OUTDOORS: New place to fish for South River trout

Old-timers in the area laugh ruefully when they think about how long they've wanted to fish a certain section of the South River in Augusta County. It's been at least 30 years, according to Urbie Nash, a member of the Shenandoah Valley Chapter of Trout Unlimited.

Larry Mohn has been a fisheries biologist with the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries for about that long. In his early years on the job, he remembers putting surplus brown trout in that part of the South River, which eventually joins with the North River to form the South Fork Shenandoah. A few years later, reports came in that fishermen were catching 7- and 8-pound fish.

But then "fishermen exaggerate a little bit," he said, with a chuckle.

Still, it was an intriguing development, but one that couldn't be acted on because the stretch in question — upstream of Waynesboro and fed by dozens of springs — flowed entirely through private property.

The largest landholder, with at least 3.5 of the 4.5 miles in question, was Waynesboro Nurseries, a wholesale plant supplier. The longtime owner wouldn't allow access to the stream through his property. But with a change in ownership came a change in attitude.

"We finally were able to convince [Waynesboro Nurseries] to let us see if a trophy trout stream might be possible," said Nash.

On Jan. 1, the three-year process of talking to landowners (the nursery is the largest of many that border the river in the area), working with the DGIF to assess the trophy worthiness of the stream, creating access points and building enthusiasm in the community for the effort, will pay off when 4.5 miles of the river near Lyndhurst open to the public for fishing.

"It has tremendous promise, at least at this stage, as a put-and-grow trout stream," said Harold Tate, a Trout Unlimited Shenandoah Valley Chapter member who worked to convince landowners of the wisdom and feasibility of the project. "The evidence is real strong that we'll be able to grow some nice trout."

How nice? Mohn isn't sure they'll see 8-pounders, as those old anecdotes suggest, but based on growth rates of brown trout stocked there over the past few years, "I think 4 or 5 pounds is reasonable."

That would put the section in a class with very few other Virginia streams. Mohn, Tate, Nash and others all mentioned its ability to rival Mossy Creek, the spring creek near Bridgewater. That stream brings fly fishermen from all over the state to try their hand at landing its big, but easily spooked, brown trout.

"It could turn into one of the premiere fisheries in Virginia, if things work out," Nash said.

James Madison University professor and avid fly fisherman Thomas Benzing said it could one day rival the famous Mossy because it has "growth rates that are very similar." Fish that were stocked in the spring of 2008, he said, had "really phenomenal growth rates" — going from 6-7 inches in the spring of 2008 to around 11 inches by that fall.

Mohn, who along with fellow fisheries biologist Paul Bugas is in charge of the stockings and studying the growth rates, agreed. "Just a handful of streams [in Virginia] can do that." And none is as close to Virginia's eastern population centers.

Because the river bed is laden with sediment from upstream agriculture, no one thinks the trout will be able to reproduce. For that they need oxygenated water to flow freely through the bottom gravel where they lay their eggs. But Mohn said they plan to stock about 10,000-12,000 fingerlings a year in the coming seasons, and those fish will have a healthy invertebrate population and plenty of minnows on which to feed.

For anglers like Nash and Tate, this project isn't just about opening some new water to fish. They pointed out, that, unlike at Mossy, this section of the South River will be open to both spin and fly fishers. And if this stream develops like they think it can, it would be a boon to the entire area. He said studies suggest fishing tourism created by this new stretch of river would bring in at least $500,000 a year.

"Time will tell what kind of fishery we'll have," Nash said. "It could be a tremendous recreational resource of great value to the commonwealth."