Fishing in Virginia State Parks

Fishing in Virginia State Parks
Open fires are prohibited throughout the park from midnight to 4 p.m., Feb. 15 through April 30.
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Fishing in Virginia State Parks
Virginia’s waters offer a wide variety of fish, from native brookies in the pristine Shenandoah waters, to schools of striped bass making their way up the James. Land a bull or brown trout in the Southwest Virginia tailwaters and try to spot the elusive tiger trout. Muskellunge lurk in the upper James while the lower James offers world-class small and largemouth habitat.
The early bird gets the worm so
spend the night at a comfy cabin or lodge
and hit the water first thing. Need a boat? No problem.
Many parks rent boats
. Plenty of parks also offer pier, dock and shoreline fishing.
At a glance - water type, boat rentals, launch type
Park
water type
boat rental*
launch**
Mountain parks
Claytor Lake
lake
row, motor, pontoon
marina, launch
Clinch River
fresh (river)
launch
Douthat
lake, stream
row, canoe, kayak
car-top
Fairy Stone
lake
row, canoe, kayak
car-top
Grayson Highlands
stream
Hungry Mother
lake
row, canoe, kayak
car-top
Natural Tunnel
stream
New River Trail
river
canoe, kayak, raft, float trips
launch
Pinnacle (preserve)
river
Shenandoah River
river
car-top
Wilderness Road
stream
Piedmont parks
Bear Creek Lake
lake
row, elec., canoe, kayak
car-top
Holliday Lake
lake
row, elec., canoe, kayak
car-top, launch
Lake Anna
lake
(motor boats permitted)
launch
Occoneechee
lake
pontoon, runabout (motor boats permitted)
launch
Pocahontas
lake
canoe
car-top
Powhatan
river
car-top
Seven Bends
river
car-top
Sky Meadows
pond
Smith Mountain Lake
lake
(motor boats permitted)
launch
Staunton River
lake
(motor boats permitted)
launch
Twin Lakes
lake
canoe
car-top, launch
Coastal parks
Belle Isle
salt, fresh (river)
fishing, canoe, kayak
car-top, launch
Chippokes
salt, fresh (river)
False Cape
salt, fresh (ocean, bay)
First Landing
salt (bay)
(motor boats permitted)
launch
Kiptopeke
salt (bay)
kayak (motor boats permitted)
launch
Leesylvania
fresh (river)
(motor boats permitted)
launch
Machicomoco
fresh (river)
car-top
Mason Neck
fresh (river)
canoe, kayak
car-top
Westmoreland
salt, brackish (river)
(motor boats permitted)
launch
York River
fresh (pond), salt (river)
(motor boats permitted)
launch
*Generally available Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day and on weekends during spring and fall.
**Fees apply. See our
prices and fees page
.
Trout Fishing
Try your hand at native brookies or stocked fish in the creeks at
Grayson Highlands
, or fish for rainbow and brown trout in Indian Creek at
Wilderness Road
.
Base camp and fish the many trout streams in the national forest lands around
Hungry Mother
,
Douthat
,
Natural Tunnel
or
Shenandoah River
. Douthat has a great put-and-take fishery in its lake as well as more than three miles of stocked creek waters, including a special section just for kids.
Big Lake Fishing
There is at least one state park on each of Virginia’s four major impoundments:
Claytor Lake
,
Lake Anna
, Buggs Island Lake (home of both
Staunton River
and
Occoneechee
parks) and
Smith Mountain Lake
.
All of these lakes are famous for bass fishing, including striped bass, as well as their healthy populations of panfish. The big-lake parks offer camping, rental cabins, ample boat ramps and loads of family activities. They also have bank fishing, to one degree or another, and several have fishing piers and boat rentals.
Small Lake Fishing
Many of Virginia’s parks offer fishing opportunities in waters ranging from one-acre ponds to 150-acre lakes. You can find a big fish in a small pond. Former state record northern pike and chain pickerel came from state park lakes.
Most parks have plenty of fishing spots from the shore, and you can often rent a small boat or canoe during the summer and on weekends in spring and fall. For small lakes, check out
Bear Creek Lake
,
Douthat
,
Fairy Stone
,
Holliday Lake
,
Hungry Mother
,
Pocahontas
,
Twin Lakes
and
York River
state parks.
Down River Fishing
Virginia has some of the best smallmouth bass fishing rivers in America, and you can get to many of them in a Virginia State Park.
James River
,
New River Trail
and
Shenandoah River
state parks provide car-top launching (and sometimes areas for small trailers) and wading access to their namesake rivers, and they all have camping.
You can even get a cabin at James River State Park to fish hard by day and relax each night. The campground at
Natural Tunnel
State Park, while not next to the water, provides a great base camp for the nearby Clinch River.
Clinch River State Park
lies along the Clinch River, which contains more fish species than any other river in Virginia. The river supports smallmouth bass, spotted bass, rock bass, sunfish, crappie, walleye, musky, freshwater drum, longnose gar, channel catfish, and more.
The North Fork of the Shenandoah River features unique geology and landscape that promotes productive fishing and provides pleasant scenery for floating at
Seven Bends State Park
.
Tidal River Fishing
The tides run all the way to the fall-line in Virginia, so you can find freshwater and saltwater tidal rivers.
Mason Neck
and
Leesylvania
state parks are on the freshwater portion of the Potomac River and provide boating access to some of the best largemouth bass fishing in the area. Leesylvania also has a small fishing pier.
Caledon
is on the brackish portion of the Potomac River and allows fishing on open sections of the shoreline. At
Widewater State Park
the Potomac River is an excellent fishery for largemouth bass; other sport fish include catfish, perch, and striped bass. A Virginia or Maryland freshwater fishing license is required when fishing on the main stem of the Potomac River. When fishing on Aquia Creek or in Long Pond, a Virginia freshwater fishing license is required. The park also honors Potomac River Fisheries Commission licenses.
Westmoreland
(lower Potomac),
Belle Isle
(Rappahannock) and
York River
(York) are along the saltwater portions of their rivers. York River has a small public fishing pier (no fishing license required), but the best opportunities at these parks are for boaters using the parks’ boat ramps. The fishing changes by season but generally follows the pattern of striped bass in the spring, fall and early winter, and bottom-fishing for flounder, spot and croaker during warmer months.
Chippokes
offers freshwater fishing on the James with a valid Virginia fishing license. Fishing is permitted from the shore of the James River and on the banks of College Run Creek.
Machicomoco
only allows fishing from the slips at Timberneck Creek and a saltwater fishing license is required.
Chesapeake Bay and Atlantic Ocean
Boaters love
Kiptopeke
and
First Landing
state parks because they offer direct access to the great fishing of the Chesapeake Bay and Atlantic Ocean… striped bass, flounder, spadefish, cobia and all the usual suspects. But the parks are also great for land-bound fishermen.
Kiptopeke has a large, lighted fishing pier (no fishing license required), and First Landing has almost a mile of bay beach along the park campground. Both parks have cabins or lodges and large, well-equipped campgrounds.
Licensing and more information
Fishing licenses are required at all parks except at the Kiptopeke and York River piers where a fee is charged to fish.
The
Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources website
has information about freshwater fishing licenses.
Visit the Virginia Marine Resources Commission website for
information about saltwater fishing
. Saltwater fishing also requires an annual free registration as explained on the website.
Check out the
Fish Virginia First Trail
.
For more information on fishing at a particular park,
select a park
and click “Recreation” in the left menu.
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5 ways to spend more time in nature in 2026
5 activities for visiting Claytor Lake State Park this winter
Planning a winter getaway to James River State Park
More recent blogs about
Fishing
.
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Virginia State Parks are managed by the
Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation
600 E. Main St., 24
th
Floor | Richmond, VA 23219
To learn about park offerings and overnight accommodations, email
resvs@dcr.virginia.gov
or call
800-933-PARK (7275)
.
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vastateparks@dcr.virginia.gov
.
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Last Modified:
Wednesday, 19 March 2025, 01:51:09 PM
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