Stream Levels

Stream Levels

Watching the stream levels and planning ahead can help you when fishing the mountain trout streams. Often at this time of the year the streams are low. By hiking into the lower access of the streams you can often find better water levels. On the other hand, heavy rains can often raise the lower sections of the streams so much that they are too high to fish. This often happens in the spring and summer.

The easiest way to get above this high water is to take state roads (if they exist) such as the Blue Ridge Parkway, George Washington National Forest Roads or the Skyline Drive to the heads of the streams. Park and take a trail down to the stream you like and fish your way back up the mountain. A great advantage of this approach is that frequently there are 3 or 4 stream branches in the heads of these streams. One can camp for several days and fish a different stream each day.

Many of these streams in Virginia are covered in my books Virginia Blue Ribbon Streams and Trout Fishing in the Shenandoah National Park.

Another ploy which can help you locate manageable stream levels is to park at the downstream end of the stream and hike upstream to where one of the small feeder streams enter and then fish this. A good topo map can help you find many of these small feeder streams.

Finally, you have the option of parking at the lower end of the stream and hiking up the mountain until you get above all of the small feeder streams. Often by hiking a hour up the mountain you can find fishable stream levels.