One stream which has been absent from the DNR’s spring trout stocking list will return in 2011, while several more will be eliminated from the stocking schedule. The DNR will soon begin the biweekly spring stockings and anglers who fish the affected waters may want to take the changes into account.
Rich Creek in Monroe County is being added back to the list. The stream was eliminated from the schedule in 2000. However, the local Rotary Club and landowners along the stream have reached an agreement to give public anglers access to the creek. Most of the stocking points will be the same as they were when the stockings were halted in 2000. Rich Creek will be a monthly stocked stream and received its first stocking in February.
Two longtime waters stocked in Monongalia County are being eliminated from the state’s trout stock program. No longer will fishermen find stocking runs on Blaney Hollow and Morgan Run. The stream had seen reductions in the poundage of stocking over the years when the number of access points for the stocking personnel became more and more restricted by local landowners. The numerous conflicts between fishermen and the principle property owner have prompted a decision to drop the stream.
Limited access is also blamed for the loss of Mill Run of the South Branch on the stocking scheduled in 2011. The water flows through private property with limited access for fishermen. DNR officials say the headwaters of the stream above the natural falls are a native brook trout fishery. However, the constant disagreements with the landowner has made stocking impossible from now on.
Three popular impoundments on the stocking schedule are being temporarily eliminated for ongoing repair work. Mountwood Park Lake in Wood County won’t be stocked until the levels return to normal. The lake is being dropped to perform repairs to the water control gates. Repair work on New Creek Dam 14 in Grant County will force a temporary halt to stocking as water levels are lowered and Fitzpatrick Lake in Raleigh County is also undergoing maintenance to the dam structures.