And so it was that I joined Colby Trow and in-house guide Curt Brisco for an outing on the South River in downtown Waynesboro last March. Not long after we arrived, Brisco landed a nice trout -- right in the shadow of an industrial complex. Brisco said that a super spring setup is a size 2 to 12 streamer with a size 8 to 18 nymph attractor attached.

“If the river is running full, I’ll go with a large streamer or nymph,” Brisco said. “On the other hand, a lot of flyfishermen like to visit the South River when it is low. Then the trout concentrate in seams, riffles, pockets, current breaks and deep pools and stay away from slack water and silted spots next to the bank. That’s when fishermen can take advantage of the many insect hatches that take place.”

Trow and Brisco relate that a strong trico hatch (size 18 to 24 dry) takes place on mid- to late-May mornings, as does a sporadic cranefly hatch (size 12 to 14 wet). Sulfurs (size 12 to 14 dry) occur in late April in the evening. Later in the season, try size 16 and 18 patterns.

Interestingly, Colby Trow said that some anglers like to canoe the South Fork below Waynesboro, drifting through the communities of Crimora, Harriston and Grottoes. This is an approximately 15-mile stretch where fishermen can duel with rainbows, browns, smallmouths and rock bass.

“The South River has become an economic goldmine for Waynesboro,” Trow emphasized. “The river really proves what a clean stream can do for a town. There’s an annual fly-fishing festival in April, which draws a lot of people to the area, and the South River is really the first trout stream people come to when they live in eastern Virginia and are traveling west.”

I might add that the fish kills in the South Fork, North Fork and Main Stem of the Shenandoah have been documented to have cost the Shenandoah Valley millions of dollars in tourism revenue. Conversely, clean water is good for the fish, fishermen and the economy. For guided trips, contact Mossy Creek Fly Fishing by calling (866) 667-9275, or go to www.mossycreekflyfishing.com.

SMITH RIVER The Smith River in the Martinsville/Bassett area enjoyed a sterling past in the 1970s, a noticeable slump in the 1990s, and with any luck is poised for a comeback in this century. In the 1950s, the U.S. Corps of Engineers built Philpott Dam on the river, by accident creating a tailrace trout fishery that became nationally known in the 1970s. Behemoth browns, many of which topped 10 pounds, began thrilling anglers from across the country.

One of the reasons for the decline was the scouring effect of water released from the dam. Periodically, Philpott sends forth huge volumes of water, and those surges removed habitat immediately below and near the dam. They also resulted in silt deposits and bank erosion far downstream. Both the bedrock upstream and the silted bottoms downstream do not harbor much minnow and insect life.

Virginia’s Smith River chapter of Trout Unlimited (SRTU) has been working hard to improve the situation on the Piedmont waterway. Al Kittredge, vice president of the chapter, lists these steps.

• Convinced the Corps of Engineers (COE) to return to weekly generation schedule announcements. About three years ago, the COE decided there was an opportunity to make more money through power generation if it waited until the last minute to decide when peak power was required on the electric power grid. This short notice generation announcement did not allow fishermen to plan a visit to the fishery.