Hello, welcome to the August edition of our newsletter!
Over the past couple of weeks, we’ve been cutting and removing four water lines that had been deposited in the river on the upper New by Hurricane Helene between Buck Dam and Claytor Lake. We think that’s all of them!
We’ve also been running some great trips on the lower New, below Claytor Lake, and seeing lots of quality fish downriver. To book a trip click here!
Fishing Reports
New River: August is one of my favorite months of the year to catch big smallies on topwater. The annual cicadas are buzzing loudly and autumn is in the air as the diurnal period changes. The days are getting shorter and the nights cooler up here in the mountains. In fact, the water temperature on the upper New recently dipped below 70 in the morning on a recent outing. During this time of year, we will typically dead-drift large, leggy poppers after presenting them with a big “splat” on the surface.
Smith River: The Smith’s sulphur action has started to slow down and the bug sizes have dropped from the usual #14-16 down to #18-20. It’s a good time to start digging into your terrestrial box.
South Fork of the Holston River (in Virginia): The hopper-dropper rig should work well throughout the rest of the summer for the South Fork’s abundance of gorgeous wild rainbows.
Private Trout Water: The cooler temperatures we’ve had lately along with recent rains should allow us to stock our trophy trout water and re-open it to guiding again by Labor Day weekend, as usual.
Now is an awesome time of year to fish in Southwest Virginia. We hope to see here real you soon!
All the Best,
Mike Smith | New River Fly Fishing
P.S. If you would like to book your next trip or just want to find out more about us, you can do so by visiting our website here.
