Richard Formato

Richard Formato is an avid catch-and-release fly-fisherman from Wytheville, Va. When not on the water, he operates a small business there. Formato loves to fly-fish in his native Southwest Virginia because of the great water and wonderful people. He also loves to fish the flats and shallows of the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic whenever work and weather permit. He is on the Department of Conservation and Recreation's board of directors and is a trustee of the Shenandoah National Forest and Skyline Drive.

Recent columns

• What about Bob?
• Notes from the Charlotte Fly Show
• A chance meeting
• A wish for Jack

• Column archive
• Talk fly-fishing

Hiking up beside Little Stony Creek in Giles County Thursday afternoon, all I could think about was that people who built this path up to the Cascades were men.

These were men who needed work, not wanted it.

They were men in long pants, hats, sometimes ties, many who were members of the Civilian Conservation Corps -- the federal agency that put men to work after the Great Depression humbled what most had thought was an invincible American economy.

Like the CCC, The Jefferson National Forest was organized by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1936 and named after Thomas Jefferson, in tribute to Jefferson’s legacy as a practical conservationist.

The flat rock and cobblestone trail road was puzzled together with more sweat than mortar.

In our modern world where workers quit because they can’t wear shorts on the job, the climb up to the Cascades is a silent story of the willingness of the American man to get the job done right, no matter how hard, in order to provide for his family -- and for us today.

From the Jefferson National Forest Parking lot, it is about a 2-mile incline hike up to the Cascades Water Falls.

To really fish this stretch, you need to spend all day.

Little Stony reminds me of the White Top Laurel with its giant boulders crashed into each other creating dramatic riffles and plunge pools.

The trail and stream were pristine. Not one spec of trash.

Kudos to the JNF staff, and to the people of this area for their stewardship and care of one of Virginia most beautiful forests.

I saw four hikers all day. Amazing how a few hundred thousand acres can redistribute a hundred explorers.

Thursday was a mirror of an early spring day. It was warm in the sun, much cooler in the shade with flying ants, and midges dancing in the light.

It was a day of bow and arrow casts, small blotchy wild rainbows, and does and fawns skittering away as I shook off the laurel skulking upstream.

It was a day of quite slides down giant boulders into amber colored pools, and gentle steps and braces up one of the most stunning streams God created.

Wet wading for me is over now, and I was wearing guide weight Simms waders, and toting a new Sage 3 weight TXL 7’10” rod, with a Lamson drag-less reel.

The new TXL series is a wonderful rod. But, it is pricey, retailing for $595.

Here is its value: Weighing in at 2 ¼ ounces, it is capable of tossing line anywhere you want it. The TXL is a fast-action rod. It is limber where is needs to be and stout enough to land a 20 inch brown.

The Lamson dragless reel is also terrific. It is better than the Thomas and Thomas retro reel, which looks great but backlashes even greater -- or the Sage drag-less series, which doesn’t have enough drag to give you any feel on a strip.

I brought the Sage TXL intending to fish dries. But with no surface takes, I switched to the prince nymph, which is hard to beat as an underwater entree.

In the face of the Cascade falls, I could see trout were rising to the ants hatching in the film, but I could not convince them to take my black caddis as a limp imitation.

Trundling down trail, I spied many pools I had overlooked in my quest to see the falls -- and still be home in time for my daughter’s soccer game.

Quickly stopping for a cold drink at the corner of U.S. 460 and Virginia 623, I spoke with Shawn Hash, a local hero in Pembroke.

Shawn totally “gets it” when it comes to what will help and grow Southwest Virginia.

Having the New River, the Jefferson National Forest and Big and Little Stony in your ZIP code makes Giles County one of the most valuable places in Virginia.

Being the next-door neighbor to one of the nation’s leaders in biotechnology and NCAA football doesn’t hurt either.

Shawn earned his rep angling smallies and muskies on the New River, building a federation of like-minded guides (with loyal customers from here to Hawaii) that he runs as Tangent Outfitters.

Tangent is Giles’ first outfitter-restaurant-gas station, and with his parking lot was full of cars. His store brimmed with diners and shoppers.

Tangent Outfitters figures if you are going to stop in for a guide trip, you may as well make yourself comfortable, fill up your tank, have a great meal, and get your gear at the same time.

Right at the entrance to Little Stony, Shawn’s business is a miniconglomerate set in a rustic style building loaded with fishing equipment, soon to include a good, better, best selection of fly rods and accessories.

Tangent runs everything from bike, camping and float trips for single to corporate events, always maintaining a 1-to-2 guide/angler ratio for a quality hand’s on experience and safety.

Hash and his crew did something very intuitive that I hope we will see more of in rural Southwest Virginia.

He opened a business serving both locals and tourists, who spend their dollars enjoying our mountain counties.

His business employs locals, who provide food and fuel for the local economy -- and the souls of both tourist and citizen.