Kevin Quick with a big smallmouth bass caught from the Little Coal River in Boone County. There are many smaller rivers/streams throughout our state that offer great smallie action. Photo by Bob Fala.

Oftentimes, West Virginia’s fishing base seems fixated on trout, yet smallmouth bass are undoubtedly our bread-and-butter game fish on a statewide basis. What’s more, these bronzebacks are truly a wild and self-sustaining fishery. And, with gas prices soaring, closer-to-home fisheries are becoming ever more attractive.

Retired fisheries biologist Mike Hoeft knows how good many of our state’s lesser-known smallmouth rivers and streams can be. He all but begged folks to fish one of his favorite streams: the Tug Fork River. And Tug Fork is as good as any place to start with some “sleeper streams” to wet your line. The Tug Fork is also smack-dab in the midst of the historical Hatfield-McCoy feud and an ATV trail of the same name.

I’ve seen many a gun- or bow-toting 4-wheeler fan, but what about the fishing rods? The Tug Fork heads up in the state’s southernmost McDowell County amid one of the world’s most historical coalfields. Beset by recent floods and a diminishing coal employment base, its smallmouths are as resilient as its people. You’ll find nary a “no trespassing” sign in the “open range” of the Tug Drainage. As with most of West Virginia, walking the stream channel is not a trespassing issue, as the public owns it.

Tug Fork forms the common border, first with Virginia as it flows west, then turning northward to form the state’s border with Kentucky. It is floatable in these parts. Crowds are unheard of and U.S. Route 52 and its connectors afford ample access throughout. I can still recall one line-busting encounter with a Tug Fork smallie.

SOUTH FORK OF THE SOUTH BRANCH
For another border fringe but northern waterway, there’s the smallish South Fork of the South Branch Potomac. This may be one of the fishiest rivers of all time. Not nearly as famous as its big brother, the South Branch, which is just one ridge and valley to the west, the South Fork has a dandy smallmouth fishery.

That’s not to mention the bonus value of its bluegills and fallfish or “silver trout” populations, as they’re sometimes called. The stream flows through Pendleton County. Pendleton boasts some of the most sensational mountain views you will ever lay your eyes on. Yet, the smallish river flows peacefully through quaint bottomland farms, too.

Again, be careful with your floating attempts unless you have a small kayak. Private land is much more prevalent in these parts and you should not cross posted land to get to the river, which is actually more stream-like in proportion.

There are bridge points of access at the famous mountain towns of Sugar Grove, Brandywine and Fort Seybert. From Fort Seybert, a county route parallels and crosses the river twice more en route to Moorefield. The bridge points here are as good as any to wet a line.

Maybe we just got lucky, but a bonus trout or two along with some surprisingly big smallmouths were icing on the cake on one of our recent action-packed South Fork ventures.

DRY FORK
For yet another rocky-bottomed smallmouth waterway that receives mostly “trout angling” attention, there’s the Dry Fork (of the Cheat River). More commonly known just as Dry Fork, its headwaters are mostly a bona fide limestone karst stream for its “sinks” or cool underground flows.

However, as the river drops in elevation at its confluence with Red Creek near the town of Dry Fork, it harbors a mostly smallmouth bass fishery along with rock bass, of course. This Tucker County, Canaan Valley fringing river is again all but devoid of anglers when the trout stocking stops circa late May.