tailwater · trout · smallmouth bass · panfish
Smith River
Live conditions for Smith River: the gauge, the water temperature, the trend, and what the water is doing today — read the way a guide reads it.
Right now
12cfs→ lowcaution
Low and skinny at 12 cfs — wadeable, fish the deeper holding water.
Water temp—
Stage2.12 ft
Engine callOFF 11 cfs outside wade band 18–56
The water
Smith River is a tailwater below Philpott Dam in Virginia, fished for trout, smallmouth bass, panfish — brown, rainbow, brook, tiger. On dam-controlled water the generation schedule is the whole story: the wade window is the no-generation block, and rising water at the gauge means the pulse is arriving.
troutsmallmouth basspanfishbrown troutrainbow troutbrook trouttiger trout
Wade and float bands in cfs, the safety notes and the 14-day trend are on the signed-in river page.
Access
- Philpott Dam Access – South Bank (Smith River Trail)walk in
- Philpott Dam Access – North Bank Canoe Launch (Stoneybrook Dr/CR727)carry
- Philpott Drive (CR 674) Bridge Accessbridge
- Bassett River Access (Trent Hill Drive / North Bassett Canoe Access)ramp
- VA 57 (Fairystone Highway) Bridge Access, Bassettbridge
- CR 673 (Bullock Drive) Bridge Access, Bassettbridge
- Wells Hollow Road Access (Route 666 Bridge)walk in
- T.B. Stanley Highway Bridge (VA 57A/US 220)bridge
Directions to the put-in or wade access ride on every briefing.