Smith River Clean up - Saturday, July 10, 2013

I know a lot of you do your trout fishing just across the NC /VA boarder at the Smith River in Bassett / Martinsville VA - Here is a chance to help clean up the river, meet some new friends and maybe even learn something by fishing with someone who fishes the river on a regular basis. Details below:

Smith River Trout Unlimited (SRTU) will conduct a river clean up from the base of Philpott Dam, downstream to Town Creek on Saturday, July 20, 2013. Volunteers should assemble at the base of Philpott Dam on the Franklin County side which is accessed off Riverbrook Road (Hwy 727) at 8:30 am for work assignments and safety briefing. Bring your waders if you plan to get in the water. There are also assignments for non-waders because we will be cleaning Riverbrook Road which parallels the river. A cookout and opportunity to fish with a SRTU member will follow the clean up which is expected to over by 1200 noon. Individuals and like minded environmental groups are urged to participate. For more information contact Shane Pinkston [url=tel:276-732-5090]276-732-5090[/url] or Al Kittredge [url=tel:910-624-3457]910-624-3457[/url]


Al Kittredge, SRTU VP
aakitt@earthlink.net
910-868-6235 home
910-624-3457 cell

Hope to see a bunch of you guys and gals at the Smith River Clean Up this coming Saturday morning. If you're a "Smith River Regular" this is a good time to give a little back to the river - If you've never fished the Smith but wonder what all the noise is about this is a great time to get a guided tour and fish with one of the "regulars".

Details - Saturday, July 20, 2013, 8:30 am. Meet at end of Riverbrook Rd near base of dam on Franklin County side - .  We will have signs out to help you find your way.

This is a follow up to our Smith River Clean Up........................



Smith River Trout Unlimited participated in it’s second river clean up of the year on July 20, 2013. Earlier in the spring  we cleaned the horseshoe section behind the old chair factory - between Highway 666 Bridge downstream to Papa's Pizza. This past Saturday we concentrated on the Franklin County side from the base of Philpott Dam downstream to Philpott Bridge. We included River Brook Road and all obvious “fishermen’s parking areas” in the clean up.
 

Early arrivals got things set up and then spent time telling tall tales while we waited for what we hoped would be a good size volunteer workforce. We ended up with 20+ which was adequate for the section we planned to clean.  Several folks from North Carolina who fish the river heard about our clean up and came to give back to the river which is the closest trout stream to most Carolinians. One of our local chapter members was not able to participate due to a previous commitment but came a couple days prior and cleaned most of River Brook Road – that’s dedication and the effort was noted and  greatly appreciated.
 

Safety briefing, assignment of sections ,  issuing of trash bags and bottled water and off we go. While folks were pulling trash another volunteer and I made a grocery run. When we got back a lot more  orange trash bags and tires were positioned for pick up along River Brook Road.
 

Burgers, dogs and chips for all our volunteers.  Philpott started generating at noon so some folks who wanted to fish grabbed a “burger to go” and headed downstream to get ahead of the water.
 

The trash was consolidated at the junction of Trent Hill and River Brook Road. Some of the guys are eying the tread remaining on the tires and Paul is giving serious consideration to cleaning up the beach umbrella.
 

Group photo – most of the folks had already left to try their hand at fishing or to get inside for some relief from the 95+ degree temperature.
 

After getting things cleaned up and off loading items back at my “get away” cabin, a volunteer who was not familiar with the river and I got well ahead of the generation surge and tried our luck fishing. 
 

Mostly small browns today but the water was cool and the fishing was good.
 

I have a couple spare bedrooms at my “get away” so invited some of the Carolinians to stay over for more fishing on Sunday. We polished off a few adult beverages and wolfed down the remaining hamburgers and hotdogs.
 

The following morning my partner and I got into a nice pod of rainbows.
 

I’ll close it out by showing everyone that I can catch fish with something other then the “Allieworm” – One of my Project Healing Waters friends ties his version of the GP (Good & Plenty) which he has lots of luck with. I tied one on and it works!
 
If you feel guilty about missing our clean up or if you made it and would like to do a little more, there is a multi-organization clean up scheduled for Saturday, August 3rd. They have a website where you can find more information at http://www.smithrivercleanup.com/  I know they would love to have you lend a hand. I’ll be there and if anyone wants to go fishing afterwards you can loan me one of your secret flies and we will see if it will catch fish.