Blue Ridge Country - March/April 2019 - 52

JIMMY
CHEERS'
THREE
FAVORITE
SPOTS ON
THE SOHO
Fishing expert Jimmy
Cheers has a hard
time picking a favorite
angling spot on the
South Holston River in
Bristol, Virginia. "It's a
great river," he says.
"And honestly I like
sharing the whole
thing with everybody."
Here, he describes the
distinctions of the three
sections:

UPPER: This part of
the river boasts the
highest concentration of fish, especially
smaller ones. "That
is also where you're
going to have probably
your best bug life, especially for the mayfly
hatch," Cheers says.
"The upper section is
a good opportunity to
fish dry flies."
MIDDLE: Here, the
fish start to get bigger.
"We don't always get
the flows to fish in
these certain sections,"
says Cheers. "But when
we're able to, we like
to fish in the middle,
for sure."
LOWER: The fish are
largest in this section.
"But we also have
the opportunity to
sometimes catch striper
[bass], which are bonus
fish," Cheers says.

-NH

BLUERIDGECOUNTRY.COM

Now 30 and a third-generation fly fishing expert at his family's outdoor adventure store and guide service, Mountain
Sports Ltd., in Bristol, Virginia, Cheers
doesn't appear to have an arrogant bone
in his body. Easygoing and fun-loving,
with a self-described thick skin-"people
never have to worry about hurting my
feelings," he says with a laugh-he also
oversees the fly shop.
According to the company website,
Cheers "knows the river better than most
of the big brown trout living in the SoHo."
"Well, I didn't come up with that
[phrase]," he says, laughing. "But we fool
a few of [the fish] every once in a while.
It all boils down to spending more time
on the river. Fly fishing guide is my profession and I'm 100 percent immersed in
it. I really just love all things about it. On
my days off, I do the same thing as the
days I'm on. If I'm not fly fishing on my
days off, something might be wrong."
Cheers' relationship with the river
runs so deep, he says, that "I find myself
missing it whenever I'm gone. I feel right

at home as soon as I step on the boat. It's
not even a transition at this point. I feel
just as comfortable on the boat as I do on
the land."
Despite his lifelong obsession with the
river, Cheers originally set out to take to
the air. But in his senior year of studying aeronautics at Liberty University in
Lynchburg, Virginia, he realized he didn't
want to fly for a living. After graduation
in 2010, he moved to nearby Roanoke to
work for Orvis, a leader in the fly fishing
industry. At first, he answered phone and
email questions from customers.
"They'd say things like, 'Hey, I'm going to Montana this fall and I've never
been there. What should I take? Where
should I go?'" Cheers remembers. "Or
they'd ask, 'I've got this old fishing rod
and I don't know much about it. Can you
help me?'"
He later took over the business side
of the fly fishing merchandise repair
program. In 2016, he moved back home
to work at the company started by his
grandparents in 1981.

http://www.BLUERIDGECOUNTRY.COM

Blue Ridge Country - March/April 2019

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