CLIFFTOP, WV – Gov. Jim Justice helped stock the streams of Babcock State Park full of golden rainbow trout today, as part of a ceremony celebrating the 2019 West Virginia Gold Rush.
The week-long Gold Rush event features the stocking of about 40,000 golden rainbow trout in 41 lakes and 16 streams across the state, including at 15 state parks and forests, to lure in anglers and adventure seekers from all over the world to experience the outdoors of West Virginia.
“The world is watching,” Gov. Justice said during his remarks to the crowd on hand for Wednesday’s ceremony. “Through social media, today, there could be 12 million people seeing us…that’s exactly what we want to have happen.
“We hope that the anglers that are here are going to enjoy themselves and that many, many, many keep coming to West Virginia,” Gov. Justice said. “We’re going to start stocking our streams how they should be stocked and we’re going to be dadgum proud of it and we’re going to market ourselves for doing so.”
After making his remarks, Gov. Justice made his way down to the bank of Glade Creek and released a bucketful of the golden rainbow trout into the waters.
The West Virginia Division of Natural Resources is continuing these statewide lake and stream stockings all week. To ensure families have plenty of opportunity to participate, whether at the start or end of the week, DNR will conduct a big release on Saturday, April 6 – the last day of the event. Anyone who catches a golden rainbow at a state park is eligible to receive a West Virginia Gold Rush Golden Rainbow Trout Certificate.
Those who are interested in participating in Gold Rush can find a list of stocking locations at
www.wvgoldrush.com.
The full ceremony can be viewed below.