My son, Jeff, and I fished the North Fork of the Shenandoah River close to Edinburg, Va before the rain on Wednesday. The river was high but we caught some nice size bass, however, the largest bass were in the protected back eddies below the heavy riffles. On one back eddy, about half the size of a tennis court, we commented that we had found a real hot spot because we caught one fish after another.
As we tried to analyze this set up in order to figure why so many good fish were holding here, we carefully examined the river upstream and downstream and out in the main flow. Our final conclusion was that this was the safest area close by for them to feed without fear of getting washed away by the high water. The water temperature was 59 degrees which was warm enough to prompt them to feed but they needed to feed in protected areas well away from the full force of the river. The next time you are bass fishing and the river is higher than normal you may get excellent fishing in these protected back eddies.
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