We fished the South Branch of the Potomac this last weekend. As an inducement to the basswife to take the road trip and to be terrorized by the small rapids on the stretch we fished, as well as to get in a full day on the river, I threw her the bone of staying at a nice B&B at the end of the day. We ended up at a great place, the Wildernest Inn, that was south of Petersburg, WV and across from an unmapped, yet large and imposing body of water – the South Mill Creek Lake. It’s a 48 acre lake with nice looking structure.
When I asked a few locals – to include a game warden – the amazing response was that it was lightly fished – something that only the locals around Petersburg knew about. Clearly, you need to be in the area for something else and have a boat to take advantage of this body of water – but if you can make all that happen, this might be the right spot to hit.
I was instantly saddened by my decision to leave my canoe at home and just rent one from the outfitter for the South Branch. I could have gotten at least another half day of fishing in the day we left the Inn. Given that the basswife is always OK with sitting in the canoe on a lake, this would have been a no-brainer.
So – lesson learned – take your own stuff so you can exploit any opportunity that presents itself.
Here are the details from the DNR page – click here.
Note: If you stay at the WildernestInn, they have a canoe you can use and will run you to the lake and back.
Getting there: Navigate to Petersburg, WV. From the intersection of Routes 55 and 220 intersect, turn south and follow Route 220 until you come to South Mill Creek Road. Follow South Creek Road for a little over 11 miles and you will run into the lake.
Looking South from the boat ramp. We stopped over just to check this out on Sunday morning before leaving – only 2 boats on the water.
Looking North from the ramp. Pretty!
Unless stated otherwise, this article was authored by Steve Moore