Fall Fly Fishing in West Virginia.

[ICM]

Wife and I are thinking about a Mid-October trip to West Virginia combining sightseeing and fly fishing. Any recommendations for locations, lodging, streams and area attractions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[bikerfish]

two that come to mind are Harmons cabins, their ad is over there>>>
and elk springs resort.
another is elk river touring center.
I know harmons is ok, but best to call if going further south, the June floods were devastating, trust me, I was there when it happened, still bridges out, roads closed, and the creeks basically destroyed. some areas will take decades to return to normal.
Helvetia is another cool destination, stay in the B&B, have a nice dinner at the Hutte, and fish the local streams. That little town is like stepping back in time.

 

[tomitrout]

Davis and Thomas are fun little towns also, good fishing nearby and plenty to do away from the streams...Black Water Falls State Park, Canaan Valley State Park, the Purple Fiddle for a good live music vibe in Thomas and a handful of other fun venues. All sorts of lodging options if you do some digging from B&B's to rooms and cabins in the state parks. Seneca Rocks is short commute down out of the Valley and more decent water down there along the way also.

 

[ryguyfi]

Go ask the guys over at www.wvangler.com. They will point you in the right direction.

The New river is fantastic smallie water and the Elk is a great dry fly stream for trout. Lots of blue lines down in WV as well.

 

[PocketWater]

We stayed at a house near Elkins, WV this summer for a weekend. It was on the Shavers Fork of the Cheat River. This train is near there if you wanted to do the fall foliage thing. Shavers Fork had stockies in it when we stayed there.

http://mountainrailwv.com/choose-a-train/tygart-flyer

 

[3oh4]

I live in North Central West Virginia.

Usually our fall fishing is awful because of low flows and lack of wild trout. Unless you want to chase brook trout you are really limited in our state. We do have a fall stocking program if that interests you but quite frankly our water is so low in the fall we struggle to offer good fishing.

The only thing close to a "real" trout stream we have to offer is the Elk river which is fishable year round because it emerges from an underground spring keeping the temps ok and Elk Springs Resort keeps a gazillion fish in the water with a small mixture of wild trout.

Seneca Creek which drains right into the base of Seneca Rocks is a mixture of wild bows and brookies.

Other than that most places are a crap shoot. Plenty of sight seeing but the fishing is very poor. I rarely fish WV in the summer/fall.

*We do have really good warmwater species to fish for though, which don't interest me.

 

[DaveKile]

Please check out Harman's Cabins. Long time sponsor and heck of a lot of nice trout stocked there in the spring and fall. If you do please let them know your are coming from Paflyfish.

Thanks,

Dave

 

[steveo]

dkile wrote:
Please check out Harman's Cabins. Long time sponsor and heck of a lot of nice trout stocked there in the spring and fall. If you do please let them know your are coming from Paflyfish.

Thanks,

Dave

Definitely check out Harman's. The wife and I are headed down there in a few weeks but the streams are really low. Hoping for rain but even without the fishing it's a beautiful area.

 

[buffalo]

Just another Harmans fan. Had a great time and caught my biggest rainbow 26" 9 pound beauty. Even though they are stocked there are some really nice fish. I used a guide that was an ER doctor and can't say enough about how good he was. Wife doesn't fish but she is ready to go back as well.

 

[buffalo]

Oh if you mention PAFlifish it gets you a 5 % discout

 

[3oh4]

Harman's is on the North Fork of the South Branch of the Potomac... last I heard there are places the water isn't even flowing on the river and places you can't even see water.

The flow today is at 10cfs at Cabins which is where Harmans is!!! Pray for water if you go there. Fished in a tournament there before, great place to stay, clean and fun water to fish for big stockers.

 

[ICM]

Decided to book Harmans 10/17-10/20, primarily because its 1 1/2 hrs closer than the Elk. With the current rain the water flow is way up to 761cfs. Hopefully they get a bit more rain in the next 2 weeks so the water levels are ok. Cass Scenic RR, Seneca Rocks and the National Radio Astronomy Observatory seem worth a visit. Can anyone recommend any restaurants in the area since Harmans has none on site?
We've never been in the area before so I'm considering a guide for at least one day. Anyone have any experience with the guides at Harmans? Worth it?

 

[troutpoop]

I've never struggled to find fish at Harmons. The places fish will likely be is pretty obvious. I've been there 4 times and always had a great time.

 

[Canoetripper]

It has been a while since I was last in Durbin, WV. My favorite canoe trip is Durbin to Cass on the Greenbrier River. The fishing is medicore for stocked trout and smallmouth bass at best but the rugged isolation and mountain beauty of that valley is what makes it so special.

I have flown over the observatory at Green Bank and hiked the Allegheny trail on Little Mountain. That is a view that most don't see. The observatory is really impressive and huge.

There is/was a bar in Durbin called the Upper Inn Club which had decent food.

There is a moderator on WVAngler.com named McFishin. He is a great guy and would be glad to help you. I think he lives in Petersburg, which is where the South Branch of the Potomac River flows through.

That river is a great small mouth bass fishery in addition to being the most heavily stocked trout fishery in West Virginia.