2,000 Pounds of Rainbow Trout Stocked in Cheat River

ChalleNGe cadets, nonprofit will do four more this spring

Morgantown Dominion Post
10 March 2012
By Michelle Wolford

Trout for Cheat put 2,000 pounds of rainbow trout into the Cheat River on Friday with the help of Mountaineer ChalleNGe Academy cadets.

The river stocking was the first of five planned for the spring, said Art George, director of Trout for Cheat.

“The first time out, we wanted numbers,” he said. “The next stocking, [the fish] will be huge. The biggest we’ve ever put in was 13 pounds.”

The stockers began their work near the Riverview Lounge, close to the intersection of U.S. 50 and W.Va. 72, near Rowlesburg, George said. The work extended along W.Va. 72 to Pringle Run, at 18 stops.

Anglers along the Cheat on W.Va. 72 were pleasantly surprised to see the line of vehicles, led by Indian Lakes Fishery, of Elkview. James Dalton and P.J. Richards, both of Morgantown, were parked along the road as the trucks approached.
“It was just a lucky guess,” Richards said of their decision to fish Friday.

He said he had been out when Trout for Cheat was stocking before and “caught a couple of 2- and 3-pounders.”

George said the fish that went in the Cheat River on Friday were 2- to 4-pound rainbow trout.

Chris Lantz, of Albright, said Friday was the first time he had seen the group stocking the river.

“I think this is great that they’re doing this,” he said. “And the fish are staying in here year ’round. It’s good for the area ... it’s close to home and it’s good for the economy” because more people will come to Preston County to fish.

State grants obtained by local Delegates Larry Williams and Stan Shaver, both D-Preston, and by state Sens. Dave Sypolt, R-Preston, and Bob Williams, D-Taylor, all make the stocking possible, George said. He said the nonprofit puts in “about $60,000 worth of fish each year,” and always with the assistance of the Mountaineer ChalleNGe Academy, whose cadets negotiate the slippery slopes to the river.

George said the Preston County Sheriff ’s Department provides traffic control.