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Blue Ridge fly fishing trip

The park and national-forest streams along the crest — Rapidan, Tye, Smith and the brook water off the ridge.

The water

Water	Miles	July mean
The Little Stony Nine-Inch Water — named stretch	—	—
North Creek Catch-and-Release — named stretch	—	—
Stewarts Creek Catch-and-Release — named stretch	—	—
Crooked Creek Fee Fishing Area — named stretch	—	—
The Mill Creek Nine-Inch Water — named stretch	—	—
The Roaring Run Trophy Section — named stretch	—	—
The Buffalo Creek Trophy Section — named stretch	—	—
The Douthat Fee Water — named stretch	—	—

Ordered by mapped length. July mean is measured at the USGS gauges standing in each river; a dash means no gauge on it reports temperature.

A 3-day plan

Assembled, not written: the days are the largest waters in range, longest first, and each one carries the nearest site in Virginia's own access file — measured from the middle of the water, so it is a place to start looking rather than a landing on that river. Fish them in whatever order the weather gives you.

Hatches to hit

The months with the most recorded hatches in the Virginia mountains: May (22), June (26), July (22).

Insect	Months	Hook
Little Black Stonefly	January–April	#16–18
Little Brown Stonefly	February–April	#12–16
Blue-Winged Olive	March–May and September–November	#16–22
Quill Gordon	March–April	#12–14
Blackfly	April–June	#18–22
Blue Quill	April–May	#16–18
Cranefly	April–June and September–October	#6–10
Grannom	April–May	#14–16
Green Rock Worm / Green Weenie	April–June and September–October	#10–14
Hendrickson	April–May	#12–14
Little Black Caddis	April–May	#16–20
Alderfly	May–June	#10–14
Caterpillar	May–September	#8–14
Crayfish	May–October	#4–8

Recorded from the Virginia mountains, earliest first. The year-round records sit at the bottom because they are true and they are not news.

Public land in range

• Fairy Stone State Park — 12.8 mi
• Fairystone Farms Wildlife Management Area — 13.7 mi
• Turkeycock Wildlife Management Area — 18.1 mi
• Smith Mountain Cooperative Wildlife Management Area — 24.2 mi
• Havens — 26.7 mi
• Havens Wildlife Management Area — 27.2 mi
• Buffalo Mountain State Natural Area Preserve — 28.9 mi
• Brush Mountain Wilderness — 31.8 mi

Blocks of ground with a page of their own, nearest first. Ownership from PAD-US as Virginia publishes it.

Camping and lodging

We have campground records for Michigan and for no other state, so there is nothing to list here rather than a list somebody guessed. The public land above is where the dispersed camping is, where the state allows it.

Fly shops

• Blue Ridge Fly Fishers — 22.0 mi, Roanoke
• Bob's Up The Creek Outfitters — 25.5 mi
• Walkabout Outfitter — 29.2 mi, Blacksburg
• Pop's Live Bait and Tackle — 40.7 mi, Altavista

From OpenStreetMap and a curated list, across all five states on this site. Call before you drive — a shop in a file is not a shop that is open.

Before you go

• Virginia regulations
• Virginia fishing report
• Blue Ridge fishing report
• The Little Stony Nine-Inch Water
• North Creek Catch-and-Release
• Stewarts Creek Catch-and-Release
• Crooked Creek Fee Fishing Area
• The Mill Creek Nine-Inch Water
• The Roaring Run Trophy Section

Open the map around here →Every trout stream in reach, coloured by today's water temperature.