The Pound River

Cold, cold, cold, was what the thermometer said when I left the house on Monday and began my two hour drive to the Pound River. The Pound winds along for many miles paralleling the Kentucky state line. Just out side of Haysi (pronounced with a long i on the end), the Pound is impounded by the John Flannagan Dam, an Army Corp. flood control dam.

With the cold weather, I was sure that the fishing would be just as difficult as had been for the past two weeks. Cold temperatures seems to put the bite off, but a tailwater, like the Pound, is another story. With the water staying a more consistent year round temperature, the trout seem to have an easier time with atmospheric temperature changes.

I didn’t get my hopes up too much. It was only suppose to reach 27 degrees for the high and snow was falling hard when I reached the dam. I came prepared for a shut out. I had even been told by a local guide to wait a couple of weeks for a warm spell.

With the snow still falling I made my way down the winding road to the park area at the foot of the dam. This was one time I was glad I was driving a four wheel drive truck. The road was rather steep and covered in an inch of snow. I don’t think I would have attempted the descent without the truck.

With in a few minutes of reaching the river I was in the water. I started fishing directly under the spillway in a large pool. The trout were giving splashy rises to what I assumed to be rising midge pupa. I tied on a brassie, a strike indicator, and began casting into the areas where the trout were rising. Within a couple of drifts I was hooked into a decent trout.

I fished in this pool for about two hours and managed the hook and lose several. I then began to work my way down stream fishing pocket water along the way. The cold was beginning to get to me so I stopped for early lunch and to warm up in my truck.

Lunch on days like this is usually light and packed in protein. I’m

not so sure of how healthy it is, but it does taste good. There’s nothing like summer sausage, spicy mustard, and hot coffee to get you through a day of fishing.

Warm and with a full belly I continued down stream, working pocket water and pools along the way,for almost an half mile to the special regulation water. Fishing the special regulation section, which extends from the a sign posted .4 miles below the dam to the confluence with Ravens Fork, is a must. This section is artificial lure, single hook, and nothing is to be kept under 16 inches. This section is stocked with fingerling browns to supplement the wild browns that hold in this mile and a half of water.

The section I fished was great. I landed three trout ranging from six inches to ten inches, but I lost a whole lot more than that. Then there is the one that got away. I hooked into a nice bow and fought him for about four to five minutes. I worked him to with in six to seven yards when I felt the line go limp. Like a boxer waylaid by an unexpected punch, my line lay sprawled out on the water, and the victor quietly slipped back into the dark depths of the Pound.

Brassies seemed to be the hot item for a cold January day. Midges were in abundance in the water and on the rocks. I also found lots of sow bugs, actually more sow bugs than midges. I was fishing a size 18 brassie with no weight. I may have done even better if I had slipped on a couple of split shot and put the fly on the bottom faster. If you go fill your fly box with brassies from size 16 to 20, sow bugs in sizes 14 to 18. You may also want a few streamers in you box, which drew a couple of strikes in the late afternoon for me.

A couple of warnings for those who plan to head to the Pound River. First, the Pound is a tailwater and the Army Corp. of Engineers does release water from time to time. There are no release schedules that are posted, so be cautious when wading below the dam. Secondly, didymo is present in this stream, as well as in several other Virginia tailwaters. If you are not aware this a very invasive and annoying algae that spreads from river to river on your fishing equipment. Please properly clean your equipment after fishing the Pound and let your waders fully dry before moving on to the next stream.

The Pound River should be one of the streams you plan to fish this year. It is one of the top trout streams in southwest Virginia and should be at the top of any fisherman’s to do list. I have already been trying to get some of my friends to go back with me and I am sure you will want to do the same.

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If you have ever fished the Pound River let me know or if you have photos of some hog you have pulled out of there I would love to see them.

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Virginia Trout Stocking Updates

Map of Pound River and close by community of Haysi.

Closest Weather Station

You may be interested in reading about other streams I have fished.

Wolf Creek

Laurel Creek

Laurel Creek

It was spiting snow when I crossed the top of the divide heading into the Freestone Valley on Monday. The the muddy ruts in the road were frozen and covered with a dusting of snow. It seemed like a typical January morning.  With the temperatures hovering around freezing, I knew I would be in for a tough day of fishing.

This cold January morning had me heading into uncharted territory, I had never been in this part of Virginia before. The Freestone Valley, which lies in the southeastern most corner of Tazewell county, is home to one of the tributaries of the North Fork of the Holston River. Laurel Creek, along with three or four other larger streams in the area, eventually forms the North Fork of the Holston River.

Laurel Creek is one of a hand full of streams that feed the North Fork and hold trout. Two of these are Roaring Fork and Lick Creek. All of these streams are know to hold Rainbows and Brooks.

Laurel Creek would be ideal for those looking for semi-remote fishing. The creek appears to get a low amount of pressure and has access to most of it by FR 222. This road winds it’s way through the Jefferson National Forest from highway 16 and it is nice on a cold day having the truck close by.

By midmorning I was easing up on a beaver pond that was a short way down stream from where I first caught glimpse of Laurel Creek. The stream looked promising and after a few minutes of rigging up my 7’6” 5wt. rod I was searching for trout.

I could tell the stream was swollen from the inch and a half of rain we had received the week before, and the six plus inches in the past month. The leaves had been striped way along the bank revealing the dark soil and indicating the water was receding.

All morning I used searching patterns and an across stream swing presentation as I tried to locate the trout. I covered the whole pond and didn’t even see one fish. I began to get disappointed but all the while reminding my self ‘winter fishing is tough.’

Breaking the ice out of my guides was a constant reminder of just how cold it was. Even the more was when I began to dig in the creek bed looking for any sign of life and what these trout, if any, were eating. I came up with very little. I didn’t even find a mayfly nymph, only the cases of a few caddisflies.

When lunch time rolled around I drove down stream to a place where the stream wondered through an open area and finished my lunch. I had pack a lunch, knowing after looking at a map I would not be close to much, of tuna and a hardboiled egg. It’s not much as table fare but it will get you through the day.

After I ate I headed over to the stream. This section meandered back and forth through this flat open area. The water went from short riffles, to even shorter pools, and then into a hard turns all throughout this clearing. I was constantly changing my location and hopping from one side of the stream to the other.

Removing the 7x leader and rigging from the morning, I tied on a 4x leader and a conehead sculpin pattern. Switching back and forth between a between an upstream pitch and strip, and an across stream swing I managed to stir up some strikes but no takers.

It was a great day and definitely a stream I would fish again. Between the solitude and the beauty of the the landscape, Laurel Creek is one of those places you just keep coming back too.

The sections that I fished where part of the upper reaches of this branch. According to Trout Streams of Virginia: An Angler's Guide to the Blue Ridge Watershed the better sections are from the bridge, where Roaring Fork enters, down stream to where National Forest meets private property. This section is better accessed from highway 601 off of Virginia 16.

If you decide to fish Laurel Fork be sure to plan ahead. The area is fairly remote. There is no cell phone signal and no apparent permanent residents. If you get stranded it is a couple mile hike up hill to highway 16 from the stocked waters. Be sure to pack a lunch, no restaurants or service stations are close by to stop at for lunch.

Before you go fill your fly box full of streamer patterns from sizes 16 down to size 10. I would take patterns like the sculpin, Mickey Fin, muddler, and the sliver darter. I would also take along a few caddisflies in sizes 14-18. If  you go in late summer to early fall be sure to take a few terrestrials along.

Be careful the stream is narrow but I found its depth deceiving. More than once I found myself in deeper water than it appeared.

Laurel Creek was a lot of fun and I would go again. My day ended fishless, cloudy, and cold (basically, the way it began). Don’t let my down day in the middle of January stop you. Good water lies in the Freestone Valley and plenty of elbow room give it a try and let me know what you think.

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If you missed last week’s post on Wolf Creek you can find it here.

Information on Jefferson National Forest is available here.

Virginia trout stocking information is available here.

The above link is updated weekly. You can search through the archives for past stockings.

The closest weather station available is in Bland, Virginia.

Wolf Creek

Just north of Wytheville Virginia, along I-77, is a small community by the name of Rocky Gap. The community is aptly named, for as you leave the interstate you will notice a shear rock cliff that is cut for the highway to pass. Along the outskirts of the community is Wolf Creek.

Wolf Creek is a freestone stream that stretches from Burk’s Garden in Tazewell County to the New River in Giles County Virginia. If you are coming north out of Wytheville you will travel along side of Wolf Creek for several miles. At one point the stream flows between the north and south bound lanes of the highway.

It was cloudy when I arrived in Rocky Gap on Monday morning and there was not a soul in site. May be this should have been a sign for me. I had hoped for a great day in the water: the skies were gray, the temperatures were mild, the water flows were decent, and I was told the stock truck had ran just before Christmas. The Virginia DGIF stocks the stream six times between October 1 and May 30. I was hoping to find a few of the trout that might have escaped the on slot of egg chuckers, but sadly no such luck.

My weapon of choice was my wife’s 7’ 6” 5 weight that I bought for her about a year ago. I had the rod made for her by a fellow blogger in Alabama. Nathan Kennedy blogs over at the TVAngler. Along with the good quality posts he has about fly fishing in Alabama, he builds rods and does a little photography on the side as well.

The rod is an absolute pleasure to cast. Aesthetically it is very pleasing as well. The green shaft, reddish orange color of the reel seat, and the green and gold wraps all make for a very nice looking rod. He told me he wasn’t pleased with some areas of the rod, but I think it looks great. And more importantly so does my wife.

I started my morning just underneath the new bridge along highway 61. With in thirty minutes I managed to slip on some rocks and fall. I was able to catch my self in the knee deep water but one arm of my shirt was soaked. I knew for sure I would have to call it a day, but the mild air temperatures allowed be to keep fishing.

I fished the pocket water between the new bridge and the old metal frame bridge until my belly began to growl. I had several light strikes on my pheasant tail nymph rig, but I didn’t manage hook set.

If you do go to Rocky Gap to fish Wolf Creek make sure you stop by Woody’s Grocery for lunch. It’s located along highway 52 right where you turn onto highway 61 heading toward Narrows, Va. The BLT and curly fries are great.

After lunch I fished from above the old bridge to just above the confluence of Clear Fork. I consider the afternoon to have been better: I caught one minnow fish, and saw another. The one I saw was of decent size, between 10-12 inches, and bolted when I crowded his space.

This is nothing like what the to old men at Woody’s said it was just a few weeks ago. They said you could stand on the old bridge and watch the trout in the creek by the hundreds. They also let me know that the stock truck had actually ran about the second week of December.

I believe the next time I go to Wolf Creek I will begin fishing above the old bridge. I also will make an effort to get there as soon as I find out the stock truck has run. I wish I could tell you what flies to take with you but after that day I really don’t know. I did manage the one fish on a hares ear nymph, though. I was hoping for BWO’s but saw nary a one.

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Map of Rocky Gap

Virginia DGIF Stocking Info

Closest Weather Station

You May also be interested in my post on Laurel Creek.

Salvation for Laurel Bed Lake

It appears that Laurel Bed Lake is going to be around for a while longer. If you follow this blog, you will remember a post a while back, mentioning the the soon coming demise of Laurel Bed Lake in south west Virginia. Once again, via the Roanoke Times outdoors section comes this headline: "Resurrected Laurel Bed Lake Still Charms."

It appears that due to public out cry, the DNR some how managed to find the $2,000,000 need to repair the dam at Laurel Bed Lake just outside of Saltville, Virginia. It is amazing what the government can find just laying around when given the motivation to look for it. Oh! Look we just happened to find two million dollars stuck behind a filing cabinet! Maybe we can fix that dam.

The only down side is that the lake will remain a smallmouth lake. Back in what some would have considered the glory days, the lake held some rather large brook trout. Today, due to rising water temperatures and some fool stocking rock bass in the lake, no brookies can be found there. Sadly they more than likely will not be found there in the near future either.

If your into smallmouth fishing in a quite and high elevation area you should check out Laurel Bed Lake. There are some regulations on the lake. The first is no gas powered boats, so a john boat or a canoe is ideal for traversing the lake. Also there are some special catch and release rules for the lake, which were suspended during the draining of the lake but have been reinstated.
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Southwest Virginia is Losing Lural Bed Lake

UP DATE : HERE

Lake Lural is a 330 acre impoundment just out side of Saltville, Virginia. It has stood as a tool for flood control for Big Tumbling Creek, which is a pay fishery. Unfortunately, the dam has sprung a leak. Bill Cochren, an outdoor writer with the Roanoke Times, writes -

There are a couple of seepages in the dam of this Department of Game and Inland Fisheries public fishing impoundment, and while they aren’t massive, they also aren’t the kind you can plug with a finger or two.

The fact is -- and get ready for a shock -- it may take as much as $2 million to cover the repairs, according to Gary Martel, DGIF fish division chief.

Sadly, this is not the only lake in the state that has a dam in need of repair. Although, the state says that Lural Bed Lake is a top priority.

I am a native of Southwest Virginia and grew up relatively close to Saltville, but never knew that Lural Bed Lake held trout. Though todays trout numbers are apparently nothing like days gone by.

The trout fishing through the early 1980s was good enough to lure anglers from as far away as the Roanoke Valley. The brookies, some exceeding 3 pounds, took on the dark color of the lake’s water, yet were garnished with bright red specks encased in sky-blue halos.

Ignorance seems to be the reason for the decline of the trout populations in the lake, but I like the way Bill puts it,

For a number of exciting years, Laurel Bed Lake was the place to catch citation brook trout until the fishery began to fall apart. For one thing, some fishermen insisted on illegally releasing rock bass into the lake, fish that competed with the trout and slowed their growth. Compounding that stupidity were problems with high acidity and low oxygen and summertime temperatures that were marginal for brook trout. (Emphasis mine)

I hope that they will be able to restore the lake to what it once was, but for now it looks like by July Lural Bed Lake will be a mud hole.

Matthew