Smith River Fishing & River Clean Up 3-19-11

This will be a short report to confirm that I have not stopped fishing or being a devout supporter of the Smith River. It has been almost 6 months since I have done any wading or river fishing. My excuse is you can only scratch one itch at a time and during the fall and winter my fancy turns to deer hunting. Topped that off with a very productive feral hog hunt just up the road in Johnson County. All that is behind me, and now a young man's fancy turns to fishing. (Well maybe not so young - back in the day, I would have been able to do it all, but these days, only one at a time)

Lots of water behind the Philpott Dam so they have been generating most all day every day, even on weekends. If you go, be sure to call 276-629-2432 to check the latest generation schedule. Only fools attempt to wade high water. Last week's schedule worked out for me as I had a tree crew at my "get away place" removing a beetle infested pine which leaned over the house. By the time they left it was time to hit the river up near the dam.


Caught this one on my third cast and knew it was going to be a good afternoon



I was fishing what I call a modified "trotline". It consists of a bushy Stimulator which acts as a strike indicator. About 15 inches below that hangs an Allieworm and 8-10 inches below that a Zebra Midge. With this set up you have them covered top to bottom. Most of my hits and hookup's came on the Allieworm. A few took the ZM and only one slapped at the Stimulator.



Ouch! Here is one disadvantage to fishing the "trotline" - Thankfully I pinch down the barbs on all the flies I tie.



Saturday morning I linked up with many residents of the local area for a "River Clean Up" - I didn't count, but estimate there were 30-40 participants. This is really commendable and proof the locals are taking ownership of the river.



Unfortunately the water was still running - (It was off, but still receding from the night before) - Only a couple of us were able to hit the edges in our waders. There were several folks in canoes who floated from spot to spot and retrieved many of the obvious eyesores.



Others went to well known dumping spots and hand carried barrels, shingles, water heaters, etc to the road for pick up by a City of Martinsville crew manning a clamshell boom. To see more photos of the clean up effort click on a blog site maintained by Dan River Basin Association Coordinator Brian Williams https://picasaweb.google.com/bmwcaves/SmithRiverCleanUpMarch2011#



All in all a good way to ease back into fishing. Things are looking up for the Smith. The Smith River TU is becoming viable again. We have a new website http://smithrivertu.com/index.html and our meetings are well attended. Probably our most recent accomplishment was helping sheppard in the recent change in regulations which encourages the harvesting of smaller brown trout and protects those that make it to the 10 inch mark. The jury is still out, but we are optimistic we are moving in the right direction

Al thanks for the post! i am going to try to get up to the smith sometime in the next 6 weeks! I really look forward to fish the river again!