June usually brings sunny weather and warmer water temperatures to West Virginia. It also brings a sharp rise in fish activity.

Zack Brown, the Division of Natural Resources' fisheries biologist for the state's southwestern counties, expects fish to begin biting soon in the waters downstream of Kanawha and Ohio River navigation dams.

"We're getting into the summertime season," he said. "The fish tend to get into a more established pattern. They come into areas of established current, where oxygen levels are good and there is an abundance of baitfish."

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John McCoy

DNR officials believe the tailwaters of Kanawha and Ohio River navigation dams will fish well in June.

Brown believes the hottest fishing will be for two of the most popular gamefish species. "We'll have a lot of white bass hanging around from their spawning season, and we'll get a lot of hybrid striped bass coming [up to the dams] to feed on shad," he said.

But those are only two of the possibilities. Brown said that during the summer, anglers who fish the dams' tailraces are likely to catch just about anything.

"The main targets for sport fishermen will be hybrid stripers, white bass, sauger and walleye," he said. "But [largemouth and smallmouth] bass will be in there too, along with catfish, freshwater drum and even a bowfin or two. Just recently, one of our navigation-dam fishermen caught a state-record skipjack."

Catfish feeding activity, which picked up when water temperatures rose in early May, has died down a bit.

"We had some high flows, and the cold water in those high flows shut the feeding off pretty good," Brown said. "Now it's just about time for catfish to spawn, which will delay their active feeding for a while longer. But after the spawn ends, the catfish will resume feeding and the fishing should pick up."

Most anglers live minnows or soft-plastic twister-tail grub lures, weighted heavily to sink in the swift currents.

"But lately I've been seeing people having good success fishing live shiner minnows with no weight," Brown said. "They just suspend them, 6 feet deep or shallower, under a bobber and let the bobber drift out on the current. You wouldn't think that would work, but it does."

The rivers' wide variety of fish species makes angling a genuine adventure.

"You never know what you're going to catch," Brown said. "Throw in a grub or a minnow and you're liable to pull out anything from a 6-inch skipjack to a 30-inch flathead catfish. And now is one of the best times to do it."

June usually brings sunny weather and warmer water temperatures to West Virginia. It also brings a sharp rise in fish activity.

Zack Brown, the Division of Natural Resources' fisheries biologist for the state's southwestern counties, expects fish to begin biting soon in the waters downstream of Kanawha and Ohio River navigation dams.

"We're getting into the summertime season," he said. "The fish tend to get into a more established pattern. They come into areas of established current, where oxygen levels are good and there is an abundance of baitfish."

In other words, areas just like those immediately downstream from the London, Marmet and Winfield locks on the Kanawha and the Hannibal, Willow Island, Belleville, Racine and Robert C. Byrd locks on the Ohio. Each of those dams has special fishing-access areas where anglers can cast their lines.

Brown believes the hottest fishing will be for two of the most popular gamefish species. "We'll have a lot of white bass hanging around from their spawning season, and we'll get a lot of hybrid striped bass coming [up to the dams] to feed on shad," he said.

But those are only two of the possibilities. Brown said that during the summer, anglers who fish the dams' tailraces are likely to catch just about anything.

"The main targets for sport fishermen will be hybrid stripers, white bass, sauger and walleye," he said. "But [largemouth and smallmouth] bass will be in there too, along with catfish, freshwater drum and even a bowfin or two. Just recently, one of our navigation-dam fishermen caught a state-record skipjack."

Catfish feeding activity, which picked up when water temperatures rose in early May, has died down a bit.

"We had some high flows, and the cold water in those high flows shut the feeding off pretty good," Brown said. "Now it's just about time for catfish to spawn, which will delay their active feeding for a while longer. But after the spawn ends, the catfish will resume feeding and the fishing should pick up."

Most anglers live minnows or soft-plastic twister-tail grub lures, weighted heavily to sink in the swift currents.

"But lately I've been seeing people having good success fishing live shiner minnows with no weight," Brown said. "They just suspend them, 6 feet deep or shallower, under a bobber and let the bobber drift out on the current. You wouldn't think that would work, but it does."

The rivers' wide variety of fish species makes angling a genuine adventure.

"You never know what you're going to catch," Brown said. "Throw in a grub or a minnow and you're liable to pull out anything from a 6-inch skipjack to a 30-inch flathead catfish. And now is one of the best times to do it."