BirdTroutOpen the map Is Big Wilson Creek good for brown trout?
Yes, on the classification rather than on a thermometer. VDWR's trout-water designation on Big Wilson Creek names brown trout as a species it is managed for, and this site reads the water as cold from VDWR's management tier for it, which is an inference from how the fishery is managed and not a temperature VDWR publishes — but no USGS gauge on this river reports water temperature, so this site has no measured July mean to hold against the 54–66 °F band this fish wants. Fish of 8–16 inches are what Virginia reports as typical.
What the state's records say
- Species
- Brown trout (Salmo trutta)
- In Virginia
- introduced
- Record here
- named in VDWR's trout-water designation for this reach — a management record, not a catch record
- Holds in
- 54–66 °F, stops feeding above 75 °F
- Typical
- 8–16 inches
- Spawns
- Late October into December, on gravel riffles, later in the season than the rainbow and overlapping the brook trout.
Introduced. Holds the middle elevations — the water below the brook trout headwaters and above the warm valley rivers — and reproduces wild in a good deal of it.
Is the water cold enough
No USGS gauge on this river reports water temperature, so there is no measured July mean to put beside the species' band. VDWR publishes no temperature classification for this water; the Cold band above is inferred from its management tier for the fishery, and it is not a thermometer.
What you may keep
Virginia DWR classifies this water as Class II. The management tier on those reaches is wild. Species Virginia DWR records in the classified water: brown trout, rainbow trout. This is a designation of the fishery and not the season and creel rules.
VDWR trout waters and stocking → Virginia season and creel rules →
What to fish for it
- Little Black Stonefly — January–April, #16–18
- Little Brown Stonefly — February–April, #12–16
- Blue-Winged Olive — March–May and September–November, #16–22
- Quill Gordon — March–April, #12–14
- Blackfly — April–June, #18–22
- Blue Quill — April–May, #16–18
- Cranefly — April–June and September–October, #6–10
- Grannom — April–May, #14–16
The insects recorded from this river's region, earliest first. The full calendar →
More about Big Wilson Creek
Big Wilson Creek — live water temperature, regulations and access