I had to make a trip to sw Va last week,planned on trout fishing some small streams.I ran into some old friends that said they were camped on the New River.I’ve heard alot about it.I got there about 10am ,dug through the nooks and crannies of my vehicle and managed to find a few clousers and some large wollybuggers. conditions:water dingy,sky partly cloudy,wind 10 to 15 knots. I waded around for about 3 hrs I caught 8 smallies the largest around 3lbs,1 red eye ,and 1 bream.I missed alot more than I caught.Day 2 conditions:water crystal clear,sky clear,light and var. winds. I rented a canoe from the campground owner and headed out.could only manage 2 smallies the largest around 2 lbs.I saw 10 to 12 fish in the 4 to 5 lb range and multitudes of smaller ones.they just werent taking what I was offering.Ive never saw so many fish in one place,it was amazing.cant wait to go back with the right patterns and colors.Over all it was a great trip. flyswatter
Sounds like a good trip. I’m going to be staying on the New River in October for a week. Hope the smallies are still biting when I get there. What type/size flies were you using?
Sounds like fun. I try and make it up that way a few times a year. I enjoy the trout fishing, but I have to say I prefer the smallies. The New River is a beautiful piece of water.
I had a 7’6" 4wt,I caught them on #8 black w/green flash clouser and black,olive,brown wollybugger w/green flash.I had planned on fishing for brook trout in some of the smaller streams,just took my trout box.luckly I dug the clousers,buggers out of the car.gurgglers and floating minnows ,crawfish patterns have been doing well.check out southeastflyfishingfoum.com
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Originally posted by FlyswatterI had a 7’6" 4wt,I caught them on #8 black w/green flash clouser and black,olive,brown wollybugger w/green flash.I had planned on fishing for brook trout in some of the smaller streams,just took my trout box.luckly I dug the clousers,buggers out of the car.gurgglers and floating minnows ,crawfish patterns have been doing well.check out southeastflyfishingfoum.com
I’m a lurker over on that site. Occasionally post under the name River Dog.
I went to Va Tech and the New is 20 minutes away. I fished it several times throughout the year (except winter) Never did a float on it, but always wanted to. I’ve got a simple crayfish pattern that is a body of rootbeer colored estaz with some brown sili legs and brown bucktail. It worked really well. Also white shallow running buggers, gurglers/poppers and Murray’s hellagramite flies did the job. There’s a large musky population in the New, apparently you can have some success next to bridge pilings with big flies or spinners. I never fished for them. Be careful wading, there are alot of drownings in the New. It has some bad undercurrents.
Claytor lake dams up the new at a point 30 minutes south of Blacksburg. It is the dead sea. I’ve fished it several and never caught anything, though I do hear of reports of good striper fishing occasionally.
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Originally posted by Hokieflyguy Claytor lake dams up the new at a point 30 minutes south of Blacksburg. It is the dead sea. I've fished it several and never caught anything, though I do hear of reports of good striper fishing occasionally.
There are some LMB in there too… 
Not sure how smallies are compared to largemouths, but I’ve been killin’ the LMBs on gurgler patterns. Early mornings when it’s cooler and they absolutely kill it. If the topwater isn’t going so great, switch to a Dahlberg - they’ll sit on top till they get saturated, then they’ll dive mid-water column to pick up those not-so-aggressive fishies.