“I’m anticipating 50,000 golden rainbows being stocked, just in that week. Gold Rush starts March 28 th and goes Saturday to Saturday – from the 28 th to April 4 th. This year, almost double the number of goldens will be stocked. Last year the WVDNR deemed the Gold Rush event a success. The good news is that if the mild winter keeps up these fish will continue to grow and they’ll be huge by May.” “On the other hand, because we go by weight when stocking trout there will be more fish stocked than last year because they are smaller. The staff is doing their best to catch up and I’m confident they’ll be successful,” added Hedrick. However, due to the mild winter our trout are catching up in size. “There’s are a few facilities that growth is a little behind because of the low water last year. Due to Mother Nature’s drought last summer anglers might encounter smaller than normal trout early in the season, but Hedrick expects that to improve as spring arrives. This season the stocking of golden rainbow, rainbow, brook and brown trout will continue. March, April and May are peak stocking times in West Virginia. That number ramps up to more than 160,000 pounds in March. However, the WVDNR increases stocking frequency in February when roughly 125,000 pounds of trout are released. In January only select waters are planted with trout. Typically, in low water the trout get caught quickly. “This means the fish we’ve already stocked in January are well spread out through the systems. “In general, we’ve had good flows so far this winter,” Hedrick said. The good news is that hatchery production remains on schedule and ample water is available for the trout. We are getting a lot of rain right now and because of that some of our streams will be nearly unfishable for a few days.” “The next few days might not be good for fishing, but late winter should be great. It was 70 degrees around here last week and a lot of anglers have been out fishing already,” mentioned Hedrick. “It could change, but right now it’s been a mild winter. We called Jim Hedrick, Hatchery Program Manager for the WVDNR to get the scoop on how this year’s crop of fish is shaping up. The West Virginia Division of Natural Resources has already been releasing trout into the state’s rivers, creeks, lakes and ponds and almost a million more are coming this year. While trout stocking beings in January in West Virginia it’s February that marks the start of larger trout plants.
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