6 Fall Fishing Hotspots in West Virginia

Photo by Ron Sinfelt

By Ed Roset

After a dozen casts and retrieves, I began to warm up, but every gust of cool September air reminded me that autumn had its grips on the Ohio River Valley. Although I was getting warmer, I was also getting impatient with the lack of interest in the French spinner I was casting for hybrid stripers, or as they are locally called, "wipers." Then, suddenly, the line went tight as a hefty 16-inch hybrid bent the ultralight rod nearly double. The battle lasted a few minutes and left me glowing with excitement.

Hybrids are school fish and I finally found an aggressive bunch below Pike Island Dam. Before an hour passed, I caught and released 10 fish measuring between 10 and 17 inches. All of the fish were scrappy fighters. Best of all, my experience was not unusual when it comes to Ohio River hybrid fishing from April through early November. The action does slow down during hot summer weather, but picks up again as soon as cool Canadian air sweeps down in September and October. Another advantage of hybrid fishing is that it doesn't require a lot of expensive equipment or expertise. You can cast from shore with nothing more than a spinning outfit and a spinner, crankbait or jig.

Hybrid stripers are just one of several sportfish available to autumn anglers in the Mountain State. Tiger muskies, trout, largemouth bass and walleyes all head the list of target species during the fall season. It's a magical time when the West Virginia woodlands turn red, orange and yellow. It's also a period of active feeding for the species mentioned above.

Autumn is a time when many Mountain State sportsmen put away their fishing rods and turn their attention to hunting. Yet the fall season is a productive time for fishermen to enjoy steady action in a variety of situations. The following six destinations and species are best bets for autumn fishing in 2004.

As mentioned, the mighty Ohio River is home to a large population of hybrid stripers, and these feisty fish are willing customers from about mid-September through mid-November. The best place to start your search for fall hybrids on the Pike Island Pool is upstream in the New Cumberland Dam tailwaters. Hybrid bass are always abundant in this tailrace because baitfish are plentiful below the dam.

Bank-fishermen can access the New Cumberland tailwaters from state Route 2 (SR) north of Weirton. Once you get down to the tailrace, you will find hybrids feeding on shad in the swirling waters washing along the riprap shoreline. Hybrids are likely to be located and caught anywhere from the dam to about 400 yards downstream.

Choice baits for Ohio River hybrid bass, whether you are fishing in the New Cumberland tailwaters or anywhere else on the Pike Island Pool, include spinners, jigs, jig-and-grub combinations and anything with some flash. When the fishing gets slow, Ohio River hybrid anglers often tip a jig with a live minnow and bounce the offering off the river bottom. You will snag up occasionally and lose some jigs, but this technique often works when all else fails to draw a strike.

Downstream from the New Cumberland Dam, boat fishermen have access to many excellent places to catch hybrid stripers. Boat ramps are available at Wellsburg Park, just off SR 2 at Wellsburg. This access area is situated at the midpoint of the Pike Island Pool.

One of the top spots for hybrid fishing on the Pike Island Pool is found about one mile below the Wellsburg launching facilities. The mouth of Buffalo Creek is always a hotspot for hybrids. The rocky upstream point of the tributary attracts shad during the autumn season, and when the shad gather, it isn't long before the hybrids move in to feed. Sometimes you can see the hybrids breaking water off the point when the feeding activity is near the surface.

Other prime areas to fish for hybrids on the Pike Island Pool are at the mouths of any major tributaries, particularly Cross Creek, located on the Ohio shore at Mingo Junction, and Kings Creek on the West Virginia side of the river between Wellsburg and Weirton. When you don't find active hybrids at creek mouths, try the numerous warmwater discharge sites along both sides of the Ohio River, especially the ones in the Weirton and Steubenville area.

Heading east from the Ohio River Valley over to the Eastern Panhandle region brings you to one of West Virginia's impoundments that doesn't get as much press coverage as it probably deserves. Jennings Randolph Lake is a 950-acre reservoir that has a reputation for great walleye fishing. However, the impoundment has been stocked with tiger muskellunge and offers some overlooked fishing for this species this fall.

Tiger muskies are a hybrid cross between the female muskellunge and the male northern pike. As with most hybrid species, the cross creates a stronger fish with the excellent qualities of both crossbred species. The tiger muskie is no exception to this rule and fights like a mad demon when hooked. Consequently, you'll need heavy tackle to handle fish over 10 pounds. Tiger muskies routinely reach this size and larger in Jennings Randolph Lake.

There are two primary methods for catching tiger muskies at Jennings Randolph, and it doesn't matter where you fish in the reservoir during September and October. Muskies are present throughout the lake, but you should key on structure, such as points, dropoffs, sunken humps and knolls and along the main-lake channel.

Trolling is the most popular way to fish these structures. However, you can connect with tiger muskies in the autumn by casting to shore cover that is close to the kind of structure mentioned above. Deep-diving crankbaits and jointed lures are the preferred lure choices of most trollers, along with large Mepps Muskie Killer spinners. Casters normally use spinnerbaits, topwater stick baits, poppers and in-line spinners.

Another technique for catching tiger muskies from this lake is to rig live bait, either large suckers or shad, and fish the bait in 10 to 20 feet of water. This method will often produce strikes when trolling or casting fails. One of the best spots on the lake for live-bait fishing is near the dam.

Jennings Randolph Lake is located in the high mountain country of Mineral County. Therefore, you will see splendid beauty surrounding the lake as the leaves turn to their autumn colors in late September and October. You can also expect winding roads going up and down steep mountains, but the driving adventure is worth the access

to good fishing on a quiet mountain lake. State Route 46 east of Keyser will take you to the reservoir.

Located in the heart of West Virginia along Interstate 79, Stonewall Jackson Lake became the state's top bass fishery in the 1990s. Largemouths weighing 2 to 4 pounds are plentiful, and bass in the 5- to 6-pound class are not uncommon. Well, things haven't changed since the turn of the new century. Stonewall Jackson continues to yield big largemouth bass as well as provide an abundance of average fish in the 12- to 14-inch class.

Several factors have gone into making Stonewall Jackson one of best largemouth destinations in the Mountain State. One factor is environmental. The lake is filled with timber and other good cover and structure that create an excellent home for baitfish and bass. Perhaps the biggest contributor to establishing Stonewall Jackson as a big-fish reservoir is the catch-and-release regulation. All black bass must be returned to the lake.

You can find largemouth bass practically anywhere there is flooded timber on a main-lake point or near the lake channel. During September and October, the numerous points between Arnold and Emmart are key areas to fish a Texas-rigged plastic worm, or to use a buzzbait when the bass are actively feeding near the surface. The section of Stonewall Jackson Lake between Arnold and Emmart is ideal for anglers because it is designated as a "no-wake" zone.

At the other end of the lake, prime bass locations include Glady Fork, Blacklick Run and uplake around the area called Vandalla. One of the best places to search for trophy largemouths in the autumn season is Wolf Fork, a long, narrow cove that branches southward off the main lake between the dam and Glady Fork.

By the time the calendar shows November, catching bass from Stonewall Jackson Lake becomes more of a challenge. The cooler water has the largemouths slowing down. They feed less often and less vigorously. But you can still make a good catch if you fish deep and slow. Try working the main points with a jig or rubber lizard.

Some of the local bass anglers resort to live minnows once the largemouths stop chasing fast lures. The standard rig is a 6- to 8-inch minnow if you want to entice big bass. For smaller fish, 3- to 5-inch minnows are the mainstay. An advantage of using the smaller minnows in autumn is the bonus crappie you'll catch. Stonewall Jackson boasts a large population of papermouths, many over the 10-inch mark.

You can reach Stonewall Jackson Lake by taking exits 96 or 91 off Interstate 79 in Lewis County. Signs point the way to several boat launching ramps and a full-service marina located on the impoundment.

The Greenbrier River flows through the eastern portion of West Virginia and is considered a first-class trout stream by any standards. Trout are native to the Greenbrier. The Division of Natural Resources also stocks the river. Fishermen can catch a mixed bag of rainbow trout, browns and brook trout from the Greenbrier.

Where is the best place to fish for trout this fall? The answer is just about anywhere along the stream. However, if you enjoy fantastic autumn scenery and float-fishing, the trout action is red-hot in Pocahontas County in October and well into November, weather permitting.

Focus your attention on the stretch of the river between Durbin and Cass. U.S. Route 250 passes through Durbin and there is a public access site just south of the town. The float from Durbin downstream to Hosterman is about 10 miles, and it's another 10 miles to Cass. With 20 miles of prime trout waters to fish, you can easily spend several days working this portion of the Greenbrier River.

County Route 250-2 parallels the Greenbrier from Durbin downstream halfway to Hosterman, then the stream flows through undeveloped mountain terrain that should only be float-fished by experienced canoe fishermen. If you do float this section of the Greenbrier, be sure to fish the mouth of Brush Run Creek, located five miles north of Hosterman. This area and the entire stretch of the Greenbrier River between Durbin and Cass hold a generous population of big brown trout that are not shy about biting in October.

Spinners, grubs, live minnows, cheese baits and live night crawlers are all excellent trout baits in October. The places to fish these baits are in the deep pools below rapids and riffles and at the many mouths of feeder creeks. There are many small tributaries that empty into the Greenbrier River from the east side of Back Allegheny Mountain. The small mountain feeder streams between Hosterman and Cass are especially productive in autumn.

Along with supreme trout fishing, the Greenbrier River also offers some of the best smallmouth bass fishing found anywhere. The smallies are usually on the bite in October and they go for many of the same lures that catch trout. Smallmouth bass also inhabit the same areas where you'll find trout on the Greenbrier, so be prepared for some bonus catches of Greenbrier bronzebacks while you are trout fishing this fall.

Located about 40 miles up the Kanawha River from Charleston is perhaps the top fishing spot in West Virginia for a number of species, including walleyes. Kanawha Falls is just below Glen Ferris in Fayette County and can be accessed from SR 61 and U.S. Route 60. The turbulent waters below Kanawha Falls produce abundance catches of walleyes, hybrid bass, catfish and nearly every other species that inhabit the Kanawha River.

And when it comes walleye fishing, Kanawha Falls is first-rate for anglers who want to catch a limit of trophy fish. Walleyes between 10 and 15 pounds are often taken below Kanawha Falls. This is where Fred Cline caught the West Virginia length record in 1976. Cline's walleye measured 35 inches and weighed 15 pounds.

It's fun to imagine catching a new state record fish - and who knows, maybe you will - but it would be misleading to suggest that you are going to load up on trophy walleyes at Kanawha Falls. Trophy fish are hard to catch anywhere, to be sure. However, you can expect to net plenty of 2- to 5-pound walleyes at Kanawha Falls, if you are there when the fish are active and you use the proper methods.

Walleyes normally feed actively early and late in the day during September and October, and in the afternoon on cloudy days. Sometimes it doesn't require anything more sophisticated than casting a spinner or jig into the swift water below the falls. Key targets for this kind of fishing are eddies, backwash areas along the shoreline, and close to any cover in the fast-flowing water.

In a perfect world, walleye fishing would always be easy, but there are times when a simple cast-and-retrieve technique won't draw action at Kanawha Falls. That's when it's time to use varying speeds with spinners and crankbaits. Reel a few feet, pause, and then reel again. If you are jig-fishing, try bouncing the jig along at different retrieve speeds. Perhaps as a last resort, switch to live bai

t, in the form of 5- to 8-inch suckers, You can be certain there are walleyes present when you fish at Kanawha Falls, so it's just a matter of finding the right method to get them to bite.

Autumn anglers who want to tangle with striped bass should look south this fall, more specifically, to Bluestone Lake. This Summers County impoundment is home to some hefty striped bass, and they bite well during September and October.

You can access Bluestone Lake from SR 20 south of Hinton. You'll find all the needed facilities for boat launching and service, camping, bait and supplies, also lodging at Hinton and at Bluestone Lake State Park.

Bluestone Lake produced the current state-record striped bass. Terry Watkins of Princeton was fishing the 1,970-acre New River reservoir on March 5, 2000, when he hooked and landed a striper weighing more than 29 pounds. The prized fish measured more than 37 inches, and it took Watkins 45 minutes to net the hefty striped bass.

The impoundment definitely has big-fish potential. Last summer, Andy Yancey Jr. from Lynchburg, Virginia came over to Bluestone Lake to fish. His efforts were well rewarded. Yancey earned a West Virginia Trophy Fish Citation for catching a striper that measured 35 inches and weighed 15 pounds.

Although it's exciting to think about catching a trophy fish or even a record fish, it's the abundance of average-sized stripers that makes for consistent action at Bluestone Lake. Striped bass in the 3- to 5-pound class are caught regularly from the reservoir. To get a trophy fish citation, a striper must weigh 7 pounds or measure 25 inches to qualify.

The main-lake points are autumn hotspots for striped bass. Stripers school off the points and can be taken on 1/2-ounce spinnerbaits with Colorado blades, buzzbaits and a lure with a long-standing history and reputation - the Jitterbug. Watch for baitfish schools breaking water off the points, then move in and try casting these lures in a half-moon pattern over the area of the baitfish. If that fails, change to a 1/4-ounce jig and work the lure down to about 20 feet deep. Sometimes the stripers are holding several feet below baitfish schools and won't come up after lures running near the surface.

As you fish the points on Bluestone Lake down to the lower end of the impoundment, give special attention to the points in the dam area. The lake has depths down to 35 feet in the dam area, and many of the striped bass work their way to this portion of the lake where they'll spend the winter months.

In a state of coal, mountains and bluegrass music, it's good to know there also is room for plenty of great fishing this fall. Give any of the six destinations highlighted here a try sometime soon. You won't be disappointed.

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