SANDSTONE, W.Va. — Mountain living can be rugged living. Typically our hills and hollows in West Virginia draw the stereotype of hard scrabble and a tough disposition. The description seems to fit walleyes native to the New River drainage. The New River walleye is physically superior to its distant “brother from another mother” in the Great Lakes.
DNA analysis showed a difference between the New River strain of walleye and any other in the country. The discovery was made by a graduate student at Virginia Tech in the early 2000’s. Since then the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries and the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources have worked to reintroduce the age old gene pool to the waterway.
“These are our native walleye. They were born and bred to live in that river and seem to do real well,” said West Virginia Division of Natural Resources District Fisheries Biologist Mark Scott. “They have bigger eggs than regular walleye and their fry are a lot more aggressive.”
Scientists theorize when the glaciers moved down millions of years ago, the walleye in the New River were isolated from the rest of the world’s population. Conditions caused those fished trapped here, literally as the mountains formed, to adapt and evolve differently from those further to the north. The result was a stronger and heartier strain.
Originally fry to stock in West Virginia were obtained from Virginia, but in recent years, West Virginia has built a population to the point eggs are harvested from West Virginia fish and the fingerlings reared at the state’s fish hatcheries at Apple Grove and Palestine.
“Most of them in the river spawn at Sandstone Falls,” said Scott. “I think eventually the population will grow until it gets too crowded there and they’ll spawn in other parts of the river. They may be doing that already.”
Scott’s research revealed the stockings done at Sandstone Falls are effective, because the fish put there are using the entire length of the waterway.
“Last year in February we tagged 20 walleye with a tag that emits a little sound we can pick up if they swim by,” Scott said. “We had two that swam by a monitor we had at the head of Hawk’s Nest Lake and went into the lake and then back up into the river.”
Hawk’s Nest Lake and Sandstone Falls represent the two extremes the fish could physically travel on the New River in West Virginia. Eventually, Scott said they want to spread the fish into the river above Sandstone Falls and above Bluestone Lake. The upstream reintroduction would mean they could also run up the Greenbrier River where a few have already been stocked.
Research after a decade of development further revealed a rapid growth cycle on the New River strain.
“Most are about 11 to 12 inches after the first year, then in the second year the males slow down and will be about 16 and females around 18,” said Scott. “We tagged one female at 18 inches when she was two years old. We caught at checked her the next year and she was 24 inches. We caught her the next year and she was 27 and a half inches. So four years old and she was almost 28 inches.”
Although Virginia got the head start on reintroducing the subspecies, West Virginia had the foresight to enact regulations to protect the growing numbers. There is a catch and release restriction on all walleye between Sandstone Falls and Meadow Creek. Those are considered the spawning grounds for the fish. Fish caught on any other part of the river have a 20 to 30 inch slot limit and a creel limit of two. Anglers can keep two fish under 20 inches or one under 20 and one over 30 inches, all fish between 20 and 30 inches must be immediately released.
“Normally in the summer they’re spread out,” Scott said. “But people are starting to target them more. It’s a growing fishery.”