It was a sultry day in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley, the combination of heat and humidity creating a heat index that’s uncomfortable at best, dangerous at worst.
Sitting in his comfortably air-conditioned home near the Shenandoah River, Bernard “Bud” Nagelvoort was glad he already got his workout in.
“I already got my run in,” he said in a recent phone conversation. “It’s a mile, total. It’s downhill to the river, but all uphill back home.”
He chuckles and then makes an admission.
“It’s not really a run,” he notes. “It’s half jogging, half walking.”
Hey, we’ll give him a break. Nagelvoort is 95 years old, after all. But even at that age, he cannot get away from a lifelong passion for moving his body and for enjoying moving waters. Nagelvoort has spent the better part of a century working for and in rivers, championing clean waters and the fish that depend on them.
“Bud Nagelvoort has dedicated his life to the conservation of our precious waters,” wrote Bill Prokopchak of the Winchester Trout Unlimited chapter in nominating Nagelvoort for a Virginia Council conservation award. “He has brought along new generations of like-minded individuals through the example of his quiet but powerful efforts within Trout Unlimited and other conservation organizations.”
Plenty of options to work on water issues
Like plenty of Trout Unlimied stream champions, Nagelvoort took a bit of a roundabout journey to his love for trout and coldwater fisheries. The native of Owasso, Mich., was goofing around with some high school buddies on the Shiawassee River when he managed to catch a smallmouth bass on a handline. He quickly upgraded to an actual rod and reel and eventually discovered trout.
His passion for water and what swam in them burgeoned during the early part of his career, including a stint on the staff of long-serving Michigan Rep. Guy Vander Jagt.
“I had a lot of opportunities to work on water quality issues,” Nagelvoort said. “That was when alewives were overwhelming the Great Lakes and Pacific salmon were introduced in an effort to control them.”
While living in Freemont, Mich., Nagelvoort got an introduction to Trout Unlimited.
“A neighbor was actually one of the founding members of Trout Unlimited,” Nagelvoort said of the organization, started in 1959 by a group of anglers concerned about conservation issues around the famous Au Sable River. “That acquaintance added another dimension to my work around water. I wasn’t a TU member then, but that evolved.”
In fact, Nagelvoort’s relationship with TU evolved to the point where he spent about a decade on the administrative staff at TU’s Northern Virginia headquarters in the 1980s after moving East.
His work after leaving TU included stints marketing water treatment equipment and working with the Lord Fairfax Soil and Water Conservation District. He was enshrined in the Southeast Region of the National Association of Conservation District’s Hall of Fame in 2016.
Living along the Shenandoah, as he has for more than three decades, Nagelvoort has of course enjoyed fishing for smallmouth bass. He also spent plenty of time in Virginia’s mountains, chasing wild brook trout in small streams with his favorite fly rod, a Paul Young bamboo beauty.
Nagelvoort was also instrumental in the launch of the Winchester TU chapter, and over the years has been a mainstay in the chapter’s many projects.
“We ended up with a very active and successful chapter,” he says.
Chapter leader John Prescott agrees, and said Nagelvoort’s enthusiasm and eagerness for big projects, like the chapter’s extensive restoration work on Redbud Run, has been a big part of that success.
Passing the passion along
Nagelvoort was not only a get-in-the-stream-and-work volunteer but also key in the chapter’s educational and engagement efforts, with a particular impact on youth- and women-related events and outreach. He knew those efforts to reach future stream champions carried added importance in an evolving outdoors world where fishing and conservation face competition from an ever-growing list of recreational and volunteer options.
“Bud has recruited, trained and developed new generations of conservation leaders in our area,” Prokopchak noted.
Prescott doesn’t hesitate to attach a powerful term to Nagelvoort.
“His impact locally and nationally has been significant,” Prescott said. “I only know some of his stories, but he is a legend.”
Nagelvoort and his wife raised four boys. He says none really followed in his footsteps as an avid angler, but he did get to pass along his love of fly fishing to a grandson. His wife passed away a couple of years ago, and he admits he’s slowed down some after her loss.
While Nagelvoort’s not getting into streams to move structures into place during restoration projects, something he was doing well into his 90s, his daily jog/walk trips to the banks of the Shenandoah still connect him to the landscape and the watersheds upon which that and its creatures depend. And the walls of his home are decorated with mementos of passion.
“I have a large, beautiful painting of a brook trout on my wall, and I look at it all the time and think about what it means to me,” he said. “It all started with that smallmouth on a handline, and it evolved.
There have been a lot of little events along this road, many of them related to water and fishing.”
Fishing sidebar: Shenandoah National Park
Covering nearly 200,000 acres, Shenandoah National Park is a rugged outdoor playground spanned by the famous Skyline Drive and featuring hundreds of miles of hiking trails and trout streams.
Of the park’s 70 streams with fish populations, most of those are home to native brook trout. Regulations allow only for the use of single-hook artificial lures, and most streams are catch-and-release only for brook trout. In short, it’s tailor-made for fly anglers.
Some park streams hold wild rainbows and brown trout. Releasing those species is not allowed. If the fish don’t meet the 7-inch minimum size, they must be disposed of.
The park’s streams are generally small, the chilly water tumbling from pool to pool down rugged and steep terrain. Some streams offer decent access with established trails. A few are truly in the backcountry and require bushwhacking to reach.
A 10-inch brook trout in a park stream is a good one, and many park veterans have never sniffed the true trophy mark of 12 inches. A 3-weight rod is all an angler needs. Hardy winter anglers can do well with small nymphs, but park streams are best enjoyed with dry flies. Attractor dry fly patterns like Adams, Humpies, small Stimulators and the local favorite Mr. Rapidan are all effective.
March into June is prime time for dry fly action, with opportunistic brookies almost always looking up. Park streams can get skinny in late summer and early fall. That’s when it’s best to hit the Shenandoah’s North or South forks for bass, both smallmouths and largemouths.
The same free-flowing rivers that sustain trout and salmon bring clean water into our homes, give life to vibrant communities and feed a passion for angling and the outdoors.
But today our fisheries and rivers face enormous challenges. At Trout Unlimited, we are doing something about it, and we need your help. Sign up to be a champion for the rivers and fish we all love and help us unlock the unlimited power of conservation.