I wanted to share this excellent article
>From the DOMINION-POST 1-06-06
Current and future fishing on the Cheat
By Dave Milne
WATER QUALITY HAS BEEN checked in the Cheat River since the 1950s. We all
know it has greatly improved since that time with the exception of the mine
blowout on Muddy Creek in 1994 that effectively killed the river from where
Muddy Creek empties into the Cheat clear to Cheat Lake. Since the blowout,
millions of dollars in treatment, monitoring, research, and studies has been done
by such groups as Friends of Cheat , the National Mine Reclamation Center at
WVU, Office of Surface Mining, WVDEP offices of Special Reclamation and Water
and Waste Management, the Office of Surface Mining, Abandoned Mine Lands
group, and the WVDNR. Without these groups and their funding and access to
grants, these improvements would never have occurred. The Cheat River would have
remained dead from a fisheries standpoint.
Monitoring and other tests can give you relative numbers regarding all kinds
of factors dealing with water quality. If you want to know exactly how good
or bad the water is, go fish it! That is exactly what Frank Jernejcic, DNR
fisheries biologist, does. Numbers of fish will let you know the water quality.
In 1997, Jernejcic made one trip from the mouth of Big Sandy Creek at
Jenkinsburg to the head of Cheat Lake. This is four miles and has lots of class 2
and 3 whitewater. He caught one 9-inch yellow perch! This past year, 2005,
he made four trips and caught 132 fish representing seven species. A hundred
of these were smallmouth bass. Other species included yellow perch, spotted
bass, and pumpkinseed and green sunfish.
Jernejcic said he caught five smallmouth per hour of fishing this past year
on the Cheat. To give you some perspective on how good this is, he says that
the same rate is good on the South Branch and New Rivers. Compare this to
the four smallmouth he caught in two trips to Lake Erie and the three trips to
the New River that yielded a grand total of 13. Things are certainly looking
up for this portion of the river. In 1999, the DNR sampled the fish
population on the Cheat at four locations: Seven Islands, Rowlesburg, the bridge
where W.Va. 7 crosses the river, and at Albright. The total weights of all
species found at the four locations were 58, 24, 18, and 1 pound, respectively. The
numbers of each species found were 24, 17, 20, and twp, respectively.
Weights of the smallmouth found at the four locations were 18, 7, 4, and 1 pound,
respectively.
According to Jernejcic, the decrease from Seven Islands to Rowlesburg is
because the quality of the habitat begins to decrease and the nutrients from the
Blackwater treatment station are beginning to diminish. The decrease from
Rowlesburg to W.Va. 7 is due to the increase in the number of tributaries
containing acid mine drainage. However, since 1999, great improvements have been
achieved in water quality in the Cheat. Considering that the good range of pH
for fish to survive is from 6 to 8.5, it’s important to note that the pH of
the river has not been below 6 for the past year and a half at the head of
Cheat Lake nor below 6.5 at Albright. The DNR maintains monitors in both
locations that check temperature, conductivity, and pH. Muddy Creek is responsible
for about 40 percent of the acid mine drainage in the lower Cheat.
Friends of Cheat has plans to install three more passive treatment projects
in 2006 and two more in 2007. Friends of Cheat and the other groups mentioned
above work with each other through a common group known as the River of
Promise. Cooperation and coordination on this level allows these groups to put
their money where it will do the most good and improve the fishing on the main
stem of the Cheat. From watching the news, I think FEMA should pay these
people a visit and see what that organization could learn from them. They are
obviously doing a lot of things right.
As noted before, walleye fingerlings were stocked this past year in June and
November from St. George to Rowlesburg. The improved water quality in the
upper Cheat as a result of the improvement in water quality in the Blackwater
should help the walleye. Jernejcic noted that the physical quality of the
river in this area is good for walleye, but the question is whether or not they
will have enough to eat. Sampling over the next couple of years will tell the
story.
Not only have the water quality and fishing improved, but some aesthetic
improvements have also been made. The public access point at Jenkinsburg was
purchased by one of the owners of Mountain Streams and Trails Outfitters, of
Albright. This area had become a real eyesore due to unregulated camping, ATV
use, littering, and erosion. The new owner has entered into an access agreement
with Friends of Cheat and American Whitewater. This agreement led to
fund-raising in the local and boating communities to match funding provided by the
DEP/Non-Point Source Program for a total of $30,000. These funds were used for
grading and graveling of a parking area, installing ATV barriers, and
erosion control. The put-in/take-out ramp was reinforced. Public access to the
lower Cheat is by foot only.
DAVE MILNE serves on the state Natural Resources Commission and is a
well-known expert on hunting and fishing in WV
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Distributed from an email of:
Charlie Walbridge
Route 1, Box A43B; Bruceton Mills, WV 26525
304-379-9002; ccwalbridge(a)cs.com
