Nevertheless, The New River is extremely old. Like I said, it is an ancient river. It begins in Boone not far from our son and fellow owner Jake's house, and runs up through Virginia and West Virginia.
It is home to many freshwater game fish, such as bass, trout, crappie, walleye, muskellunge, bluegill, carp and the flathead and channel catfish. An avid fisherman, Jake (who'd be happy to be your fishing tour guide, by the way) says he hasn't been able to find the illusive muskellunge, but he's sure they're somewhere out there.
Also found (sadly less often these days) is the Hellbender, the largest salamander in the United States. Unfortunately, the scary name does an injustice to this gentle creature who is nocturnal, and dines on crawdads and small fish. (I found out that the locals call a smaller version of these cute critters Mud Puppies, a much sweeter name.)
The water up here is not very far from its source, so it's clean and good for swimming, canoeing, and other cool, refreshing things to bide your time on hot summer days.
For more information, check out the Frends of the New River's website:
http://civic.bev.net/fonr/about.html
