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Home › Waters › West Virginia › Gauley River
River · Allegheny Mountains · West Virginia

Gauley River Fishing Guides

Best known for its fall whitewater releases, the Gauley is also a cold tailwater trout fishery below Summersville Dam and a strong smallmouth river above and below the lake.

A mountain stream running over mossy rock through eastern hardwoods
Gauge location. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Guides on the Gauley River

Claimed profiles take booking requests. Unclaimed profiles are built from public records so the river is never empty; the guide can claim or remove one any time.

About the Gauley River

The Gauley is famous for six weeks a year. When Summersville Dam draws down in September and October, the Lower Gauley and Upper Gauley become two of the most demanding commercial whitewater runs in North America, and the town of Summersville fills with rafters. For the other forty-six weeks the river is something quieter and, for anglers, more interesting.

Below Summersville Dam the cold release supports a trout fishery that West Virginia stocks and that holds fish through the summer, which is unusual in this part of the state. The tailwater reach fishes best on low releases and gets crowded on weekends in spring. Above the lake, from Craigsville and Camden-on-Gauley upstream, the river is a freestone smallmouth and rock bass stream with pocket water and long pools, and the Cranberry and Williams rivers nearby are among the best wild trout streams in West Virginia.

Below the whitewater canyon the Gauley meets the New at Gauley Bridge to form the Kanawha, and the lower reaches hold smallmouth, walleye and musky.

The Craigsville gauge sits on the upper river above Summersville Lake, so it reads the free-flowing headwaters rather than the dam release. A couple of hundred cfs is normal summer water and wades well; the upper river drops low and clear in late summer and rises fast after mountain storms. For the tailwater below the dam, the release schedule matters far more than any natural gauge.

Summersville and Richwood are the towns. If you are planning a trip in late September, expect the whole county to be booked for rafting.

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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.

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4. Withdrawing the license

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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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Posting to Gauley River.

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.

Flow alert

Tell me when the Gauley River cfs

Now: 1,700 cfs, read 3:30 am CDT, Mon Oct 19, 2026 (USGS 03189100, GAULEY RIVER NEAR CRAIGSVILLE, WV).

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Access

Camden-on-Gauley and Craigsville: upper river access near the gauge.
Curtin and the Cranberry confluence: headwater access and nearby wild trout streams.
Summersville Lake: reservoir access and boat ramps.
Summersville Dam tailwater: trout access immediately below the dam.
Mason Branch and Woods Ferry: Gauley River National Recreation Area accesses in the canyon.
Swiss and Gauley Bridge: lower river access toward the New River confluence.

Seasons

March through May: stocked trout below the dam, high water and good smallmouth up top.
June through August: tailwater trout on low releases, smallmouth on the upper river.
September and October: whitewater release season dominates the canyon; fish above the lake instead.
November through February: quiet water, tailwater trout and musky in the lower river.

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Questions

What is the current flow on the Gauley River?

As of Oct 19, 3:30 am, the USGS gauge GAULEY RIVER NEAR CRAIGSVILLE, WV reads 1,700 cfs, the 82nd percentile for this date, with water temperature 50.9 F. Conditions update every 15 minutes.

What species can you catch on the Gauley River?

Anglers target Brown Trout, Muskellunge, Rainbow Trout, Rock Bass, Smallmouth Bass, Walleye on the Gauley River in West Virginia.

Are there fishing guides on the Gauley River?

GuidedFloats lists 1 guide and outfitters on the Gauley River. Claimed profiles accept booking requests; unclaimed profiles are built from public records and link to the business.

Where can you access the Gauley River?

Camden-on-Gauley and Craigsville: upper river access near the gauge. Curtin and the Cranberry confluence: headwater access and nearby wild trout streams. Summersville Lake: reservoir access and boat ramps. Summersville Dam tailwater: trout access immediately below the dam. Mason Branch and Woods Ferry: Gauley River National Recreation Area accesses in the canyon. Swiss and Gauley Bridge: lower river access toward the New River confluence.

When is the best time to fish the Gauley River?

March through May: stocked trout below the dam, high water and good smallmouth up top. June through August: tailwater trout on low releases, smallmouth on the upper river. September and October: whitewater release season dominates the canyon; fish above the lake instead. November through February: quiet water, tailwater trout and musky in the lower river.

Where are the fishing regulations for the Gauley River?

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