The Basswife is addicted to sun and sand. All you have to do to get on her good side is say “beach”. For her birthday this summer, I took her up to Berkeley Springs to go to one of the spas. Since you can’t afford to spend all day in those places, I needed something else to fill the day with. I discovered the lake at Cacapon State Park.
The lake sports a man-made beach that has reasonably deep sand. There are lifeguards and a snack bar. The very cheap entry fee supports the facility. We were there during the middle of the week and the crowd was minimal. There are also paddle boats and row boats on the other side of the lake. There are actually two different fishing areas in the park – the lake and the reservoir. The lake is stocked while the reservior is not. According the the DNR, they dump trout in here in the spring and you can catch bass and catfish year round.
On the day we were here I observed on guy fishing from a row boat with his small kids. Other than that, there was no activity at all; suggesting that this is so obvious that everyone assumes that it is heavily fished. While you will have to dodge paddleboaters while you fish, you might have some luck.
I did not have my gear with me the day we were there, so I could not test out the theory. In addition, we were not there on the weekend, so the true fishing pressure by the common barometer of a weekend is unknown.
Getting there: Just turn off of 522 at the marked entrance and follow the signs to the lake. If you want fish, you will need to loop around to the other side from where the swimming is. The swimming area is fenced off so you can’t pop your family on the sand and then walk to the other sections to fish.
Looking southwest from the handicapped fishing pier
Looking east from the pier
East end of the lake
Looking across from the beach – the paddleboaters will be all over the place
Shot of the beach itself – not a bad little spot
Unless stated otherwise, this article was authored by Steve Moore