Plum Orchard Lake

In June the north end of Plum Orchard Lake lies beneath a floating field of water lilies. The round leaves rest flat and overlapping on the surface, and the flowers open white and pink among them. The white blossoms carry a faint, sweet scent over the water. Kayakers work along the margins of the beds, and anglers cast into the shade beneath the pads, where bass wait on the minnows and small sunfish that shelter there.

The lake lies in the hills of western Fayette County, West Virginia, about eight miles from the New River Gorge National Park and Preserve. It forms the center of the Plum Orchard Lake Wildlife Management Area, a state-owned tract of roughly three thousand acres managed by the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources. The area was established for public hunting and fishing. In the decades since, the lake itself has become its best-known feature and a favored destination for flat-water paddling.

A Cove Between Two Mountains

The state purchased the land in 1960. It occupied a broad cove between Haystack and Packs mountains, whose slopes rise 700 to 900 feet above the valley, and it was drained by Plum Orchard Creek, a tributary of Paint Creek. The creek took its name from an orchard of plum trees near its mouth. In 1962 the state impounded the creek, creating a reservoir of 202 acres with a maximum depth of 40 feet and an average depth of about 15. For years the property was known as the Plum Orchard Lake Public Hunting and Fishing Area.

The forest surrounding the water is predominantly oak and hickory, with mature stands of red, white, and chestnut oak and scattered beech. The land descends from steep, wooded slopes to wetlands along the shore. In autumn the hardwoods on the ridges turn rust and gold above the water.

Plum Orchard is regarded as one of the state’s top producers of trophy-sized largemouth bass, bluegill, and channel catfish. The lake also holds crappie and sunfish, and its catfish are stocked. It often remains clear when rain has left most of West Virginia’s impoundments muddy.

The fishing follows the calendar. Largemouth bass are taken as early as the end of March on worms, spinners, and deep-running lures. Large bluegill are abundant and come readily to worms and small spinners. Channel catfish have been caught in good numbers after dark on natural baits. Four boat ramps serve the lake. Motors of unlimited horsepower are permitted under regulations posted at the area entrance, and the use of live minnows as bait is prohibited.

Away from the water, the management area continues to serve the hunters for whom it was established. Squirrel, sustained by the mast of mature oak, hickory, and beech, are the most commonly pursued game. Deer, raccoon, wild turkey, and waterfowl are hunted as well, and turkeys released on the property have established a resident population. A free 100-yard shooting range lies within the area.

Hikers will find trails both formal and informal. A trail to Haystack Mountain gains roughly 700 feet through the hardwoods. Two campgrounds offer rustic sites for tents and trailers on a first-come, first-served basis, and a camping permit is required from the area manager. Camping is available for most of the year, though recreational facilities operate only from Memorial Day to Labor Day. Visitors who prefer a bed will find lodging in Oak Hill, about nine miles to the northeast.

The Lilies of Plum Orchard

The lilies that define the lake in summer did not all arrive the same way. The American white water lily (Nymphaea odorata) is native to the region, and at Plum Orchard it grows alongside watershield, a smaller floating plant whose stems and leaf undersides carry a clear, jelly-like coating. The pink-flowered lilies are generally believed to descend from an ornamental planting made in the 1970s, reportedly by a local garden club. In the shallow, sheltered water of the lake, the plants spread faster than they could be managed.

The beds have served the fishery in one respect and hindered it in another. They shelter minnows and young sunfish, which draw feeding bass. They also clog the shoreline and put stretches of water beyond the reach of anglers fishing from the bank. In 2006 the Division of Natural Resources was reported to be reducing both the lily pads and the watershield.

The beds persisted. By 2024, residents and their delegate in the state House, Eric Brooks, had taken their concerns about the condition of the area to the director of the Division of Natural Resources. Over the next two years the agency renovated docks and the shooting range, installed cameras at the range, built a new headquarters and garage, and hired a full-time wildlife resources specialist to oversee the area. Crews treated several acres of lily pads, spraying the beds twice by the late summer of 2026, with further treatment planned. Brooks put the state’s investment at more than a million dollars.

Residents have pressed for more of the beds to be treated. Each June the lilies open again, and the lake is divided once more between the flowers and those who come to fish.

This is a primitive campground with a handful of sites near the lakeshore.