Lower Access to Jeremy’s Run No Longer Available

[Jones]

The lower access point to Jeremy’s Run off of VA 611 Is no longer open. The trail head is now a gravel driveway to a construction site. It is posted no trespassing and a sign that states access to Jeremy’s Run is no longer possible effective October 2017.

I’m sorry I didn’t take a photo to share but I had only a small window to fish on Wednesday and was flustered by this turn of events. I instead drove around to the park and hiked in from the top. The rangers at the entrance were surprised to hear the news.

[James M.]

That’s a shame. I fished Jeremy’s from the top down a couple miles last summer and got nothing- there were a couple of good sized pools, but I didn’t even see a single trout. I was hoping to fish from the bottom up to see if the water got any better.

How did it fish this time? Hopefully you did better than my last trip. How far down the trail did you make it?

[Dalton Terrell]

Hi Jones,

They listed the closure on the NPS website: https://www.nps.gov/shen/planyourvisit/alerts.htm

"Jeremys Run Trail Boundary Access (October 31, 2017)
The boundary access to Jeremy's Run Trail across private property at State Route 611 is temporarily closed by the landowner. The park trail remains open. We ask that visitors respect the landowner's wishes and avoid this private property until further notice. The park is actively working to resolve the access situation."

It's not exactly something I'd check regularly, but I heard about on the NoVA TU google group a month ago or so.

How was the fishing, though?

Dalton

[Gregg DiSalvo]

For what it's worth, I truly believe top down is the best approach.  Not a rigorous hike, and it's much prettier.  You also get a good idea of what pools you want to hit on the way back up.  I've done best when I put 1-2 hours of hiking in before heading back up, but have done well up near the top as well.  I like to hike far enough down to get past the highly pressured upper areas, but not far enough down to avoid the highly pressured lower areas. 

[Jones]

I only hiked down where the trail crosses the stream twice, then walked a short distance to the next trail blaze, turned and then bushwhacked to the stream. The water was running fast since it had rained Tuesday night and it was overcast and a touch foggy. The trees are still mostly bare.

I like to try fishing dries only in the park (just personal preference) so I started with a size 16 orange stimulator and over the course of 3+ hours used a size 14 yellow stimulator (which did not float well enough in the fast water) and then a grey/white humpy. I caught a dozen or so fish, with the orange stim the most productive fly.