# Virginia Trip



## wallace1 (Dec 8, 2010)

Day 1
Left pensacola headed north. Had it planned out so I would have plenty of time to fish the canyon but ended up sitting in traffic instead. Hit the canyon mouth for thirty minutes and it looks like it may have faired a little bit better through the drought than further up. Caught 6 decent bream and one little redeye in the short time I had. Got back on the road and made it to Chattanooga.

Day 2
Got back on the road early. Didn't want to spend the cash for a Tennessee license and the smokies were out of the way so drove straight through to Virginia. Stopped at the Virginia creeper fly shop and it was a pretty cool setup. The guy working it was super helpful. Based on his suggestion I headed down the road to try my luck. Ended up enjoying a beautiful hike and caught my personal best rainbow on a squirmy. Also caught a couple little ones on a stimulator.
IMG_2932 by wallace west, on Flickr
IMG_2929 by wallace west, on Flickr
IMG_2925 by wallace west, on Flickr

Day 3
Headed out in the afternoon to see what was around. Headed up into the mountains looking for brookies. Most of the more well known brookie streams are further north but I managed to find a couple.
IMG_2951 by wallace west, on Flickr
IMG_2953 by wallace west, on Flickr
IMG_2955 by wallace west, on Flickr
Then ran over to a larger river looking for some smallmouth. Didn't bring the phone but managed to get my first smallmouth, first rock bass, and 10 bream. Bunch of fun and a very nice river. Will be back and will grab pictures this time.

Day 4
Didn't have a lot of time but went back into the mountains to check out 2 more possible brookie streams. First one was a bust. No real access and the spot i could get to was nothing but creek chubs. Went to the other creek and it looked much better. Many of the best sections were posted but still managed to find a couple. Also missed the best brookie of the trip so far. Deep pool with a little water fall flowing into it. Put the stimulator right at the edge of the white water and had a relatively nice brookie sky on it but he missed the hook or i was a little slow in setting it.
IMG_2988 by wallace west, on Flickr

Day 5
SKUNKED. Fished the James river in downtown lynchburg near percivals island. Saw multiple people walking out there with fishing rods so there must be some around but i fished for 2 hours before sunset and had 0 hits on the popper. Not even a bream gave it a shot. 

Day 6
Decided to give the james another shot at a different access. Still not much luck. One decent smallie and one green sunfish. Ive decided I really just don't know how to fish this river. Super shallow banks and for the most part its pretty shallow all the way across. Also a lot wider than most of the rivers I'm used to. Tried poppers and streamers.

IMG_3002 by wallace west, on Flickr

Left there and decided to give the smallie river from day 3 another shot. Went further up this time and found an area that was very reminiscent of LRC. Had a blast. The smallies weren't the same size as further down but between them and the bream the action was constant. Fished for 2 hours before sunset and had to will myself away from the water to make it out before dark. Unless I get some sort of advice about fishing the James I think this is where I'm going to spend the rest of my fishing time. All fish in this section were caught on a blue boogle bug. Im almost religious about only fishing chartreuse topwaters (easier to see and I'm convinced they catch more fish) but the damsel flies were everywhere so tried blue and that was the ticket today.

IMG_3005 by wallace west, on Flickr
IMG_3013 by wallace west, on Flickr
IMG_3015 by wallace west, on Flickr
IMG_3008 by wallace west, on Flickr

Will update as the trip goes on.


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## kingfish501 (Oct 7, 2007)

We used to do good on tiny ants and gnats. Had to buy those, I didn't have the dexterity or patience to ties those little buggers.


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## Fishing Grandpa (Jul 2, 2017)

Awesome scenery! Thanks for sharing your trip. Best of luck.


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## Jason (Oct 2, 2007)

Niceeee! You caught some purty fish! Sounds like a good trip fer ya!


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## wtbfishin' (Jul 31, 2016)

Looks like fun! Thanks for the report!


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