Late spring/early summer is a great time to dry fly fish on any of the bountiful wild trout streams in Southwest Virginia. Our favorite fishery in June is the Smith River due to the prolific sulphur hatches that occur. The afternoon-evening hatch has been consistent for the past month or so. Look for fish to be rising in pools at the bottoms of riffles. The South Fork of the Holston River (in Virginia) can also be quite productive to wade this time of year, with 50 fish days possible!
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Fishing Reports
New River: The upper New is finally back down below 3000 cfs at the Allisonia gauge just above Claytor Lake. At that level, popper fishing is usually on the menu. Try blue Double Barrell Bass Poppers or Boogle Bugs to mimic the blue damsel flies that typically show up this time of year. You’ll want to work then erratically to elicit aggressive strikes. Let’s get out there!
Smith River: The Smith has been fishing great! We have seen steady hatches of sulphurs and blue wing olives from 1pm until dark almost daily. Cloudy conditions, thunderstorms, and wind have been the only negative factor. Parachute sulphurs, stimulators, puff daddy’s, and yellow soft hackles have been the flies of choice. As we get into later June and July, we will see numbers of bugs slow down and their sizes drop from the usual #14-16 down to #18-20.
As usual, the town of Bassett section is filled with willing stocked and wild fish. Slightly larger offerings sometimes work better in this section along with attractor nymphs. Do not be surprised to see epic sulphur hatches during those hot afternoons. Let’s hit the water!
South Fork of the Holston River (in Virginia): Dry flies such as Yellow Sallies sizes #14-16 can work well in June and throughout the rest of the summer.
Private Trout Water: June is a great time to prospect with large yellow and orange Stimulator patterns (size #8).Remember, as we do every summer, at the end of the month we will be shutting down our private water until September.
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
