New River Virginia

I fished the New River for one of my last times before I move. I hoped to target smallmouth at first light with topwaters, then look for carp on some flats as the sun came up.
Here?s a view running the boat upriver from the ramp.

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Here?s the boat ready for 1 person flyfishing drifting. I like it better than using a trolling motor. I can stand in the middle, on the cooler if I want more height, and cast. When I need to turn the boat or change the couse, I just sit down and row into position.

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Fished creaseflys until the fog burned off with just one fish to boat. I had several other hits that must have been smaller fish. This is my first morning on the New this year. Evening action has been much better. The one fish wasn?t much, but still a pretty smallmouth.

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As I reached the flats I got ready for carp. These are deep flats, maybe 4-6 feet deep with grass growing nearly to the surface. The carp will get up and feed on the top of the grass, but burrow in when they spook. The sun wasn?t the best angle and I couldn?t see very far. I spooked several big fish, but just couldn?t see them far enough away to get a cast before the boat got too close. I need to get back out there later in the morning. These river fish are much bigger than the 5-7 lb pond fish I?ve been catching frequently. Hopefully this week I can post a good report and some fish pictures of the big carp.

The geese are back to flying low to the river. They will be nice and low for opening day, but then start flying really high, especially around these islands. They?ve only got a little over 2 months! That reminds me, I need to eat more goose from the freezer before I move!

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Fished a local pond that evening for green sunfish. A local pond is full of them and they are a blast on the 2 wt with foam beetles.

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There are also some bass up to 4 lbs in there, but this guy has a way to go.

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