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South Branch Potomac River Fishing Report

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

South Branch Potomac: a 141-mile river with stocked trout through Pendleton County and dense smallmouth bass below Petersburg.

2/5
Slow. Work for them.Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
Flow
685 cfs
Air / High
62 / 62 F
Wind
ENE 4 mph

Sources: USGS gauge 01608500, 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.

South Branch Potomac River is in transition: bait on the move and predators following. The river is running 685 cfs, dropping and clearing. Today brings clear skies, wind ENE around 4 mph, rising pressure near 1026 hPa and a high of 62. Water sits around 62 F for the season (estimated). With the waxing gibbous, the solunar majors run 9:49 AM-11:49 AM and 10:18 PM-12:18 AM: the windows to build the day around.

The plan, species by species

Smallmouth bassGood

Spring pre-spawn and fall: Iowa DNR notes the larger bass come up to shallow structure, where a shallow-running minnow bait or a spinnerbait just under the surface works.

Catfish (blue, channel)Good

In spring after ice-out, Iowa finds channel cats feeding on winter-killed shad on the shallow, warmer mudflats at the upper ends of reservoirs; cut bait on the bottom works there.

Tomorrow: Similar at 61 F. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.Next report: Sat, Oct 24, 6:30 AMHow this report is made β†’

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 β†’

Chasing smallmouth bass 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 South Branch Potomac near Springfield.

Flow, last 30 days

USGS gauge 01608500.

1,8685,0098,149685 cfs09/2310/0310/1310/23

Today’s flow against 104 years of October 23

At 685 cfs, the flow at USGS gauge 01608500 (South Branch Potomac near Springfield) is at the 77th percentile for the date: above normal. In half of the 104 years of approved record the daily mean on October 23 was below 209 cfs; the highest was 9,390 cfs and the lowest 82 cfs.

p10 110median 209p90 1,475

Percentiles of the daily mean flow for this date, from the USGS Water Data Statistics API for gauge 01608500; 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 temp62 F
High / Low62 / 38 F
WindENE 4-7 mph
Pressure1025.6 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain2% cloud, 0%
Sunrise / Sunset07:33 / 18:24
MoonWaxing Gibbous, 91%
Water temp (gauge)56 F USGS
Water temp (seasonal)~62 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 South Branch Potomac River this week

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

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

Today, Oct 23 β€” Tough

Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.

Solunar majors
9:49 AM-11:49 AM and 10:18 PM-12:18 AM
Minor period
4:11 AM-5:11 AM
Sun
07:33 to 18:24
Moon
Waxing Gibbous, 91% lit
Sky and wind
Partly cloudy, 5 mph
Rain chance
0%

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

Species guide

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

Smallmouth bass illustration

Smallmouth bass

Best: spring and fall, when bigger fish come shallow

A bronze-brown black bass of clear, cool streams and rocky lakes, with dark vertical bars instead of a side stripe. Michigan DNR says its southeastern coast, from Port Huron to Lake Erie, is known nationally for both the size and the number of its smallmouth. Spring pre-spawn and fall: Iowa DNR notes the larger bass come up to shallow structure, where a shallow-running minnow bait or a spinnerbait just under the surface works.

Catfish (blue, channel) illustration

Catfish (blue, channel)

Year-round, best at dusk and after dark

Three big catfish share most of the country's rivers and reservoirs: the channel catfish, the most widespread; the blue catfish, the largest; and the flathead, which hunts live fish. All feed mostly on or near the bottom. In spring after ice-out, Iowa finds channel cats feeding on winter-killed shad on the shallow, warmer mudflats at the upper ends of reservoirs; cut bait on the bottom works there.

When to come: the South Branch Potomac 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
Smallmouth bass
Catfish (blue, channel)
SlowPeak

Water temperature through the year

Typical surface temperature for this water type; today is around 62 F (estimated, not a reading).

4050607080JanMarMayJulSepNovOct, ~62 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 South Branch Potomac River today, and we feature the best catch of the week.

Water log, last days

Auto-logged from live data
Thu, Oct 22

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Smallmouth bass led the card at good. High of 69 F, wind to 7 mph.

Wed, Oct 21

2/5 Slow. Work for them. Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing. Smallmouth bass led the card at good. High of 66 F, wind to 3 mph.

Tue, Oct 20

2/5 Slow. Work for them. Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing. Smallmouth bass led the card at good. High of 70 F, wind to 6 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; check WVDNR's trout stamp rules before fishing stocked trout water. WVDNR (2024 report): black bass 6 a day, no length limit; catch-and-release only from the Petersburg Gap bridge to Fisher bridge (8 miles) and from the Romney bridge to the Blues Beach bridge (9.5 miles).

Access

19 WVDNR public fishing and boating access sites, including the Indian Rocks ramp; Wapocoma Campground on the Wapocoma pool.

About this water

A 141-mile Potomac headwater from Hightown, Va., to Green Spring, W.Va. (WVDNR); flow from USGS 01608500 near Springfield.

Fishing South Branch Potomac River: the full guide

From trout to bass

The South Branch Potomac flows 141 miles northeast from Hightown, Virginia, to meet the North Branch near Green Spring in Hampshire County, where the two form the Potomac. WVDNR manages the cool water through Pendleton County to Petersburg as a stocked trout fishery; near Petersburg it becomes a warmwater river with smallmouth bass, channel catfish and redbreast sunfish. WVDNR maintains 19 public fishing and boating access sites along it.

What the bass surveys show

WVDNR's October 2024 night electrofishing at the Royal Glen, Durgon, Wapocoma, Parsons and Indian Rocks pools caught 569 smallmouth averaging 9.4 inches. Biologists name Indian Rocks, which has a concrete ramp, as the best chance at fish over 18 inches, and the Wapocoma pool in Wapocoma Campground as another; the upstream reaches give numbers rather than size. They encourage anglers to keep some bass under 12 inches, because natural mortality at that size is high.

Trout in Pendleton County

WVDNR stocks the South Branch in its Franklin and Smoke Hole sections and a catch-and-release section in Pendleton County, and near Petersburg. The 2025 schedule stocks the Smoke Hole section once in January, twice in February, weekly from March through May and weekly for two weeks from the third Monday of October.

Common questions

Where are the biggest smallmouth?

WVDNR's 2024 survey points to the Indian Rocks pool, where 22% of bass topped 14 inches and the largest was 20.2 inches.

Is there catch-and-release water?

Yes: from the Petersburg Gap bridge to Fisher bridge, and from the Romney bridge to the Blues Beach bridge.

When is the Smoke Hole stocked?

January through May, weekly in spring, plus two fall weeks from the third Monday of October, under WVDNR's 2025 schedule.

Is fishing good at South Branch Potomac 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

Savage River24 miDeep Creek Lake33 miShenandoah River45 miYoughiogheny River52 miPotomac River62 miCheat Lake65 mi

Where this page's numbers come from

River and reservoir readings
USGS 01608500 β€” South Branch Potomac near Springfield
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 39.4500, -78.6800 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 5, 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 5, 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.