Best Fishing Spots in Virginia

Virginia runs from the Atlantic to the Appalachians in a few hours, and the fishing changes with it. The overwhelming majority of mapped water is impounded rather than natural, so most inland fishing means reading flooded channels and timber on reservoirs whose levels move with rainfall. The west rises to 1,187 metres and holds cold mountain water and trout; the east drops to sea level and opens into Chesapeake Bay, licensed separately from freshwater. The state straddles two climate bands, warm-temperate across most of it with a temperate belt in the mountains, so seasons shift by a couple of weeks between the coastal plain and the high country. Nothing freezes dependably anywhere, and the year runs March into December. The catalogue covers 984 waters in Virginia, spread over 107 counties. The list leans towards reservoirs, with natural lakes filling much of the rest. For sheer size, Smith Mountain Lake leads at roughly 31 sq miles. Typical winters here average 35°F, with summers near 77°F. The thaw typically arrives about early February, earlier in the south. Species reported most across these counties: bluegill, tessellated darter, redbreast sunfish and fantail darter....