Photo by Lynn Burkhead

Nothing dominates the Mountain State’s April outdoor agenda like trout do. These finned beauties are just the right medicine for cabin fever. Though they fill that ever-important recreational gap between the late small-game season and spring gobbler hunting, let’s not forget that you can also pursue them year ‘round in West Virginia. So, what’s in store for 2007?

Well over 200 statewide lakes and streams are slated for stocking, so more of the same great fishing may be an understatement. Undoubtedly, there is a stocked lake, river or stream within reasonable driving distance of just about everyone. Most of our state’s stocked waters are put-and-take venues. What’s more, with the fairly recent standardized six-trout-per-day limit, going fishing is as simple as having a basic fishing license and trout stamp to participate.

Though the Class O (trout) stamps increased modestly last year, they are a downright bargain at $10 for residents and $15 for non-residents. Yet another basic must for the in-state trout angler is the regulations summary pamphlet, which is readily available at any license agent or Division of Natural Resources (DNR) office. The pamphlet lists all the stocked waters and provides updated regulations for the new year.

But before delving into all of that important stuff, you should know that these pamphlets also contain one of the best-kept secrets. And that is the daily stocking reports available on the hotline at (304) 558-3399, as well as on the DNR’s Web site at www.wvdnr.gov in season.

Yes, the DNR wants folks to know that they’re putting fish out between Jan. 1 and May 31! If you don’t believe it, call the number or check out the Web site. Though the stocking starts out slow in January through February, it peaks during the March through May period. That puts April smack dab in the middle of trout fishing nirvana.

The pamphlet and Web site also show the stocking code for each stream. For example, some of the state’s trout heavyweights are, in fact, stocked on a weekly basis during those peak months.

If the simple license, limit and stocking schedules don’t get your trout juices flowing, then nothing else will. For those who are not familiar with this convenient setup, there is actually a lot of calm and streamside elbowroom that goes with it.

A trout-tagging project undertaken just last year reveals some startling facts about our trout fishery. According to the DNR’s Chris O’Bara and Tom Oldham, 10 days after stocking, “only 50 percent of the tagged fish had been caught. Tagged trout were reported caught up to 100 days after stocking.” This is consistent with similar studies conducted in the past to simply judge if the truck followers quickly creel the lion’s share of fish. The survey indicates that they don’t.

However, the DNR researchers confirmed that put-and-take trouting is the main interest, as these anglers tend to keep more than 90 percent of the stocked trout for the frying pan! You could have fooled me on that one, since just about everything is released from my stretch of stream even if more so out of laziness than nicety.