.

The VA DNR website also has pdf maps that show all the wild and stocked water in that area. That's worth a recon as well.

dshort · Jan 7, 2008

I'm not familiar with the cabins either, so I can't help much there. I usually like to camp anyway, but one problem with backcountry camping in the Park is that no fires are allowed. Being someone who loves a good camp fire, that takes half the fun away. You can have fires at the car camping spots on the Rapidan and I think at the campgrounds up on Skyline Drive, just not in the backcountry.

Switch fisher is right about the drought this summer. The Park streams all got extremely low...but the water levels are in much better shape now after some recent rains. I sorta made the assumption that you were talking about a spring trip anyway...the fishing will be pretty slow until at least mid March..although the warm spell this week will help things out.

JagXJ684 · Jan 8, 2008

Thanks all for the info....yeah i'm definitely looking at the spring time for the trip, maybe april or may. I'll have to do a little more homework on these cabins before I make any reservations. Thanks again!

JagXJ684 · Jan 29, 2008

I've done a little more homework on some of those cabins and looks like there's a pretty easily accessible one directly on the Hughes River. If anyone knows the Corbin cabin area, any info is much appreciated. Everything I read has it as about a 1.5 mile hike into the river valley and the cabin is about 130 ft. from the river, sounds pretty good to me! But I'd still like to know more, so if anyone knows where I'm talking about...help me out!

switchfisher · Jan 30, 2008

I hiked in from the lower Hughes almost to the Corbin Cabin flat section back in 2006

If you want to fish your way in, it will be torture - this is nice water - or was before the drought last year.

The best section starts about 2 miles in from the Rag Mt Parking Lot and goes to just short of Corbin Cabin where it flattens out in the valley.

I stopped because the stream got real low and slow near Corbin - why fish that when you have all the pocket water on the first part of the river. So I turned around and fished my way back. There is a super section that starts about 3 miles from the bottom to where I turned around. It's climb over huge rocks to get to classic deep pocket pools. Once you go into the river in that section, you are there for a good 1/2 mile as the bank is really steep on either side.

If you go to Corbin Cabin from the top, you will be really close to that section. I can send you a link to the trip report I wrote on the Hughes if you want more detail.

I was a spin guy back in 2006. I'd like to go back and try it again with my long rod now.

dshort · Jan 30, 2008

I can't help out with any advice on the cabin but the stream should be in good shape this spring. I've had good luck on the Hughes starting just after it's major tributary enters. It's called Brokenback Run and enters the Hughes a fairly short distance from the parking lot. Don't ignore this water down low as there are plenty of fish to be had. You'll probably catch some rainbows as well as brookies, especially lower down. I've never fished the Hughes by coming in from Skyline Drive so I can't help out there either. Good luck.

JagXJ684 · Feb 1, 2008

switchfisher said:
I hiked in from the lower Hughes almost to the Corbin Cabin flat section back in 2006

If you want to fish your way in, it will be torture - this is nice water - or was before the drought last year.

The best section starts about 2 miles in from the Rag Mt Parking Lot and goes to just short of Corbin Cabin where it flattens out in the valley.

I stopped because the stream got real low and slow near Corbin - why fish that when you have all the pocket water on the first part of the river. So I turned around and fished my way back. There is a super section that starts about 3 miles from the bottom to where I turned around. It's climb over huge rocks to get to classic deep pocket pools. Once you go into the river in that section, you are there for a good 1/2 mile as the bank is really steep on either side.

If you go to Corbin Cabin from the top, you will be really close to that section. I can send you a link to the trip report I wrote on the Hughes if you want more detail.

I was a spin guy back in 2006. I'd like to go back and try it again with my long rod now.

That would be awesome if you could send me the link to your trip report! I really can't wait for the trip, I hope the fishing is going to be worth it!

JagXJ684 · Feb 11, 2008

Question: Waders or no waders for the Hughes? From most of the pics I've seen I can't decide if I should wear them or not. Any ideas?

switchfisher · Feb 12, 2008

I usually wet wade and just wear the neophrene socks. If you decide to use waders, you do not need anything but hip. It's shallow and there is usually no need to actually get in the water... things are tight and close.

I've never worn waders up there and have fished as early as mid-March.

dshort · Feb 12, 2008

I also like to wet wade in the Park streams in swim trunks with my wading boots and neoprene socks. I do feel like it's necessary to get in the water though and I have worn my waders in the early season. If you have hip boots or waist-high waders you'll probably appreciate them in the early season. If not, take your chest waders and then decide based on the conditions.

sdn8tiv · Feb 20, 2008

We just returned from an overnight trip up to Corbin Cabin along the Hughes River last weekend (2/16). Staying at the rustic cabin was a unique experience. It is well provisioned with kitchen supplies, has a fireplace and woodburning stove, and it is located on a beautiful section of the Hughes. It was clean and we could tell that the people that use it respect it for what it is. A privy is up hill for those private moments. We didn't fish, but our TU Chapter regularly takes trips out to fish the Hughes. Closest way in is from Skyline Drive (about 1 mile down to the cabin). We came in from the Old Rag Parking Lot and it was about 4 miles of gentle to moderately steep grades with some neat river crossings. If you like to be in the woods and can deal with some rustic, you can't go wrong with Corbin Cabin. BTW, hip boots would be helpful with fishing. Also, my understanding is that fishing picks up in March when we get some scattered warm days that bring the water temps up. I was told that olive coloring is a good choice with your flys and that was consistent with the coloring of some of the invertibrates that we found in the river. Hope this helps.

JagXJ684 · May 19, 2008

Well, my trip is soon approaching! We're heading there on Saturday morning, and I was hoping to get a word on how the conditions have been lately. I'm sure we're past the big hatches of the season, but we're still looking forward to it. I checked the weather forecast and we're looking at high 70's or low 80's, so the days should be beautiful up there. Any words of wisdom or advice would be much appreciated. Thanks all who've posted their notes and reco's!

short tip · May 19, 2008

There's been plenty of rain lately, flows are good. You will be able to fish all dry flies. Have sulfurs, yellow, tan and black caddis, tiny stimulators, royal anything, and adams. Parking is tough up in Nicholson Hollow on weekends because of the Old Rag hikers - park in the lot. Don't worry - not many of them will be fishing. Or just go over to the Rose. Walk a ways before you fish. If you are living right, you may see some sz 10 Green drakes and giant black stones in the evenings - Don't worry, SNP brookies rarely eat them. And they don't come off in numbers. Enjoy the trip.

Paul

JagXJ684 · Jan 5, 2009

The trip was just awesome! We hiked in from Skyline and stayed at the cabin for a few days. We were able to fish all the way down the river, basically as long as we wanted to hike down. The first day, I went down, in and out to the river from the trail, sometimes thick brush, sometimes the river is close to the trail, but by the time I was done fishing, and started to hike back, I was about 2 hrs. down river! The three of us that went caught probably 20 or so brook trout of various sizes, but none big enough to keep. The biggest were a few 8 inchers that we got, big enough to measure, but not to keep. I remember finding one pool that I fished for probably an hour and got 3 hits in one spot! My beginner skills missed the hit each time, but after each hit I'd cast to another spot and slowly come back to the little spot and get another hit! It was a ton of fun. The backpacking part of the trip was one of the hardest things I've ever done since the hike out is about 1 mile, back up the side of the mountain, but the fishing was just a blast. The stop at the emergency room on the way out of the park is another story, but a week of prednisone and I was back to normal.

westjay · Feb 14, 2009

switchfisher said:
I hiked in from the lower Hughes almost to the Corbin Cabin flat section back in 2006
........

If you go to Corbin Cabin from the top, you will be really close to that section. I can send you a link to the trip report I wrote on the Hughes if you want more detail.

I was a spin guy back in 2006. I'd like to go back and try it again with my long rod now.

I would like to read your report too, if you wouldn't mind. I'm in the N.W. VA area, and I'm putting together some gear to start exploring the fishing in the SNP area this Spring.
Thanks!!

switchfisher · Feb 15, 2009

Here is the link to the SNP reports

No secrets revealed - all these places are well known and documented in the Flyfisher's Guide to Virginia and the VDGIF stocking plan - both are good references for anyone looking for places to go.

Fly Fishing Shenandoah NP

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