Whitetop Laurel Creek
Virginia’s Whitetop Laurel Creek ranks as one of the finest natural wild trout streams in the Southeastern U.S. Paralleled for long sections by both the Appalachian National Scenic Trail and the Virginia Creeper Trail, the creek offers backcountry adventures within a 15-minute drive of Interstate 81 in southwestern Virginia—one of the major transportation arteries in the East.
Rising in the confines of the Mount Rogers National Recreation Area, Whitetop Laurel Creek begins as two tiny feeder streams Little Laurel and Big Laurel. These rivulets flow in and out of private property through a mountain basin located near the hamlet of Konnarock. Downstream of Konnarock, Whitetop Laurel, by now a medium-size stream, enters a narrow gorge where access is via foot or bicycle trail only. Two special-regulation sections begin here, as well as several spectacular fishing stretches.
Special Regulations
The 6 miles of Whitetop Laurel Creek below Konnarock beginning at Creek Junction—the confluence of Whitetop with Green Cove Creek—are designated artificials only, and all trout smaller than 12 inches must be released. Creek Junction, an access to both the Virginia Creeper Trail and the Appalachian Trail, is reached by the dead-end Creek Junction Road, just east of Damascus, Virginia. The approximately 4 miles of Whitetop below Creek Junction is known as the Taylor’s Valley section.
Green Cove Creek is also special-regulations water for the first mile upstream from Creek Junction. Even with the 12-inch keeper rule, you’ll see many larger trout in the Taylor’s Valley section, with the Virginia Creeper Trail providing good spotter’s access.
More fish from 14 to 20 inches apparently die of old age in the stream than fall prey to meat fishermen. Numerous wild rainbow trout are found in Whitetop, a rarity in the Southeast; and also a surprise in a stream where whirling disease has been detected but mostly held in check. Look for larger browns up to 20 inches or more sulking around logjams, undercut banks, and boulders.
The low-gradient first mile of Whitetop Laurel below Creek Junction has numerous large pools, and access for handicapped anglers. Downstream, the gradient increases and plunge pools alternate with riffles, and the canopy over the stream opens to allow easier casting.
Seasonal beaver ponds in this stretch provide exceptional “micro-stillwater” fishing. I like to hit them during the summer with small hopper and beetle patterns, which the trout slurp with amazing regularity.
At Taylor’s Valley, a road-accessed section of hatchery-supported water divides the two special-regulations areas. (Virginia has chosen this management plan due to the private property in Taylor’s Valley.)
Special regulations start again at the Daniel Boone Campsite on the Creeper Trail—where Boone really did sleep—at the boundary of Jefferson National Forest.
Another special-regulations section is the 2 miles below Boone Campsite to the Straight Branch trailhead, located only 3 miles from Damascus on U.S. Highway 58. This stretch has excellentpocketwater fishing.
While rainbows dominate the Taylor’s Valley section, browns appear in equally high numbers down to Straight Branch. The Straight Branch area receives more fishing pressure than Taylor’s Valley due to its proximity to Damascus. Even with the added traffic, many large wild trout swim in the Straight Branch area.
Bugs and Tactics
Whitetop Laurel’s headwaters flow in and out of high-elevation private farmland. The low-elevation sections are within the boundaries of the Jefferson National Forest. Throughout, good water levels, trout-hospitable year-round temperatures, and nutrients and terrestrial life from local pastures and other grasslands help enrich the stream. Other factors that enhance fishing include special regulations and little fishing pressure.
A now retired fly-fishing magazine editor once told me, “The crowds go out West and fish elbow-to-elbow on the Big Hole, and leave the Southeast deserted for people like you and me.”
I’ve also often heard small-stream fishing characterized as “easy,” almost always by anglers who seldom do it. In reality small-stream angling can be easy, though only after a number of specialized skills are learned, such as cross-body roll casts.
On Whitetop Laurel, where sparse hatches are the rule rather than the exception, hatch matching isn’t as important as hatch approximation, where the sporadic hatches require attractor flies. Harry Murray’s springtime Virginia Wulff fly—the Mr. Rapidan—is the best-known example.
Other patterns such as ants, beetles, Parachute Adams, and #12-14 Stimulators work equally well or better on Whitetop Laurel, depending on the season and water level.
Whitetop Laurel is at its best during spring, as trout rise to almost any edible-looking dry.
Copyright © 2012 Intermedia Outdoors
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