And it has begun...

Well it actually started back on the 3rd of January, but who's counting. No, it's not the start of my New Years diet, even though I need to start thinking about that, dang no beer and wings tonight I guess. Anyways back to the point of all this, with everything going on recently in regards to joining the OBN, officially getting accepted into their "Everything Outdoors" section, and participating in their newest writing prompt, I haven't had a lot to say about what's going on outside of this blog. So time to catch you up on everything now, actually, not much has happened it's been a boring work week, but I hope to have a new blog up in the next day or two about my scouting and shed hunting adventure last weekend with Jay. Now that all that house keeping issues are dealt with (I know Cassie and my mother are laughing at the thought of myself and house keeping being the same sentence), I can continue onto today's post.

It's a New Year, with a lot of great new beginnings to look forward to, and one thing that my fishing buddies and I know is that come the first Monday in January, the state of West Virginia starts stocking trout in selected areas. There has been more than a few random trips, taking off at 4:00AM to find a stream that we had not fished before and all we knew was that it had been stocked yesterday and we had all day to find it and how to fish it. Those are some great, albeit cold memories (yes, I may have slip in, while not wearing waders, on my first trip with those guys). This isn't a trip down memory lane though, this is actually a post to say how thankful and how well of a job the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources does about stocking the streams and rivers of WV.

Here is an excerpt from the WV DNR page on stocking about trout, but they also stock maybe other types of game fish, please follow the link I provided for more information on this:

"Stocking appropriate sport fish is an important part of West Virginia’s fisheries management program that is used to achieve a variety of goals. The traditional seasonal trout stocking of more than 150 waters has expanded to provide trout fishing opportunities throughout the year."

"West Virginia’s hatchery facilities play an important role in the state’s fisheries management efforts. The DNR operates seven hatcheries and two warmwater hatcheries for fish production. The newest hatchery at Apple Grove in Mason County represents a major improvement in warmwater fish production. In conjunction with the existing Palestine Hatchery, the DNR’s ability to provide sport fish and fish for restoration and management efforts is greatly enhanced." 

From my personal experience they normally stock come hell or high water, and trust me I was wading that high water the next morning. Haha. There has only been a few times they have missed stockings due to snow storms and they then extended the stock period as well as the quantities they stock per stream.

For anyone wanting to fish in West Virginia for trout or any other species of fish for that later, you need to check out the fishing section of the WVDNR website. If you are from West Virginia (and you're fishing for trout) here are some quick links to a few of my favorite features on their website:

• Buy a License - This is the most important and first step you need to take if you haven't yet. Here are the 2011 Fishing Regulations (will open into a PDF file).
• Trout Stocking Schedule - This gives you every stream, the country it's in, and the frequency in which they stock those streams. For those who would like the schedule for lakes and ponds click here.
• Trout Stocking Map - It's an interactive map, it can take a minute or two to comprehend everything, but a very nice tool and provides you with everything from the regulation types to the stocking frequency when it is in identify mode.
• Daily Stocking Report - It is updated every weekday at 4:00PM with the streams that were stock that day. There is a hotline that will give you the same information, the number is (304) -558-3399.