In my last posting regarding the Shavers Fork of the Cheat River in West Virginia, I alluded to another access point off FR 49. Instead of parking at the small turnout and walking to the stream to fish downriver at your first opportunity, continue around the corner and up the hill, following the road until it dead ends.
There’s a large flat rock to the left overlooking a deep pool that is an obvious popular spot. Since I was short on time on the day I was here, I restricted myself to doing a reconnaissance and walked down the wide trail to survey the river.
My impression was that the bend in the river where it compresses up against the shoreline was deep and unwadeable. However, you can cross farther upstream and, once across the river and on the eastern bank, you can range freely up and downriver.
As you can see from the pictures below, this section of the Cheat has to be a winner! Plenty of rocks, the minimum of sand and the flat rock ledges that interrupted the great fishing farther downstream do not reappear here.
Shavers Fork of the Cheat Trout Fishing Bottom Line: Shavers Fork justifies its superb reputation as an angling destination. The only problem is that there are few facilities within an easy drive, so camping may be the only solution to an early start.
Getting There: Locate the town of Durbin, WV. Head north on US 250 and be alert for the bridge over the Cheat River. About 3 miles from the bridge, turn right onto PR 92. It runs up a ridge and the access points to all of the Shavers Fork spots are turns to the right from this road. Follow the road until you see the sign for FR49 and follow it to the river.
Secrets Revealed? No. This is a very public location that is documented in the Flyfisher’s Guide to Virginia and the WV DNR website.
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Date Fished: 10/14/2009
Access trail on west bank
View upstream from parking
Farther upstream
Around the corner upstream
Downstream from parking – note large rock
Unless stated otherwise, this article was authored by Steve Moore