West Virginia’s Gold Rush returns with 50,000 trout across state waters

By Jenny Harnish, RealWV

Frank Williams knows how to sling fish. 

On Wednesday, the Edray State Trout Hatchery employee used a net to gather piles of slithery golden trout from tanks on his truck and sling them into Boley Lake.  

“These fish are particularly healthy today,” Williams said.  “It’s about a 2-hour drive from where the hatchery is to here. So there’s a lot that goes into keeping the fish alive in the tanks.”

West Virginia’s Gold Rush kicked off on March 30 with West Virginia Department of Natural Resources employees stocking 50,000 golden rainbow trout in 69 lakes and streams across the state. The fish are raised year-round at six different hatcheries. 

“We spawn the fish in the fall and raise them up until they are a year and a half old,” Williams said. 

“The Edray Fish Hatchery is a state-run facility for cold-water species of trout, and there are five other hatcheries in the state that also do what we do,” he said. 

At Boley Lake, the employees flung about 367 pounds of the golden trout, each one weighing a little over a pound.

“Once you get to where you’re going, that’s where the fun begins. The stocking of the fish—it’s a wet, manual job. In all types of weather, cold, hot, snow or rain, you’re out there working it,” he said. 

“We stock five different types of trout — golden trout, rainbow trout, brown trout, brook trout, and tiger trout.” 

About a dozen anglers stood watching, lines in hand, as the trout were unloaded. 

“You just have to buy your fishing license and a trout stamp, and you can fish any body of water that the DNR stocks,” Williams said. Fishers can keep up to six trout a day. 

“They’re a delicacy around here — people prefer them over other fish, and as far as freshwater fish go — I do believe they’re the best freshwater fish to eat,” he said.