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The Best Fishing Spots in West Virginia

West Virginia has native brook trout, world-class smallmouth and a tailwater trout fishery, and they are all within three hours of each other.

10 min read Best in April

Trout: three completely different fisheries

The first is the stocked program, which is the backbone of West Virginia trout fishing. WVDNR stocks a long list of streams and lakes on published frequency codes, and knowing how to read that schedule is most of the skill in fishing it. Spring is the heart of it, and Gold Rush — the golden rainbow stocking event — puts fish into dozens of waters statewide in April.

The second is the wild native brook trout in the high headwaters of the Monongahela National Forest. Small water, small fish, and some of the most beautiful fishing in the eastern United States. Seneca Creek, the upper Williams, the Cranberry headwaters and dozens of unnamed tributaries hold them. There is a substantial list of catch-and-release and fly-fishing-only waters, and it is worth reading the regulations rather than assuming.

The third is the Elk River tailwater below Sutton Dam, the state's premier trout fishery — cold, regulated water that holds large fish year-round. Dam releases change the river quickly, so check before you wade.

Smallmouth

This is arguably what West Virginia does best and it is under-appreciated. The New River is a genuinely outstanding smallmouth river, and it also holds walleye and muskie. The South Branch of the Potomac through the Trough and around Petersburg is superb and has published slot limits worth knowing. The Greenbrier, the Elk, the Little Kanawha and Middle Island Creek all fish well and see very little pressure.

June through September is the window. A canoe or kayak transforms the fishing on all of these, because the best water is usually the part you cannot reach by wading from a road pull-off.

Lakes

Summersville Lake is the clearest water in the state, which makes it a different kind of fishery — deep, structure-oriented, and a scuba destination as well as a fishing one. Bluestone Lake, Stonewall Jackson, Tygart, Sutton and Burnsville all hold bass, and several carry special regulations.

The Corps of Engineers lakes are where the trophy bass program and the walleye and muskie waters concentrate. WVDNR publishes the full list of special-regulation waters by species, and it changes.

Muskie and walleye

West Virginia has a real muskie fishery that most out-of-state anglers have never considered. The New River, the Little Kanawha, the Elk and several impoundments hold them, and there is a dedicated community that fishes them hard in the cold months.

Walleye run in the New and in several lakes, with a spring spawning push that is the traditional time to target them.

Licenses and regulations

You need a West Virginia fishing license, and trout fishing requires an additional trout stamp. Fishing on national forest land may require a further stamp. Fee schedules were not obtainable from a reliable source at the time of writing, so buy from the WVDNR licensing system directly rather than trusting a third-party figure.

The current regulations summary is the single most useful document for planning a fishing trip here. It carries the stocking frequency codes, the full catch-and-release and fly-only stream lists by county, the special species regulations, and — uniquely — a table of designated float-trip mileages between put-ins and take-outs that nobody else publishes.

By month

March to May is stocking season and the best trout fishing of the year, with Gold Rush in April. June to September is smallmouth season on every river in the state. Autumn is muskie and a second good trout period on the tailwaters. Winter is tailwater trout and, for the committed, muskie.

The one constant is water level. Check the USGS gauge for your water before you drive, particularly below any dam.

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Questions

Where is the best trout fishing in West Virginia?
The Elk River tailwater below Sutton Dam for size, the Monongahela National Forest headwaters for wild native brook trout, and the stocked streams statewide in spring. Check the current WVDNR stocking schedule.
Do I need a trout stamp in West Virginia?
Yes, in addition to a fishing license, and national forest waters may require a further stamp. Buy from the WVDNR licensing system, as third-party fee information is often out of date.
What is Gold Rush?
An annual WVDNR stocking event, typically in April, that puts golden rainbow trout into dozens of waters across the state. The list of waters is published each year.
Is West Virginia good for smallmouth bass?
Very. The New River, the South Branch Potomac, the Greenbrier and the Elk are all strong smallmouth fisheries with little pressure, best from June through September and much better from a boat.

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