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Cranberry River Fishing Report

Updated Fri, Oct 23, 2026 from live gauge and weather data

Cranberry River: a national forest trout stream with a 4.3-mile catch-and-release section and the fly-fishing-only Dogway Fork.

2/5
Slow. Work for them.Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
Flow
124 cfs
Air / High
55 / 56 F
Wind
N 3 mph

Sources: USGS gauge 03187500, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.

Satellite view
Friday
23
October 2026

Today's Fishing Report

Generated this morning from live readings: gauge, weather model, sun and moon. A fresh report is published here every morning.

2/5Slow. Work for them.Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.

Cranberry River rewards those who follow the bait as the water cools. The river is running 124 cfs, dropping and clearing. Today brings clear skies, wind N around 3 mph, rising pressure near 1023 hPa and a high of 56. Water sits around 55 F for the season (estimated). With the waxing gibbous, the solunar majors run 9:56 AM-11:56 AM and 10:25 PM-12:25 AM: the windows to build the day around.

The plan, species by species

Brook troutExcellent

The best band: Vermont's ideal is 55-60°F. Fish feed in daylight, since Michigan DNR notes they are more diurnal than other trout, and in ponds and lakes Maine IFW says spring and fall bring them near shore and the surface.

Brown troutExcellent

Close to Vermont's 53-66°F optimum, browns feed more freely; in fall, pre-spawn fish move toward tributaries and gravel, so fish streamers and keep off the redds.

Rainbow troutExcellent

This band overlaps Vermont's 54-66°F stream preference: fish feed across riffles, runs and pocket water, and in lakes WDFW says spring and fall bring them near the surface.

Tomorrow: Similar at 52 F. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.Next report: Sat, Oct 24, 6:30 AMHow this report is made →

Before you go

West Virginia requires a fishing licence from age 15, from $24.00 for residents. What a West Virginia licence costs and where to buy it →

Chasing brook trout here? Check the size and bag limits with WVDNR before you keep anything. The season dates for West Virginia, read off the agency, are on the West Virginia seasons page.

Water and weather

Live readings from Cranberry River near Richwood.

Flow, last 30 days

USGS gauge 03187500.

2696991,129124 cfs09/2310/0310/1310/23

Today’s flow against 68 years of October 23

At 124 cfs, the flow at USGS gauge 03187500 (Cranberry River near Richwood) is at the 65th percentile for the date: normal. In half of the 68 years of approved record the daily mean on October 23 was below 67 cfs; the highest was 1,700 cfs and the lowest 3 cfs.

p10 7median 67p90 244

Percentiles of the daily mean flow for this date, from the USGS Water Data Statistics API for gauge 03187500; today’s reading is the latest instantaneous value. Classes follow the ones the USGS used on its WaterWatch maps (retired at the end of 2025): below 10th, much below normal; 10th–24th, below; 25th–75th, normal; 76th–90th, above; over 90th, much above.

Right now

Latest readings

Air temp55 F
High / Low56 / 34 F
WindN 3-5 mph
Pressure1023.2 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain23% cloud, 2%
Sunrise / Sunset07:38 / 18:32
MoonWaxing Gibbous, 91%
Water temp (gauge)49 F USGS
Water temp (seasonal)~55 F est.

Bite planner

Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today. Tap a bar to see why.

5 AM8 AM11 AM2 PM5 PM8 PMsunrisesunset

Which day to fish Cranberry River this week

The best day on Cranberry River this week looks like Saturday Oct 24, at 3 out of 5, against 2 today.

Best day this week: Saturday, Oct 24 — fair at 3/5, steady pressure, neither help nor hindrance.

Today, Oct 23 — Tough

Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.

Solunar majors
9:56 AM-11:56 AM and 10:25 PM-12:25 AM
Minor period
4:18 AM-5:18 AM
Sun
07:38 to 18:32
Moon
Waxing Gibbous, 91% lit
Sky and wind
Overcast, 7 mph
Rain chance
2%

Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out: how the score is built.

Species guide

The species that matter on Cranberry River: seasons, structure and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.

Brook trout illustration

Brook trout

Spring and fall in ponds and lakes, when fish come shallow; summer in the coldest headwater streams

The brook trout is a char native to eastern North America, a fish of cold, clean streams and ponds, and the state fish of Michigan. The best band: Vermont's ideal is 55-60°F. Fish feed in daylight, since Michigan DNR notes they are more diurnal than other trout, and in ponds and lakes Maine IFW says spring and fall bring them near shore and the surface.

Brown trout illustration

Brown trout

Spring along Great Lakes shorelines; low light and overcast days in rivers; fall spawning runs

A European trout first stocked in the US in 1883 and now fished in rivers and lakes nationwide; it tolerates warmer water than other trout, and mature stream fish feed mostly at night. Close to Vermont's 53-66°F optimum, browns feed more freely; in fall, pre-spawn fish move toward tributaries and gravel, so fish streamers and keep off the redds.

Rainbow trout illustration

Rainbow trout

Spring and fall in most lakes; rivers fish year-round while the water stays cool

A cold-water trout native to Pacific drainages from Alaska to Baja California, now stocked in most states and fished in rivers, tailwaters and lakes. This band overlaps Vermont's 54-66°F stream preference: fish feed across riffles, runs and pocket water, and in lakes WDFW says spring and fall bring them near the surface.

When to come: the Cranberry River calendar

Activity by species and month, and how the water warms through the year. Tap any cell.

Species activity by month

1 = slow, 5 = peak. Current month highlighted.

J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Brook trout
Brown trout
Rainbow trout
SlowPeak

Water temperature through the year

Typical surface temperature for this water type; today is around 55 F (estimated, not a reading).

304050607080JanMarMayJulSepNovOct, ~55 F now

Angler reports

Real reports from real anglers, reviewed before publishing. The water log below tracks each day automatically.

No angler reports yet this weekBe the first: your report helps every angler who checks Cranberry River today, and we feature the best catch of the week.

Water log, last days

Auto-logged from live data
Thu, Oct 22

2/5 Slow. Work for them. Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing. Brook trout led the card at excellent. High of 55 F, wind to 9 mph.

Wed, Oct 21

2/5 Slow. Work for them. Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing. Brook trout led the card at excellent. High of 57 F, wind to 7 mph.

Tue, Oct 20

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Brook trout led the card at excellent. High of 60 F, wind to 7 mph.

Where roughly, what depth, what bait. Skip anything you want to keep secret.
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Before you go

License

West Virginia requires a valid fishing license for adults. Buy online from the state agency; one-day options exist for visitors.

Regulations

West Virginia fishing license plus the trout stamp (Class O), which the DNR requires of licensed anglers fishing for trout unless their license includes it. Catch-and-release and fly-fishing-only rules apply on the sections named above (2026 regulations). No fish may be used as bait in the upper Gauley watershed.

Access

Catch-and-release section: on foot along National Forest Route 76 from the Cranberry Glades parking area. Dogway Fork: on foot by National Forest Route 78.

About this water

A Gauley River tributary flowing through Pocahontas, Webster and Nicholas counties, West Virginia; USGS gauge 03187500 near Richwood.

Fishing Cranberry River: the full guide

Catch-and-release water you walk to

West Virginia's 2026 fishing regulations set a 4.3-mile catch-and-release section of the Cranberry from the junction of the North and South forks down to the low-water bridge at Dogway Fork, reached on foot along National Forest Route 76 from the Cranberry Glades parking area. Fishing there is daylight only, with artificial flies and lures, barbless hooks on multi-hook lures and every trout returned at once; scented baits such as PowerBait and Gulp are illegal.

Dogway Fork and the North Fork

Dogway Fork and all its tributaries are fly-fishing-only water, reached on foot by National Forest Route 78: artificial flies and streamers on conventional fly tackle only, no spinning or spincast reels, daylight fishing and all fish released. A separate 0.25-mile catch-and-release section runs on the North Fork from its mouth up to the limestone treatment dam.

Stocked and fished all year

The DNR's 2026 stream stocking list includes the Cranberry River, its catch-and-release section and the South Fork of the Cranberry, and the agency names the Cranberry among its year-round trout waters. The river lies in the upper Gauley watershed, where no fish, even dead or packaged minnows, may be used as bait and non-game fish may not be kept.

Common questions

Can I drive to the catch-and-release section?

The regulations describe access by foot along National Forest Route 76 from the Cranberry Glades parking area.

Is the whole Cranberry fly-fishing only?

Only Dogway Fork is fly-fishing only; the 4.3-mile main-stem section is catch and release with artificial flies and lures.

Can I fish with minnows?

Not in the upper Gauley watershed, which includes the Cranberry: no fish may be used as bait, including dead or packaged minnows.

Is fishing good at Cranberry River right now?

Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Slow. Work for them. Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.

Nearby waters

Williams River10 miSummersville Lake27 miJackson River32 miLake Moomaw33 miGreenbrier River39 miElk River43 mi

Where this page's numbers come from

River and reservoir readings
USGS 03187500 — Cranberry River near Richwood
Read from the USGS Water Data API (api.waterdata.usgs.gov). Latest value timestamped 2026-10-23 at 18:30 UTC.
Weather and pressure
Open-Meteo forecast model
Queried at 38.2500, -80.4000 in this water's own timezone. A model, not an observation.
Moon and solunar windows
Calculated on this site
Astronomical calculation from these coordinates and the date, not a third-party feed. How much weight it deserves.
Pages checked
The facts in the written guide were checked against these pages, from the agencies and operators that manage the water, on October 8, 2026. Anything we could not verify was taken out.
The written guide on this page
Pablo Ruiz Quintero
How this page was made. The daily report is computed by our scoring engine from live readings; nobody types it. The written text was drafted with AI assistance from the official pages listed above, and its facts were checked against those pages by automated verification on October 8, 2026; anything that could not be verified was taken out. Pablo Ruiz Quintero sets every guideline, the data-verification system and the minimum standards a page must meet to be published, reviews page structure and approves what goes live; the responsibility is his, and the AI carries out the work. We work this way because it is how one person can keep every page current with named sources. Errors are published in the verification log; the full policy is in the editorial policy.

Readings refresh on a 30-minute window. The full method, with every figure and its source, is on how our reports are made. Something wrong here? Tell us and it goes in the log with the date.