Updated April 22, 2021
This opportunity only shows up once a year, and it is just around the corner wearing gills, so yes we are trying to lure you in.
Free Fishing Days across Virginia is coming June 4-6 and we think it’s a great time to play hooky and chase tails.
Any excuse to visit a Virginia State Park and go fishing, er napping.
Fishing with Dad for bluegill and sunfish at Claytor Lake State Park.
Mark your calendars because on June 4-6 our friends at the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources (DWR) want you to play hooky to take advantage of the free fishing days in the Commonwealth of Virginia, and that includes Virginia State Parks.
Plan now for some time to go fishing and boating; take the family fishing and boating or learn to fish and boat. See the DWR Where to Fish section to get started.
If you would like to cast your line into a Virginia State Park water, click here to find the perfect spot, we have a few great options for you.
“Free Fishing Days — Try it, You’ll Be Hooked!”
WHY FISH?
I read an article by an avid recreational outdoorsman who said his journey to the mammoth peaks of the world began at his favorite little state park with his dad. As a kid, he learned the basics of fishing, hiking, and all things outdoors, it was an apprenticeship of sorts, preparing him for bigger things to come. He said fishing at the small lake at a state park taught him confidence and courage. He learned more than how to catch and filet a fish, he learned how to be a man.
I encourage you to take your kids fishing. Grandpas, you know the drill – you get to spend the whole time untangling lines and putting on new hooks! Fishing is not about the fish.
Fishing with Grandpa is always fun.
TEST IT OUT
Every year our daughters wanted to fish. On a whim, we went to a state park on vacation and they decided they wanted to fish. When they reached high school, I would say “You are required to have a fishing license now since you are over 16, so do you really want to fish or just try it for 5 minutes and then go ride your bike or kayak?” If they really wanted to do this I would let them buy their own license. Sometimes they did and sometimes they didn’t. I think they wanted to more when they saw someone reeling in the fish.
In any event, if Papa came along, we knew they needed that fishing license as he is the avid fisherman, and ahem, much better at untangling the lines and getting them unstuck from a snag.
“You can’t catch no fish if you ain’t got your line in the water”
So if you want to test out the fishing at a Virginia State Park, go on those Free Fishing Days. Let them fish all they want, scream and pull faces over baiting the worm on a hook and then if they are die-hard fishers, then get the annual resident license.
If they are under 16 then they can fish for free year-round (in-state residents). The non-resident license fees to fish are much costlier, so if you live out of state and want to give this a shot, I would recommend you book a cabin or campground stay for this time frame. Then you can enjoy the whole camping experience and have a blast together, telling tall tales around the campfire and making s’mores. Yeah, chocolate makes everything better.
Virginia is blessed with a wide variety of great fishing, from native trout in the western mountains to monster striped bass in the Chesapeake Bay. And state parks give you access to the best the Commonwealth has to offer.
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
Smaller lakes don’t mean less fishing fun. Many of Virginia’s parks offer fishing opportunities in waters ranging from one-acre ponds to 150-acre lakes. And don’t think you can’t find a big fish in a small pond. Former state record northern pike and chain pickerel came from state park lakes. But probably the most fun you’ll have small-lake fishing comes during a family outing, just relaxing on the bank and dunking worms for pan-sized bluegills and crappie.
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.
Catch a whopper at Bear Creek Lake State Park during free fishing days June 4-6, 2021.
DOWNRIVER FISHING
Virginia has some of the best smallmouth bass fishing rivers in America, and you can get to many of the rivers 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 the 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.
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.
Westmoreland (lower Potomac), Belle Isle (Rappahannock), Machicomoco (York), and York River (York) are along the saltwater portions of their rivers. Westmoreland and York River have small public fishing piers (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.
CHESAPEAKE BAY AND ATLANTIC OCEAN FISHING
Boaters love Kiptopeke and First Landing state parks because they offer direct access to the great fishing of the Chesapeake Bay and the 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.
TROUT FISHING
Try your hand at native brookies or stocked fish in the creeks at Grayson Highlands. 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. This is the one exception to the free fishing day: No fishing license of any kind will be required for rod and reel fishing in freshwater or saltwater, except in designated stocked trout waters, on these days.
FISHING IS NOT JUST ABOUT WHAT YOU REEL IN, IT’S ALSO ABOUT WHO YOU’RE DOING IT WITH THAT COUNTS
