The 5 Best Places To Go Fishing In West Virginia

West Virginia, also known as the Mountain State, is a beautiful state in the Appalachian Mountains. It's full of scenic forests and mountains and a great place to live if you are a hunter or fisherman. The fishing opportunities are unique, with some of the best places to fish requiring kayaks or canoes to access and others with limited horsepower rules for boating.

1) O'Brien Lake

This small lake is one of the best in the state for bass fishing. It goes under the radar since it's too small for most bass tournaments and the rules state that no outboard can be over ten horsepower on the lake. As a result, anglers who fish there often have tricked out johnboats, complete with 9.9hp outboards and all of the modern bass fishing electronics.

The lake has a little bit of everything with standing timber, stumps, and roadbeds. The bass here get big and you can catch them with a wide variety of techniques.

2) Stonewall Jackson

One of the most popular lakes in the state, Stonewall Jackson Lake, is home to both largemouth and smallmouth bass, with largemouth being much more common. It's a traditional forest lake with standing timber throughout most of the 2,600 acres.

In addition to the wood cover, anglers can target rocks, bluffs, and clay banks. It's an excellent place for sheer numbers of fish and you can catch fish just about everywhere on the entire lake.

3) Summersville Lake

West Virginia doesn't have many big lakes and Summersville is the biggest at 2,700 acres. While both largemouth and smallmouth live here, the smallmouth fishing is excellent and gets the most recognition. It's a deep lake with rocky shores and gin clear water, making it a perfect area for the smallmouth with finesse techniques.

Since it is a reservoir, the water levels can vary significantly from season to season. During the fall, it is often drawn down tremendously and this helps congregate the fish population into much smaller areas. Late in the year, the crankbait bite really heats up.

4) New River

The New River is 360-miles long and flows through North Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia, and is a premier fishery in West Virginia for smallmouth bass. It's world-famous for bass fishing and all of it is done by floating the river in a kayak or canoe, as it's simply too shallow and swift for a standard bass boat.

While the average size of the bass here is under two pounds, it's possible to hook into a seven-pound smallmouth. Some of the top techniques include tubes, jigs, and big spinnerbaits for the bigger fish and finesse tactics for numbers of fish.

5) Greenbrier River

This smaller tributary of the New River is 162 miles long and is typical swift stream fishing, much like floating for trout in places like Montana but for smallmouth bass instead. What the fish lack in size here is easily outweighed by the sheer number of willing bass you will find.

Fishing out of a kayak or canoe with a lightweight spinning outfit and grubs, spinners, Ned Rigs, and small Senkos can lead to some memorable days on the water. Fifty and 100-hundred fish days are the norm here, even for novice anglers, and it's tons of fun because the fish are almost always very hungry and willing to bite.