Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, May 23, 1994 TAG: 9405230108
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN OUTDOOR EDITOR
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
PAM STIDHAM answers the phone at the Warwickton mansion along the Jackson River in Bath County and the angler on the other end asks: ``Are the dry flies hatching?''
Stidham admits that she is new to this game, but she had seen some flies in the horse barn and, yes, they appeared to be hatching.
``We have flies,'' she tells the caller. ``I don't know if they are dry or wet.''
Pam and Ron Stidham are the hosts at the Hidden Valley Bed and Breakfast, better known as the antebellum Warwickton place, built in the mid-1800s and used as the location for the movie ``Sommersby.''
Since opening the B&B last summer, under an agreement with the George Washington National Forest - the owner of the property - the Stidhams say about one-third of their clients have been anglers. It is a percentage that is expected to increase, because fly-angling is enjoying rapid growth and the Jackson and its tributaries are the heart of Virginia's quality trout water.
Down the road, at The Outpost, an Orvis shop along The Homestead's Cottage Row, Beaver Shriver is on the phone constantly, some of the calls coming from readers of a recent issue of Southern Living. In a six-page section on fly-fishing, the magazine poetically describes the Jackson as a peaceful stream rambling through a lush Virginia valley where the hillsides are dressed in cascades of wild roses and stands of wild iris, and the birds sing and the water rolls over river rocks while the wind ruffles the treetops.
``The Jackson River is as fine a resource as any and has the potential to become one of the best fisheries in the United States,'' David Perkins is quoted as saying. ``The trout fishing in Virginia is superior to anything I have at home in Vermont.''
It is a lofty statement, but Perkins should know more than most. He is a vice president of the Orvis Company. The fact that the company's distribution center is in Roanoke gives him a good excuse for coming down to the Jackson from the Vermont headquarters.
Shriver has received so many inquiries about fly-fishing this spring that he has tried to save his voice by publishing a brief handout on angling opportunities.
There is the upper Jackson River, known as Hidden Valley, which includes eight miles of national forest trout water, huge in length and volume by Virginia standards. A three-mile stretch in a gorge upstream from Warwickton features special regulations that emphasize catch-and-release.
Within sight and sound of Warwickton, the Jackson is like a meadow stream, flowing through a broad and scenic valley that has changed little since the Indians camped there.
A short drive west on Virginia 39 is Back Creek, a portion of it in a special-regulations area known for its brown trout.
Just south of Hot Springs is Cascades Creek, which erupts as a full-blown trout stream from the renowned Cascades Golf Course . It crashes through a steep gorge, leaping over waterfalls that are up to 40 feet high.
``This is the prettiest and most productive stream in the area,'' says Shriver, who teaches angling there as a Homestead fishing pro.
Cascades is owned by The Homestead, but anyone can fish it for a $24 fee. You can count on it being fishable even when the Jackson is too high.
Then there is the Jackson tailrace, below Gathright Dam, 18 miles of trout water flowing mostly through private property with seven public access points and several landowners who aren't happy about anglers being there.
Back to the original question: ``Are the dry flies hatching?''
Indeed they are. ``Like light cahills, mahogany duns, swarms of caddis flies and millions of sulphurs,'' said Jim Brewer, who operates a tackle shop in Charlottesville.
by CNB