BROOKNEAL, Virginia (WFXR) – There are no more undiscovered places in Virginia.

Man has been here for thousands of years. They have walked down every path, climbed every mountain, navigated every lake, waded every stream.

But there are places that people rarely go; Places that are overlooked or devalued for any reason; Places that might as well go undiscovered because people have forgotten how special they are.

The Staunton River is one of those places.

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The Staunton extends from below Leesville Lake to the Buggs Island Reservoir. We recently paddled and fished it with a media and education team from the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources (VDWR) and found that there are plenty of fish to be caught on the Staunton.

And we mean a lot.

Alex McCrickard from VDWR holds up a nice pikeperch

Diversity is the alpha and omega of the Staunton. Just ask the VDWR coordinator for aquatic education, Alex McCrickard: “Today we caught striped perch, white perch, Kentucky spotted perch, black bass and pikeperch. You know, there are a variety of other species out here besides suction eye, rock perch, red breast sunfish, and channel catfish; The Staunton is the place to go if you want to catch a variety of species. ”The customer review has been automatically translated from German.

The creek is an easy swimmer with enough current and structure to hold fish but not enough to make navigation impossible. It’s good for fishing from a raft or canoe, and it’s also great for beaching a boat and wading. And the fishing style isn’t that complicated after all.

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“Swimbaits are a great way to catch all of these species,” said McCrickard, pointing to the soft plastic bait on the jig head. “Pour it and work it back, twitch it.”

Live bait presentations as well as crankbaits, spinnerbaits and fly fishing presentations will also produce fish.

Little known fact about the Staunton, it is one of the best zander creeks in the state. So good are the pikeperch numbers that the VDWR networks are collecting fish to collect their eggs and sperm to create breeding stocks that can be stored in other Virginia lakes and streams.

George Noleff and Alex McCrickard land a Staunton River Walleye

The Staunton River also offers solitude. The day we were on it we paddled for miles and saw no other boat or person. It has a remote feeling, almost like it’s undiscovered. It’s hard to believe, as it is a two-hour drive from four metropolitan areas.

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