May 16, 2026 - West Virginia Outdoors with Chris Lawrence

Chris Lawrence covers three stories from West Virginia's fishing world. Preston County angler Matt Bourne recounts landing a new state record chain pickerel — 27.95 inches from a private flood control pond — breaking the record he set himself in 2019, this time from a kayak using a homemade hybrid spinner lure with no net and a five-attempt battle to land the fish. DNR Eastern Panhandle fisheries biologist Brandon Keplinger then joins to discuss his ongoing project reintroducing genetically native brook trout to lower elevation streams in the region where the species was once extirpated, including the challenges of riparian habitat, acid precipitation, and drought years like 2024 and 2025. The conversation closes with the surprising rebound of smallmouth bass fishing on the South Branch of the Potomac — a species that was itself a historical introduction — and the biology behind why the fishery collapsed in the early 2000s and eventually recovered.