All of us in West Virginia pretty much know that the New River is tenfold better for smallmouth fishing than any other place we have in the state. People come from near and far to fish the New which is considered one of the best bass smallmouth fisheries in the south.

I personally have only fished the New once, but one time. I was more than impressed with it. Only fishing the parts in West Virginia, definitely opened my eyes to how incredible the place could be. For sure will have to make a few trips back when I get the opportunity.

Last week Chris Schafer sent me over a cool stat from the New River and I told him I would make a little piece on it. Chris is super good with stats and I hope to continue to get more interesting stuff like this from him.

In the picture that is above or below are the New River Yearly Tournament Results. Inspired by Mikey Halcombe catching an MSKA 3 fish limit record of 61.25” of all smallmouth. Chris pulled all the Top 10 results from all kayak tournaments held there since 2018. This was the data he came up with.

“I did the 10th place line to see if just a few big fish were impacting the first-place results,” Chris said. “Between the years, it looks like the fish are about 1.5″ larger all the way down from first to tenth. That’s a good sign.”

Again, I am no expert on the New, but something recently has seemed to change it and the new change I think is something we all can live with. Whether it might be we had more stable conditions, work on the Bluestone Dam, or advancements that the anglers have found, something has changed

“A 10th place finish in 2022 would have almost won you a tourney in any other year,” Chris said. “Hope this trend continues”

You guys let us know why you think the fishing has been better wherever you found this post!