West Virginia is vertical water: the New River's world-class smallmouth cutting through a national park, wild rainbows in plunge-pool creeks, and tailwaters cold enough for trophy trout. We start in the gorge that became a national park: the New River.
Reports current for Friday, September 4
Live verdicts from this morning's reports.
America's newest national park is an ancient river: world-class smallmouth in whitewater scenery, floated or waded under the great bridge.
Morgantown’s river lake: Cheat’s steep walls and current hold smallmouth, walleye and muskie in thirteen miles of gorge.
West Virginia’s clearest water: Summersville holds smallmouth and walleye under cliffs that draw divers and climbers.
West Virginia’s trout-and-bass river: the Elk runs cold below Sutton and warms into smallmouth water downstream.
A steep-walled West Virginia reservoir: Tygart holds walleye, bass and trout in clear water below Grafton.
Central West Virginia’s muskie lake: Stonewall Jackson holds toothy fish and bass in a state park setting.
New River water impounded: Bluestone Lake holds smallmouth, muskie and catfish in southern West Virginia.
Above the lake: the Tygart Valley River runs smallmouth, trout and muskie through central West Virginia.
West Virginia’s longest free-flowing river: the Greenbrier runs smallmouth through 165 undammed miles.
The Trough and the Smoke Hole: the South Branch runs smallmouth through West Virginia’s best river canyons.
West Virginia’s wilderness trout stream: the Cranberry runs native brookies through a roadless forest.
Species activity across the state's covered waters. Peak of the year: May.
1 = slow, 5 = peak. Current month highlighted.
Seasonal surface curve for this state's dominant water type (estimated).
| Water | Type | County | Live gauge | Peak month |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New River Gorge | River | Fayette | USGS | May |
| Cheat Lake | Reservoir | Monongalia | USGS | May |
| Summersville Lake | Reservoir | Nicholas | USGS | Mar |
| Elk River | River | Clay | USGS | Apr |
| Tygart Lake | Reservoir | Taylor | USGS | Mar |
| Stonewall Jackson Lake | Reservoir | Lewis | USGS | Mar |
| Bluestone Lake | Reservoir | Summers | USGS | May |
| Tygart Valley River | River | Barbour | USGS | May |
| Greenbrier River | River | Greenbrier | USGS | May |
| South Branch Potomac River | River | Hampshire | USGS | May |
| Cranberry River | River | Nicholas | USGS | May |
Almost everything here swims in current: the New and Greenbrier's smallmouth (the East's best river bronze), the Elk and Cranberry's wild trout, the South Branch's canoe-country bass, and tailwaters (Summersville's Gauley) that hold serious rainbows. Stocked-trout culture runs deep: the state's put-and-take program is a social calendar: but the wild and wilderness water is the treasure.
April-May: pre-spawn river smallmouth heavyweights, stocked-trout crowds on every named creek. June: topwater season opens on the rivers: the year's best fun. Summer: wet-wading pocket water, muskie floats on the slow rivers, catfish nights. Fall: the gorge in color: aggressive smallmouth, empty accesses midweek. Winter: deep-pool walleye on the New's native strain, tailwater trout for the hardy.
The New River's smallmouth: 20-inch river fish in national-park whitewater. The wild-trout creeks of the highlands are the intimate counterpoint.
Two kinds: a beloved stocking program on hundreds of streams (crowded, social, fun), and genuinely wild fisheries: Cranberry, Elk headwaters, Seneca Creek: for those who walk. The trout stamp covers both.