{Tidal Potomac Fly Rodders} Re: Berkeley Springs, WV - Access/Local Intel?

Thanks, y'all.  I'll let you know how we do!

On Tuesday, July 8, 2014 10:56:44 AM UTC-4, Andrew LaVigne wrote:

Just got back from that area yesterday. We stayed at a cabin a few miles upriver from Great Cacapon on WV-9. The subdivision was called Morgan Woods, and had private river frontage, but there was a pull-off public access just downstream with room for 1-2 cars, and a path down to the river. It wasn't marked all that well, but if you find the Morgan Woods entrance, you can backtrack to it. Be careful around there though - the private property signs are everywhere, and the owners were out in force to make sure people weren't walking through. 

There are other accesses closer to Great Cacapon that are marked with signs, and near the bridges. I think it is probably just worth exploring some to see what's public and what's not. 

The Cacapon in that area was wadeable in general, but had its challenges. Slick rocks and a slit layer on everything meant you really needed good wading shoes and take it slow. It was sort of like a combination of the ridges/reefs in the Shenandoah near Luray and the slow/silty areas in the lower Rapidan. 

Fishing was decent the first day - July 4 - standard stuff like clousers and rubber leg buggers got a few subsurface hits until the topwater game started, and then blue poppers were getting aggressive strikes. Had several small bass and sunfish, a few 12-14 inch bass landed, and one big fish that broke me off on a rock, after I couldn't turn it fast enough on a 5 weight. 

The 2nd day (Saturday), the river was flowing higher & cooler, and had some stain to it, I assume from the big rains on Thursday charging up the tributaries and springs. Fishing dropped off markedly, with only a few topwater hits in 4-5 hours of fishing. There were some areas on the back side of islands I wish I could have gotten to, and with lower flows, you might be able to make your way over.

For reference, here's the streamflow data from USGS for the river. Note the rise/spike on July 5

http://waterdata.usgs.gov/wv/nwis/uv/?site_no=01611500&PARAmeter_cd=00065,00060,62614

Watch for the streamflow to get back into the normal range - wading will be much better, and fishing with it. 

Good luck out there. Pretty countryside. 

On Monday, July 7, 2014 7:59:41 PM UTC-4, Patrick Kearns wrote:

Hey all,

The weekend after next, I'll be at Cacapon State Park in Berkeley Springs, WV for an annual weekend of golf and fishing with my dad.  With the golf, I'm beyond help, but I was hoping y'all might have advice on the fishing.

We've fished both bodies of water in the park itself (the lake with the beach  and the reservoir further back into the park) with mixed results - mostly panfish and small bass.  We'll hit those up when we only have an hour or two at the end of the day, but on our one full day we're looking to strike out from the park for a change of scene.  Does anyone have advice on better shore fishing within 30-45 minutes drive?  

In the past, we've talked up folks at the park and local stores, but always either gotten lost trying to find the spots they told us about, or found them full of locals swimming and tubing.  Given the number of runs, creeks, ponds, etc. (in addition to the two big rivers) I get the impression that picking which spot of many to go fish out of our options may be more of the challenge.

From the WV DNR website, it looks like there should be good access & fishing where the Cacapon River meets the Potomac by Route 9, and there's also mention of a power plant further up the Cacapon.  Does anyone have any experience in these or other places nearby?  

Not asking for anybody's honey hole - just a place where there's some walkable shoreline and the possibility of slightly larger quarry.  Any intel is much appreciated.

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