Fly Fishing the Smith River, May 2024

 

I had been hearing about the Smith River because of my interest in brown trout fisheries.  I had heard a couple of presentations at the Virginia Fly Fishing Festival and wanted to give it a try.  I remember one presenter saying to take advantage of the fishery now since a dam embankment collapsed and damaged some of the turbine infrastructure, but when that was repaired the release schedule would be less steady and the fishery would suffer as a result.  

Lucky for me, my good friend Will was also interested to give it a try.  We hired a guide from New River Fly Fishing to take us on a float.

We met at the take out; 6.4 miles below the put in at the Philpott Dam.  

We rode with the guide upstream to dam where the embankment was under repair.  With some experience in erosion and sediment control, stabilizing that embankment slope seemed impossible so maybe the fishery could survive for a little longer.   

Just to the right of the picture above was the damaged turbine house.  Was that the burial mud stain on the wall???

Our guide dropped the raft into the water just below the dam.

Not much dry fly activity, but we started catching trout on nymphs pretty quickly.

Rainbows, not the browns we were looking for, but getting the skunk out nonetheless.

The morning was cool and overcast, fog still not quite lifting off the water.

There was another drift boat coming behind us.  Glad we were able to be the first to fish the pools.

We did catch a few small brownies...

More fog...

Pulling over for lunch...

Will was also doing well.  We picked on fish here and there, through  the morning and into the afternoon.

Nothing spectacular, but steady action.

The predicted rain held off longer than expected, but when it came, it came with a vengeance.  We pretty much hunkered down and were rowed to the take out. 

It was a fun day; probably something we could repeat on our own in a canoe if we wanted.  We'll definitely keep in the the rolodex.

peace.