Little Tumbling Creek

Type
Freestone river, Virginia (East)
Designation
Catch and release · Special-regulation trout water
USGS gauges
None on it; nearest shown
Guides
1 nearby
Shops
None listed

Today on the Little Tumbling Creek

Reading the gauge…

Regulations & access Guides & shops

Little Tumbling Creek is a freestone river in Virginia, listed as Catch and release by Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources.

More about the Little Tumbling Creek

The nearest USGS gauge on the same stream system is shown, labelled. 1 guide nearby are listed here.

Updated · Sources: Special Regulation Trout Waters: Catch and Release Only, USGS Water Data

Representative photograph of similar water; not a photograph of this place.
Representative photograph, not this water.
Where it is

Little Tumbling Creek is a freestone river in Virginia. Virginia has 2 waters named Little Tumbling Creek in the USGS Geographic Names Information System; this page is the stream whose mouth is in Smyth County, the one the agency list names.

Nearest gauge (not on this water)
Reading the gauges…

Follow Little Tumbling Creek for flow alerts

Pick one of its USGS gauges and hear from us when the flow moves into or out of its usual range for the date, or crosses a flow you set. We check the public USGS reading every 2 hours and email only when it crosses, at most once every 6 hours. Flow alone is not a fishing forecast or a safety call.

Follow this water

Signed in: one step. Otherwise we email a confirmation link first. Every alert has one-click links to stop it.

Where to fish

About this

Start from the agency's public access map. Nothing on this page grants or implies access: check the agency map, posted signs and landowner permission before you fish.

Nothing on this page grants or implies access.

Little Tumbling Creek on the map

About this

Gauges, shops and guides within 40 miles

Map of Little Tumbling Creek: gauges, shops and guides

Map of Little Tumbling Creek with 1 USGS gauge.

Restrooms near Little Tumbling Creek

Restrooms near Little Tumbling Creek

Restrooms within 2 miles of Little Tumbling Creek in a straight line, nearest first, with what anglers found when they went. The map says a restroom is there, not whether it is clean or open today.

No restroom mapped within 2 mi yet — add one you know.

Campgrounds, fishing access sites and boat ramps often have one that isn't on the map yet.

Restroom locations and map details: © OpenStreetMap contributors, Open Database License, read Oct 24, 2026. Ratings, answers and photos are members' own; who shared them is never shown, and every photo is reviewed before it appears. Visits older than 18 months no longer count. Distances are straight-line miles, not driving. Nothing here grants access to private land. Community guidelines.

More water near Little Tumbling Creek

  • The Smith River at dusk between dense, dark green banks in Henry CountyCatch and releaseRepresentative photo · not Roaring Fork
    Photo credit

    The Smith River in the evening, Henry County, Virginia. Photo: MarmadukePercy, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons Not Roaring Fork.

    Roaring Fork

    Virginia · about 15 mi

  • The Jackson River flowing clear over cobbles through the wooded Hidden ValleyCatch and releaseRepresentative photo · not Brumley Creek
    Photo credit

    The Jackson River in the Hidden Valley, Bath County, Virginia. Photo: Nyttend, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons Not Brumley Creek.

    Brumley Creek

    Virginia · about 19 mi

  • The Dan River at DanvilleTrophy / quality trout waterRepresentative photo · not South Fork Holston River
    Photo credit

    The Dan River at Danville, Virginia. Photo: MarmadukePercy, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons Not South Fork Holston River.

    South Fork Holston River

    Virginia · about 23 mi

  • Green water churning out of the South Holston Dam powerhouse into the river below the grassy dam faceCatch and releaseRepresentative photo · not Whitetop Laurel Creek
    Photo credit

    South Holston Dam releasing into the South Holston River tailwater, near Bristol, Tennessee. Photo: Tennessee Valley Authority, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons Not Whitetop Laurel Creek.

    Whitetop Laurel Creek

    Virginia · about 23 mi

  • The Watauga River at Sycamore Shoals, a broad, calm river between bare autumn treesSpecial-regulation trout waterRepresentative photo · not Big Wilson Creek
    Photo credit

    The Watauga River at Sycamore Shoals, Elizabethton, Tennessee. Photo: Jan Kronsell, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons Not Big Wilson Creek.

    Big Wilson Creek

    Virginia · about 24 mi

  • Water spilling over the mill dam on the Little Pigeon River in Pigeon Forge, with the Smokies beyondCatch and releaseRepresentative photo · not Green Cove Creek
    Photo credit

    The West Prong of the Little Pigeon River at the Old Mill dam, Pigeon Forge. Photo: Brian Stansberry, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons Not Green Cove Creek.

    Green Cove Creek

    Virginia · about 24 mi

Regulations

About this

Seasons, limits, special regulations and closures for each reach are on the agency pages below. Read them before you go.

2 official designations

Each comes from the agency's own published list; where the list names a reach it is quoted. A designation applies to the listed reach, not necessarily the whole water. Listed in the finder under trout.

The water on the map

About this

Measured from the NHDPlus High Resolution (flowlines and waterbodies) (U.S. Geological Survey, read 2026-11-04) for this water’s own mapped feature. Rounded figures; they describe the channel, not today’s conditions.

Whole Little Tumbling Creek, not only this reach.

Length
11 mi
Drains
12 sq mi
Drop
1,745 ft · 159 ft/mi
Flows into
Laurel Creek
Watershed
North Fork Holston

Public land along it

About this

Areas the Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US), public access (U.S. Geological Survey, Gap Analysis Project, read 2026-11-04) lists as owned or held in easement and open to the public, crossed by the mapped channel of the whole Little Tumbling Creek. Boundaries are mapped, not surveyed. Nothing on this page grants or implies access: check the agency map, posted signs and landowner permission before you fish.

7.4 of 10.3 mi on public land

  • Clinch Mountain Wildlife Management AreaState Fish and Wildlife · 7.4 mi

Nothing on this page grants or implies access.

Guides and shops near Little Tumbling Creek

About this

Listings marked Unclaimed are built from open map records and the business's own website: confirm licensing, rates, dates and hours directly.

Guides

  • Flying Appalachia

    Marion, VA · 17 mi

    Euro nymphing · Beginners & lessons · Smith & South Holston

    • Unclaimed

    Nearby

Shops nearby

No shop nearby yet.

How these are chosen

Guides whose own website names this water come first, nearest first. After them, fly-focused guides within 40 miles whose website does not name it. Distances are straight-line.

Shops: fly shops first. A distance is shown when the shop’s website gives its location (within 60 miles); otherwise the shop is in one of the towns within 25 miles of the water.

Guide and shop listings come from the Legendary directories.

Species and hatches

About this

What 1 nearby guide website mention: what guides advertise, not a survey or a promise of what you will catch.

Named on 1 nearby guide website

  • Brown trout1
  • Largemouth bass1
  • Smallmouth bass1

When the bugs come off

Regional hatch months: Southern Appalachians
About this chart

17 hatches charted for the region, not measured on this water. From North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission.

  1. January: 1 charted hatch
  2. February: 3 charted hatches
  3. March: 5 charted hatches
  4. April: 8 charted hatches
  5. May: 9 charted hatches
  6. June: 8 charted hatches
  7. July: 7 charted hatches
  8. August: 5 charted hatches
  9. September: 4 charted hatches
  10. October: 3 charted hatches
  11. November: 3 charted hatches
  12. December: 3 charted hatches

Midges (all year) · Blue-winged olive (February to March, May, October to December) · Early black stonefly (February to March, October to December) · Blue Quill (March to April) · Quill Gordon (March to April) · Black caddis (April to May) · and 11 more on the chart

How we put this together

Named by guides nearby (within 40 miles), counted from the species each guide lists on its own site. No agency page we hold lists species for this water.

Plan a trip here

About this

None of our destination hubs is within 40 miles in a straight line. The trip planner builds a trip around the water itself: the guides and shops listed within 40 miles of it, its gauges and its nearest towns and airports.

No hub within 40 miles

Gear checklist

About this

A practical checklist for fly fishing small mountain trout streams: a short 3–4 weight rod, light line, a few buoyant dries and simple wet-wading gear, with estimated prices and where to buy.

An angler stands on a boulder at the edge of a fast forest stream and fishes the run

Small mountain streams

7′6″–8′6″ rod, 3–4 weight, floating line · Brook, cutthroat, rainbow and brown trout

Open the checklist
Videos for this water (5)

Watch: reading a trout stream

About this

Seams, shelves and soft water, shown on real rivers.

Public YouTube videos from established channels, chosen by us to support this page. Not sponsored; the creators are not affiliated with Legendary Fly Gear.

  • How I Learned to Read Water (Fly Fishing)Embedded from YouTube · Mad River Outfitters · not affiliated with Legendary Fly Gear. Watch on YouTube
  • How To Read The Water with Tom RosenbauerEmbedded from YouTube · The New Fly Fisher · not affiliated with Legendary Fly Gear. Watch on YouTube
  • Reading the Water to Successfully Locate TroutEmbedded from YouTube · Orvis Guide to Fly Fishing · not affiliated with Legendary Fly Gear. Watch on YouTube

Not sponsored All videos on reading water

Watch: nymphing basics

About this

Indicator rigs, depth and detecting the take.

Public YouTube videos from established channels, chosen by us to support this page. Not sponsored; the creators are not affiliated with Legendary Fly Gear.

  • 90° Nymph RigEmbedded from YouTube · Huge Fly Fisherman · not affiliated with Legendary Fly Gear. Watch on YouTube
  • Casting with an Indicator & Better Nymphing TechniquesEmbedded from YouTube · The New Fly Fisher · not affiliated with Legendary Fly Gear. Watch on YouTube

Not sponsored All videos on nymphing

Fish Tales

About this

Trip stories anglers chose to share publicly and tagged with Little Tumbling Creek.

No stories from here yet.

Sources for this page

Not a statement of access, fish presence or conditions.

Something wrong?

All 13 sources and dates

A water page organises discovery. It does not assert public access, legal access, current fish presence, guide availability or fishing conditions.

Flows, gauge statistics and flood stages come from USGS and the National Weather Service when the page is shown. Regulations, stocking, species and season statements link to the agency that publishes them; this page copies only the species names and the quoted sentences. Guide and shop listings come from the Legendary directories. Position: a point on the mapped channel of “Little Tumbling Creek”, halfway along its length in Virginia, from the USGS high-resolution hydrography (NHDPlus HR), read 4 Nov 2026. It marks the water, not a particular access or reach. Water type is our own classification.