Questions About The WV Fish Stocking

After the fish stocking the other day, I was telling a friend what a great time we had and he asked me a lot of questions about the stocking that I couldn't answer. So I put them to Mike O'Neil. Here are his answers. I thought you might enjoy them too.

What determines the number of fish that we put into the stream?
The flyfishing stretch is about two and a half miles long, and nature has provided enough deeper pools and pocket water to support the number of fish we traditionally put in.

Are the fish equally male and female?
The trout aren't grouped equally by sex.

Is it only one kind of trout being stocked?
We always stock brown trout since they stand up to the rigors of warm water which we often have in mid to late summer.

How old are the fish?
I don't know what their ages are. I did once, but I disremember.

How cold is the water in the holding tanks?
The water in the holding tanks is generally in the low to mid-60 degree F. range.

Do they come back to spawn in the WV creek (that's assuming that nobody has them for dinner)?
We do have a small number of holdovers and I assume they follow Mother Nature's design and cohabit briefly when the time is right. In our streams, rainbows tend to spawn in the spring, and browns in the fall.

Is there any official name to the group of people who organize this effort?
The person who organizes this effort is the Troutmeister (presently me), presently assisted by a staff of zero. The official name of the enterprise is The Woodland Trout Fund.

How did the tradition start and who started it?
Upon getting a number of streamside landowners to agree to post their lands "fly fishing only" for obvious environmental reasons, the stocking was begun in 1965 by valley resident Fred Muehleck. At his death, my father took over, and at his death I took over (see 2008 stocking letter for more detail).

What year did they start?
1965

"On contemplation, I'd like to modify my statement that I have a staff of zero. Since Sally and Pete Oberbeck (my sister and brother-in-law), along with their friend Dave Pedrick have for the last several years run the T-shirt concession (T-shirts made by Dave's daughter and son-in-law down in Kentucky), they should be categorized as staff under the heading "seasonal help".


If your would like more detail about all this, I recommend that you go to the Jerry Bartlett Memorial Angling section of the Phoenicia Library, look up a slim book titled In Praise of Trout--and also by Paul O'Neil and Mike O'Neil, and read my story titled The Trout Fund."

- Mike O'Neil