Fishing spots in southwest Virginia

[BassBoy03]

Does any body know any good fishing spots in Christiansburg/Blacksburg Virginia area?

 I will be mainly be fishing for largemouth and smallmouth bass and occasionally trout, I will be mostly fishing from the bank.

[dbevins]

Two words..New River. That area has some of the best smallmouth fishing in the entire country. 

[RHuff]

 New River, Claytor Lake, Lake Moomaw, and Smith Mountain Lake

[newriverfisherman1953]

McCoy area of the New River has some of the best fishing around. 

[Mike Miller Yaking]

Come on down to Galax , World class Smallmouth Fishery. They will be eating once the ice clears out!

[68camaro]

11 minutes ago, Mike Miller Yaking said:

Come on down to Galax , World class Smallmouth Fishery. They will be eating once the ice clears out!

I am in Richmond and everything iced up, do you think you will be looking at open water soon, what about water depths? Even before the cold spell the low water in mountain streams was making for tough trout fishing.

[Mike Miller Yaking]

by Monday its going to get below freezing again it looks like it might be a while for a thaw. Altho it might rain the next few days might speed up the ice melt but will muddy up the water for sure.  The New Looks a lot like the James over in Richmond from 1 foot to some deeper pools around 10 ft and more in some spots near the Dams that cross the river. I do not trout fish much , a buddy of mine did catch one one while fishing for smallmouth about 2 months ago.

[Hillbilly Bennett]

The New River near Radford and Galax is one of my favorite places on earth to fish and I have been from Lake Erie to Florida and back on a boat. I started going wade fishing there back in HS and I still go back a few times each year. It is beautiful country and there are plenty of Smallies and Muskie in those waters. 

[WdyCrankbait]

All places above are where I would go. 

 

I graduated from VT and familiar with the area. McCoy is great, although access is limited from when I was at VT. What about that little pond in the nature park just west of Blacksburg on 460W?

[newriverfisherman1953]

Pandapas Pond. Bass and pickerel. Gets stocked with trout a couple times a year. 

[Bassun]

On 12/31/2017 at 5:48 PM, BassBoy03 said:

Does any body know any good fishing spots in Christiansburg/Blacksburg Virginia area?

 I will be mainly be fishing for largemouth and smallmouth bass and occasionally trout, I will be mostly fishing from the bank.

A bit late, but I have to reiterate, the NEW RIVER!  Anywhere on the New (basically) can be productive!  BUT, and I really hope you read this, BUT BE VERY VERY CAREFUL if you wade it.  There are TONS of drops, holes, ledges, strong and deadly currents.  Having said that, I guess the smallies love all that cause they are hanging out just waiting to get their eat on!  (And a good few Musky too!)

I personally don't think the fishing is as good on the New as it used to be (at least on the Giles County side).  That's not to say its bad, or there are not still lot's of fish --- but I haven't had nearly the success over the last decade as say the decade before.  Hard to go wrong with a tube bait... just be prepared to lose a bunch lol.  

If you like wading, there are some streams that offer very good fishing too, but generally not the size of fish the New has.  Wolf and Walker's Creek's, in Giles County, for example are good streams --- but with limited access.  There's a bunch of others as well.

Then you have Claytor Lake.  I have a love / hate relationship with Claytor.  At time's it's been a smashfest for fish... bass, hybrids, gills, even had a bit of success with whisker kitties... but, on the opposite side, man can that lake make me struggle.  I've always done better in the "river" vs the lake - but my glass boat isn't about to bounce around the rocks so I float around on the lake.  IMO Claytor will show you your weaknesses.  I know I need to get better on deep structure and finding fish in general because of Claytor, lol.  But, when you find them, and the bite is on --- WHOO DADDY is it on!  I've seen both Smallies and Bucketmouths in there which you would think are too big for the area --- then you meet up with a monster striper and realize those footballs were runts in the grander scheme.  I'll admit, I've set the hook on a bass before it even took my bait because I saw it and got a little too excited...I've also set the hook hard and broke off using light line.  There are some massive bass hanging out.

The hate part - is 1/2 me and 1/2 the lake (Or so I think anyway lol).  I've almost always been able to eventually coax a pattern, or at least a few bites on most waters, even if I had to really fight for it and downsize etc --- Claytor has shut me down more times than I would like to admit.  I've literally had back to back days where I went from local hero in my head, to flat out skunked.  I don't mean a "keeper" skunk, I mean nada - zero - zip - zilch.  More than once, I've went from bassin' to gillin' lol.  But, that said -- I'm not a pro, and certainly don't spend enough time on the water anymore.  So don't discount Claytor.  

[LoriMWHB]

I'm going to be visting the New River Trail and Shot Tower State Parks tmw.  Ya'll are saying New River is great for fishing and I'd love to drop hubby off somewhere along the way so he can fish while I hike.  Any specific locations inside or outside the park I can take him for some bank fishing?

[heyitskirby]

37 minutes ago, LoriMWHB said:

I'm going to be visting the New River Trail and Shot Tower State Parks tmw.  Ya'll are saying New River is great for fishing and I'd love to drop hubby off somewhere along the way so he can fish while I hike.  Any specific locations inside or outside the park I can take him for some bank fishing?

 

A little bit off the beaten path, but I grew up fishing a bunch of spots for rock bass and trout on Cripple Creek and Reed Creek in Wythe County.  I would recommend Ravens Cliff, can't say its the best fishing, but its a beautiful area and some good hiking.  I haven't been there in years, but my dad still goes on occasion when he's visiting what family we still have left in the area.