Smyth County

Smyth County is your gateway to Mount Rogers National Recreation Area, as well as world-class fly fishing destinations like Whitetop Laurel Creek. Enjoy a lazy day of angling on Hungry Mother Lake, catch trophy smallmouth bass on the North Fork of the Holston River, or don your waders to explore the special regulation waters of Mount Rogers.

Take Whitetop Laurel, for example: 10 miles of first class pools and pocketwater known for rainbows and browns with a few brookies mixed in. An old railroad bed, the Virginia Creeper Trail, follows its route and has been converted to a recreation trail.

If you’re hankering for smallmouth in the three to five pound class, the North Fork of the Holston at Saltville may be to your liking. Float it in a kayak and cast poppers under the trees or wade the riffles swinging big streamers.

In Marion, you’ll find the Buller Fish Hatchery, fed by the South Fork of the Holston. A new trail opens 2.5 miles of superb spring-fed freestone runs that used to be difficult to access. Big, stream-bred browns and rainbows offer excellent action on dry flies. While you’re in that neck of the woods, drive on up to Grayson Highlands State Park to fish for wild brookies and rainbows.