ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, June 10, 1996 TAG: 9606100071
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN OUTDOOR EDITOR
On the coffee table in the great room of Riverbend Farm lies John Gierach's book titled ``Where the Trout Are All as Long as Your Leg.''
You can hear Sinking Creek just outside the room, clear and lively, bubbling over rounded rocks near the roots of a stand of horse chestnut trees. The light-colored bark of the trees is in contrast to the shadowy water, where the nuptial flights of mayflies and stoneflies flutter above the flow.
There are trout in the deep holes of this Giles County stream, but the owners of Riverbend Farm, Bill and Betty Collins, make no claim that they are as long as your leg.
``We had a guest from North Carolina, and he and his wife stayed here for two days and he caught about 50-some fish,'' Bill said. ``He caught a 16-inch brook trout and quite a few stocked rainbows, which are about a pound or pound-and-a-half. He caught quite a few small brook trout, about 5 or 6 inches, and some small rainbows. He had a real ball.''
In May, the Collinses opened 35-acre Riverbend Farm, near Newport, as a fly-fishing school and bed and breakfast. They own about one-third of a mile of Sinking Creek.
Upstream from their property, two sections of the stream are regulated by the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries for fly fishing only. Browns and rainbows are stocked annually, but the stream doesn't have the size and recognition of a Jackson or Smith river.
But the Collinses are delighted to be here. It is an answered dream.
``I have been a devoted fly fisherman for about 30 years,'' he said, explaining that his travels had taken him to big-name trout streams from Pennsylvania to Montana. ``I put a lot of emphasis on learning the sport. I guess I take it too seriously, sometimes.''
Serious enough to spend hours at his fly-tying bench located in the downstairs den the distance of a double-haul cast from the stream.
Before moving to Sinking Creek, the couple lived in Richmond, where Ray completed a career with Glidden Co. that spanned 30 years. Betty raised three children, two of them boys. Ray taught the boys how to make their own fly rods, how to tie flies and how to identify the creatures they found crawling beneath the cobblestones of streams.
He retired in late February, but well before that he and Betty had been looking for a spot to develop a fly-fishing school. Montana was the obvious choice. Ray fishes its famous waters annually, including places where it's still possible to find trout as long as your leg.
But the fish aren't the only thing of gigantic proportions. So are land and home prices.
``We tried to buy a place out there, but the Californians have taken over and the prices are astronomical,'' he said.
Virginia became their choice. Ray knew the Blue Ridge, where that child of the wilderness, the brook trout, is native. He was born in Patrick County. When the couple found the spot on Sinking Creek, it was love at first sight, Betty said.
``This is paradise,'' Ray said.
``I hated to leave my kids, but I was ready - ready for a new career, a new challenge,'' she said. ``This is supposed to be my twilight years, and we are going to enjoy our life.''
Part of that joy is introducing newcomers to fly fishing through small, hands-on classes that last three days. The cost is $695 per student.
``We are going to limit four to a class,'' Ray said. ``I would prefer to have beginners. I want to take people from zero in three days to where they are fairly proficient and confident on the stream.''
The idea is covering the science, art and magic of the sport, and in the kind of pleasant setting that trout call home.
Ray enjoys casting a dry fly to the circle where the shiny snout of a trout has sipped in a mayfly seconds before, but his best success recently has been with subsurface offerings.
``We have been catching quite a few fish on streamers, wolly-bugers and gold-ribbed hare's ears, just drifting them through some of the larger holes,'' he said.
``When we found this place, I looked at some of the insect life to make certain it would sustain a good population of trout,'' he said. ``My conclusions were that it would. The aquatic life is quite proficient.''
The Collinses didn't settle in the West, but a visitor can get the flavor of it on Sinking Creek, from the ``Riverbend Farm'' sign above the gate, to the wood and stone used to construct the house.
There are three guest rooms, enough, the Collinses decided, to make a bed and breakfast in addition to the fly school. Guests, who pay $65 to $85 for a bed and a breakfast can fish the stream for free, before or after they are served stuffed French toast and other delights on a deck that overlooks the water. School participants get three meals daily and the use of fly-fishing equipment.
For reservations or information, call 540-544-7849.
LENGTH: Medium: 93 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: GENE DALTON/Staff. 1. Betty and Ray Collins (below) haveby CNBturned their home on Sinking Creek in Giles County into a
fly-fishing school and bed and breakfast. 2. hat's Ray (above)
sampling the trout fishing just outside his door. 3. (no caption).
color.