BirdTrout

South Fork Shenandoah River Watershed, Virginia

3,052 miles of mapped stream across 1,672 square miles of drainage in Augusta, Rockingham, Page, Warren, Staunton city counties, in 168 named streams. Virginia designates 292 of those miles as trout water, on 86 streams. The 5 mainstem gauges with a July record read between 66.5 and 71.0°F in July.

Open in BirdTrout
Map key
Public land — where the bank is open to walk and fish
USGS gauge — live water temperature
Water temperature — the colour of every stream in the basin

50°F and colder is cold, through cold-transitional and cool, to warm above 70°F — the same four bands the app paints. On this map the colour is Virginia DWR's own classification of the stream, not a measurement, except at the gauge dots, which read live. Grey is water Virginia DWR has not typed.

The watershed in numbers

HUC8 02070005 in the USGS Watershed Boundary Dataset. Every figure below adds up the river pages in this basin — same records, one basin at a time.

3,052 mi
of mapped stream
8,368 NHD reaches
1,672 sq mi
drainage area
1,070,028 acres
66.5–71.0°F
July water temperature at the gauges
5 mainstem gauges, mean 70.0°F
207,043 ac
public land
19.3% of the basin · 7 units

Cold, cool and warm water

Virginia publishes stockability classes and a wild-or-stocked tier for its trout water, and no thermal class this page can read. It covers 0% of this basin's stream miles (0.0 of 3,052); the rest is untyped and is drawn grey on the map above.

Virginia publishes no thermal classification of its streams that we could read, so this page has no cold/cool/warm breakdown. The live map colours Virginia water from an air-temperature model at the moment you open it; the designations below are VDWR's own and are the harder fact.

What makes this watershed distinctive

The South Fork Shenandoah drains 1,672 square miles off the east face of the Alleghenies and the west face of the Blue Ridge, and almost all of the public ground in it belongs to one owner: 203,753 of the basin's 207,043 public acres are George Washington National Forest, with the Goshen and Little North Mountain Wildlife Management Area making up most of the rest. VDWR designates 292 of the basin's 1,122 mapped stream miles as trout water, across 86 of its 168 named streams — the highest designated count of any Virginia subbasin on this site outside the James. The mainstem runs 77.6 miles; the South River 55.2 and the North River 34.8. Five gauges with a July record read between 66.5 and 71.0°F, which is a valley-floor reading rather than a headwater one. The trout water here is filed as both wild and stocked-holdover.

Every named stream in the basin

All 168 of them, longest first. 71 have a page of their own and are linked; the rest are in the app. The class column is Virginia DWR's designation of that stream. "Now" is the live USGS reading where a gauge stands in that stream.

Stream Miles Class Now Designation
South Fork Shenandoah River 77.6 untyped — —
South River 55.2 untyped — Class V
North River 34.8 untyped — Class IV, Class VI
Christians Creek 33.3 untyped — —
Hawksbill Creek 30.2 untyped — Class VI
Dry Run 27.8 untyped — Class IV
Middle River 25.4 untyped — —
Dry River 23.8 untyped — Class IV
Stony Run 22.4 untyped — Class II, Class III
Back Creek 21.5 untyped — —
Big Run 18.5 untyped — Class II, Class IV
Briery Branch 16.4 untyped — Class III, Class V
Skidmore Fork 15.4 untyped — Class IV
Naked Creek 13.8 untyped — Class V
Folly Mills Creek 13.0 untyped — Class VI
Lewis Creek 12.8 untyped — —
Jennings Branch 12.7 untyped — Class IV
Jeremys Run 11.7 untyped — Class II
Mossy Creek 11.0 untyped — Class V
Gooney Run 10.4 untyped — Class II
Cub Run 10.1 untyped — Class II
Pass Run 9.9 untyped — Class II
Eidson Creek 9.4 untyped — —
East Hawksbill Creek 9.4 untyped — Class II
Mills Creek 9.1 untyped — Class II, Class VI
East Dry Branch 8.2 untyped — Class IV
Buffalo Branch 8.1 untyped — Class IV
Little River 7.7 untyped — Class IV
Boone Run 7.7 untyped — Class II
Flint Run 7.5 untyped — Class VI
Freemason Run 7.4 untyped — —
Madison Run 7.4 untyped — Class II
Meadow Run 7.3 untyped — Class II
Coles Run 7.2 untyped — Class II
Hone Quarry Run 7.1 untyped — Class III
Kennedy Creek 7.1 untyped — Class II
Roaring Run 6.9 untyped — Class II
Deep Run 6.8 untyped — —
Rocky Run 6.7 untyped — Class III, Class IV
Paine Run 6.7 untyped — Class II
Honey Run 6.6 untyped — —
Pine Run 6.6 untyped — —
West Branch Naked Creek 6.6 untyped — Class II
North Fork Naked Creek 6.5 untyped — —
Quail Run 6.5 untyped — —
Laurel Run 6.4 untyped — Class II
Black Run 6.4 untyped — Class II
Goose Creek 6.3 untyped — —
Union Springs Run 6.2 untyped — Class II
Gap Run 6.1 untyped — —
East Branch Naked Creek 6.1 untyped — Class I
Miller Run 6.0 untyped — —
Whisky Creek 5.9 untyped — —
Wolf Run 5.9 untyped — —
Elk Run 5.9 untyped — —
Byers Branch 5.8 untyped — —
Beaver Creek 5.7 untyped — Class V
McKittricks Branch 5.6 untyped — —
Broad Run 5.6 untyped — —
Sawmill Run 5.6 untyped — Class IV
Johns Run 5.5 untyped — Class II
Loves Run 5.4 untyped — Class III
Onemile Run 5.4 untyped — Class I
South Branch Naked Creek 5.4 untyped — Class II
Pitt Spring Run 5.4 untyped — Class II
Poor Creek 5.3 untyped — —
Greasy Run 5.3 untyped — —
North Fork Back Creek 5.2 untyped — Class II, Class VI
Thorny Branch 5.1 untyped — —
Stull Run 5.1 untyped — —
Fultz Run 5.1 untyped — Class II
Twomile Run 5.0 untyped — Class I
Barterbrook Branch 4.9 untyped — Class V
Poague Run 4.9 untyped — Class V
Little Hawksbill Creek 4.9 untyped — Class I
Overall Run 4.9 untyped — Class II
Porterfield Run 4.6 untyped — —
Mine Branch 4.6 untyped — —
Peterfish Run 4.6 untyped — —
Chub Run 4.5 untyped — —
North Fork Little River 4.4 untyped — Class IV
West Swift Run 4.4 untyped — Class III
Spring Creek 4.3 untyped — Class V
Moody Creek 4.3 untyped — —
Lick Run 4.2 untyped — —
Canada Run 4.2 untyped — —
Rocky Branch 4.2 untyped — Class II
Little Laurel Run 4.1 untyped — Class II
Rockfish Run 4.1 untyped — Class IV
Mines Run 4.0 untyped — Class IV
Broadhead Creek 4.0 untyped — —
North Fork Dry Run 4.0 untyped — Class II
South Fork Dry Run 4.0 untyped — Class II
East Fork Dry Run 4.0 untyped — —
Lands Run 4.0 untyped — Class II
Lower Lewis Run 3.9 untyped — Class II
South Fork Little River 3.8 untyped — Class IV
Bonnie Brook 3.8 untyped — —
Browns Run 3.8 untyped — Class III
Coal Run 3.7 untyped — —
Whites Run 3.7 untyped — —
Inch Branch 3.7 untyped — Class IV
Hog Run 3.6 untyped — —
Gum Run 3.6 untyped — Class IV
Cold Spring Branch 3.6 untyped — Class III
Orebank Creek 3.6 untyped — Class II
South Fork Back Creek 3.6 untyped — Class II
Hawksclaw Creek 3.5 untyped — —
Snag Run 3.4 untyped — —
North Fork McKittricks Branch 3.3 untyped — —
Flat Run 3.3 untyped — —
Silver Creek 3.3 untyped — —
Low Place Run 3.3 untyped — Class II
Earhart Creek 3.2 untyped — —
Steele Run 3.2 untyped — —
Maple Spring Run 3.1 untyped — Class IV
Kephart Run 3.1 untyped — Class IV
Upper Lewis Run 3.1 untyped — Class III
White Oak Run 3.0 untyped — —
Toms Branch 3.0 untyped — Class III
Lee Run 3.0 untyped — Class IV
Hollow Run 3.0 untyped — —
Stoutameyer Branch 2.9 untyped — —
Deep Pond Run 2.9 untyped — —
Smith Creek 2.9 untyped — —
Miller Spring Run 2.8 untyped — Class IV
Humes Run 2.8 untyped — —
Falling Rock Creek 2.7 untyped — —
Tunnel Branch 2.7 untyped — —
Monger Run 2.7 untyped — —
Walls Run 2.7 untyped — —
Big Creek 2.7 untyped — Class II
Smoky Row Creek 2.6 untyped — —
Redbanks Run 2.6 untyped — —
Crooked Run 2.6 untyped — —
Mountain Run 2.5 untyped — —
Mitchell Branch 2.5 untyped — Class IV
Beaver Run 2.5 untyped — —
Coalpit Run 2.4 untyped — —
Gum Springs Branch 2.4 untyped — —
Morgan Run 2.4 untyped — Class II
Sand Run 2.3 untyped — Class III
Laurel Springs Branch 2.3 untyped — —
Raccoon Run 2.2 untyped — Class VIII
Hangman Run 2.2 untyped — —
Hickory Run 2.2 untyped — —
Nelson Run 2.2 untyped — —
Asylum Creek 2.1 untyped — —
Rocky Mountain Run 2.1 untyped — Class II
Big Spring Branch 2.1 untyped — —
Little Skidmore Fork 2.0 untyped — —
Whiteoak Run 2.0 untyped — Class II
Spruce Lick Branch 1.9 untyped — —
Trout Run 1.9 untyped — —
Peach Run 1.9 untyped — Class IV
Phils Arm Run 1.9 untyped — —
Georges Run 1.8 untyped — —
Mine Run 1.8 untyped — —
Rankin Run 1.7 untyped — —
Sixteenmile Branch 1.6 untyped — —
Bearwallow Run 1.6 untyped — Class I
Mudhole Run 1.6 untyped — —
Stillhouse Run 1.4 untyped — —
Swoope Run 1.3 untyped — —
Payne Run 1.3 untyped — —
Little Creek 1.3 untyped — —
Big Ugly Run 1.1 untyped — Class II
Williams Branch 0.9 untyped — —

Public land in the watershed

207,043 acres in 7 units, which is 19.3% of the 1,070,028 acres the basin covers. Private inholdings carried in the same source file are excluded, here and on the map.

Managing agency Acres Share Units
US Forest Service 203,753 98% 2
Virginia DWR 3,290 2% 1
Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation 0 0% 1
Virginia Department of Forestry 0 0% 1
National Park Service 0 0% 2

The biggest named blocks of it, each with its own page — the streams on that ground, what is open to hunt on it, and where the access sites are.

Species present

Recorded by VDWR on the reaches it has classified, per stream. The temperature ranges are our own species table and are the same numbers the app's picker uses.

Species Best water Tolerates Evidence
Brook Trout
Salvelinus fontinalis
 50–60°F 42–65°F surveyed
Rainbow Trout
Oncorhynchus mykiss
 55–64°F 44–70°F surveyed

Best time to fish

The hatch calendar for the Virginia mountains, which is the region this basin's centre falls in — the same regions the app's hatch panel uses. It is a regional record, not a survey of this watershed: nobody has counted insects basin by basin. Year-round records (midges, scuds, sculpins) are left out; they are true every month and they are not what a calendar is for.

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

Nothing seasonal on the water.

56 insects are recorded from the Virginia mountains. Each links to its own page, with the flies that imitate it.

Neighbouring watersheds

The subbasins that share a boundary with this one and carry coldwater streams.