ELKINS, W.Va. — Over the course of the next two weeks the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources will stock thousands of pounds of golden trout into selected fishing waters in the popular annual event dubbed the “Gold Rush.”
“This will be our sixth year for the Gold Rush. Basically, it’s a regularly scheduled stocking only the difference is we stock with all golden rainbow trout rather than a mix like we normally do,” said Jim Hedrick the head of Hatchery Programs for the West Virginia DNR.
The Gold Rush started as a way to attract more families and children to fishing in West Virginia. It’s been a hit.
“We have people calling throughout the year, even from other states, asking about when it will be because they like to plan vacations around it,” Hedrick explained in a recent visit on West Virginia Outdoors.
The waters stocked are specifically designated to be a little more family friendly than most remote mountain streams.
“About two thirds of the locations we stock are in lakes. The reasoning behind that is we knew that lakes are a little easier for children to fish. You’ll also see all of the State Parks on the list because those parks have resources for families. There are restrooms, often food, and other amenities that can be important if you’re spending the day fishing with family and if you have young children,” he said.
The stockings are also timed to coincide with spring break and Easter for many so school will potentially be out and create the opportunity for some vacation time.
As for the fish, it takes some planning. The fish are part of the regular trout program and are raised as part of the program rather than an addition. Hedrick said it takes some logistics.
“We’ve continued to keep the hatcheries at full capacity. Because it’s a regularly scheduled stocking, at the hatcheries we’ve basically replaced some of the areas where we rear rainbow trout, we’ll rear golden trout. Overall the number of fish and poundage is exactly the same, it’s just that we’ve changed the color to have enough fish for this Gold Rush event,” he explained.
The West Virginia Golden Trout was pioneered in West Virginia. The first one was noticed to have a golden color at the Petersburg hatchery in the 1950’s. In hopes of isolating the gene they took the original fish which was a female and spawned her with a regular rainbow. Initially the offspring all looked like normal rainbow trout, but eventually from that single female about 300 golden trout emerged. Over time, hatchery managers crossed golden trout with other golden trout and increased the percentage of the brightly colored outcome.
“As far as I know pretty much all of the other golden trout across the country came from the original West Virginia stock. I know some other states tried to pioneer it, but weren’t very successful. As far as I can tell, West Virginia is where all others have come from,” Hedrick said.
Learn more about the Gold Rush. Anglers who catch a golden trout are encouraged to post pictures of their catch to social media with the hashtag #GoldrushWV