Amazing video!

[wildtrout2]

I was watching a few YouTube ff videos by West Virginia Wild. He was fishing a stream called the Elkhorn. It's a fairly small wild trout stream that somehow holds both wild rainbows and wild browns (some big ones!). I've never in my life seen so much trash and related debris in a stream!!!! There were bikes, tires, old hedge trimmers, cinder blocks, and more. But, what really flipped me out was when you could actually see raw sewage coming from a pipe right into the stream! I'm talking dude craps, flushes, and it goes directly into this stream!! The water had a somewhat discolored look to it, but there were plenty of trout in there. How can wild trout not just survive, but flourish in such an environment?

 

[PennKev]

wildtrout2 wrote:
How can wild trout not just survive, but flourish in such an environment?

Water's cold, there's plenty of food, and enough places to spawn.

Presto! You have trout.

I think sometimes our expectations for streams don't match reality because we forget that the physical beauty of a stream does not guarantee any of those critical needs (and vice versa).

 

[curtrein]

Dude, it’s West Virginia. Lots of areas there unfortunately have been hit hard by man... But I have seen pictures of some famous western trout rivers flowing through junkyards with cars as banks.... So if trout are there, they’re making it work.
I know how sickening it is though.

 

[PennKev]

curtrein wrote:
But I have seen pictures of some famous western trout rivers flowing through junkyards with cars as banks.....

Those aren't junkyards, the cars were put there to stabilize the banks.

 

[Canoetripper]

I have never fished the Elkhorn but know the history since it was published in West Virginia Game & Fish magazine close to 30 years ago.

The Elkhorn is located in extreme southwestern West Virginia(I think it is McDowell County). The water is cold since it comes up from underground similar to a Limestone stream.

What happened to start this fishery was that a West Virginia DNR employee was taking a truck loaded with hatchery trout to stock at another stream and the truck broke down along the road. The employee did want to see the the hatchery trout just die in the truck so he released them all in the Elkhorn River, and they survived and naturally reproduce.

I get into arguments from time to time with members on WVAngler.com with some who think that I am somehow revealing some well kept secret which is not the case since I read about it in a magazine and others can watch the youtube videos.

I have lived and worked in West Virginia, and have been a frequent tourist. I have been everywhere in the state. Extreme southwestern West Virginia is a rough place for a lot of reasons. I have met some great people in the state and my favorite canoe trip is the very upper Greenbrier River.

 

[dryflyguy]

Interesting story!
Just never know what trout can put up with, I guess

I fish a small WT stream that is fed by cold mine discharge.
As you get with in about 100 yards of where this mine water feeds in, the bottom of the stream is covered with a grayish colored slime - that gives a funky smell to the water.
The first time I ventured there, I thought for sure it was a poorly treated sewage outflow.
Until I walked a short distance up this incoming stream - only to discover it came from a settling pond. Suspended above this pond, is a large pipe spraying water out - that comes from an abandoned mine.
This water always has a temp in the low '50's.
And is apparently - with the help of aeration - quite healthy for the trout.
The best fishing seems to be within that area immediately downstream of this discharge.

 

[Dale49]

Lived and worked in WV in the early 2000s. Went to one stream clean-up at Elkhorn (TU sponsored) and fished it twice.

Fishing it is not for the faint of heart. Better have your shots. Use old waders and wading boots, bring a change of clothes and have colorox with water to clean equipment and hand sanitizer.

Now for the fishing. If you want massive fish catching days, it's there. Beautiful wild bows and browns and you can catch many generations of fish.

Watch where you step, watch for the overhead pipes. Not every hook-up is a fish - TP, condoms and other trash. At the time, angry dogs and an old lady with a shotgun.

Some WV anglers coined it - Fishing the Poop. As I said, it's not for everybody, would I ever fish it again? - NO.

 

[wildtrout2]

A very accurate description. I read that entire area is depressed since the coal activity stopped. Many folks left the area, and now things are in a bad way. They also had serious floods in the past. The article I read mentioned that the reason the trout do so well there is because of the buffering of a certain type of coal found in that specific region. I don't know how accurate that is though.

 

[Dale49]

Wild,

I believe the stream begins south of Maybeury, WV and possibly in Virginia. It flows north and then make a west/northwest turn at Route 52 and continues to flow parallel to 52. it is said that the flow out of the mine may have limestone influences or some other basic rock and has a fairly high pH.

The upper reaches, back then, held more bows than brown. More browns show up as it flows to the Tug Fork. I've fished many miles of the stream in the two outings - park/fish, park/fish and so on.

Again, the catch numbers were tremendous with quite a few in the 18 to 22 inch range. As for Canoetripper saying that WV locals feel this stream is a well kept secret - Bullcrap!

 

[Swattie87]

Dale49 wrote:
As for Canoetripper saying that WV locals feel this stream is a well kept secret - Bullcrap!

Sounds like the VC of WV.

I've caught Brookies out of mine tunnel drainages before, and many, many times out of orange looking AMD streams. Brookies are very acid tolerant, and are often the first (and in many cases the only) fish species period, not just Trout, to repopulate AMD streams.

While not as acid tolerant, Browns are much more tolerant of other pollutant conditions…including temperature and siltation. Browns show up in all kinds of different places you wouldn’t necessarily expect them. PH is often the only limiting factor for Browns, and in many places, that’s the only reason they haven’t run Brookies out in the Appalachians.

 

[afishinado]

Help the Horn

The story of Elkhorn in WV is very familiar story when compared to the Lackawanna River a few decades ago.

Hopefully it can be cleaned up and turn into a really great trout river like the Lackawanna is at present.

It is really amazing all the abuse a river and fish can take and still be viable for river for producing quality wild trout.

It appears from the story link above there are folks trying to make it happen.

Good luck to all.

 

[Wild_Trouter]

Afish-

I hate to say this, but I think the poo is actually helping the Elkhorn and the fish attain the sizes they do. Does the poo actually increase benthic invertebrate biodiversity? I've read studies that go either way. I have fished the "Sewer" and done the PVC shuffle. You can actually hear the PVC pipes gurgling when someone flushes their toilet. I have seen corn studded turds come out along with toilet paper and tampons. I have also seen locals just hoist a full garbage bag right over the hillside and into the creek. When you hook a fish, they run under the comforter blanket that is partially submerged midstream. Hand sanitizer is a must along with nippers for cutting your line. Everybody and their brother knows about this place, and it is rare to see more than a few anglers on any given day because of the conditions. The area and the stream are not for the faint of heart. Doubt that I will ever go back.

 

[jifigz]

I watched the video and honestly the amount of trash in the video is no worse than many high quality trout streams I've fished across this state. I have never seen sewage literally flowing directly into a stream here, however. The stream looked good in the video and the fishing looked good too. Certainly not a ton different than some streams that I can think of here, minus the sewage, that is.

 

[Wild_Trouter]

Figz...the video was one of the nicer stretches. Trust me

 

[Canoetripper]

Opioid addiction is a big problem everywhere but particularly in that southwest corner of West Virginia. That obviously in unrelated to trout fishing but I think does explain somewhat of the trash problem.

If you don't care about what you do to your body, why would you care about the local landscape?

I'm 60 years of age now. Sometimes I still think that I am young enough to still do what I used to do, but other times reality limits me to what I know I can still do.

I will most likely retire my canoe, but do what I love to do in the Poconos. I don't care that they are stocked trout. This is what I want to do. I'm in an isolated area and can spend time observing wildlife catching trout.

I know that this is what my grandfather would have wanted me to do.

West Virginia is too much of a logistical challenge when I can do what I want 2.5 hours away in the western Poconos. I am content in Blakeslee reliving my father and grandfather's fly rods.

 

[tomitrout]

TU had an article about fishing there a little while back:

https://www.tu.org/blog-posts/voices-from-the-river-expectations-and-realizations-in-coal-country

I've got a buddy that's familiar with that neck of the woods and the Elkhorn isn't a one off deal, well, maybe the trash is kinda unique...but McDowell County is one of the poorest counties in the country. And unfortunately, infrastructure upgrades don't exactly happen overnight when dealing with that level of poverty.
https://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/21/us/50-years-into-the-war-on-poverty-hardship-hits-back.html

I don't know any of the names, but I've been told of similar fisheries that have been ignored for years that are now amazing brown trout streams. Cold water water coming up out of the old mines combined with long forgotten plantings/stocking has produced some good stuff from what I've been told. Might get down there for some exploring, but it's down the list of places to go at the moment...

Regarding the sewage, yeah it's disgusting, but it does add to the organic biomass which certainly helps maintain the fishery.

 

[wildtrout2]

jifigz wrote:
I watched the video and honestly the amount of trash in the video is no worse than many high quality trout streams I've fished across this state.

Really? In 30+ years I've fished lots of "high quality trout streams" around Pa and never encountered anything even close to this stream, not even close. Maybe you should do more research before going streamside?

 

[jifigz]

wildtrout2 wrote:

jifigz wrote:
I watched the video and honestly the amount of trash in the video is no worse than many high quality trout streams I've fished across this state.

Really? In 30+ years I've fished lots of "high quality trout streams" around Pa and never encountered anything even close to this stream, not even close. Maybe you should do more research before going streamside?

Nope, no more research on this end needed but I appreciate you looking out for me. I know plenty of wild brown trout streams that are "littered up" that hold lots of big brown trout and, surprise surprise, less fisherman. Also, I understand that by putting "high quality" in quotes you're mocking my understanding of what is a "high quality" trout stream. I'm fine with that, you can keep fishing where you fish and keep my favorites wide open.

And Canoetripper, I don't know your health situation but the guy just across the Juniata River from me is in his mid eighties and still fly fishes from his canoe all of the time. Now, he isn't taking long overnight trips anymore, but he is paddling and casting bass bugs/poppers. Never give up on doing anything until you absolutely have to.

 

[ryansheehan]

I feel like Ive fished some areas that have trash but never anywhere near this. Just sad.

 

[jifigz]

ryansheehan wrote:
I feel like Ive fished some areas that have trash but never anywhere near this. Just sad.

Yeah Ryan, if that is the Elkhorn I haven't seen anything that bad here. I didn't see anything that bad in video either. But, as Wild_Trouter said, the video showed the better places.