All waters · West Virginia · Elk River
Elk River, WV
River in Braxton County, West Virginia. A long, cool-water river rising in the Monongahela Highlands and flowing southwest through Webster, Braxton, Clay, and Kanawha counties to Charleston. The reach below Sutton Dam is one of West Virginia's premier trout fisheries, holding wild and stocked brown, rainbow, and native brook trout plus smallmouth bass downstream. A catch-and-release, artificial-lures-only section below Sutton Dam draws fly anglers from across the region. Cold dam releases keep trout active well into summer.
Overall bite score
Scored 16 min ago · recomputed every 30 minutes
Each instrument reads 0 to 100. The score is their weighted blend, tuned for rivers and streams. No black box: every reading names its source.
What swims here
6 tracked species in Elk River, with the months each fishes best.
Water facts
Public access below Sutton Dam and at points downstream toward Sutton and Gassaway. Live conditions from USGS 03195500 Elk River at Sutton (gage height and precipitation); this gauge does not report water temperature, so trout water temperature uses a cold-tailwater baseline. The downstream USGS 03197000 Elk River at Queen Shoals offers additional flow context. WV fishing license and trout stamp required; catch-and-release section prohibits scented/manufactured baits.
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