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Home › Waters › Virginia › Jackson River
Tailwater · Alleghany Highlands · Virginia

Jackson River Fishing Guides

Virginia's premier trout tailwater, running cold out of Gathright Dam through the Hidden Valley and Johnson Springs water toward Covington, with wild browns in a mountain valley.

A river breaking over ledge rock between forested banks in the Appalachians

Map of the Jackson River

5 numbered points: 4 access points, 1 USGS gauge. Tap a marker for details. Reviewed Sep 25, 2026.

Printable version →
  • Access / boat ramp (4)
  • USGS gauge (1)
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors. Points are curated from OpenStreetMap and state agency sources; confirm access and hours before you go.

Print it. Bag it. Bring it.Phones die, screens crack, and most of this water has no signal. Print this map, fold it into a zip-top bag or dry bag with your license, and you have a backup your electronics can’t give you. Every marker is numbered so you can say exactly where you are.

Open the printable map
All 5 points on this map
#PointTypeLat, LonNotes
1Jackson River below Gathright Dam
USGS 02011800 - real-time stage and flow		USGS gauge37.94846, -79.94922Roster gauge for this water, at the top of the tailwater. Gathright releases set the whole reach.
2Covington Access
VA DWR - Covington - 1 ramp		Access / boat ramp37.75643, -79.98666Ramp at Covington, below the Gathright tailwater.
3Island Ford II Access
VA DWR - Alleghany Co. - hand launch		Access / boat ramp37.77892, -79.93385Hand launch below Covington, Alleghany County.
4Low Moor Access
VA DWR - Alleghany Co. - hand launch		Access / boat ramp37.80049, -79.87069Hand launch at Low Moor.
5Clifton Forge Access
VA DWR - Alleghany Co. - 1 ramp		Access / boat ramp37.81389, -79.82428Ramp at Clifton Forge, the lowest mapped access above the Iron Gate confluence.

Guides on the Jackson River

Claimed profiles take booking requests. Unclaimed profiles are built from public records so the river is never empty; the guide can claim or remove one any time.

About the Jackson River

The Jackson below Gathright Dam is the closest thing Virginia has to a western tailwater. Cold bottom releases from Lake Moomaw hold the river in the fifties through an Appalachian summer, and the twenty or so miles between the dam and Covington carry wild brown trout, holdover rainbows and a special-regulation section that has produced some of the largest trout caught in the state. Above the reservoir, the upper Jackson and the Hidden Valley reach are a different, freestone-flavored fishery worth their own day.

Guided trips here are usually float trips in a low-water boat or a raft, working the long runs and ledges between the Natural Well and Petticoat Junction accesses. The river fishes on sulphurs and caddis in early summer, terrestrials in late summer, and streamers whenever the water is up. Wild fish dominate the upper tailwater and the fishing gets more technical the closer you are to the dam.

The gauge sits immediately below Gathright Dam, so it reads the release itself. Roughly 150 to 500 cfs is comfortable float and wade water for most guides. The Corps of Engineers runs pulse releases and seasonal changes that can double the river within an hour, and anyone wading the tailwater should know the release schedule before stepping in. Below Covington the river warms and turns into smallmouth water.

Virginia’s river access law is unusual on the Jackson: some landowners hold crown grants that convey the streambed, and there have been decades of litigation about where the public may fish. Float through those reaches, stay in the boat where signage requires it, and hire a local guide the first time so the rules are somebody else’s problem.

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The photo at the top of this page is not Jackson River.

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Version 1.0, dated 6 September 2026. Applies to every photograph submitted to GuidedFloats through the contact form, a species page, or the community board.

1. What you give us

By ticking the box on the form you grant Guided Floats, LLC (“GuidedFloats”, “we”) a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to store, copy, resize, crop and display your photograph on guidedfloats.com, in GuidedFloats’ own social media accounts and mobile apps, and in material that promotes the site itself, in connection with the fish, water or community feature you sent it in for. The license lasts until you withdraw it (section 4).

You keep the copyright. The license is not exclusive, so you can use the photo anywhere else and license it to anyone else. We will not sell your photo, license it on to anyone else on its own, or use it in paid advertising for a third party.

2. What you confirm

You confirm that you took the photograph yourself (or otherwise own the rights to it), that you have the right to grant this license, and that publishing the photo does not infringe anyone else’s copyright, privacy or other rights.

If any person is recognisable in the photo, you confirm that they have agreed to its being published here, and that a parent or guardian has agreed on behalf of anyone under 18. Please do not send photographs of other people’s catches, screenshots, or pictures copied from other websites or social media.

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We print the credit name you give us beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, and record it as the photo’s creator in the page’s structured data. If you leave the credit blank we use the name you gave us on the form. Write “Anonymous” if you prefer no name at all. Your email address, phone number and the exact spot the photo was taken are never published.

4. Withdrawing the license

You can withdraw the license at any time by emailing hello@guidedfloats.com, or by using the contact form, and telling us which photo you mean. We will remove the photo from guidedfloats.com within 7 days of receiving your message and stop using it in anything new. Copies that are already outside our control — search-engine caches, social posts that have already gone out, printed material already produced — may take longer to disappear or may not be recallable, and we are not responsible for those.

5. What we may do

We choose which photos to publish and may decline any submission without giving a reason. We may crop, resize, sharpen or colour-correct a photo for display, and we may remove a photo at any time. We will not alter a photo in a way that misrepresents the fish, the water or you.

6. Your details

We keep your name, email address, the credit name, the water and date you gave us, and the network address the submission came from, with the submission record, as our evidence of this license. We hold that record for as long as the photo is published and for the retention period described in our privacy policy. Location data that your camera or phone embedded in the file is removed before the photo is published.

7. Versions

The version of this license you accepted is stored with your submission and printed with the photo. A later version does not apply to a photo you have already sent unless you agree to it.

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Posting to Jackson River.

JPG, PNG or WebP, up to 12 MB. We resize it and strip the location data out of the file.

The name shown under the photo. Leave blank to stay anonymous.

Reader photo license v1.0 — the short version:

  • You grant Guided Floats, LLC a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to publish, resize and crop your photo on guidedfloats.com and in GuidedFloats’ own social posts and apps. You keep the copyright and can use the photo anywhere else.
  • You confirm that you took the photo yourself, that publishing it does not infringe anyone else’s rights, and that anyone recognisable in it (or a parent or guardian, if they are under 18) is happy for it to appear here.
  • Credit is printed beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, using the credit name you give us. Leave it blank and we use your name; write “Anonymous” for no name. Your email address is never published.
  • Withdrawing is one email to hello@guidedfloats.com naming the photo. It comes off the site within 7 days.
Read the full license

Version 1.0, dated 6 September 2026. Applies to every photograph submitted to GuidedFloats through the contact form, a species page, or the community board.

1. What you give us

By ticking the box on the form you grant Guided Floats, LLC (“GuidedFloats”, “we”) a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to store, copy, resize, crop and display your photograph on guidedfloats.com, in GuidedFloats’ own social media accounts and mobile apps, and in material that promotes the site itself, in connection with the fish, water or community feature you sent it in for. The license lasts until you withdraw it (section 4).

You keep the copyright. The license is not exclusive, so you can use the photo anywhere else and license it to anyone else. We will not sell your photo, license it on to anyone else on its own, or use it in paid advertising for a third party.

2. What you confirm

You confirm that you took the photograph yourself (or otherwise own the rights to it), that you have the right to grant this license, and that publishing the photo does not infringe anyone else’s copyright, privacy or other rights.

If any person is recognisable in the photo, you confirm that they have agreed to its being published here, and that a parent or guardian has agreed on behalf of anyone under 18. Please do not send photographs of other people’s catches, screenshots, or pictures copied from other websites or social media.

3. Credit

We print the credit name you give us beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, and record it as the photo’s creator in the page’s structured data. If you leave the credit blank we use the name you gave us on the form. Write “Anonymous” if you prefer no name at all. Your email address, phone number and the exact spot the photo was taken are never published.

4. Withdrawing the license

You can withdraw the license at any time by emailing hello@guidedfloats.com, or by using the contact form, and telling us which photo you mean. We will remove the photo from guidedfloats.com within 7 days of receiving your message and stop using it in anything new. Copies that are already outside our control — search-engine caches, social posts that have already gone out, printed material already produced — may take longer to disappear or may not be recallable, and we are not responsible for those.

5. What we may do

We choose which photos to publish and may decline any submission without giving a reason. We may crop, resize, sharpen or colour-correct a photo for display, and we may remove a photo at any time. We will not alter a photo in a way that misrepresents the fish, the water or you.

6. Your details

We keep your name, email address, the credit name, the water and date you gave us, and the network address the submission came from, with the submission record, as our evidence of this license. We hold that record for as long as the photo is published and for the retention period described in our privacy policy. Location data that your camera or phone embedded in the file is removed before the photo is published.

7. Versions

The version of this license you accepted is stored with your submission and printed with the photo. A later version does not apply to a photo you have already sent unless you agree to it.

Flow alert

Tell me when the Jackson River cfs

Now: 200 cfs, read 2:30 am CDT, Mon Oct 19, 2026 (USGS 02011800, JACKSON RIVER BL GATHRIGHT DAM NR HOT SPGS, VA).

We never use this address for anything else and never share it. See the privacy policy.

Access

Gathright Dam and the Natural Well: the top of the tailwater, walk-in access.
Johnson Springs: Corps of Engineers access below the dam.
Hidden Valley Recreation Area: upper Jackson access above Lake Moomaw, camping and trails.
Indian Draft and Smith Bridge: mid-tailwater public access points.
Petticoat Junction: the standard lower takeout above Covington.
Covington and downstream: warmer water, smallmouth bass.
Streambed ownership is contested on parts of this river; respect posted reaches and float through.

Seasons

Year-round tailwater; the cold release keeps it fishing in any month.
March through May: sulphurs and caddis, moderate releases, the best hatch weeks.
June through August: cold water when everything else is warm; check release schedules daily.
September through December: terrestrials into fall, brown trout on streamers, very light pressure.

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Questions

What is the current flow on the Jackson River?

As of Oct 19, 2:30 am, the USGS gauge JACKSON RIVER BL GATHRIGHT DAM NR HOT SPGS, VA reads 200 cfs, the 72nd percentile for this date, with water temperature 55.8 F. Conditions update every 15 minutes.

What species can you catch on the Jackson River?

Anglers target Brook Trout, Brown Trout, Rainbow Trout, Smallmouth Bass on the Jackson River in Virginia.

Are there fishing guides on the Jackson River?

GuidedFloats lists 1 guide and outfitters on the Jackson River. Claimed profiles accept booking requests; unclaimed profiles are built from public records and link to the business.

Where can you access the Jackson River?

Gathright Dam and the Natural Well: the top of the tailwater, walk-in access. Johnson Springs: Corps of Engineers access below the dam. Hidden Valley Recreation Area: upper Jackson access above Lake Moomaw, camping and trails. Indian Draft and Smith Bridge: mid-tailwater public access points. Petticoat Junction: the standard lower takeout above Covington. Covington and downstream: warmer water, smallmouth bass. Streambed ownership is contested on parts of this river; respect posted reaches and float through.

When is the best time to fish the Jackson River?

Year-round tailwater; the cold release keeps it fishing in any month. March through May: sulphurs and caddis, moderate releases, the best hatch weeks. June through August: cold water when everything else is warm; check release schedules daily. September through December: terrestrials into fall, brown trout on streamers, very light pressure.

Where are the fishing regulations for the Jackson River?

Regulations change by season and section. Read the current rules on the Virginia agency site: https://dwr.virginia.gov/fishing/regulations/