West Virginia's wild trout streams are restricted to its eastern highlands, but include some of the best habitat in the South. 

BE SURE TO CHECK OUT THE WATER QUALITY DATA TO BE FOUND IN THE "WV RESOURCES" MENU IN THE SIDEBAR.

Source: Eastern Brook Trout Joint Venture, Google Earth

The photo above shows the brook trout habitat dataset published by the Eastern Brook Trout Joint Venture, displayed in Google Earth.  Click on the picture to see a larger image.  You can download the complete dataset in KMZ form, which can be used in your own installation of Google Earth.  If you don't use Google Earth (a decision you may wish to reconsider), you can download a detailed map based on an earlier version of this dataset.  Both are available in the "WV Resources" menu in the sidebar.  The color coding in the photo is as follows, in order of best to worst:

• Blue

• Green

• Yellow

• Orange

• Red

Areas which aren't coded with any color don't support brook trout.  Keep in mind that brook trout can be diminished by other trout species, so some red areas  (and even some blank areas) may be excellent wild brown or rainbow water.  But it's almost certain that the yellow and better areas are great places to find wild trout.

Note: these data are coded by drainage.  Not every stream within a drainage will hold trout, though the majority will, especially within the better habitat.

We've also included a stream map we created for the 2006 version of this site.  Click on "WV Streams - Map" in the Resources menu in the sidebar to see a preview graphic, or simply click on the "Download PDF Map: WV Highlands" link.