Fly Fishing the Clinch River

This article is republished with permission from Matthew at Grits-N-Flies. Be sure and check out the great fly fishing coverage on Grits-N-Flies:

There are many grate rivers and streams here in the south, and I plane to highlight many of them in the future. The Clinch River is just one of those rivers. If you want a stream that produces challenging, but exciting fishing year round, then the Clinch is river you’ve been looking for.

The Clinch River is a beautiful river that head waters in southwest Virginia, just to the east of Tazewell,Virginia. The Clinch winds its way through the mountains of Virginia and Tennessee, before emptying into the Tennessee River near Kingston, Tennessee. The river covers three hundred miles and is impounded once north of Clinton, Tennessee.

The impoundment at Clinton, is called Norris lake. The dam was completed in 1936. The lake now covers 30,000 Acers, that is when TVA isn’t generating power, and has 800 miles of shore line. Norris lake has it’s share of game fish including bass, walleye, catfish, and more. If your interested you maybe even able to hunt down a golden ghost or two. Continue Reading

Canoe Trip on the Clinch River

Dylan is my son. Stevin is his friend. They have been friends for all of  their 10 young years and Stevin has been visiting Castlewood/St. Paul since he was 5. For weeks I had been building up this trip to them: We are going
fishing and we are going to take our canoe!

We had a wonderful and relaxing morning just fishing and talking at the side of the river. Dylan and Stevin decided to move a little up-river to try their luck leaving my dad and I to continue fishing the hole where we started. We did catch a few fish, including a rather nice bass, but the fishing was actually secondary to just being there.

The shadows became shorter and the shade scarce. It was time to put the canoe in the water and make the trip from Castlewood to St. Paul. We put in just about where the old Castlewood Bridge used to be and the boys, wide-eyed with excitement, and I pushed away from the bank leaving my father to take the van to St. Paul to pick us up. Very soon, they spotted something on the water.

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You never know who you will run into when fishing the Clinch River. Several months ago my son, Dylan, and I traveled to Castlewood with just one thing in mind: fishing. We even have a favorite spot that we often visit . across from old Castlewood near where the old bridge used to be. This trip we were in for quite a surprise.

As we approached our preferred fishing hole, I noticed that someone was already there. A little disappointed, I asked if he would mind us setting up just a little up-river from him.

“Not at all. In fact, you two are welcome to join me right here. I would enjoy the company.”

He didn’t have to ask twice. I was more than ready and so was Dylan. After the proper introductions (he told me his name was ‘June Townes’) and a heartfelt ‘thank you’, Dylan and I baited our hooks and cast them into the water.

“You boys from around here?” our host asked.

I explained to him that we were from Atlanta and that we came to the Castlewood/St. Paul area to visit friends and family and to fish and that we were staying with my grandmother this trip.

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