Our first double header day greeted us at 5:25AM on the shores of the New River in southwestern Virginia.  The night was spent at Glen Lyn’s city campground which to be honest added its own flavor of adventure for us.  We were told no reservations were taken nor required.  However, the combination of the local tractor pull competition along with a fiddler’s convention packed the riverside with countless tents and RVs many of which appearing to be permanent residences.  We determined that when you see your campsite neighbor mowing his lawn that it’s likely you are definitely the stranger in town.  We headed for the “overflow” area which could best be described as….well, I think I’ll leave that to your imagination.

Our guide Sammy Pugh of New River Trophy Outfitters met us at 6:30AM and we were quickly afloat on his 3 man driftboat.

Although the water was approximately 4 feet above normal and milky brown, Sammy was optimistic that we would still catch some fish.  He had heard of our rough start on the Susquehanna the day before so he was especially sympathetic.   Sammy was right, 5 minutes down river –FISH ON!  Yes, Fish 50-50 was going to involve catching fish too – does it get any better than this?

Day #2 Fish Tally:  Jeff (16); Taylor (8). Not spectacular numbers, but hey it’s a start.  Sammy mentioned that a 100 fish day is very common on the New River - when it isn’t flooded out.  Given we couldn’t see any of the structures below us we did pretty good. 

As we drifted into West Virginia we were told to get ready…