Smith river Virginia 5/12/20:

[AndyS]

Booked a last minute float trip with EJ Stern from http://www.raleighflies.com/

Put a hurting on the trout, nothing huge though but racked up double digits quickly. Still trying to wrap my head around floating say the South branch but a very deep one just packed with wild trout. I should of got some pics of the browns, I know the guide did. Seems like the closest trout fishing to the Raleigh- Durham area. Virginia is amazingly beautiful !! We were in the town of Bassett, near the old furniture factory, the entire area is a step back to 1950's !!
I wish we had started early and could have caught the dense over cast but instead go on the water at 11am under a clearing sky and bright sun, good for fly fishing, bad for spin fishing. Guide never saw trout caught on jigs before. One plunge pool we anchored up and I vertical jigged trout, much like they do for crappie down here, the guide was amazed !!
Gonna start getting warm real soon, he suggested fishing the Nuese with him for giant Largemouth , we shall see.

....and tires, saw about 25 to 40 tires per mile, floated 8 miles.