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Home › Waters › West Virginia › Opequon Creek
Creek · West Virginia's Eastern Panhandle, Berkeley County, the Great Valley limestone country near Martinsburg · West Virginia

Opequon Creek Fishing Guides

A limestone creek running north through the Eastern Panhandle to the Potomac, with a solid smallmouth and rock bass fishery close to Martinsburg.

A wide river below a ridge in full autumn colour in the Appalachians
Gauge location. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Guides on the Opequon Creek

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About the Opequon Creek

Opequon Creek rises in Virginia near Winchester and runs north through Berkeley County in the West Virginia Eastern Panhandle to reach the Potomac River above Shepherdstown. It flows the length of the Great Valley in this region, over the carbonate bedrock that gives the valley its farmland and its springs, and it is the principal warm water stream of the Panhandle rather than a mountain trout creek.

The limestone matters to how it behaves. Springs feeding out of the valley carbonate keep baseflow up through the summer and moderate the temperature swings a surface fed creek this size would otherwise show, and the mineral content makes the water productive. The creek runs over limestone ledge and gravel with long slow pools separated by short riffles, and it stains after rain on the valley farmland and then clears over a few days.

Smallmouth bass are the reason to fish it. The creek holds a solid population through the middle and lower reaches, and the combination of ledge structure, current seams and summer baseflow gives them everything they need. Rock bass are abundant and are the most willing fish in the creek. Redbreast sunfish and bluegill fill the slower pools, channel catfish work the deeper holes, and largemouth turn up in the slowest backwater stretches.

Access comes mainly through road crossings and the public frontage near Martinsburg, along with the lower reach where the creek nears the Potomac and Cool Spring Preserve and similar tracts open parts of the corridor. Much of the valley bank is private farmland, so the creek is the practical right of way and the bridges are the entries. It is small enough to wade through most of its length and canoeable in the lower reach at reasonable flow.

The fishing is straightforward warm water creek work. Wade the riffles and fish the ledges, the current seams and the shade lines with small crankbaits, tubes, soft plastics or a popper on a fly rod. Summer is the main season, when the springs hold flow and smallmouth feed hard in the shallow current. Spring fishes well once the farmland runoff clears, fall is pleasant and productive, and winter is slow and deep.

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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

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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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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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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

Martinsburg - the Berkeley County city near the creek and the gauge location.
Opequon Creek road crossings - the county road bridges giving practical wade in access.
Potomac River - the larger river receiving the creek above Shepherdstown.
Shepherdstown - the Jefferson County town near the mouth of the creek.
Cool Spring Preserve - the public tract on the lower creek corridor.
Winchester - the Virginia city near the headwaters south of the state line.
Berkeley County public frontage - the local access points along the middle reach.

Seasons

Spring: high stained water from valley farmland runoff, clearing over several days.
Summer: the main season, with spring flow holding the creek up and smallmouth feeding in the riffles.
Fall: cooling clear water and the most pleasant wading conditions of the year.
Winter: slow cold fishing with fish concentrated in the deeper limestone pools.

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Questions

What is the current flow on the Opequon Creek?

As of Sep 17, 5:00 am, the USGS gauge OPEQUON CREEK NEAR MARTINSBURG, WV reads 56 cfs. Conditions update every 15 minutes.

What species can you catch on the Opequon Creek?

Anglers target Bluegill, Channel Catfish, Largemouth Bass, Redbreast Sunfish, Rock Bass, Smallmouth Bass on the Opequon Creek in West Virginia.

Where can you access the Opequon Creek?

Martinsburg - the Berkeley County city near the creek and the gauge location. Opequon Creek road crossings - the county road bridges giving practical wade in access. Potomac River - the larger river receiving the creek above Shepherdstown. Shepherdstown - the Jefferson County town near the mouth of the creek. Cool Spring Preserve - the public tract on the lower creek corridor. Winchester - the Virginia city near the headwaters south of the state line. Berkeley County public frontage - the local access points along the middle reach.

When is the best time to fish the Opequon Creek?

Spring: high stained water from valley farmland runoff, clearing over several days. Summer: the main season, with spring flow holding the creek up and smallmouth feeding in the riffles. Fall: cooling clear water and the most pleasant wading conditions of the year. Winter: slow cold fishing with fish concentrated in the deeper limestone pools.

Where are the fishing regulations for the Opequon Creek?

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