Thanks to the persistent, concerted efforts of local
anglers, the South River Fly Shop, and the Shenandoah Valley Chapter of TroutUnlimited (SVTU), Waynesboro’s urban trout fishery currently awaits the August
18th Department of Game and Inland Fisheries (DGIF) board meeting,
where votes will be taken on two proposed regulation amendments that will alter
the river’s fishing opportunities and potentially improve an evolving fishery.
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| South River Fly Shop guide Reed Cranford with a 25" brown from the South River Delayed Harvest Area. |
One amendment would replace the existing delayed harvest
designation on two miles of river from North Park to Wayne Ave., with catch and
release regulations.
The second would adjust the existing 16-inch minimum size
limit for trout and artificial lure-only restriction on the 5.5 miles of the
South River Special Regulations Area, extending from the North Oak Lane bridge
to a point 1.5 miles above Rt. 632 (the Shalom Road bridge), to a 20-inch
minimum and a fly-fishing-only designation, more than doubling the amount of
fly-fishing-only water in the state.
Virginia’s delayed harvest system limits anglers fishing
waters designated as such to artificial lures only, and requires
catch-and-release, except for a window from June 1 through September 30 –when
waters are too warm to hold stocked trout—when harvest is allowed and bait is
permitted. So the question of delayed harvest versus catch-and-release
year-round is dependent upon water temperature and quality.
The proposed amendments’ position on DGIF’s schedule is a
result of several years of advocacy from the local angling community, mobilized
by SVTU and the South River Fly Shop. In 2012, the groups approached DGIF with
the suggestion of making the proposed regulation adjustments to the South
River. In defense of the existing delayed harvest management system, they were
met with the argument that the river becomes too warm in the summertime to
effectively hold over stocked trout populations.
In response, SVTU and South River Fly Shop hatched a plan to
mobilize their voice.
“After a while, we decided to show public support by drawing
up a proposal and getting signatures from anglers,” said Kevin Little, co-owner
of South River Fly Shop. “That got us on [DGIF’s] radar.”
Right on cue, in September of 2013, Tom Benzing of James
Madison University presented at the Mountain Stream Symposium II a five-year (2008-2013)water temperature study of the South River aimed at assessing the river’s
potential as a sustainable trout stream.
In 2011, while the study was ongoing, Rife-Loth Dam, which
was installed in 1884 above what is now Wayne Ave. and the upstream boundary of
the South River’s delayed harvest stretch, was bulldozed.
“The old dam was backing up and warming cold spring water
coming in from upstream,” said Little. “And because it was a top-release dam,
it was overflowing warm water.”
Benzing’s study shows that the removal of Rife-Loth Dam
restored normal daily fluctuations of water temperatures downstream, buffered
by the restored influx of cold spring water. Furthermore, it proved that the water
temperature from springs in and above downtown Waynesboro were suitable as
thermal refuges for trout.
In the spring of 2016, DGIF took notice.
“There is a strong proposal in downtown for changing the
delayed harvest designation to catch-and-release,” said DGIF Region 4 Fisheries
Manager, Paul Bugas. “And we’re noticing increasing demand for more
fly-fishing-only water.”
After several years of static, this nudge from the public is
getting DGIF on board.
“We’ve sampled at the end of May and before stocking begins
in October and found a good number of holdovers in downtown, which leads us to
believe that some better holdovers under new regulations,” said Bugas. “We’re
trying it.”
Bugas also recognizes the potential benefits of the minimum
length increase on the upper South River above North Oak Lane, which he says
has few fish over 20 inches long, currently: “It will [essentially] make it
illegal to take fish from an area that is still under development.”
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| An angler prospects the banks of the upper South River in the summer. Photo by Matt Reilly |
The debate over the appropriate regulations to spur growth
in the trout fishery within the South River could be called unanticipated by
those with historical perspective on the river. “If you told me in 1975 that
we’d be haggling over trout regulations in downtown Waynesboro, I’d laugh in
your face,” said Bugas. “Back in the ‘70s, a doctor from Virginia Tech was
investigating fisheries downtown, and he found sunfish, a couple carp, and some
suckers, and that was about it.”
Needless to say, the folks that call the South River dear
like the change they’re witnessing.
“This river could be every bit as good as the Elk River in
West Virginia,” said Little, a West Virginia native, himself. “God alone did 90-percent of the work. We’ve just gotta’ do
the 10-percent to finish it.”□
*Originally published in the Rural Virginian
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