The native brook trout just landed was maybe only 5 inches in length, but its vivid hues and its primeval wildness caused us to marvel at its very existence and ignore its small size. Friend Tim Wimer and I were on a wild trout stream in the Monongahela National Forest as guests of Dr. Linda Linger and Bill Smith, director of the Tucker County Convention and Visitors Bureau.

It was Linger who had just landed a brookie, and her smile proved that the size of the fish (or lack thereof) was not a problem for her. West Virginia's trout exist, at least partially so, to put smiles on the folks who ply the state's many kinds of trout waters from catch-and-release to put-and- take, from wild stream-born rainbows to native brookies, from major river browns to small-stream rainbows, and from highland rills to upland lakes.

Indeed, I had rather angle for 5- and 6-inch native brookies in a rhododendron-shrouded West Virginia hollow than any other category of trout or any other kind of fishing. That said, though, I thrill to the fantastic variety that exists for all those who visit the state's waters.

Mike Shingleton, head of coldwater fisheries for the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources (DNR), informs that some 750,000 pounds of trout will be released into the state's waters this year, but that number could rise or fall depending on how much precipitation occurs. As many sportsmen no doubt know, drought has been a reoccurring problem in West Virginia, and also much of the Southeast, for a large part of the past few years.

Interestingly, Shingleton states that as a general rule, the DNR annually stocks about 80 percent rainbow and 10 percent each of brooks and browns. Golden trout compose 10 percent of the rainbow trout allocation. These fish are exceptionally popular among anglers, partly because of their novelty and also because they stand out so much, especially in clear water.

My favorite month to fish for the state's trout is during April when the spring gobbler season commences. There is no better way to spend a Saturday outdoors than pursuing turkeys in the morning and trout in the afternoon. Shingleton agrees that the fourth month is a prime time.

"April is probably one of the most popular months to trout fish," emphasized the biologist. "The weather is typically nicer, and trout have had more time to grow to a nicer size since January. Plus, all waters have been stocked enough times to ensure plenty of holdovers between stockings -- especially the weekly stocked waters." (Continued)

I also asked Shingleton if there were anything new regarding trout, such as regulations, streams or other programs. Sometimes a "new" thing can be bad, such as when anglers lose access to a body of water or a stream has endured pollution problems. The biologist said that at press time, there was nothing in those areas to report, which can truly be a situation of no news is good news. Of course, he added that sometimes both positive and negative events could happen suddenly.

One of the most commonly asked questions to biologists and outdoors writers is where to go fishing. Shingleton rates West Virginia's catch-and-release trout waters very highly.

"Most of our catch-and-release areas have a following of anglers dedicated to them," he says. "The Cranberry, Williams, Elk, Shavers Fork and Blackwater are certainly some of the more popular ones. Popularity of a water usually equates to a good fishing experience."