Fly Fishing in West Virginia

A regional note specific to this state: the trout fishing here is concentrated in a single river corridor with multiple access points, and the state agency has invested heavily in that corridor, which is why the catch rate is consistently high and the average fish size is larger than the national average. West Virginia trout fishing is a small but technically diverse fishery built on the cold-water streams of the Allegheny Mountains. The state has about 2,000 miles of fishable trout water, including the famous Shavers Fork, the South Branch of the Potomac, the Greenbrier, the Cranberry, and dozens more. The most famous trout river is Shavers Fork, a freestone that runs through the Monongahela National Forest and produces wild browns and rainbows averaging 12 to 16 inches. The state's trout program is administered through the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources, and the agency stocks the put-and-take rivers and lakes in the spring and fall while managing the wild trout water through a combination of slot limits and Trophy Trout designations. A regular West Virginia fishing license is required, and the cost is $19 for residents and $37 for non-residents, and the daily limit is 5 trout combined in most waters with a 2-trout limit on the Trophy Trout water. The unique regional quirk is that West Virginia requires a special trout stamp for trout fishing, and the daily limit is 3 trout in the inland trout-stocked waters.