Introduction and New River

As a good college friend of Cameron's, I want to first thank him for the opportunity to have me as a new contributor to this great Virginia fishing resource. If it isn't already apparent by his far reaching knowledge of many of Virginia's finest rivers in only the few years he has been fly fishing, let me tell you that his obsession is, well, near endless. But I am more than impressed with his eagerness to explore new places and share what he has learned. (Secret holes excluded, of course). If I can, I'll give a few brief details about myself to back my credibility on fly fishing in general, and particularly fishing in Virginia. After that, I'll get into some more interesting 'fishing stuff' pertaining to my NEW favorite place to fish - the New River.

I grew up in Northern Virginia (Manassas) and went on my first canoe trip with my dad and his (our) good fishing friend Fran when I was about 4 years old, trodding down the Shenandoah River. Needless to say, my mother was rather shocked to find out that not only did I last an entire day sitting in a boat going down a river all day without complaining, but that I loved it! It wasn't long after that Dad put a fly rod in my hand (maybe 7 years old) and took me to the local pond to catch some blue gills. He tied on a tan caddis then dropped some bread crumbs in the water to get the fish warmed up, and I was catching my first fish on a fly rod in no time. From then on, it's been mostly a wild craze and definite passion for getting away and catching a few trout whenever I get the chance. I've been to Yellowstone to fish the famous waters of the Madison, Gallatin, Slough, and Soda Butte, among many others there. And for many years now, we've been going on an annual trip to fish for the notoriously challenging browns and rainbows of the West Branch of the Delaware River, near Hancock, NY.

But, my main knowledge centers on the wild brookie streams of Shenandoah National Park. Since I started fly fishing way back when, those are what you might call my home waters. We've done an annual spring trip there for a good ten years or more now, spending a few nights in a local cottage near Graves Mountain Lodge while fishing the Rapidan, Rose, Hughes, Staunton, Conway, and many other rivers by day. I've been going there for the better part of my life now, often just to get away from life's stresses, and I can say that these are some of my favorite streams to fish.

In addition to that, you could say I've pretty much fished all over Virginia, but it wasn't until I recently started medical school here at VCOM at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, VA that I was introduced to the wealth of great waters in southwest Virginia. Since I've been here, I've checked out Little Stony, which is a great little rainbow/brookie stream akin to the mountain streams of Shenandoah National Park. Cameron is right that if you go there, they will make sure that you pay the $3 to park at the lot there. It's certainly unfortunate to have to pay to use nature, but if you can manage the $3, it's well worth a look. You can start fishing right at the lot. The trail follows the stream closely all the way up to the Cascades, which is about a 45 minute hike. All along is great water filled with plenty of wild rainbow and brookies.

The best part about being here, though, is the New River. The closest access from Blacksburg is at Pepper's Ferry, for which there is a bridge and boat access named via Route 114. It's about a 20 minute straight shot. I am lucky to have already met several other guys in the program who also really enjoy a good evening out on the river, and I anticipate many good fish stories in the next few years. The area we've been fishing is another 10 minutes beyond the Pepper's Ferry Bridge near Fairlawn. There are several parking areas off the side of the road. The river, like so many other great smallmouth rivers in Virginia, is truly scenic. It is wider along this stretch than those of the James or Shenandoah Rivers, but it is easily wadeable the entire length across. The riffles are light here, but enough to provide lots of activity, and the rocky bottom offers plenty of ledges and hideouts for big smallmouth. Since we've been out, we've managed to get two over 18 inches among many other good sized fish. Most of the other guys have been fishing rubber worms with their spinning rods with great success, but a couple of us have stayed true to fly fishing and done well on Wooly Buggers and Poppers. Water levels and fishing right now are near perfect.

Until they stop biting...

Scott