Tucked in the southwest corner of Virginia, the New River snakes north through the valleys of the Blue Ridge Mountains. The river holds native smallmouth from the Ohio River drainage, unlike the smallmouth stocked in the Potomac in 1854 and Susquehanna in 1869.

The New River has been described — and questioned — as the country’s oldest river and second-oldest in the world behind the Nile. As many rivers near the east coast flow northwest to southeast, the New flows north from Grandfather Mountain in North Carolina, into Virginia and then West Virginia, ultimately becoming the Kanawha, a tributary of the Ohio.

Debate lingers surrounding the river’s age, but there’s no denying it is one of the best smallmouth rivers in the Mid-Atlantic.

“I’ve caught hundreds of four- and five-pound smallmouth here over the years,” said my friend Mike Smith, as I accompanied him on a recent trip on the river’s Ivanhoe section.

Smith is owner of Greasy Creek Outfitters in Floyd County, Va., where he and guides Darin Gillenwater and Capt. Forest Pressnell are known for leading customers to the best fishing spots. Smith, who is an English professor at nearby Bluefield State College, has fished the river for more than 35 years, including the past 10 as a professional guide.

Gillenwater and his wife Kristin run Meadowood Bed & Breakfast in Floyd County, where he runs a 16-foot pontoon to take customers fishing.

I recently fished with King Montgomery of Burke, Va., and we used light spinning gear with top water lures such as Tiny Torpedeos, Rattlin‚ Chug Bugs, an 8-weight fly outfit, floating line and top water poppers and sliders to land smallmouths.

“There are no bad casts on the river,” Smith said. “You just have to get [the fly or lure] on the water.”

While all areas we fished were good, some, including Ivanhoe, were better than others.

“It’s the promised land of the New River,” Gillenwater exclaimed the day before cast our lines.

“The only thing that nature did not do was to put up a sign saying, ‘Smallmouth live here,’” Gillenwater said.

Sure enough, it was a “promised land” when we visited because Montgomery landed a 20-incher citation fish, taken on a dead-drifted white popper.

The season runs from early April through October or November. But what preserves the river for great fishing and good fish is limited access. Our run on the Foster Falls area of the New River Trail State Park was about seven miles. The Ivanhoe section, pulling out at Austinville, is about a 4 1/2 miles.

While 20-inch fish are not a guarantee, fish from small 10-inchers through the 12-, 14-, 16- and 18-inch range not only are possible, but typical catches. It common for each angler to catch a few smallmouths of at least 16 inches everyday. 

That’s why I need to plan another trip.

C. Boyd Pfeiffer is an internationally known sportsman and award-winning writer on fishing, hunting and the outdoors. He can be reached at [email protected].