The Turkey Fly Challenge and the Smith River Beast, a Mother's Day Adventure

In this article I will be highlighting a recent trip or better stated, a challenge I set out to accomplish with a life long friend and great client who has given continual support coming out and fishing with me multiple times over the years. A childhood friend in which we have made many memories together growing up going to school together and playing on several different sports teams throughout the years together, it has been such a great experience to continue to make more memories through fly fishing. Last year he brought out a friend of his who was in town, who had plenty of fly fishing experience and wanted to get out and hit the Smith from the raft, getting a different perspective on a river they have seen before. For my friend Tim it was his first time putting a trout in the net on the fly rod, he had some prior practice with the fly rods and came in with a functional skillset, from there it was just a matter of putting it all together. His buddy Jack who was in town for a Baseball Banquet at PHCC came out and joined us as well. Jack was highly functional and was very self supported holding it down in the back seat. The duo put on an absolute clinic on a half day tagging a great number of fish on our float. 

Tim is also a very avid hunter both deer and turkey, this season he had a fairly successful turkey season, after seeing some pictures of one of his larger birds he grabbed this year I had the idea of taking one of the feathers from his turkey he shot and tie up a few flies from that feather and pursue some trout with those freshly tied flies from the turkey he harvested! And we did just that! I met Tim earlier in the week to collect a few feathers and spent some time throughout the week at the vise. I was able to get a six pack tied up and ready to fish the weekend round with them. This trip also had another box we had set out to check as well, getting his girlfriend on her first fish on the fly rod as well. And again how cool would it be to get out and grab some fish on the fly that was tied from the Turkey he harvested. 

We had launched the boat and set out, covering the basics in the first large pool getting a feel for the rods and casting with Kristin up front and Tim holding it down in the rear seat for us on this adventure with the goal of grabbing a few fish on the turkey tied flies and getting Kristin her first fish on the fly! We had set out with not too much luck in the first hole and then began moving downstream into some other locations. One spot Tim had even mentioned he had seen a nice fish hanging out. One I had spotted on recent floats through the area but have not had any positive opportunities on it. Whether it was the fish holding in a slightly different location than expected, or not quite getting positive drifts down to the fish as they hang in a pool with multiple complex currents. Upon arriving into this area we slowly broke it apart from top to bottom uncovering every potential holding area until we got about mid way through the pool and I was able to sight up this large rainbow, a true stud! I slowly traded the nymph rod upfront with a streamer giving Kristin the honorable first attempt on the big fish, a few passes over she rolled the big fish and got an eat but was slightly tardy to the hookset, we let the fish reset and rest for a few, then I passed the streamer rod to the back and let Tim take a few swings at it.

Some persistency took over in the back and Tim began to identify the positive line and drift to get the streamer to dance 5-6 ft down with the fish. I was refurbishing a rig upfront and I heard Tim muster an “I got em’” I looked over and sure enough, he got em’! Tim did a great job staying tight to him, as this fish bellied up to the surface, we almost had a net on him quickly but a big fish rarely allows that to happen, the fish recovered momentum and went off to the races. Doing as big fish do, burying its head and digging as hard away from the boat as it could. Tim battled and did great staying tight to the fish while allowing it to run when needed and stripping in when those opportunities provided. We battled it around the front of the boat and netted the beast in the soft water off to the left of the boat. I wish I could continue this grand story with saying that the big fish was caught on the fly tied from Tim’s turkey feather, rather it was caught on a streamer tied back this winter when we were all frozen in from the great ice storm. That same streamer has produced 3 other rainbows of that caliber this past month! 

Such an amazing fish and experience throwing at him and finally getting the reaction! But now on with our mission to get Kristin on some fish and continue the pursuit of getting a few on the turkey tied flies! We progressed around the next bend to a hole that is known to hold fish throughout the year, a great opportunity to spend some time and run multiple drifts through.

As we were coming through I retied Tim a fresh fly tied from his turkey feather, and set up Kristin upfront with some tried and true patterns that have held their own for me this spring. Not too far into our survey of this area I had sighted up another pod of fish with two or three of them noticeably feeding, one in the top section of the water column, sipping dry flies, and the others actively moving around on the bottom with the occasional white mouth flashing open and close. I was able to get the boat in a good holding area off the fish but close enough we could all reach those fish with not only the initial cast but allowing time and space for the drift to occur as well. Not too long after both rods were bent! I can’t recall the order as to who went first but from there all I can recall is we were on them, hot and heavy! I do recall having one awesome visual eat up front where Kristin got her first taste of that indicator going down and pressure being felt from the other side, as a nice healthy sized rainbow comes unglued from the depths. However we did lose tension to this one as it immediately after being hooked, charged right toward the boat allowing a quick glimpse of losing tension and the fish escaping our pursuit. It was a great learning experience but also one of them deals to where it was a mix of tough luck with that fish charging right at us, trying to recover slack line and regain tension. However, skills were gained with a great hookset that lead into our next encounter less than 5 drifts after we are back in the game, bobber down, tension on! Great hookset off to the opposing side of the drift, gaining immediate tension and stripping from below that trigger finger, ensuring continual pressure on the fish we were able to capitalize on all things being done correctly and net her first fish on the fly!! A few quick photos to document the amazing feat and we were back in the game searching for the next one. At this point Tim had began working a whole separate group of fish towards the top of the run as he was surveying from the rear, a few good casts up top and Tim is back locked in on another one as well.

We played around in that area for a few more minutes both capitalizing off of their clean drag free drifts, adding more experience and confidence up front along with throwing a few more to the net.

 From there we continued to work several runs down stream and the fishing only picked up for us from there. It seemed like each stop or area worked held some form of action! We ran into another run that held deep water so I adjusted our rigs for the additive depth we will be playing and gave the scouting report of how I like to run this section. Over time I had noticed trends in how these fish like to use this run to their advantage, typically they like to hold in the depths of this run in the main line right dead center of the river at its deepest trough, I believe they like the coverage they receive and also the natural highway that is formed there for them to navigate up and down that stretch of water as well as in term being right there in the middle where all of the food resources will ultimately funnel through!  We threw several good drifts through the heart of the run and just like that we were back tight to some fish! It's always fun getting the eat deep down and fighting the fish from the depths. We grabbed several from that run adding to our daily tally of confidence and skill building. We progressed down into the next few runs lining up a few special plays that held positive results for us! By the time it was all said and done the boat had progressed well into a solid day on the water from grabbing that big boy from the beginning to adding numbers and confidence to the skillset throughout the day, ironing those fundamental skills into muscle memory!

A wonderful Mother’s Day float out on the Smith River. Fishing has been primed up over the past few weeks with fish feeding actively throughout the day, along with some rising fish taking advantage of some hatches occurring out there on the water.

Fly Fishing the Smith River in Bassett, Virginia is on the uptick and I anticipate this trend to continue with more and more bugs hatching and becoming a consistent source of food for these fish.

Not too many remaining dates available in May, however June and July will be holding plenty of availability both weekend and week days from May 24th out to August 4th.

Currently heading into end of May and June:

May: 24, 25, 26, 30, 31

June: 2-8, 10-18, 26-30th

Reach out via text, call, email, or online booking to reserve your date on the water!

276-732-0517

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