Here’s Bellwether’s Ashley LiBetti out on Virginia’s Shenandoah River with a catfish she caught kayak fishing.
A few things about the Shenandoah bear mentioning. It’s a lovely river and a lovely name. There is some disagreement about the etymology. It’s a Native American word that, depending who you believe, is related to person’s name, means a river flowing through spruces, a mountain river, or means daughter of the stars. Multiple tribes trace heritage to the river. You can still see fish traps built by Native Americans if you know where to look.
The river flows mostly in Virginia, though thanks to John Denver people associate it with West Virginia. And it has two distinct forks that fish quite differently. It also flows north, which is unusual. It flows from the Shenandoah Valley into the Potomac at historic Harper’s Ferry.
For my money the best song about it is the old standard Oh Shenandoah. Here’s Harry Belafonte, here’s Suzy Bogguss. On a lovely summer night under the stars in 1992 at RFK Stadium in Washington, the Grateful Dead played it, sans lyrics, and just that once,* with Virginian Bruce Hornsby sitting in. That’s mostly lost to obscurity because the next song they played that evening was the iconic Casey Jones, for the first time eight years. It’s what everyone remembers.
Anyhow, here’s the fish:
Want more pics of fish, or education people with fish? Of course you do. Here are hundreds. Send me yours.
*Starts around 21:40 in Space. Here’s Jerry Garcia and David Grisman on the song.