On our little getaway to Radford VA, Crystal and I didn't expect to catch much. We knew we were early for the Smallmouth, and we kept our hopes high for another musky encounter as we threw large jerkbaits for whatever might bite. The colder air blew in, and the bluebird skies made the conditions tough for catching anything.
We still had a blast. There's something about this river I can't describe. It's got so much good water and structure that it's mindboggling. The best trait of all is that it has a very dense population of gamefish throughout it's flows.
After fishing all day Saturday without any luck, we decided to spend all day Sunday exploring and learning as much as possible for our return trips in the summer, fall, and winter.
Here's what we learned:
We learned all about the various floats, and found all launch sites and takeouts---especially important, we learned about the more treacherous rapid-filled stretches that we'll be rafting one of these days.
We also found several great wade-in spots
We found some bankside access for camping and boat launching right beside some of the prime spots for Winter muskie fishing--and we heard plenty of locals tell us stories about their encounters and catches with those large toothy fish...
We found good mom and pop restaurants with some good country cooking.
We also found shoals where the walleye and striper/hybrids run out of Claytor Lake--it was still too early.
