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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