# NW River Park Trout 1/10



## DS422 (Apr 28, 2004)

I went to NW River Park yesterday morning for a couple of hours to try my luck for some trout. The lake has been stocked with trout again by VGIF as part of the Urban Fishing Program.

The ranger on-site said that fishing has been good this week. Upon making my first cast, I just barely put my rod down when I had a fish on. Pulled in a 13" rainbow (biggest of the day for me) right off the bat using corn suspended beneath a float. About an hour went by and then rainbow #2 is on (corn again). While reeling in the trout, my second rod has one on also (power bait fished on bottom). I get both fish in and I just needed one more to get my limit for the day, but it was not to be. I find out later that you can only fish using one rod per person. The ranger did not tell me that when I asked him if there were any special rules for fishing the lake there.

There was probably no more than a half-dozen others fishing yesterday, maybe due to the chilly temps and breezy conditions. However, I think everyone caught something while I was there. Seems like most others preferred the power bait.

If you've never fished there before it's a nice place. I plan on going back again, maybe next time with my 5-year old son.


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## kinggargantuan (Sep 3, 2006)

nice, i might have to try that.


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## edgotbait (Sep 29, 2004)

one of the judges at work told me they had just restocked the trout about a week or two ago.
would love to go there again some time been a few years for me they have walleye small /large mouth bass and cats too


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## Sea2aeS (Jan 7, 2005)

dunno where ya heard the walleye part ed, but thats a negative brother. however, a local lake in norfolk yields walleyes to 5-6lbs and it goes by the name whitehurst

troutskis and channel cats roger. few large rogue slab crappies there too. Saw a 3+lb succomb to electro stunning by VDGIF few years back


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## Steve O (Nov 3, 2005)

Whats the minimum size on the trout and how many can you keep? Was it 3? Are there any size to the cat fish? Whats power bait?


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## Sea2aeS (Jan 7, 2005)

4 per person, keep any size trout. It isnt catch n release. Gotta keep any trout you catch. You can fish till you catch 4 trout, then you gotta pack your chit n leave for the day. no more fishing till the next day there. They are extremely enforcing these set rules, to the length of UC wardens fishing as anglers. 

As for the trout species, Rainbows and Browns. Theres some 14-18 inch rainbows and 22+ browns. They let go a mixed class of fish from 9 inch rainbows to 24-26 inch browns with the browns being the larger.


steve O.... the cats are avg 1-3lb channels. im sure theres larger ones in there. Powerbait is made by berkley and is some good stuff fer them troutskis as well as corn or marshmallows.


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## wolfva (Nov 17, 2006)

I wonder why they don't allow C&R? Since they stock the lake you'd think they'd want more fish to stay behind and grow up to spawn.


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## RoryGoggin (Jan 6, 2005)

As I understand, wolfva, the trout stocked there would not survive there year round...so they would neither grow up nor spawn.


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## Cdog (Mar 18, 2002)

RoryGoggin said:


> As I understand, wolfva, the trout stocked there would not survive there year round...so they would neither grow up nor spawn.


That makes more sense than what I was told,that once touched by human hands they would get infected and kill off the rest of the trout. I was always curious as to why you had to let em go.


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## CrawFish (Sep 23, 2003)

The water temp has to be at a certain range for these trouts to survive. Most of these trouts won't survive when the water gets too warm. That's why they only stock these lakes and creeks in spring and fall. Please correct me if I'm wrong. But I still don't know why you can't release it back.


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## French (Jun 18, 2005)

both points are valid. I can't imagine trout surviving a Tidewater summer. They have trouble making it through the year in Whitetop Laurel up in the mountains during low rain summers. As for C&R, if you disturb the slime coating on a trout, they become easily infected by parasites. Most fly fisherman back home use long needlenose pliers to grab the fly and twist it out without ever touching the fish, and many stretches of non put-in-take waters require you to fish with single hook barbless artificials.


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## jay b (Dec 1, 2002)

Teo what French said and also some folks would cull as they catch, you know throw the little ones back in search of the big boys but all the fish they stock are legal keeper size, just some are smaller. It's also a limited fishery in that they only stock but so many fish each season and they want as many folks possible to have a chance to get some.


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## cgsteiger (Apr 13, 2006)

Ds do you need to have the va trout license to fish for the trout there?


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## DS422 (Apr 28, 2004)

cgsteiger said:


> Ds do you need to have the va trout license to fish for the trout there?


Yes, you still need the trout license as well as the freshwater license.


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## Sea2aeS (Jan 7, 2005)

AKA "Trout Stamp". I beg to think a few of them troutskis actually survive in there. I really do. I have doubts about after letting thousands upon thousands of adult trout go that not a single one survives. 

It aint that deep, but the bottom is sand in a few areas and when sands wet, it stays right cool. the deepest ive seen is about 8 feet.


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## edgotbait (Sep 29, 2004)

Sea2aeS said:


> dunno where ya heard the walleye part ed, but thats a negative brother. however, a local lake in norfolk yields walleyes to 5-6lbs and it goes by the name whitehurst
> 
> troutskis and channel cats roger. few large rogue slab crappies there too. Saw a 3+lb succomb to electro stunning by VDGIF few years back


it has been yeeears since i have been the i thought they did o well my bad sorry


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## cockroachjr. (Jul 18, 2005)

*12/13/07*

Called NW river park today and they will not be stocking the Park with trout as the water level is too low right now. Hopefully, if we get some rain they can still stock it in January/Feb.


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## basstardo (Jun 5, 2006)

Sea2aeS said:


> dunno where ya heard the walleye part ed, but thats a negative brother. however, a local lake in norfolk yields walleyes to 5-6lbs and it goes by the name whitehurst


You got that right. Surprised me to no end to pull up a walleye that went 4 lbs 7 oz there about 6 years ago. I used to catch them in Lake Erie, and man are they good eating. Same technique works here too. Bottom bouncing a night crawler on a rig similar to a flounder rig and walleye will tear them up. They're probably one of my favorite eating fish. :beer:


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## OBX Jay (Sep 3, 2007)

I’ve fished there for 10 years, except the 3 years the "genius" governor Warner decided it would save serious booty if they stopped stocking trout there. They never stocked walleye there. As for the trout, you can release them, as a lot of people do, but most keep their 4 and split. Great place for kids. If they get bored they can play in the park or roll down the hill right next to the pond. The park also rents canoes.


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## Bass_n_around (Oct 21, 2006)

*Trout*

most ponds and lakes make it a catch it keep it period.Here in Md and Va your aloud 5-6 and no release you have to keep them,At Fort AP hill they stock 3-6 lb in the spring stock and they stock it every thursday for two months an two ponds great browns and golden.They also stock rainbow brook ,all are nice size.


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## jhmorgan (May 16, 2007)

Did the whole NW trout gig last year...it was a few weeks after they had stocked it...didnt catch any fish, in fact we only saw one caught in about 6 hours..horrible thing was there were literally hundreds of dead fish either floating/on the banks...me and my brother both prolly stepped on 15 decomposing fish..it was very strange but I think it was due to a couple of days of warm weather..


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## Sharkbait23602 (Nov 23, 2006)

Yeah, I've also witnessed this. Trout require very strict water quality levels including, high oxygen and low water temps. Once off balance, they die off easily. Also, they do not have a very high survival rate after being released as stated above which is why you are required to keep all you catch. Hopefully the weather will stay cold so there will be a couple good months of trout fishing there. 



jhmorgan said:


> Did the whole NW trout gig last year...it was a few weeks after they had stocked it...didnt catch any fish, in fact we only saw one caught in about 6 hours..horrible thing was there were literally hundreds of dead fish either floating/on the banks...me and my brother both prolly stepped on 15 decomposing fish..it was very strange but I think it was due to a couple of days of warm weather..


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## Bass_n_around (Oct 21, 2006)

*trout*

As long as it stays in the 40s your good .they only survive in cold or deep water ,As most stocked ponds are not to deep.


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