Director's Message

Name: eRegulations
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Portrait of Ryan J. Brown, Executive Director of the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources, wearing a suit and tie and standing outdoors with a green natural background. — Ryan J. Brown, Executive Director of the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources, who oversees conservation, outdoor recreation, and wildlife management programs across Virginia.

Greetings Virginia (and out-of-state) anglers!

The upcoming year looks like a good one for Virginia.

Our biggest achievement of 2025 was the success of smallmouth bass production at the Front Royal Fish Cultural Station. Through the hard work of our staff, we were able to produce more than 250,000 smallmouth bass fingerlings, which were then stocked into rivers like the James, the South, and the Shenandoah as well as lakes such as Philpott, Carvins Cove, and South Holston. We expect to build on our success in 2026 and to do everything we can to support smallmouth bass populations throughout Virginia. They are our second most popular species, only behind their cousin the largemouth bass.

You may be surprised that despite Virginia’s southerly location, there are fantastic opportunities to pursue fish species that are associated with more northerly states. We have some of the best musky fisheries in the country in the James, Shenandoah and New rivers, with the numbers and quality rivaling what you could expect a few hundred miles north. Throw a big bait to catch a big musky—our sampling has turned up individuals more than 50 inches. We also have great walleye and saugeye (a walleye and sauger cross) fisheries throughout the state, even as far southeast as Lake Whitehurst in Virginia Beach. Walleye and saugeye are among the best eating fish in freshwater and are suckers for a jighead and grub or a crankbait. Try night fishing where allowed to increase your chances of catching these delicious fish.

I also want to let you all know about two of the “other” species we have in Virginia. We’ve been amazed at the interest in fallfish, a large minnow that inhabits a lot of our rivers and streams. The state record for this species has fallen a half dozen times in recent years and anglers always tell us how much they like to catch them. Some even prefer them to trout, believe it or not! Another species that is underappreciated is the chain pickerel, a fish that lives all across Virginia and is often caught by accident by bass anglers. This fish bites readily in the middle of winter—January is a top month—and a light jighead and swimbait is a near sure thing for cold-water success for this toothy critter.

Good luck fishing this year!

Ryan J. Brown

Executive Director

Virginia’s Sport Fish Program informational graphic showing a lakeside shoreline and explaining how fishing and boating purchases support fish conservation and access projects in Virginia. — Virginia’s Sport Fish Program highlights how anglers and boaters help fund fishing access, habitat restoration, and boating improvements through federal sport fish restoration dollars. Photo by Meghan Marchetti / DWR