Fishing the West Virginia gold rush
- The Trout Bandit
- 3 hours ago
- 4 min read
Until recently, the one and only time I have fished for trout in West Virginia was in 2022 during what the West Virginia Department of Natural Resources (WVDNR) calls its Gold Rush. This is a two-week campaign held in the spring of each year when some 50,000 golden rainbow trout (aka palomino trout, banana trout or 'goldens') are stocked in lakes and streams across the state of West Virginia. On my first experience, I joined a group of anglers whom I know well to spend a couple of days in Petersburg, West Virginia. The Gold Rush was a blast!
Petersburg, WV deems itself the “home of the golden trout” and is a gateway to the Monongahela National Forest. It is also located along the South Branch of the Potomac, which along with its famous ‘Smoke Hole’, is a prime stocking area for the West Virginia Gold Rush. A recent CNN feature on underrated destinations in the US included West Virginia in the list for its historical landmarks and outdoor experiences. I can understand the latter being a key attraction in the 'Mountain State'.
An angling companion from my first excursion encouraged me to return with him to fish waters in the vicinity of Petersburg during the recent Gold Rush campaign. As of this writing, the campaign is now in its ninth year, but the State of West Virginia has been cultivating a brood stock (originating from California golden trout) since the 1950s. It is an oddity to see these yellow submarines milling about in the rivers and lakes – but also requires a patient and skillful approach to put one in the net.
I challenged my friend, Lars, to introduce me to multiple different access points where these goldens could be found. While I enjoy the sections of the North Fork of the South Branch of the Potomac, just upstream and downstream of the Smoke Hole Bridge, I wanted to experience some waters outside the usual suspects. Lars did not disappoint, but of course we had to meet on the first morning at the favorite layby just upstream of the bridge. This is some great fishing water – and not just for golden trout. On our first morning we hooked into tiger trout, brown trout, rainbows, as well as the prized golden. We even put a large carp in the net.
For something different, Lars led me to the Spring Run special regulation water in Grant County downstream of the Spring Run trout hatchery. This is a one-mile section of water specially designated for naturally reproducing rainbow and wild brook trout that is managed by the WVDNR as fly-fishing only water. It is very skinny; requires a technical approach and some bushwacking to reach the prime riffles and runs. I enjoyed the challenge of putting a small wild rainbow in the net.
Our return to the Smoke Hole Bridge the next day was not productive. The easy pickings of the previous day evaporated and the ‘catching’ was non-existent. Lars took this as a cue to move us to the South Branch of the Potomac River along Smoke Hole Road near Eagle Rock. We initially picked a spot in the vicinity of the Smoke Hole picnic area and campground, to check out the river at Shreve’s Country Store, but we did not mark any fish so we continued southbound on Smoke Hole Road in the direction of Eagle Rock.
Here there is a very attractive stretch of special regulation water (i .e. “fishy looking”) downstream of Eagle Rock encompassing approximately one mile. Lars confirmed it to be viable trout water and talked of having previous success along this stretch. But with only a few hours left of our fishing day, he had designs of wading just upstream of Eagle Rock. There Lars camped out at a nearby pool where he had spotted a golden rainbow and I waded further upstream to a promising looking run. After an hour of fending off rock bass (or ‘red eye’ bass) that continued to intercept his fly, Lars finally hooked up and landed the golden wonder. Meanwhile, I was having success hooking up on a couple of stocked rainbows in the upstream run.
So, it was a reasonably productive two days with several species of fish caught, including a few golden rainbow trout. Like the past visit, there was no silver bullet fly pattern that incited strikes. Rather, it was a process of repeatedly changing out fly patterns until hitting on the right one for that fish at that moment. Generally, we fished tandems comprising a mixture of nymphs paired with stonefly patterns or streamers, with no real commonality of pattern or color. The rod of choice was a nine-foot, five-weight with a nine-foot, 5x leader.
Be sure to check the USGS sites for both the South Branch of the Potomac and its North Fork near to Petersburg, WV. The discharge in cubic feet per second during our trip – at about 400 on the North Fork – was a bit higher than we would want for comfortable wading, but still fishable. Full-waders are probably necessary, and a rocky-river bottom that is slick necessitates a wading stick and studded boots.
Tight Lines!