Fly Fishing Insider Podcast
West Virginia holds miles of native brook trout streams in the Potomac headwaters, smallmouth in the New River Gorge, and a musky fishery the state has grown into. Fishing runs all twelve months. The sulfur hatch is the calendar event, starting around May 25 and running roughly three weeks into June.
Curtis Fleming is the West Virginia host of the fly fishing television series Fly Rod Chronicles, now past its 21st season, and has caught fish in 48 states.
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What can you actually catch fly fishing in West Virginia?
West Virginia's state fish is the brook trout, technically a char, and the state has mile after mile of brook trout streams for anglers wanting native and wild fish. The New River Gorge carries the smallmouth and warm water fishing and is treated locally as the heartbeat of the state. Musky became a serious target during the pandemic and West Virginia has since turned into a musky destination in its own right. In the Eastern Panhandle the Shenandoah and Potomac drainages near Harpers Ferry hold smallmouth, while the same watershed traced up into the mountains narrows to native brook trout and wild rainbows.
When does the sulfur hatch happen in West Virginia?
The sulfur hatch is reliable enough to set a clock by, arriving around Memorial Day weekend and running from roughly May 25 through about three weeks of June. On the Elk River in the evening the hatch gets thick enough that anglers pull a buff up over the nose and over their glasses, because the bugs are going into eyes and ears. The visual that sells it is the change in the water: minutes before the hatch a pool can look like it holds no fish at all, and once the sulfurs come off the surface boils like a jacuzzi.
Has coal mining ruined West Virginia's trout streams?
The state's pollution reputation came from an era before anyone understood what dumping into a watershed did, and the Clean Water Act along with conservation group involvement ended that practice. In southern West Virginia, where much of the coal industry sat, the rivers took a long time to clean up, but the mine drainage there entered the water at a different pH than in most coal mining areas. The result is that the cold water running into those southern streams now supports trout that are thriving and running bigger than expected. That fishery stayed a local secret for years until online video made it public, and anglers now show up there from North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Georgia.
Should you net a fish head first or tail first?
Net the head. Fish swim forward, not backward, so a net brought at the tail simply pushes the fish away and is where a hooked fish most often comes unbuttoned. The comparison offered is boxing: control the head and the body follows. Once the head is in the net the rest of the fish generally follows it in. This is basic enough that it sounds not worth teaching, and it is still where a large share of botched landings happen, including on filmed trips that have to be edited around the mistake.
When is a fish actually ready to be brought to the net?
The signal is the head. Any time the fish's head comes out of the water, not on a jump but during the retrieve, and the gills are visible, that fish is ready to come to you. Beginners in particular do everything right through the fight and then have no idea when to close the deal, so they keep playing a fish that is already finished. The longer the fight runs, the more the angler starts thinking about who tied the knot, what hook it is on and what tippet is in play, and the more the outcome depends on hope rather than technique.
How do you fight a fish in fast water without losing it?
In a boat the angler is standing and facing downstream, so the angler, not the rower, has the better view of what is coming. Call out obstacles by clock position to the person on the oars, then steer the fish away from them, because a smart fish is actively trying to put you into a boulder. Keep the fish out of the fast water, look ahead for the nearest slow-water pocket, and move the fish into that water to land it. It is easier to move the fish than to move the boat, and anglers who assume the guide will simply net whatever arrives at the gunwale are handing away the part of the job only they can do.
When should you change a hooked fish's direction?
Not while it is committed to a run. A fish swimming hard to the left should be allowed to wear itself out going left; deciding halfway through to turn it and tire it faster is where fish come off. Change direction when the fish makes its own turn, and put maximum pressure on through that turn, because the common mistake is introducing slack exactly when the hook angle is changing. The rod tip should trace something like an upside-down U through the switch, which maintains and increases pressure rather than releasing it. The exception is a fish running toward a snag, where the decision has to be made regardless.
Key takeaways
- Plan a West Virginia sulfur trip for roughly May 25 through the first three weeks of June, and bring a buff for the evening hatch.
- Net a fish head first; fish swim forward, and a tail-first net job pushes them away.
- Bring the fish in when its head comes out of the water and the gills are showing, not before.
- Steer a hooked fish toward the nearest slow-water pocket and call boulders by clock position to whoever is rowing.
- Turn a fish only when it turns on its own, and put maximum pressure on through the turn rather than letting slack in.
- Push lighter tippet further than feels comfortable; 6X has considerable stretch and a bent rod absorbs more than most anglers expect.
