Latest / The Articulate Fly / S6, Ep 125: Weathering the Storm: Southwest Virginia's Fishing and Tourism Recovery

Transcript

S6, Ep 125: Weathering the Storm: Southwest Virginia's Fishing and Tourism Recovery · The Articulate Fly

• 0:03
  Marvin: Hey folks it's marvin cash the host of the articulate flower back with another
• 0:07
  Marvin: southwest virginia fishing report matt riley matt how are you.
• 0:10
  Matt: I'm doing good man how are you as.
• 0:13
  Marvin: Always i'm just trying to stay out of trouble and you're my last boots on the
• 0:17
  Marvin: ground uh folks that have been affected by hurricane helene and uh you know
• 0:22
  Marvin: what is you know how did it impact your community in southwest virginia and
• 0:25
  Marvin: you know how is it impacting the fishing.
• 0:27
  Matt: Um well it's
• 0:30
  Matt: it's a good question a lot has changed the last couple
• 0:33
  Matt: of weeks but we are uh i mean
• 0:37
  Matt: our our family is perfectly fine um in
• 0:40
  Matt: all the ways that matter but the uh some folks
• 0:43
  Matt: literally just a couple miles down the road in damascus
• 0:46
  Matt: and up the road in marion
• 0:49
  Matt: chilhowie they're all um dealing with
• 0:52
  Matt: flooding damascus got got whacked pretty hard
• 0:55
  Matt: um lots of homes and roads and
• 0:59
  Matt: things lost uh currently you know
• 1:03
  Matt: it's i guess it's a good thing i don't have a lot of trout trips on
• 1:06
  Matt: the books because the uh national forest is
• 1:09
  Matt: pretty much closed um infrastructure wise
• 1:13
  Matt: um about half of the Virginia creeper trail is uh is looking at some pretty
• 1:20
  Matt: serious damage from the top near the town of White Top all the way down to Damascus
• 1:25
  Matt: um so that's not really available anymore um and uh.
• 1:33
  Matt: A lot of the uh you know trails and roads and stuff over that where are not not usable currently so,
• 1:40
  Matt: that's certainly a big impact um in terms of like if we were trying to get out
• 1:45
  Matt: there fishing right now but also
• 1:47
  Matt: just for the economies of of these small towns that we live in because,
• 1:52
  Matt: this is usually a pretty crucial time of year outdoor
• 1:55
  Matt: tourism wise for them um the
• 1:59
  Matt: other area that is in our immediate vicinity that
• 2:02
  Matt: got hit hard is is the new river valley um we saw a not a not a record crest
• 2:11
  Matt: but just two feet short of the all-time record crest um that friday night saturday
• 2:17
  Matt: morning after after all the the rain and flooding um came through,
• 2:23
  Matt: and it has in terms of impact to me that's certainly been the biggest hurdle
• 2:30
  Matt: at the moment um lots and lots of boat ramps are unusable filled in there's
• 2:37
  Matt: a couple that they're looking at.
• 2:39
  Matt: Potentially having closed for a long long time um
• 2:43
  Matt: and the upper new river
• 2:46
  Matt: currently is is flowing pretty clear um if
• 2:49
  Matt: you can get on it and the lower is
• 2:52
  Matt: running chocolate milk still just because it's turning
• 2:56
  Matt: over all the muddy debris filled water that's in claytor lake right now so that'll
• 3:02
  Matt: uh that'll be pretty much a waiting game um i've been speaking with uh toby
• 3:07
  Matt: mclanahan the guy that is our DWR sort of boat ramp maintenance guy.
• 3:15
  Matt: And he's a really busy dude right now.
• 3:19
  Matt: But he's been getting to a lot of things. He told me the other day that basically
• 3:23
  Matt: every ramp that they can get to on the lower new is open right now.
• 3:29
  Matt: It's just a matter of waiting for conditions to kind of right themselves down that way.
• 3:35
  Marvin: Yeah, and I would imagine, too, you probably actually got a lot of traffic in
• 3:39
  Marvin: your neck of the woods because I know basically, at least from Charlotte,
• 3:42
  Marvin: you know, one of the routes to kind of get to like, you know,
• 3:45
  Marvin: East Tennessee, Western North Carolina is to actually come up and then go back down 81.
• 3:50
  Matt: Yeah that's right i mean you look at all the vdot signs
• 3:53
  Matt: 181 around here it tells you either
• 3:57
  Matt: not to go to western north carolina um or
• 4:00
  Matt: not to get off 81 or just to stick to 77 and
• 4:04
  Matt: move on through so um i have
• 4:08
  Matt: not had a reason to go over there yet um but
• 4:13
  Matt: uh you know more than
• 4:15
  Matt: anything i mean one thing that we've seen here locally for sure is
• 4:18
  Matt: just folks kind of clogging up the roads um and
• 4:21
  Matt: some of the towns just to kind of sightsee a little bit um see the damage and
• 4:27
  Matt: and and look at some of the places they're familiar with and um i'm just trying
• 4:33
  Matt: not to be a part of the problem in that regard if i can help it right now yeah.
• 4:39
  Marvin: And i would say you know backing up a little bit you know tourism is i mean
• 4:42
  Marvin: to say that it's critical to southwest virginia east tennessee in Western North
• 4:46
  Marvin: Carolina is an understatement.
• 4:48
  Marvin: And, you know, a couple things, you know, I'll drop a link in the show notes.
• 4:52
  Marvin: I've come up with a list of large charities that are kind of funneling money
• 4:57
  Marvin: to boots on the ground in those three areas for folks.
• 5:01
  Marvin: But also, too, on the tourism side, you know, if you go to your local,
• 5:05
  Marvin: you know, go to your state, you know, Department of Transportation,
• 5:07
  Marvin: because the road situation is evolving everywhere.
• 5:11
  Marvin: And, you know, for places that are open that you can get to,
• 5:14
  Marvin: you know, go spend some money.
• 5:15
  Marvin: But even if you can't, you know, and I think I saw you write about this as well,
• 5:20
  Marvin: you know, you can buy gift certificates and gift cards, right?
• 5:23
  Marvin: Yeah. And that's a way to send money in that, you know, is helpful to people,
• 5:29
  Marvin: you know, kind of, you know, pay them today for services tomorrow.
• 5:32
  Marvin: And then in kind of a related point for all of our fishing friends,
• 5:35
  Marvin: you know, if you've got a trip on the books, if you can possibly just postpone
• 5:41
  Marvin: it till 2025 and let that guide or outfitter keep that deposit,
• 5:44
  Marvin: that's a huge deal so that while people are trying to get back to normal,
• 5:48
  Marvin: they're not trying to figure out how to refund deposits to people.
• 5:53
  Matt: Yeah that's that's a good point i mean not to get too in the nitty-gritty of
• 5:58
  Matt: things but as a self-employed fishing guide i mean we do have policies for a
• 6:04
  Matt: reason you know most folks will,
• 6:07
  Matt: will uh we'll call deposits non-refundable but
• 6:11
  Matt: as a small business person um you know
• 6:14
  Matt: usually you're you have your policies and then
• 6:16
  Matt: you kind of use your discretion um in in
• 6:19
  Matt: how you treat people you know somebody has a
• 6:22
  Matt: major thing come up and it's nobody's fault and
• 6:25
  Matt: they're not going to be able to make the trip and they're probably not coming back you
• 6:28
  Matt: know maybe maybe you send them a deposit back but it
• 6:31
  Matt: is a little bit of a tight spot to put
• 6:34
  Matt: people in when they're you know potentially lost a month
• 6:37
  Matt: or two of their calendar and you're uh you're uh
• 6:40
  Matt: reaching out asking for your hundred bucks back
• 6:43
  Matt: or whatever um you know just try
• 6:47
  Matt: to avoid that if you can um and then like you're
• 6:50
  Matt: talking about visiting some of the places that have reopened um
• 6:54
  Matt: it uh it is really important i mean right now um one of the i mean the busiest
• 7:03
  Matt: time of year for the virginia creeper trail which is probably our locally most
• 7:08
  Matt: well-known um outdoor attraction is uh is this time of year.
• 7:15
  Matt: And i can imagine a lot of folks probably
• 7:18
  Matt: canceling trips they stay in damascus or or
• 7:21
  Matt: somewhere nearby and they just don't want to make the trip but um
• 7:25
  Matt: a lot of localities are really trying to get things
• 7:28
  Matt: going and and get things online again i mean
• 7:31
  Matt: in avingdon right now um they're
• 7:34
  Matt: really pushing hard this idea of uh riding the
• 7:38
  Matt: creeper trail backwards so typically most
• 7:41
  Matt: folks would start up on the mountain the
• 7:44
  Matt: town of white top you can take a shuttle um and
• 7:47
  Matt: i mean just to illustrate how important some of these things are i
• 7:50
  Matt: mean there's a half a dozen or more um
• 7:54
  Matt: bike rental outfitters shuttle services
• 7:57
  Matt: in damascus and having them that all cater to that
• 8:00
  Matt: um that basically have their business
• 8:03
  Matt: model just disappear overnight um but
• 8:07
  Matt: that trail runs all the way down the mountain to damascus and
• 8:10
  Matt: then it runs another 17 miles to abingdon and
• 8:13
  Matt: that second leg doesn't get a ton of traffic um
• 8:17
  Matt: it's not in the national forest for
• 8:20
  Matt: the most part um it's it's flatter so
• 8:23
  Matt: it's not quite as effortless of a ride but
• 8:26
  Matt: um it's beautiful runs along several couple different rivers and um it's definitely
• 8:32
  Matt: worth doing so that's that's something that's definitely an example of the local
• 8:38
  Matt: community kind of getting their stuff together and trying to make the best of a bad situation.
• 8:44
  Matt: So I'd encourage anybody who has been on the trail or comes to town this time
• 8:50
  Matt: of year to consider doing that.
• 8:54
  Marvin: Yeah, and I would say, too, particularly important because all of these regions
• 8:57
  Marvin: got hit really, really hard with the COVID impact on their tourism.
• 9:00
  Marvin: So they were just kind of getting ready to kind of come out of the other side
• 9:03
  Marvin: of that, really, you know, have a couple good years under the belt. And this happened.
• 9:07
  Marvin: And, you know, to put a finer point. Yeah, and to put a finer point on it,
• 9:10
  Marvin: too, you know, in this, you know, I'll talk about it in the context of a fly
• 9:14
  Marvin: shop or an independent guide like you.
• 9:16
  Marvin: But this is true for all of these tourism businesses, you know,
• 9:19
  Marvin: whether you're a hotel or a restaurant. But, you know, if you have a fully booked
• 9:22
  Marvin: week as an independent guide and you're going to make several thousand dollars
• 9:25
  Marvin: and it now turns into people asking for deposits back, that's a huge cash flow swing, right?
• 9:31
  Marvin: And if you stack that up over a few weeks or a couple months,
• 9:35
  Marvin: that's very significant. And that's happening to all of the restaurants and
• 9:39
  Marvin: all the hospitality venues in these areas.
• 9:41
  Marvin: So, you know, folks, you know, do what you can to support these businesses.
• 9:47
  Marvin: There's been a tremendous loss of, you know, life and property.
• 9:50
  Marvin: You know, check out the links in the show notes to this episode for ways to
• 9:53
  Marvin: give money because I think things are sort of starting to shift.
• 9:56
  Marvin: At least that's kind of what we're hearing in Western North Carolina where the
• 10:00
  Marvin: preference is really not for donations of goods but more for donation of money
• 10:04
  Marvin: to kind of help the kind of more permanent relief structures,
• 10:09
  Marvin: you know, be able to target exactly what they need.
• 10:12
  Marvin: So, you know, that's just, you know, I guess my view from Charlotte, North Carolina.
• 10:17
  Marvin: But I would also say, too, you know, Matt, back on the fishing side,
• 10:20
  Marvin: you know, I saw your email probably before all this happened that,
• 10:24
  Marvin: you know, you're in full swing, you know, you know, looking for booking musky
• 10:28
  Marvin: dates and all that kind of stuff.
• 10:29
  Marvin: Some winter smallmouth action if people like to go find the big ones when it's chilly, right?
• 10:35
  Matt: Yeah so uh still booking all
• 10:38
  Matt: that stuff you know i i talk like
• 10:41
  Matt: i'm in a little bit of a holding pattern right now with with uh
• 10:44
  Matt: fishing because you know this is typically kind
• 10:47
  Matt: of my transitional week um where i'll
• 10:50
  Matt: kind of get and put some some
• 10:53
  Matt: boots on the ground musky fishing and um doing
• 10:56
  Matt: some scouting and stuff like that but it's kind of more or
• 10:59
  Matt: less impossible at the moment it um but you
• 11:03
  Matt: know that that's being remedied every day
• 11:07
  Matt: so it shouldn't be too too much longer that we're kind
• 11:10
  Matt: of at a standstill but um i still do have uh several musky dates open kind of
• 11:17
  Matt: later winter you know there's some here and there availability through uh november
• 11:24
  Matt: december mostly well yeah just a couple you know each one of those months but um.
• 11:31
  Matt: So that's, that's an option. Um, and then yeah, our winter, winter smallmouth
• 11:36
  Matt: fishing is another kind of fun program.
• 11:39
  Matt: Uh, much different flavor than the musky program.
• 11:43
  Matt: Um, where, uh, you know, we can get out of one of our local tailwaters and usually
• 11:49
  Matt: catch a lot of nice fish in the dead of winter when everything else is pretty
• 11:53
  Matt: much, uh, slowed down and, and, uh, gotten tough.
• 11:58
  Matt: So that's another option. If you have any questions about any of those things,
• 12:02
  Matt: feel free to reach out to me, however you feel best. All my contact info is on the website.
• 12:08
  Matt: And I look forward to hearing from you.
• 12:10
  Marvin: Yeah, so, you know, folks, check that out. You know, please check out the links
• 12:13
  Marvin: in the show notes for ways to support the relief.
• 12:15
  Marvin: And some of those options, by the way, give you the ability to target your money
• 12:19
  Marvin: to particular counties.
• 12:21
  Marvin: And I would also say if you have information that you want shared, please reach out to me.
• 12:24
  Marvin: I'm happy to share it in my social media channels on the website and on the
• 12:29
  Marvin: podcast. And, you know, folks, if you've been affected, we're certainly thinking about you.
• 12:35
  Marvin: You know, folks, if you can help, this is going to be a multi-year process.
• 12:38
  Marvin: So try to think about being able to help in 2025 and 2026.
• 12:42
  Marvin: And, you know, if you have a chance to make it to some of these affected areas, please do.
• 12:46
  Marvin: Tight lines, everybody. Tight lines, Matt.
• 12:49
  Matt: Thanks, Marvin.