Fall Troutin' in Appaclachia

[Doug Vitale]

Back in mid-November I drove to the border region between Virginia and West Virginia and spent five days exploring several streams known as productive trout waters. I had never fished in this area before, so doing thorough research beforehand was a must. I purchased a few books on Amazon, and after conveniently buying VA and WV fishing licenses online, I was off.

The streams I fished in VA were the Jackson River, Back Creek and Bull Pasture River. The streams I fished in WV were the Elk River and Cranberry River. I did catch a decent amount of browns and rainbows, but none of any bragging size sadly. Thankfully, I did not cross paths with any rattlesnakes or black bear (the books I read warn readers to watch out for these creatures in the Blue Ridge Mountains).

You don't know what "remote countryside" is until you spend several hours driving through this part of the country. While the scenery is gorgeous, many of the people in this region are utterly poor.

Based on my experiences and on the info I have gathered in books and online, VA and WV are very underrated as troutin' destinations. If you're up for an adventure, consider paying a visit to the streams of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Just do your research ahead of time and go with a solid plan of action.

Here are the books I read to prepare for my trip.

Flyfisher's Guide to Virginia: Including West Virginia's Best Fly Fishing Waters
(https://amzn.to/3tuvS7U)
Trout Streams of Virginia: An Angler's Guide to the Blue Ridge Watershed
(https://amzn.to/3tDN4b0)
Fly Fishing Virginia: A No Nonsense Guide to Top Waters
(https://amzn.to/41LeubI)
Virginia Blue-Ribbon Streams: A Fly Fishing Guide (https://amzn.to/3RHSmub)

[Doug Vitale]

Photos continued.

[thmyorke1]

great post! handy info , exploring is a lot of fun :D how was it getting around in general? easy hikes, wading?

[icebadger]

looks like you had a good trip the water is really clear. those blue fox spinners are good lures for trout they cast great and catch trout really well. great photos as well. cool report.:cool:

[thmyorke1]

i make my own panther-martin styled spinners. The blades that dont need the clevis and just go right through the wire. I really prefer them for how easy they are to get spinning. Even my jank ass handywork can make productive spinners.
I use 1/8 or 1/16 oz bullet sinkers. Usually I use a treble hook and snap off one of the hook points. I bought some beads and it's mainly to add right below the blade so it spins freer? But I like some of the color it adds. Lil orange/red bead looks nice on the silver thing spinning.

[Sako1]

Good post, thanks Doug. Regarding the bigger fish, did you get the sense you were catching stockies, stocky holdovers, natives or a mix?

Dave

[Doug Vitale]

how was it getting around in general? easy hikes, wading?

Exploring those VA/WV streams was like hiking along the banks of the Flat Brook or Pequest. What surprised me was the depth and frequency of the pools. There were riffle stream sections that were 6"-12" inches deep, and a few dozen feet away there were pools over your head. I encountered this pattern repeatedly down there. Also the Cranberry River contains boulders the size of small houses.

Regarding the bigger fish, did you get the sense you were catching stockies, stocky holdovers, natives or a mix?

In my second post, the last fish was a wild brown trout (as was the one in my hand, obviously). The other ones were stocked fish, either recent or from the spring.

[tautog]

Used to live down that way. Upper Bullpasture has a lot of small wild bows but it is mostly private. Middle section has some wild bows and browns, but is mostly stockies. Jackson River below Gathright Dam has lots of wild bows and browns, sometimes quite large, but is mostly private. Section of the Jackson above Lake Moomaw has some wild trout of all species, but is mostly stockies. Upper Jackson has small to medium wild trout of all 3 species and some stockies but is mostly private.

If you fly fish, there are good private day fee stretches of water in that area with catch and release fishing for both wild and stocked fish. Most of the stocked fish would be holdovers. Private fee fishing areas that allow spinning are almost all put and take with large stockies. There are also public fee fishing areas that are stocked multiple times per week with smaller fish if you have kids or just want some dinner.

There are also fingerling stocked streams like Mossy Creek ad Buffalo Creek that have special regulations and long-term holdovers. As well as smaller streams with wild fish of all species, more bows as you go south and west.

[FASTEDDIE29]

Awesome report, great pics and breath taking scenery. Very cool man!!!:D

[Broad Bill]

America the beautiful, great pics and great report. Where are all the tires? Andy would be bored out of his mind down there:)

Just curious, if you did cross paths with a rattlesnake and were bit, how far from help are you and what do you do? Is there some type of anti-venom you need to bring with you? Seems like you're in a pretty remote area, gorgeous but remote.