Fishing at Holliday Lake State Park

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
Trout

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
Bass

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
Pike

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
smallmouth bass

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
croaker

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) 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.

Chesapeake Bay and Atlantic Ocean
Flounder

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


For more information on fishing at a particular park, select a park and click “Recreation” in the left menu.



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