A Taste for Trout
Stream Fishing Challenges Area Angler
By Kate Hofstetter

       Like a lot of good fishermen, John Parrish keeps a rod rigged and handy at all times just in case he spots stripers or largemouth bass feeding on shad in his cove in The Waterfront at Smith Mountain Lake.
         When he puts some real effort into it, though – when he loads up his hand-tied flies and reaches for a favorite rod and reel – he’s going fishing for trout in a river.
         Parrish just can’t get as excited about fishing on the Lake as he does streams. Stream fishing, he says, is more challenging. It’s not just “dropping a line into the water” and waiting for a fish to bite.
         “You actually see the fish in a stream and it becomes a competition,” he said. “I see one particular fish and go after it. It’s between me and that fish.”
         Smith River is where you’ll usually find Parrish fishing. He likes it there because the fish are “wily.” They have been educated by many fishermen with many tempting flies.
         Smith River is just below Philpott Dam and is stocked by Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. A word of caution: Call ahead to learn the water release time (276.629.2432). And, even if a release is not scheduled, if you become aware the water is rising, leave the river immediately. Parrish learned this lesson the hard way.
         He was told water would be released at 4 p.m. Several hours earlier he became aware of increased sound and strength in the current. He also noted the water level was rising. Thinking it was only a release of “some” water, he stepped onto a nearby island to wait until the river returned to normal depth. It didn’t. It kept rising, fast.
         When the island began to shrink, he went to the far end where some bushes hung over. Testing them, he found they would hold his weight and Parrish managed to pull himself to higher ground. Unfortunately, his truck was on the other side of the river and a steep rocky bank rose between him and an escape route.
         By 6 p.m., Parrish’s wife Susie was getting concerned back home. By 7 p.m., she drove to the scene and found his empty truck. A call to authorities launched a search. It was 9 p.m. before Parrish walked away from the river and into the arms of his frantic wife.
         He learned later that “electrical emergencies” can prompt an unscheduled release. When water is released, the current becomes too strong to swim against.
         Parrish, a retired Navy captain, is a precise and patient man, the embodiment of a fisherman. When he fishes a river, he studies its insects like an entomologist. He wants to know what type bug is hatching and when. The method of fishing and the type fly he uses depends upon the insect the fish are currently eating. He knows there’s no point tying on a fly that won’t hatch until next month; the fish will know it’s phony. He also imitates as closely as possible the movement of the insect and its probable location in the water.
         “There are three methods for freshwater fly fishing,” Parrish explained. “One is ‘dry fly,’ another is ‘wet fly’ and the third is ‘nymphing.’”
         With dry fly, you float the lure on top of the water. In wet fly, the lure is placed in the water column between the surface and bottom, and nymphing is fishing the bottom of the stream.
         “Aquatic bugs live in the nymph stage most of their lives,” Parrish said, “and they live under rocks and on the bottom, so that’s where you would put the fly.”
         According to the Virginia Wildlife 2006 Trout Guide, there are more than 2, 800 miles of trout streams in Virginia. Wild trout streams account for 2,300 miles with about 600 miles of stocked streams. Smith River, from just below Philpott Dam to just north of Martinsville, is a stocked stream.
         Another of Parrish’s favorite fishing spots is the Jackson River in Alleghany County. The Jackson lies between Lake Moomaw and Covington and, Parrish said, is one of the best fishing areas on the East Coast. There are, however, some “special regulations” when fishing Jackson River.
         Landowners on both sides of the river managed to get a law passed declaring them owners of the land the river flows over. The water, however, remains public domain. Therefore, you must have the ability to float while you fish, for if you step on the bottom you will be trespassing.
         This, no doubt, explains why the river isn’t fished much. Consequently, Parrish said, there is a “vigorous” population of rainbow trout, including some up to 20 inches long and brown trout up to 24 inches.
         It is about a 2 ½- hour drive from Smith Mountain Lake to one of the six public launch sites on Jackson River. Eight or 9 years ago when the landowner law went into effect, the State stopped stocking the river. The fish   population is a result of the original stocking more than a decade ago.
         A fishing trip to end all recently took Parrish to the Kamchatka Peninsula in Siberia where the largest rainbow trout in the world live. They are called Arctic White Spotted Char (Kunja in Russian). They grow 36-40 inches long and weigh from 15 to 20 pounds.
         In an effort to keep the Kamchatka Peninsula in its current condition, the Russian government spearheaded a study of the salmon that come there to spawn and other native fish, including Kunja. They needed fishermen to catch “samples,” measure and record their size and take a scale from the fish for a DNA study.
         A fly shop Parrish does business with put him in touch with Wild Salmon Rivers, a nonprofit organization in the U.S., that was working with Russia on the project. He applied for a volunteer fisherman position and was accepted.
         He flew into Alaska and from there a Russian plane took him to the Siberian city of  Petroplovosk where an old military helicopter flew him into a wilderness so dense it had to land on a small island in the middle of the river.
         Interestingly, Parrish found that the trout in that remote river feed predominately on mice that fall from trees or otherwise end up in the river. So for the first time in his fishing endeavors, Parrish found himself making a lure to resemble a mouse, which he says is still called a “fly.”
         If a remote river in Siberia isn’t your cup of tea, some other local stocked streams include several sections of the Roanoke River and the Pigg River. When a stream is stocked, fish are put in the water between February and April. Up until June, fishermen may “catch and release.” After June, they may keep the fish as the river gets too warm to sustain them.
         Some nearby streams with “wild” trout include Stony Creek, Reed Creek and Hunting Creek all near the Peaks of Otter. Brook Trout are native to Virginia, Parrish said.
         Folks who enjoy fishing smallmouth bass should try the New River which is about two hours away and the Shenandoah, about a 2 ½- hour drive. Both rivers, Parrish said, are world-class.
         Parrish recommended using the Virginia Wildlife Trout Guide, which publishes annually in January, for research on other streams to fish. Another source is Orvis, a fly fishing store on Campbell Avenue in downtown Roanoke. Orvis keeps a “white board” of streams and rivers. Angler’s Lane in Forest is also a good resource for equipment and knowledgeable people who organize stream fishing trips, Parrish said.

Those interested in joining a trout fishing club can visit troutsunlimited.com to find membership information on the Roanoke Chapter.