Wild, Wonderful, Wet, West Virginia Part II

Thursday the 27^th I left work at 1630 and drove down to the Cheat River Valley. I stayed at the Cheat River Canyon Campground. Its does not have a website, but what it does have are hot showers and flush toilets. The showers are coin operated for 4 quarters you get six minutes of bliss!

Like so many other campgrounds down there the media-demic has made a mess of things for small business owners. The campground is going out of business, but I heard it has been recently purchased and we will have to wait and see what happens.

The camp ground as it is is a campground for the seasoned camper. The showers are set up and antiquate for showers. The stalls are old but clean and separated by partitions. This establishment is awesome for those who are there for hiking, fishing, white water sports, and for those who want to get away from the hustle and bustle of life.

There are plenty of places to eat near by and when I mean near by with-in 20-30 minutes. Their are mom and pop diners “Down Home Diner 300 Tunnelton St, Kingwood, WV 26537” and main stream food venues.

I drove into kingwood for some great home cooking and ate well. They can be found here at https://www.facebook.com/MonroesDeli It will not matter if you want a mouth watering steak or a dollar hoagie like your grandmas house it will be your fault if you leave hungry.

After arriving at the campsite and met the fine folks there I went to set up camp. I was able to camp so close to the river that it lulled me to sleep every night. Now there was at times loud traffic, but it would become just white noise after awhile.

I would wake up and head to Walmart to get my license. I returned to the river at about 0800. Along the Cheat you have amazing access points. The only draw back as you will see is the rocks. I don't mind the rocks they make you get your excersize.

You just have to use extreme caution. As my great grandfather used to tell me there are two types of people who fish rivers. The one person who has fallen and the other who will fall. One of many key factors in rock hoping along the river is it the rock is dark colored you will most likely have a slip trip or fall. I wear my Great Lakes wading boots and they have carbide studs in them. They give me a second chance normally, but again you need to approach every surface with caution.

The Cheat @ the USGS station in Albright was 490 – 512 cf/s and the information can be found here: https://dashboard.waterdata.usgs.gov/api/gwis/2.0/service/siteagencyCode=USGS&siteNumber=03070260&open=160537

I have been fishing my entire life and I have been very observant of my surroundings. I have never seen until this day huge small-mouth guarding the areas where the small-mouth hatch has occurred. I was watching these 14-17” small-mouth hens and bulls chase after much smaller smallies. These other smallies I think were eating the fry! I am telling you these not so little Cheat River smallies would come in hot and run off the other small-mouth. I did not fish for these fish who were obviously guarding there fry.

I used my TiCr 6wt and my egg beater. The eggbeater was the best tool for here. I am not saying the fly rod cant be used here. So many times the types of waters I am fishing there is no room for a back-cast. Now this is not every cast that this is an issue. The fly of choice was a black over white sparsely tied on a 1/0 clouser style hook with large dumbbell eyes. The eggbeater lure of choice was a 2” power grub in a milky shad color with a ¼ oz white jig head. The retrieve while it was warm did not matter slow or fast. I brought fish to hand no matter which I used.

What allowed me to hook fish was the structure in the river and how I fished it. Their are people out there who fish featureless waters and wonder why they don't hook fish,

These fish are ambush predators. They hide under submerged logs, rock ledges, and in broken water. It matters greatly how one covers the water column.

The other thing is you have to commit to losing flies or lures in order to have a better chance in hooking fish. It does not matter if its a Bluegill or a Steelhead.

I brought about 20 smallies to hand and sorry for zero fishy photos. At about 11 am the rains came and I knew they would, but I did not think they would set up camp over the Cheat River Valley. The river raised a solid four feet vertically! I also want to point out that the air temps leading up to this storm were in the 70's and the water temp was 75 degrees and ended up at 59 degrees! So needless to say it became extremely tough to bring a fish to hand. I fished until I was wetter than the fish I was trying to bring to hand.

Being down home is always a blessing and the people I meet are always so kind. In your travels always remember in these little villages, boroughs, and hamlets they are struggling. I encourage you to spend some time and money in there places when we (you) can.

I also got a reel treat. I got to fish a family pond filled with 9-12” bull gills! Omg I forgot how fun they are to catch. Wit ha 6wt and a foam gurgler in white it was on. The hook again was 1/0 and they had to want it. On a side note I met new family members I did not know existed until now! Thank you folks and look forward to getting to know you more and better. I send my love and care to you.

Well I have rambled on long enough.