Marvin: Hey folks it's marvin cash the host of the articulate flower back with another

Marvin: southwest virginia fishing report matt riley matt how are you.

Matt: I'm doing good man how are you as.

Marvin: Always i'm just trying to stay out of trouble and you're my last boots on the

Marvin: ground uh folks that have been affected by hurricane helene and uh you know

Marvin: what is you know how did it impact your community in southwest virginia and

Marvin: you know how is it impacting the fishing.

Matt: Um well it's

Matt: it's a good question a lot has changed the last couple

Matt: of weeks but we are uh i mean

Matt: our our family is perfectly fine um in

Matt: all the ways that matter but the uh some folks

Matt: literally just a couple miles down the road in damascus

Matt: and up the road in marion

Matt: chilhowie they're all um dealing with

Matt: flooding damascus got got whacked pretty hard

Matt: um lots of homes and roads and

Matt: things lost uh currently you know

Matt: it's i guess it's a good thing i don't have a lot of trout trips on

Matt: the books because the uh national forest is

Matt: pretty much closed um infrastructure wise

Matt: um about half of the Virginia creeper trail is uh is looking at some pretty

Matt: serious damage from the top near the town of White Top all the way down to Damascus

Matt: um so that's not really available anymore um and uh.

Matt: A lot of the uh you know trails and roads and stuff over that where are not not usable currently so,

Matt: that's certainly a big impact um in terms of like if we were trying to get out

Matt: there fishing right now but also

Matt: just for the economies of of these small towns that we live in because,

Matt: this is usually a pretty crucial time of year outdoor

Matt: tourism wise for them um the

Matt: other area that is in our immediate vicinity that

Matt: got hit hard is is the new river valley um we saw a not a not a record crest

Matt: but just two feet short of the all-time record crest um that friday night saturday

Matt: morning after after all the the rain and flooding um came through,

Matt: and it has in terms of impact to me that's certainly been the biggest hurdle

Matt: at the moment um lots and lots of boat ramps are unusable filled in there's

Matt: a couple that they're looking at.

Matt: Potentially having closed for a long long time um

Matt: and the upper new river

Matt: currently is is flowing pretty clear um if

Matt: you can get on it and the lower is

Matt: running chocolate milk still just because it's turning

Matt: over all the muddy debris filled water that's in claytor lake right now so that'll

Matt: uh that'll be pretty much a waiting game um i've been speaking with uh toby

Matt: mclanahan the guy that is our DWR sort of boat ramp maintenance guy.

Matt: And he's a really busy dude right now.

Matt: But he's been getting to a lot of things. He told me the other day that basically

Matt: every ramp that they can get to on the lower new is open right now.

Matt: It's just a matter of waiting for conditions to kind of right themselves down that way.

Marvin: Yeah, and I would imagine, too, you probably actually got a lot of traffic in

Marvin: your neck of the woods because I know basically, at least from Charlotte,

Marvin: you know, one of the routes to kind of get to like, you know,

Marvin: East Tennessee, Western North Carolina is to actually come up and then go back down 81.

Matt: Yeah that's right i mean you look at all the vdot signs

Matt: 181 around here it tells you either

Matt: not to go to western north carolina um or

Matt: not to get off 81 or just to stick to 77 and

Matt: move on through so um i have

Matt: not had a reason to go over there yet um but

Matt: uh you know more than

Matt: anything i mean one thing that we've seen here locally for sure is

Matt: just folks kind of clogging up the roads um and

Matt: some of the towns just to kind of sightsee a little bit um see the damage and

Matt: and and look at some of the places they're familiar with and um i'm just trying

Matt: not to be a part of the problem in that regard if i can help it right now yeah.

Marvin: And i would say you know backing up a little bit you know tourism is i mean

Marvin: to say that it's critical to southwest virginia east tennessee in Western North

Marvin: Carolina is an understatement.

Marvin: And, you know, a couple things, you know, I'll drop a link in the show notes.

Marvin: I've come up with a list of large charities that are kind of funneling money

Marvin: to boots on the ground in those three areas for folks.

Marvin: But also, too, on the tourism side, you know, if you go to your local,

Marvin: you know, go to your state, you know, Department of Transportation,

Marvin: because the road situation is evolving everywhere.

Marvin: And, you know, for places that are open that you can get to,

Marvin: you know, go spend some money.

Marvin: But even if you can't, you know, and I think I saw you write about this as well,

Marvin: you know, you can buy gift certificates and gift cards, right?

Marvin: Yeah. And that's a way to send money in that, you know, is helpful to people,

Marvin: you know, kind of, you know, pay them today for services tomorrow.

Marvin: And then in kind of a related point for all of our fishing friends,

Marvin: you know, if you've got a trip on the books, if you can possibly just postpone

Marvin: it till 2025 and let that guide or outfitter keep that deposit,

Marvin: that's a huge deal so that while people are trying to get back to normal,

Marvin: they're not trying to figure out how to refund deposits to people.

Matt: Yeah that's that's a good point i mean not to get too in the nitty-gritty of

Matt: things but as a self-employed fishing guide i mean we do have policies for a

Matt: reason you know most folks will,

Matt: will uh we'll call deposits non-refundable but

Matt: as a small business person um you know

Matt: usually you're you have your policies and then

Matt: you kind of use your discretion um in in

Matt: how you treat people you know somebody has a

Matt: major thing come up and it's nobody's fault and

Matt: they're not going to be able to make the trip and they're probably not coming back you

Matt: know maybe maybe you send them a deposit back but it

Matt: is a little bit of a tight spot to put

Matt: people in when they're you know potentially lost a month

Matt: or two of their calendar and you're uh you're uh

Matt: reaching out asking for your hundred bucks back

Matt: or whatever um you know just try

Matt: to avoid that if you can um and then like you're

Matt: talking about visiting some of the places that have reopened um

Matt: it uh it is really important i mean right now um one of the i mean the busiest

Matt: time of year for the virginia creeper trail which is probably our locally most

Matt: well-known um outdoor attraction is uh is this time of year.

Matt: And i can imagine a lot of folks probably

Matt: canceling trips they stay in damascus or or

Matt: somewhere nearby and they just don't want to make the trip but um

Matt: a lot of localities are really trying to get things

Matt: going and and get things online again i mean

Matt: in avingdon right now um they're

Matt: really pushing hard this idea of uh riding the

Matt: creeper trail backwards so typically most

Matt: folks would start up on the mountain the

Matt: town of white top you can take a shuttle um and

Matt: i mean just to illustrate how important some of these things are i

Matt: mean there's a half a dozen or more um

Matt: bike rental outfitters shuttle services

Matt: in damascus and having them that all cater to that

Matt: um that basically have their business

Matt: model just disappear overnight um but

Matt: that trail runs all the way down the mountain to damascus and

Matt: then it runs another 17 miles to abingdon and

Matt: that second leg doesn't get a ton of traffic um

Matt: it's not in the national forest for

Matt: the most part um it's it's flatter so

Matt: it's not quite as effortless of a ride but

Matt: um it's beautiful runs along several couple different rivers and um it's definitely

Matt: worth doing so that's that's something that's definitely an example of the local

Matt: community kind of getting their stuff together and trying to make the best of a bad situation.

Matt: So I'd encourage anybody who has been on the trail or comes to town this time

Matt: of year to consider doing that.

Marvin: Yeah, and I would say, too, particularly important because all of these regions

Marvin: got hit really, really hard with the COVID impact on their tourism.

Marvin: So they were just kind of getting ready to kind of come out of the other side

Marvin: of that, really, you know, have a couple good years under the belt. And this happened.

Marvin: And, you know, to put a finer point. Yeah, and to put a finer point on it,

Marvin: too, you know, in this, you know, I'll talk about it in the context of a fly

Marvin: shop or an independent guide like you.

Marvin: But this is true for all of these tourism businesses, you know,

Marvin: whether you're a hotel or a restaurant. But, you know, if you have a fully booked

Marvin: week as an independent guide and you're going to make several thousand dollars

Marvin: and it now turns into people asking for deposits back, that's a huge cash flow swing, right?

Marvin: And if you stack that up over a few weeks or a couple months,

Marvin: that's very significant. And that's happening to all of the restaurants and

Marvin: all the hospitality venues in these areas.

Marvin: So, you know, folks, you know, do what you can to support these businesses.

Marvin: There's been a tremendous loss of, you know, life and property.

Marvin: You know, check out the links in the show notes to this episode for ways to

Marvin: give money because I think things are sort of starting to shift.

Marvin: At least that's kind of what we're hearing in Western North Carolina where the

Marvin: preference is really not for donations of goods but more for donation of money

Marvin: to kind of help the kind of more permanent relief structures,

Marvin: you know, be able to target exactly what they need.

Marvin: So, you know, that's just, you know, I guess my view from Charlotte, North Carolina.

Marvin: But I would also say, too, you know, Matt, back on the fishing side,

Marvin: you know, I saw your email probably before all this happened that,

Marvin: you know, you're in full swing, you know, you know, looking for booking musky

Marvin: dates and all that kind of stuff.

Marvin: Some winter smallmouth action if people like to go find the big ones when it's chilly, right?

Matt: Yeah so uh still booking all

Matt: that stuff you know i i talk like

Matt: i'm in a little bit of a holding pattern right now with with uh

Matt: fishing because you know this is typically kind

Matt: of my transitional week um where i'll

Matt: kind of get and put some some

Matt: boots on the ground musky fishing and um doing

Matt: some scouting and stuff like that but it's kind of more or

Matt: less impossible at the moment it um but you

Matt: know that that's being remedied every day

Matt: so it shouldn't be too too much longer that we're kind

Matt: of at a standstill but um i still do have uh several musky dates open kind of

Matt: later winter you know there's some here and there availability through uh november

Matt: december mostly well yeah just a couple you know each one of those months but um.

Matt: So that's, that's an option. Um, and then yeah, our winter, winter smallmouth

Matt: fishing is another kind of fun program.

Matt: Uh, much different flavor than the musky program.

Matt: Um, where, uh, you know, we can get out of one of our local tailwaters and usually

Matt: catch a lot of nice fish in the dead of winter when everything else is pretty

Matt: much, uh, slowed down and, and, uh, gotten tough.

Matt: So that's another option. If you have any questions about any of those things,

Matt: feel free to reach out to me, however you feel best. All my contact info is on the website.

Matt: And I look forward to hearing from you.

Marvin: Yeah, so, you know, folks, check that out. You know, please check out the links

Marvin: in the show notes for ways to support the relief.

Marvin: And some of those options, by the way, give you the ability to target your money

Marvin: to particular counties.

Marvin: And I would also say if you have information that you want shared, please reach out to me.

Marvin: I'm happy to share it in my social media channels on the website and on the

Marvin: podcast. And, you know, folks, if you've been affected, we're certainly thinking about you.

Marvin: You know, folks, if you can help, this is going to be a multi-year process.

Marvin: So try to think about being able to help in 2025 and 2026.

Marvin: And, you know, if you have a chance to make it to some of these affected areas, please do.

Marvin: Tight lines, everybody. Tight lines, Matt.

Matt: Thanks, Marvin.