The Blue Ridge fly fishing expedition is off to a great start!
It has been great to see kids able to get together (at a safe distance) and participate in something they
love, fly fishing and generally just being outdoors.
We started the week of fishing on the Watauga River in Eastern Tennessee. The river is known for its
cold, clear water and wild brown trout. The fish on the Watauga see significant pressure, so they don’t
fall easily to poorly presented flies. It proved a great place for the campers to brush up on skills or learn
new ones. Most of the campers caught fish on the Watauga before some thunderstorms forced us to
leave early and head for our second stop at Riverbend Extreme fly fishing in South Western Virginia.
Located about 30 miles west of Abingdon, VA, Riverbound’s cabin on Big Cedar Creek is where we will be
spending the next several days. After setting up camp, campers immediately started hooking into some
of the big rainbow trout that inhabit Big Cedar Creek.
The campers fished until they ran out of light before heading to eat burgers and fries outside the cabin
under the stars and share some fish stories.
We started Monday morning with some additional casting lessons, while also covering mending, and fly
presentation. The rest of the morning was spent hunting the big Rainbows of Big Cedar and the Little
River as the group split up to better cover water and spread out. Campers landed multiple fish over 20
inches in the morning and plenty more in the 17 to 19 inch range.
We are looking forward to fishing late into the evening again. We will fish one more day at Riverbound
before heading to a special regulation section of the South Holston on Wednesday.
Thursday and Friday will be spent floating the South Holston in Tennessee for trout and the North
Holston for smallmouth bass.
We are looking forward to the rest of the week and watching as the campers progress with their skills.
