Trout fishermen flock to South River

Trout fishermen flock to South River

LYNDHURST --The man with the permits was already in the South River on Saturday morning when a gaggle of fishermen gathered at noon near its banks for their first chance to wade in.

When chemical hydrologist Tom Benzing emerged, soaked to his knees and with vest pockets bulging with fishing gear, a volley of greetings went up from the wader-wearing crowd with the bright green fishing lines.
“D’ya catch any?” a man called as Benzing tromped to his truck.
“Two,” Benzing answered, turning and back pedaling with two fingers in the area.
“Two,” he repeated.
“Brookies?” came the next question.
“Browns,” Benzing said of the trout, and again, “Browns.”

Fishermen converged on river on New Year’s Day for the official opening of trout fishing on a four-mile stretch of the river that state wildlife officials predict will become a premiere outdoors attraction in Virginia.

The opening capped three years of stocking and an intensive outreach to more than 40 property owners who agreed to allow fisherman in the water and in some cases to access the river via their land. The fishable portion begins at South Oak Lane in Waynesboro and bends past Lyndhurst and Shalom roads in Augusta County.


The men whose trucks — overwhelmingly trucks — filled the gravel parking lot came from as far as Ashland and Harrisonburg to fish the new waters.

“It’s an historic day,” said fisherman Terry Crone, of Crozet.

Gushing gratitude for Trout Unlimited, state officials and volunteers who made the fishery a reality, Crone thought back 30 years.

“It’s not just all of a sudden there’s a stream and we put fish in it,” he said, noting “the attitude of industry is 100 percent different today.”

A state biologist has said the South River could produce whopping 20-inch fish, and in greater numbers, than the current most popular spring creek in the state, Mossy Creek in Mount Solon. Officials said the new fishery could outpace the 2,500 permits issued annually for Mossy.

“Only time will tell what kind of fishery develops here,” said Urbie Nash, a member of the Shenandoah Valley Chapter of Trout Unlimited, and a key advocate for the fishery.

Nash said anglers need to be realistic at first. In two years he expects to see significant numbers of 14-inch fish.

“We’re just starting to see it,” said Benzing, who works with Trout Unlimited and teaches at James Madison University. “The ecology is such that it can support the fish.”

“There’s a lot of water,” he said, marveling. “A lot of water.”

Ken Long, who runs the Gander Mountain store in Ashland, first dipped into the river at 7:30 a.m. and came out hours later with two fish. A modest take, he said, but worth it.

“I’m very impressed,” he said of access and the well marked trails.

Long, who distributes new South River fishery maps in his store, said fishermen plan ahead before traveling and consult online forums to study. The South River should become a major attraction, he said.

“People always drive to fish,” he said.

Anglers need an annual fishing license and a free permit for the South River. That permit will be available at Stone Soup Books on West Main Street in Waynesboro and Dominion Outdoors in Fishersville, and by mail.

“We’re going to have an extremely low tolerance, initially, for not following the rules,” Nash said.

“If it’s not a trail, stay off the property,” he warned.

Harold Tate, past president of the Stonewall Jackson Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America, credited volunteers, donors and landowners for getting the fishery going.

“The fishery, from a recreation point of view, wouldn’t exist without the landowners,” Tate said.

Virginia Dominion Power, which has supported the Virginia Fly Fishing Festival and other South River endeavors, contributed $25,000 for signage and parking lots for the fishery.

Company spokesman and “resident fly fisherman” Dan Genest said the project should be good for the river, the community and the local economy. One analysis estimated $500,000 in annual economic activity will be generated by the fishery.

“In three years they’re going to have some beasts,” he said. “It’s only going to get better.”

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