tailwater · trout

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

13cfs→ lowcaution

Below the wade band — low, fish concentrated, wade with care.

Water temp—

Stage2.14 ft

Engine callOFF 13 cfs outside wade band 18–56

Gauge read 1:45 AM CDT · USGS 02071530. Readings refresh every few minutes.

The water

Smith River is a tailwater below Philpott Dam in Virginia, fished for trout — brown, rainbow. 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.

troutbrown troutrainbow trout

Wade and float bands in cfs, the safety notes and the 14-day trend are on the signed-in river page.

Access

Access points for this water are being mapped.

The briefing

Know before you drive to Smith River.

Every morning OUTFISH reads this gauge, the dam schedule, the water temperature, the sky and the tips library, and writes one plain-language call for the waters you track: go or stay home, wade or float, when to be on the water, where to put in, what to tie on — with directions.

Start free — 7 days of Guide

Signed in: the wade and float bands, the full hatch calendar, safety notes, the 14-day trend, shop reports and today's briefing for this water.

This month

Active in September:

012345678

The full calendar by month, with notes, is on the signed-in river page.

Verify it yourself

The same sources the engine reads, straight from the agency:

USGS gauge ↗

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