What are the best places to fish?
Ask even the most loquacious angler and you’ll likely get the cold shoulder.
Giving up their time-honored and productive locations for landing lunkers is the last item on some local anglers’ agenda.
“I don’t tell nobody, not even my own family members,” says Buck Reunions of Mullens. “When people ask me, I send them somewhere else.”
The 65-year-old angler adds emphatically, “I keep my favorite fishing spots entirely to myself.”
Fortunately, though, a few local fishermen aren’t as reticent about fishing.
They don’t seem to mind talking about their favorite streams and lakes with fellow anglers.
Most of them figure they’re going to out-fish their rivals anyhow, even if they fish the same waters on the same day.
Kerry Hatcher of Beckley regularly plies his angling skills with fellow anglers on New and Greenbrier rivers in Summers County.
He has taken a sizable number of smallmouth and largemouth bass from the rivers during spring.
During summer and early fall, he’ll try his luck at area lakes and impoundments: Stephens, Summersville, Bluestone, and Pipestem.
While some energetic anglers are busy pursuing their limit of trout on Glade Creek, Hatcher is busy at Sandstone Falls on New River, where he uses a variety of baits including minnows and jigs to catch handsome citation size bass.
On Bluestone Lake he uses softshell crayfish. At Plum Orchard and Pipestem lakes he opts for spinners, jigs, and power baits.
On the Little Bluestone River, Hatcher’s arsenal consists of spinners, jigs, and hellgrammites. At Little Beaver Lake he chooses power bait.
White jigs and nightcrawlers are good for R.D. Bailey Lake, he says.
Power bait, nightcrawlers and mealworms all work well at Babcock.
Mark Scott, assistant chief fisheries biologist with the DNR in Charleston, touts several local streams and lakes in the eight-county area of District IV.
Here’s a rundown from Scott on lunker sizes and popular baits.
Kanawha Falls—bass, 15-pound walleye, hybrid striped bass, 20-pound musky—large hybrid striped bass. Big chubs are recommended.
Sandstone Falls—smallmouth, flathead catfish, occasional musky, striper, and walleye. Bait? Again, creek chubs.
R.D. Bailey—big hybrids, good walleye, and some record size spotted bass. Bait: chicken livers, plugs and softshell crayfish.
James P. Bailey Lake near Mercer Mall for sporting trout fishermen is an excellent choice, says Scott. The lake is stocked with brood trout every spring.
Glade Creek: highly recommended for trout year-round. Fly fishing tackle or regular trout bait work equally well, the biologist explains.
“It’s perhaps the best overall trout stream,” Scott says of Glade Creek.
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Top o’ the morning!
