Appalachian Trail & Angler Outfitters

Appalachian Trail & Angler Outfitters Your guides to the outdoor activities and lifestyle in the Mount Rogers National Recreation Area and surrounding Southwest Virginia.

Once again it's been almost a year since my last post and there are reasons why I have been too tied up to post or even ...
07/12/2026

Once again it's been almost a year since my last post and there are reasons why I have been too tied up to post or even get to fish much:
1) I have been working full time and some OT at the "day job".
2) I am a single father with custody of 2 little boys (9&7) on the spectrum. My older son is profoundly autistic. I get very little help from their mother, and my nearest family is my parents 2 hours away. So I'm busy with doctors appointments, therapies and just being Mr Mom almost 24/7.
3) This is a big factor and has been why I have put the guide service on hold, water levels are dangerously low! The weather reports from the local news out of Bristol have us under severe drought conditions in Southwest Virginia. However, I can tell you it is more like extreme drought conditions.

With that being said there are a few trout streams that are still fishable. You just have to find "bigger" waters that even with decreased levels still have a "decent" flow. I did just that Saturday while the boys are actually with their mother.

I went to a well known high elevation brook trout stream. As I made the turn off on the gravel road I saw someone fishing the bottom end of the high gradient portion of the stream. I kept driving to the end of the road. There i saw another guy and was about to head home, but I decided to talk to him a little. He was from Myrtle Beach. His son had just graduated from Emory and Henry University and he had gotten fishing Virginia fishing licences while his son was going there. His current license was about to expire so that's why he made the trip up. He said he was heading to the low gradient portion of the stream near the top of the mountain which was fine by me because it is near the headwaters and smaller pocket water under normal conditions. With our current conditions it would be extremely tough almost sight fishing. I was wanting to fish the high gradient water anyway.

This stretch is extremely high gradient and not for the faint of heart with a lot of climbing around boulders the size of large SUVs at time for at least ¾ of a mile. There are some small pockets, but it is mostly large plunge pools and some runs in this stretch.

Within minutes in the very first plunge pool I started the day off with the beautifully colored 9" male brookie pictured. However, he started a day of frustration for me as he got my dry and dropper all tangled up, which began a recurring process of re-rigging all day as it kept happening. It was still a good day of fishing as I landed 8 brookies total with the smallest being 6". I even managed to double up in 1 pool with a brookie on each the dry and the dropper. As I got towards the upper end of this stretch and neared the mountain top I started to get into the rainbows. I landed 5 of them between 6" and the 8" fish pictured.

In all a decent day considering that low water conditions like we have right now turn fishing more into almost hunting. You have to stay low, stay concealed and stalk each and every piece of water.

For my latest outing I stayed close to home. I fished a stretch that I only fish about once or twice a year. I have ment...
08/10/2025

For my latest outing I stayed close to home. I fished a stretch that I only fish about once or twice a year. I have mentioned it in past posts. Even though it is right in town it is in a gorge area that once you're in you need at least 3-4 hours to fish. I parked at the upper end and walked the mile down the road and entered in the lower end. I knew it was going to be a good day when on my first cast I landed a typical 10" wild rainbow. I landed just over 30 fish total including my smallest fish of the year at 2" and my largest, a healthy fat 18" rainbow. I had 2 other fish in the same run I caught the 18" that were close to the same size, but unfortunately lost them quickly. Most of the fish I landed were the typical 8-10" wild rainbow found in the stream. I did have about 5 or a few more that were nice 13-14" fish. Thankfully Hurricane Helene didn't damage the stream or ecosystem like it could have last year.

I was able to take advantage of the boys being at their mother's this weekend and the nice weather. I went fishing for t...
06/29/2025

I was able to take advantage of the boys being at their mother's this weekend and the nice weather. I went fishing for the day heading down towards Grayson Highlands State Park in search of brook trout. My original plan was to fish a very well known stream. However, that couldn't happen. The lower access trail head, which is just outside of the park is blocked because there is a privately owned cabin just before it. That land has now been posted leaving no access to the lower end of the trail. I went into the park to try the upper trail head, but it was inaccessible. This was due to the campground and picnic area where it is still being closed due to major damage from Hurricane Helene. So then I had to wing it and figure out a new plan. I looked at my Google Maps and decided to head to the other side of the park and fish a stream I had never tried before. Once I drove back out of the park and to the end of the road where this stream is it was now 10:30. After quickly grabbing my gear I hit the water. On my second cast I landed a beautiful 6" brookie. At that point I knew it was on. I fished for 4 hours landing 18 trout, 14 brookies and 4 rainbows. The fish of the day were a couple of 9" brookies and a 10" rainbow. It was a great day and I will definitely fish this stream again and stop passing by it.

It's been almost a year since my last fishing post and for about 7 months before that they were few and far between. The...
04/21/2025

It's been almost a year since my last fishing post and for about 7 months before that they were few and far between. The reason being, to make a long story short, I went from fishing 3-7 days a week for 2-6 hours to about 1-2 days a month for 1-2 hours. This is because I now have custody of my children instead of just 3 weekends a month visitation. Then I was without a vehicle from June,1 to October, 1 of last year. So while the kids were at their mother's this weekend I took advantage of finally having some decent weather to get out. I spent the time both days on the feeder creek in town. Even though it had massive flooding from Hurricane Helene it thankfully fared pretty well. If anything the flooding may have helped somewhat as a few of the runs got carved a little deeper. The rock bottom hadn't been scoured like on a lot of other streams in the area, and bug life survived. There were still a few March Browns coming off. Along with some Caddis and the beginnings of the Sulphur hatches. The wild rainbows survived as well. In a little under 5 hours combined in the 2 days I landed 70 (yes that's correct, 70) fish. Nothing huge as they ranged between 6" and the 13" fish in the net. The majority were the typical 8-10" wild rainbow. Now that it is warming up I should be back in action. My personal fishing time may be limited, but I am available to be booked for guided trips.

Please be aware of this. There are more important things in our area right now than trout fishing.
10/04/2024

Please be aware of this. There are more important things in our area right now than trout fishing.

It was a short outing on the feeder creek in town today. In a little over an hour I landed 10 wild rainbows and lost 6 m...
05/12/2024

It was a short outing on the feeder creek in town today. In a little over an hour I landed 10 wild rainbows and lost 6 more. All but 1 fish caught were 7-8". The lone exception being the largest fish I've landed in the last 3 weeks of fishing in town, the healthy 14" fish pictured. Needless to say she put up a decent fight on the 6'6" fiberglass 2wt.

Somehow with all the rain in the region the streams in town were about the only drainage in the area not blown out. 1 sp...
05/06/2024

Somehow with all the rain in the region the streams in town were about the only drainage in the area not blown out. 1 spent 3 hours fishing 1 of my regular stretches and a stretch above it that I have never fished before on the main stream at the edge of town. I then hit a few holes in the stocked waters for 1½ hours on my way back to the house. I landed 38 wild rainbows. Nothing of great size as most were the typical 8-10" fish with about 10 between 11-13". I hooked and lost 20 more 1 around 14-15". And missed the hook set on quite a few more. A couple of those around 16-18". It is awesome having such a healthy fishery basically in my backyard.

Now that air temps are finally in the 70s in the mountains of Southwest Virginia I was able to have my 1st wet wading ou...
04/29/2024

Now that air temps are finally in the 70s in the mountains of Southwest Virginia I was able to have my 1st wet wading outing of the year. I hit the rarely fished stretch of the main stream on the edge of town. I hooked and lost a fish on the 1st cast, so I had a feeling I was in for a good day. In 3 hours of fishing I landed 26 wild rainbows, hooked and lost 17 and missed hook sets on countless more. Nothing of major size as most were the typical 8-10" fish with a handful between 11-13". I did lose a big fish. I never saw the whole fish, but I did see its head as it came up from a deep run, gave a head shake and threw the fly. I'd say by the size of the head it had to be at least 16-18" if not bigger. Along with being an awesome day of fishing I got to see a deer, groundhog and a snapping turtle while on the water.

2 different weekends, 2 different streams and surprisingly similar results. This past Sunday I hit a tiny blue line sin...
04/10/2024

2 different weekends, 2 different streams and surprisingly similar results.

This past Sunday I hit a tiny blue line since a friend from out of town asked me to see how some primitive campsites looked before he comes up for a camping trip. I fished a good portion of this relatively short stream. As expected I managed the Appalachian slam getting all 3 species of trout found in the area: wild brown, wild rainbow and native brook. It was a decent day landing 6 brookies, 6 rainbows and 4 browns all between 4-8".

The previous Sunday I fished 1 of my favorite bookie streams. Someone must have fished the area at the campground before me because I hardly did anything. So I dropped down stream and fished the pasture area below the campground starting below and working up past the beaver dam. I had a decent day there as well landing 9 brookies, 7 rainbows and an unexpected brown miles upon miles (and I do mean MILES) above where the population of browns is found in the lower region this stream. Once again all the fish were between 4-8" and another wild Appalachian slam.

I took advantage of the kids being at their mother's for the weekend along with it being sunny and in the lower 50s and ...
02/05/2024

I took advantage of the kids being at their mother's for the weekend along with it being sunny and in the lower 50s and hit the water both days. Saturday I fished my favorite brown trout blue line and Sunday the main stream in town. I put in about an hour or a little more each day. I landed 10 rainbows between 5-12" and a lone brown, the fish of the weekend pictured, of 13". I did lose a rainbow of about 15" that gave one last good head shake and threw the fly just 10' from the net.

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Marion, VA
24354

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Monday 7am - 8pm
Tuesday 7am - 8pm
Wednesday 7am - 8pm
Thursday 7am - 8pm
Friday 7am - 8pm
Saturday 7am - 8pm
Sunday 7am - 8pm

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+12767825175

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