West Virginia Wildlife from Eyewitness News

Fingerling Stocking

30 years of hard work finally paying off.

July 16, 2008
Reporter: Patrick McMurtry
Videographer: Brad Rice

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Every day is a good day to go trout fishing, and thanks to guys like ernie nester, there are plenty of trout in even the most hidden streams.

"I'm gonna release him into the water. There you go, brown trout."

Ernie was a founding member of the kanwaha valley chapter of trout unlimited more than 40 years ago. He's been busy ever since transforming the fishing industry in the area.

Ernie Nester/TU Member says:
"The first fingerling brown trout we stocked was actually in Hominy Creek in Nicholas County in 1977, but then about 1980, we strated stocking streams in Fayetee County."

Trout unlimited members and volunteers will spend around 28 hundred man hours stocking fish this year. It would take one person working full time a year and a half to log that many hours. It's hard work, but it's also a labor of love for these men and women. And that work is paying off bigtime.

"Fortunately, we do have some re-production in this stream in the upper section of this stream there is reproduction.

It has produced a lot of good sized browns, I'm talking about 16,18,20 inches long. I haven't caught a lot of these nice ones, but I've caught a few."

"This year we have 70,000 fingerlings we're gonna stock and we do that every year."

Speaking for all of us who love to trout fish, thanks guys, and please keep up the good work. For west virginia wildlife, patrick mcmurtry, eyewitness news.

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W. Va. DNR

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