South Branch Potomac River Fishing Guides and Conditions, West Virginia

About the South Branch Potomac River

The South Branch of the Potomac runs north from Highland County, Virginia, through Franklin, the Smoke Hole Canyon, Petersburg, Moorefield, the Trough and Romney, and joins the North Branch near Green Spring. Limestone geology gives it fertile, alkaline water, and the result is a smallmouth bass river that grows fish faster and bigger than the freestone rivers around it.

Two reaches define the guided fishing. The Smoke Hole Canyon between Cabins and Big Bend is a remote, walled gorge with excellent smallmouth and, in the colder upper reaches, stocked and holdover trout. The Trough, a five-mile canyon between Moorefield and Romney where the only road is a railroad and bald eagles nest on the cliffs, is the classic float and one of the better smallmouth trips in the East. Between and below those, the river runs through farm valleys with ledges, grass beds and long pools.

The South Branch is also a genuine musky river. A small group of guides fish nothing else here through the cold months, and the river produces fish that would be respectable in the Midwest.

The Springfield gauge reads the whole basin near the mouth. Summer flows in the low hundreds of cfs wade and float comfortably; a dry August can leave the shallow reaches too thin for a loaded boat. The river responds quickly to storms in the Alleghenies, colors up, and clears within a couple of days.

Moorefield, Petersburg and Romney are the towns. Public access is decent but many banks are private farm land, so floating is the practical way to fish it.

Access

Franklin and Upper Tract: upper river access in Pendleton County.
Smoke Hole Canyon: Monongahela National Forest access at Big Bend and Smoke Hole campgrounds.
Petersburg: town access below the canyon.
Moorefield and Old Fields: valley accesses above the Trough.
The Trough: floated from Moorefield-area put-ins to the Romney takeout, no road access in between.
Romney, Blue Beach and Springfield: lower river accesses near the gauge.

Seasons

March through May: pre-spawn smallmouth, high water, stocked trout in the upper reaches.
June through August: the main float season, topwater smallmouth, low clear water in late summer.
September and October: the best month, aggressive fish and easy floating.
November through February: musky season; smallmouth stack in the deep winter holes.