Shenandoah River
The rule for this water, with the receipt.
Special regulations for Shenandoah River, as the state words them
Clarke County · River · VA
The rules for this water, verbatimOfficial text
Straight from VA's official regulations. Rules in force today lead; out-of-season rows are dimmed. Nothing is paraphrased. Not legal advice: verify the posted rules at the water.
- carpyear-roundGear Bow and arrow and gigging
Statewide base layerParsed
These defaults apply where the rules above do not modify them.
- Season
- There is a continuous, year-round season for all freshwater fishStatewide
- Gear
- Not captured yet - consult the statewide regulations
- Bait
- Not captured yet - consult the statewide regulations
- Poles
- Not captured yet - consult the statewide regulations
Where the verbatim rules above name a species, season, or limit, they replace the rows below. Each row is tagged with the layer it comes from.
| Species | Daily limit | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|
trout Varies by water: minimum length 7 inches (Fee Fishing Areas); no fish less than 7 inches, limit 6 trout per day (Statewide trout); no fish less than 7 inches, limit 4 per day (Urban Program Waters); limit 3 trout (Youth-Only Stocked Trout Program waters) | 6 per day | min. 7 inch minimum size | Statewide |
Largemouth, Smallmouth Bass | 5 per day in the aggregate (combined) | min. No statewide length limits | Statewide |
Alabama, Spotted Bass | No statewide daily limit | min. No statewide length limit | Statewide |
Walleye, Saugeye | 5 per day in the aggregate | min. No walleye or saugeye less than 18 inches | Statewide |
Sauger | 2 per day | min. No statewide length limits | Statewide |
White Bass | 5 per day | min. No statewide length limits | Statewide |
Chain Pickerel and Northern Pike | 5 per day | min. No statewide length limits | Statewide |
Muskellunge | 1 per day | min. No muskellunge less than 40 inches | Statewide |
Crappie (black or white) | 25 per day in the aggregate (combined) | min. No statewide length limits | Statewide |
Rock Bass (redeye) | 25 per day in the aggregate with Roanoke bass | min. No statewide length limits | Statewide |
Roanoke Bass | 25 per day in the aggregate with rock bass | min. No statewide length limits | Statewide |
Perch (yellow and white) | No statewide daily limit | min. No statewide length limit | Statewide |
Channel, White, and Flathead | 20 per day | min. No length limits | Statewide |
Blue | 20 per day | min. No statewide length limits | Statewide |
American Shad | No possession (catch and release only) | - | Statewide |
Grass Carp | No statewide daily limit | min. No statewide length limit | Statewide |
Longnose Gar Varies by water: limit 1 per day (Longnose Gar - statewide) | 5 per day | min. No statewide length limits | Statewide |
Bowfin Varies by water: limit 1 per day (Bowfin - statewide) | 5 per day | min. No statewide length limits | Statewide |
Northern Snakehead | No statewide daily limit | min. No statewide length limit | Statewide |
American Eel | 25 per day | min. no eel less than 9 inches | Statewide |
Nongame Fish and Aquatic Invertebrates | 20 | - | Statewide |
crayfish | 20 in aggregate (possession limit) | - | Statewide |
Bullfrogs | 15 per day | - | Statewide |
Snapping turtles | 5 per day | min. minimum curved-line carapace length of 13 inches | Statewide |
suckers | 20 per day | - | Statewide |
rainbow trout | See size | min. 7 inch statewide minimum | Statewide |
How this answer was assembled
- StatewideStatewide river rules are the base layer: default season, gear, bait, and limits.
- This waterSpecial rules written for this exact water replace the statewide defaults where they speak.
- Emergency orderEmergency orders in effect today override everything else. They sync quietly when the phone has coverage and never lock you out of the app.
Where this stretch begins and ends
The drawn shape is the named water, matched from the official list against OpenStreetMap and accepted only because the name resolved to a single feature in this water's county.
Different sections of this water can have different rules. The exact section boundaries are not marked on the map yet; each rule above describes in plain words where it starts and ends, and that written description is the authoritative boundary. Map boundaries come water by water, never as a guess.
Season at a glanceDerived
Sampled mid-month from the dated rows; short windows can slip between samples. The rows above are authoritative.
At the water nowContext
Streamflow: 478 cfs at s f shenandoah river at front royal, va (2026-07-29 05:15)
Forecast: National Weather Service. Flow: nearest active USGS gauge in this water's area, which may sit on a different reach. Conditions are context, not rules.
What are you fishing for here?Advice
Pick from the species named in Shenandoah River's rules. Setups are checked against the gear rules in force today, and your picks are remembered on this device only. These are rule-aware suggestions, not a claim about what is biting; advice, not law, and the rules above govern.
Receipts
Local services near Shenandoah River
Tackle shops, guides, and boat launches that serve this water will appear here - a separate lane below the rules, so a local business can reach you without ever getting between you and the regulation.
Run a shop or guide service on Shenandoah River? Get listed.