Virginia Breakaway - Prelude

My legs were dead heavy from four days of hikin’, bikin’, and rock hoppin’. My butt - pardon the vulgarity - was mountain bike saddle sore. My shoulder, stiff from thousands of casts, needed a break. I smelled like four-day-worn wet wading socks.

And I wanted to keep going.

Last week, T-Bone, Heffe, The Rog, and I hit the road for southwestern Virginia and a few days of smallmouth and trout fishing. The itinerary looked something like this:

Day 1
Gather at T-Bone’s, load up the truck, and head north to Fries
Bike the New River Trail to Double Shoals
Wade the New for some Virginia smallmouth bass
Retire to Wythville and set up base camp at the KOA

Day 2
Rise early and motor to Damascus
Peddle along the Virginia Creeper Trail
Wade the Whitetop Laurel, prospecting for trout
Return to base

Day 3
Rise early, again, and drive to Pembroke
Take a guided float down the Upper New
Catch some trophy smallies
Return to base

Day 4
Pack up early and head in the general direction of home
Stop and fish somewhere along the way
Be back in time for T-Bone’s gig

Way too much happened to relate in a single post, and I have a busy week ahead, so have some patience and I’ll tell the tale(s) over the coming days. Rest assured it was a mighty fine trip...

...but I’m still a bit sore...

... and I usually smell like wet wading socks.


Note: When you write about fishing, you regularly find yourself aground on the shoals of a dilemma – How much do you give away about a fishing spot? With a single exception, I have decided to be fairly open with our Virginia locations, providing enough information to put the story into context and to allow the serious fisherman the chance to do a little research, readily available, and get close. It’s not like these are secrets.

As for the exception, you’ll just have to wait and see.