Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, July 31, 1990 TAG: 9007310064
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Some fishermen are happy; others aren't.
At Smith Mountain Lake, recent striped bass stockings totaled 300,113, which is 100,000 more than last year's releases.
Again, some fishermen are happy; others aren't.
Here's what's happening as summer stockings are carried out at these two impoundments, as well as at Claytor, Philpott and Leesville lakes:
Carvins Cove, a Roanoke City water supply lake near Hollins, received 6,780 striped bass along with an imposing 32,728 walleye, according to A.L. LaRoche III, a regional fisheries manager for the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.
The feedback from the regulars who fish the Cove is mixed, according to David Webb, who operates a concession at the lake.
"I would say it is a close 50-50," he said.
One camp of fishermen is delighted over the opportunity to catch big predators like stripers and walleye. Another prefers the native species - the largemouth bass and crappie - and believe the stripers will be harmful to them, said Webb. A few even would like to see the return of trout.
"We aren't putting a whole lot of stripers in there, just enough to diversify the fishery and give people a chance to catch a striped bass," said LaRoche.
Prompting the stocking was a good shad population, which stripers need for food, and the fact that a handful of fishermen continue to catch big stripers that were stocked more than a decade ago, he said.
One fisherman registered 20 citation striper catches - fish above 15 pounds - last year, said Webb.
These kind of catches have reduced the population, so the stockings were needed if stripers were to be maintained, said Webb. But he wonders what impact it will have on bass, and especially on crappie.
The crappie, Webb believes, have increased as the stripers have decreased.
"We've only had a boom in the crappie the last two years, when a lot of the striped bass were taken from the lake. With the restocking of stripers, we might enjoy two or three more years of good crappie fishing, but without cover they are going to disappear again."
Some 15 years ago, Cove fishermen enjoyed trophy trout fishing, but biologists say recent studies show that there really isn't enough cold-water summertime habitat to sustain a reasonable trout population.
At 20,000-acre Smith Mountain Lake, the debate isn't over whether or not to stock stripers, but how many to stock. While this year's release is well above lasts, it still is nothing like the 400,000 to 800,000 stockings of 1975 to 1981.
Many fishermen, including vocal members of the Smith Mountain Lake Striper Club, want more.
An annual stocking of around 300,000 predator fish was recommended by a multiyear study conducted by Virginia Tech. Stockings in excess of that, the study said, would suffer high mortality unless the forage fish that stripers need for food become more abundant.
That may be happening, said LaRoche. The shad population has looked good the past two years.
"We will be out next month looking at it again. If it still is up, I certainly think we will consider putting more fish in."
While future stockings could ease up, don't expect a return to the boom days, said LaRoche.
"I don't think you'll ever see more than 400,000."
Last year's modest stocking was due to poor success at the hatchery, LaRoche said. That wasn't a problem this year. In fact, there was a surplus of stripers, which went to Kerr Lake, where natural reproduction appeared to be poor this spring.
Smith Mountain got 3,100 muskie, the most since 1986. Walleye are being stocked on an every-other-year basis, and this was an off year, said LaRoche.
Leesville Lake received 65,000 walleye, but no stripers, due to a decline in its shad population, LaRoche said. Claytor Lake got 68,094 walleye and 65,511 striped bass. Philpott received 30,000 walleye.
by CNB