Photo courtesy of Kevin Yokum.

The late afternoon sun began its downward spiral behind the mountains when another walleye thumped my jig. The walleye made a fine addition to other marble-eyes already on my stringer. My mouth watered as I thought of fresh, tasty walleye fillets on the center of my dinner table. Catching five walleyes on an evening stopover is not too bad for a quick outing.

As I eased out of the Kanawha River Lock with my stringer full of fish, I encountered another angler on his way to the river. “Ah, success!” he said, “but it sure ain’t no Lake Erie.” I replied, “No, but I caught enough for the dinner table, and the Kanawha sure is a whole lot closer to home!”

While West Virginia is home to a variety of awesome fisheries, I’d be lying if I didn’t say that walleyes are one of the state’s most limited fish commodities. There are roughly a dozen or so quality walleye fisheries in West Virginia. However, even with limited opportunities, quality fishing can be found in select Mountain State lakes and rivers, especially during the late winter and early spring.

Walleye management in West Virginia received a boost when the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources (DNR) began growing larger walleye fingerlings to stock in state waters. Such stocking advancements have generated measurable improvements in marble-eye populations among many state walleye waters. If you don’t believe it, just ask anglers who fish the New River.

Although not yet established like the waters featured in this article, the New River is producing excellent numbers of young walleyes that seem to be growing extremely fast. And anglers catching them right now are salivating in anticipation at just how good the walleye fishing might become after another two years.

In the meantime, check out these waters for some red-hot walleye action this spring.

KANAWHA RIVER
Although previously unknown as a numbers-producing walleye fishery, the Kanawha River is becoming a place to catch both quantities and quality-sized walleyes. Recent improvements to the river’s water quality and enhanced stocking efforts over the last five years point toward a bright future for walleye fishing in the Kanawha River.

The Kanawha, the state’s second largest river, sustains a local angler following, but for the most part, fishing pressure continues to be minimal along most of the river’s length. Thus, the river maintains the necessary ingredients for producing quality walleye fishing: low fishing pressure, increased stocking and adequate forage.

Walleye stocking remains a vital component of the Kanawha River fishery, much like it is on most West Virginia walleye waters. A new restoration project established by the DNR has elevated the importance of walleye stockings on the river, and now the Kanawha is slated to receive stockings of fingerling walleyes every year. The stockings call for over 31,000 walleye fingerlings to be put in the river each year, as they were in 2005 and 2006.

The river’s best attribute continues to be numbers of fish rather than trophy potential, but trophy-sized walleyes do show up each year. Typical walleyes from the river run between 10 to 20 inches, although catches of hefty walleyes exceeding 20 inches are now becoming more common.

Of all the spots to fish on the Kanawha River, the locks remain the most popular places. Popularity continues to originate from repeated success. It’s no wonder, as hordes of fish bunch up in the tailraces just below each of the locks. Marmet, Winfield and London all feature lock systems that qualify as exceptional walleye hotspots.

These locks offer a tantalizing packet for walleyes: the right temperature, abundant food and well-oxygenated water. As walleyes move upriver to the locks, they discover ideal conditions, so a good portion of these fish will stay for extended periods.