With buckets, nets and a whole lot of trout, the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources restocked Lake Cook’s fish population earlier this week.
DWR staff deposited about 350 pounds of trout across the four-acre lake on Monday as part of the department’s Urban Fishing Program. In total, some 200 to 300 fish made the journey to Alexandria from a DWR hatchery in Montebello, about three hours southwest, fisheries biologist John Odenkirk told ALXnow.
Staff deposited three species: rainbow trout, brown trout and tiger trout.
Odenkirk said the diversity in species’ behavior offers a variety of fishing experiences. Lures and flies tend to be more successful at catching brown trout.
“And the people who just want to catch a meal real quick and take it home, and use salmon eggs or worms, corn — they’re more successful with rainbow trout,” he said.
Launched in 1993, the Urban Fishing Program aims to bring trout fishing opportunities to approximately 1.5 million Virginians in urban and suburban communities from Nov. 1 through April 30. It’s available to local anglers at seven waterbodies in Virginia, including the lake at 4001 Eisenhower Avenue.
DWR restocks each location about every three to four weeks.
Lake Cook, located within Cameron Run Regional Park, was one of the initiative’s three original destinations. It was joined by Dorey Park in Henrico and Northwest River Park in Chesapeake, which won’t participate this year due to construction.
“This was basically a water quality improvement basin, for lack of a better term,” Odenkirk said. “To be able to mold that and create that into fishing access, where people can come out and catch fish and have a beautiful day outside — it’s amazing to have that partnership with the Park Authority.”
Anglers over the age of 16 can fish at Lake Cook through April 30 with the required state licenses for freshwater fishing and trout. Participants may take home up to four fish per day, measuring no less than 7 inches in length.
“The fish are here,” Odenkirk said. “Come out and enjoy.”
