Pacemaker Fishing Forum

Most of the fishing I know down there is spring/fall centric and geared around fly-fishing but here's some places that should produce.

Pandapas Pond is ok for bass and might have a few holdover trout as well as pickerel.

Big Stoney creek towards the head end has wild brown trout and may have a few holdover bows (pretty sure this is a catch and release thing).

Little stoney creek is a beautiful hike along the cascades trail and is packed with native brookies and wild rainbows the further towards the south you go. Above the big falls (a somewhat tough hike down to the creek) are a series of about 7 smaller falls that are very seldom visited. The creek is freezing cold and has native brook trout in it. The native trout seldom get larger than 9" and really should be handled with care and released as they are becoming increasingly rare in our part of the US. Anyway, this is an amazing hike/fishing experience and you have to hike through the water as the vegetation is very thick. It might be a great trip to take a sporty lady friend on.... Also there is a rope swing. I miss this place a lot!

New River - McCoy Falls (I think this is what it was called, same place for tubing) is a great place to wade fish for smallmouth. Pembroke to Ripplemeade and Ripplemeade to Bluff city are great floats for smallmouth fishing as well. Green pumpkin flukes, tubes, senkos, etc all work great. Walker's Creek is also a great area to wade out and fish for smallmouth but watch out for the rocks. The locals call them lava rocks (they actually might be) and they will slice you up.

Claytor Lake - Smallmouth, crappie, catfish, largemouth, and occasionally stripers and walleye can be caught there.

Follow the New into WV or towards Radford and there are more opportunities as well. I think you like catfishing so you may want to spend some time live-lining bluegills in some of the deeper holes with structure that you find for flatheads.

I love that part of the state, if you ever have any questions let me know. Also, tanger outdoors is a great little tackle shop in that area and the staff is pretty helpful for putting you on fish. Good luck! What takes you to Blacksburg?

That's awesome! Enjoy your time there, Blacksburg summers are very enjoyable. The falls area where people go tubing is a premier musky hole in the winter!

Definitely do the hike. Having to hike through the water and climb the waterfalls themselves will always be one of my favorite places/things to do. Reminds me, I need to take my fiance there!