CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Typically, when talking about “native trout” in West Virginia, the first thing that comes to mind is a high mountain stream in the most remote reaches of the Monongahela National Forest in Randolph, Pendleton or Pocahontas counties. But JP Hurn of St. Albans says fewer people realize the incredible native trout that occur in the headwater streams of southern West Virginia.
Hurn is a conservation organization and member of the Southern West Virginia Chapter of Trout Unlimited. The club does a lot of work in those southern streams to help protect water quality and improve habitat.
“We have some of the best water on the East Coast. Many different fly fishermen in the United States have said that east of the Mississippi, Elkhorn or Guyandotte is one of the best fishing areas in the eastern United States. “I know that’s up for debate, but when you look at some of the pictures of fish coming out of southern West Virginia, they’re incredible, not just the quantity of fish, but the quality,” Hurn said on a recent episode of West Virginia . Outdoor.
Hurn said naturally reproducing brown and rainbow trout are why it was so crucial to establish catch-and-release regulations in the headwaters of those streams. The West Virginia Natural Resources Commission approved those rules last year.
Along with efforts to conduct stream cleanups and fingerling populations in many of those waters, there is an ongoing public education effort. Such a company would have been frowned upon a generation ago. For decades, the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources deliberately avoided making public the location of native trout populations in the state. It was difficult to even secure confirmation that naturally reproducing fish existed in the state. For many years it was thought that offering broader knowledge threatened to put too much pressure on fragile fisheries.
Hurn disagreed and is not alone.
“You can’t protect a stream and the fish it contains if people don’t know it exists. There’s been this whole evolving mentality for years now where you can’t talk about these fish or where they are found. But if people don’t know where they are or how to fish for them, how can they know how to protect them? The idea that fishermen are enemies of these streams is nonsense,” he said.
That’s when the TU Southern West Virginia Chapter will use a sizable grant from TC Energy to help spread the gospel of native trout. The group will install kiosks, made by a class of Raleigh County carpentry students, that will be placed in Elkhorn Creek and Guyandotte in the coming months and will include information about the streams and the fish in them.
According to Hurn, it’s an effort to let people know about a special and unique resource right in their backyard.
“We are making sure that not only the fish are safe, but also the people who live in these communities. The people who live in this community depend on these streams for their wells and cisterns, they are all interconnected,” Hurn said. “Many people don’t think about these fish. When you look at a 20-inch brown, it could have taken eight to 10 years to reach that size. “It takes years and years to create fish that size.”
Hurn believes that education and knowledge help people accept protecting streams from both overexploitation and threats of pollution. He added that they are not against industries in the region like coal and lumber, but they want to be diligent in holding those industries accountable for following the rules and also accepting flow protection.
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