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Home › Waters › West Virginia › Shavers Fork
River · The high Allegheny Mountains of eastern West Virginia, from Cheat Bridge and the Monongahela National Forest headwaters down toward Parsons · West Virginia

Shavers Fork Fishing Guides

One of the highest-elevation trout rivers in the East, running through remote Monongahela National Forest spruce country.

Whitewater dropping through a boulder-strewn Appalachian stream
Gauge location. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Guides on the Shavers Fork

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About the Shavers Fork

Shavers Fork is the highest large trout stream in the eastern United States, and the upper river above Cheat Bridge sits above three thousand feet in red spruce and northern hardwood country that feels far more like Maine than West Virginia. It is the main headwater of the Cheat River, and the upper reach is one of the genuinely remote pieces of trout water left in the mid-Atlantic.

Native brook trout are the prize in the headwaters and the small tributaries feeding them. West Virginia stocks rainbows and browns in the accessible reaches, and holdover fish are common because the water stays cold through the summer at this elevation – the gauge here carries a live temperature series, which is worth watching in August. Lower down, as the river warms and opens up past Bemis and toward Parsons, smallmouth bass and rock bass take over and the trout thin out.

The signature access here is not a road. A long section of the upper river is reached by the West Virginia Central Railroad tracks out of Cheat Bridge and Spruce, and walking the rails is the traditional way in. The Cheat Mountain Salamander and other excursion trains run the same corridor. Below that, Forest Route 92 and the roads around Bemis open up the middle river, and Parsons provides the lower access.

This is backcountry fishing and should be treated as such. Weather at this elevation turns fast, cell coverage is poor to absent, and the walk out is long. Acid deposition has historically been a problem in this drainage and liming programmes have been used to keep the upper river fishable, so conditions vary reach by reach. Go prepared and give yourself a full day.

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Read the full license

Version 1.0, dated 6 September 2026. Applies to every photograph submitted to GuidedFloats through the contact form, a species page, or the community board.

1. What you give us

By ticking the box on the form you grant Guided Floats, LLC (“GuidedFloats”, “we”) a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to store, copy, resize, crop and display your photograph on guidedfloats.com, in GuidedFloats’ own social media accounts and mobile apps, and in material that promotes the site itself, in connection with the fish, water or community feature you sent it in for. The license lasts until you withdraw it (section 4).

You keep the copyright. The license is not exclusive, so you can use the photo anywhere else and license it to anyone else. We will not sell your photo, license it on to anyone else on its own, or use it in paid advertising for a third party.

2. What you confirm

You confirm that you took the photograph yourself (or otherwise own the rights to it), that you have the right to grant this license, and that publishing the photo does not infringe anyone else’s copyright, privacy or other rights.

If any person is recognisable in the photo, you confirm that they have agreed to its being published here, and that a parent or guardian has agreed on behalf of anyone under 18. Please do not send photographs of other people’s catches, screenshots, or pictures copied from other websites or social media.

3. Credit

We print the credit name you give us beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, and record it as the photo’s creator in the page’s structured data. If you leave the credit blank we use the name you gave us on the form. Write “Anonymous” if you prefer no name at all. Your email address, phone number and the exact spot the photo was taken are never published.

4. Withdrawing the license

You can withdraw the license at any time by emailing hello@guidedfloats.com, or by using the contact form, and telling us which photo you mean. We will remove the photo from guidedfloats.com within 7 days of receiving your message and stop using it in anything new. Copies that are already outside our control — search-engine caches, social posts that have already gone out, printed material already produced — may take longer to disappear or may not be recallable, and we are not responsible for those.

5. What we may do

We choose which photos to publish and may decline any submission without giving a reason. We may crop, resize, sharpen or colour-correct a photo for display, and we may remove a photo at any time. We will not alter a photo in a way that misrepresents the fish, the water or you.

6. Your details

We keep your name, email address, the credit name, the water and date you gave us, and the network address the submission came from, with the submission record, as our evidence of this license. We hold that record for as long as the photo is published and for the retention period described in our privacy policy. Location data that your camera or phone embedded in the file is removed before the photo is published.

7. Versions

The version of this license you accepted is stored with your submission and printed with the photo. A later version does not apply to a photo you have already sent unless you agree to it.

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Reviewed by hand before it appears. Pick the water, not the spot — we never publish exact locations.

Never published. We use it only if we need to ask about the photo.

Posting to Shavers Fork.

JPG, PNG or WebP, up to 12 MB. We resize it and strip the location data out of the file.

The name shown under the photo. Leave blank to stay anonymous.

Reader photo license v1.0 — the short version:

  • You grant Guided Floats, LLC a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to publish, resize and crop your photo on guidedfloats.com and in GuidedFloats’ own social posts and apps. You keep the copyright and can use the photo anywhere else.
  • You confirm that you took the photo yourself, that publishing it does not infringe anyone else’s rights, and that anyone recognisable in it (or a parent or guardian, if they are under 18) is happy for it to appear here.
  • Credit is printed beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, using the credit name you give us. Leave it blank and we use your name; write “Anonymous” for no name. Your email address is never published.
  • Withdrawing is one email to hello@guidedfloats.com naming the photo. It comes off the site within 7 days.
Read the full license

Version 1.0, dated 6 September 2026. Applies to every photograph submitted to GuidedFloats through the contact form, a species page, or the community board.

1. What you give us

By ticking the box on the form you grant Guided Floats, LLC (“GuidedFloats”, “we”) a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to store, copy, resize, crop and display your photograph on guidedfloats.com, in GuidedFloats’ own social media accounts and mobile apps, and in material that promotes the site itself, in connection with the fish, water or community feature you sent it in for. The license lasts until you withdraw it (section 4).

You keep the copyright. The license is not exclusive, so you can use the photo anywhere else and license it to anyone else. We will not sell your photo, license it on to anyone else on its own, or use it in paid advertising for a third party.

2. What you confirm

You confirm that you took the photograph yourself (or otherwise own the rights to it), that you have the right to grant this license, and that publishing the photo does not infringe anyone else’s copyright, privacy or other rights.

If any person is recognisable in the photo, you confirm that they have agreed to its being published here, and that a parent or guardian has agreed on behalf of anyone under 18. Please do not send photographs of other people’s catches, screenshots, or pictures copied from other websites or social media.

3. Credit

We print the credit name you give us beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, and record it as the photo’s creator in the page’s structured data. If you leave the credit blank we use the name you gave us on the form. Write “Anonymous” if you prefer no name at all. Your email address, phone number and the exact spot the photo was taken are never published.

4. Withdrawing the license

You can withdraw the license at any time by emailing hello@guidedfloats.com, or by using the contact form, and telling us which photo you mean. We will remove the photo from guidedfloats.com within 7 days of receiving your message and stop using it in anything new. Copies that are already outside our control — search-engine caches, social posts that have already gone out, printed material already produced — may take longer to disappear or may not be recallable, and we are not responsible for those.

5. What we may do

We choose which photos to publish and may decline any submission without giving a reason. We may crop, resize, sharpen or colour-correct a photo for display, and we may remove a photo at any time. We will not alter a photo in a way that misrepresents the fish, the water or you.

6. Your details

We keep your name, email address, the credit name, the water and date you gave us, and the network address the submission came from, with the submission record, as our evidence of this license. We hold that record for as long as the photo is published and for the retention period described in our privacy policy. Location data that your camera or phone embedded in the file is removed before the photo is published.

7. Versions

The version of this license you accepted is stored with your submission and printed with the photo. A later version does not apply to a photo you have already sent unless you agree to it.

Access

Cheat Bridge - the gauge crossing and the main upper-river entry point.
West Virginia Central Railroad grade - the traditional walking access to the upper river.
Spruce - the remote former town site at the top of the river.
High Falls of Cheat - a scenic destination reached on foot or by excursion train.
Bemis - middle river access off the forest road network.
Forest Route 92 - the main forest road corridor along the middle river.
Parsons - lower river access near the Cheat confluence.

Seasons

Spring: high cold flows, stocking in the accessible reaches and strong trout fishing.
Summer: the upper river stays cold and fishable when lower streams do not.
Fall: low clear water, wild brook trout colouring up and excellent hiking.
Winter: snowbound at elevation with most upper access effectively closed.

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Questions

What is the current flow on the Shavers Fork?

As of Sep 17, 6:15 am, the USGS gauge SHAVERS FORK NR CHEAT BRIDGE, WV reads 25 cfs, with water temperature 64 F. Conditions update every 15 minutes.

What species can you catch on the Shavers Fork?

Anglers target Brook Trout, Brown Trout, Rainbow Trout, Rock Bass, Smallmouth Bass on the Shavers Fork in West Virginia.

Where can you access the Shavers Fork?

Cheat Bridge - the gauge crossing and the main upper-river entry point. West Virginia Central Railroad grade - the traditional walking access to the upper river. Spruce - the remote former town site at the top of the river. High Falls of Cheat - a scenic destination reached on foot or by excursion train. Bemis - middle river access off the forest road network. Forest Route 92 - the main forest road corridor along the middle river. Parsons - lower river access near the Cheat confluence.

When is the best time to fish the Shavers Fork?

Spring: high cold flows, stocking in the accessible reaches and strong trout fishing. Summer: the upper river stays cold and fishable when lower streams do not. Fall: low clear water, wild brook trout colouring up and excellent hiking. Winter: snowbound at elevation with most upper access effectively closed.

Where are the fishing regulations for the Shavers Fork?

Regulations change by season and section. Read the current rules on the West Virginia agency site: https://wvdnr.gov/fishing/fishing-regulations/