![]() Hone Quarry Run, Piney River, and Shoe Creek are other productive native brook trout streams within the Jefferson National Forest. ![]() This seven-mile stretch of freestone stream offers some remote fishing over its 6500 acres and is teeming with trout. Located within both the George Washington and Jefferson National Forests is Ramsey’s Draft Wilderness. Further upstream there is also a nice fishable section of water called the Skidmore Fork that is full of more native fish species and offers some of the best fishing. There are 11 miles of easily accessed water full of on-average 8-11” brookies. The Dry is a large freestone stream and is one of the most densely populated native brook trout streams in the Mid-Atlantic region. This area features one of the largest native fisheries, The Dry River. ![]() Other great opportunities for native small streams lie in the western mountains of the state inside The George Washington National Forest. This special fishery not only features native brook trout but is also home to wild brown trout. President Hoover lived at this camp for most of the spring and fall months, and it was where he and his prestigious guests, like Charles Linberg and Thomas Edison, enjoyed trout fishing.Īlso accessible from both the Shenandoah National Park and Rapidan Wildlife Management Area is the Conway River. The Rapidan River is the main focus of this area and, inside the park, features the former summer retreat of President Herbert Hoover at its headwaters. Also partially inside the park as well, as its own public land, is the Rapidan Wildlife Management Area. Mary’s further to the south, Payne’s Run on the western side of the park in Waynesboro, Doyle’s, The Rose, Hughes, Big Run, and White Oak Canyon to the north. ![]() There are several other great options throughout this park including St. This is about six miles of mountain stream water with a naturally sustaining brook trout population. Living just outside of Charlottesville, Virginia, one of my closest and favorite wild trout streams is the North Fork of the Moormans River. While they may not have the size of their stocked counterparts, the challenge of catching these wily and cunning survivors–and the level of their fight when hooked–makes it well worth the challenge! Where to Fish While catching +20-inch hatchery fish is always fun and widely available to anglers in this area, most any experienced angler will tell you there is nothing that compares to hooking into a wild fish. We are also lucky enough to have many bodies of water that are native trout streams with naturally reproducing populations of rainbow and brown trout. There is no better surprise than hooking into a brookie that runs line and makes you wish you had chosen that Battenkill Disc over the click pawl reel! They may be small, but they never disappoint in their colorful finery with beautiful blue halo spots and bright orange fins and bellies, voracious appetites, or their tiny but feisty and furious fights when hooked. While some of the brookies found farther to the north can range upwards of +20”, this is highly unusual, even in Canada. Most of these fish are in the 6-10” range, and large brook trout in the northeastern United States are 12-14”. These are the oldest species of trout in the world and our small mountain streams here in Virginia are an angler’s playground for catching them. Brook trout you find out West were not native to Montana and Colorado and are often referred to as "invasive brook trout" as they were transported from their native home in the Appalachian mountains-ranging from Georgia all the way up Eastern Canada. The Appalachian mountains are the origin point for brook trout populations the world over. There are thousands of miles of Virginia waterways that are designated stocked trout waters, or have bass, sunfish, black crappie, channel catfish, and trophy smallmouth bass, but my favorite waterways are the naturally sustaining fish populations-which include everything from rainbows to brown trout, and my personal favorite, the brook trout! This is a sport that you are able to do all year round in some of the world's most beautiful places. Living in Virginia presents an incredible diversity of options for fly fishing with many wild-trout streams. While staying at a cabin along the Jackson River in Bath County, Virginia, I was first exposed to the pure thrill of catching a rainbow trout on the fly. I was lucky enough as a teenager to get into the sport of fly fishing without having to take a trip out West.
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