Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, February 10, 1991 TAG: 9102110298
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: D11 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Bill Cochran Outdoor Editor
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Any striper that weighes 20 pounds or more is a citation catch, worthy of special recognition from the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. A 30-pound plus fish can set an angler apart and give him a dash of mystique among his peers.
But are big stripers at Smith Mountain a dying breed?
The answer can appear to be yes and no.
At the end of January, many fishermen were jolted when the state game and fish department reported that the lake's citation striped bass catches during 1990 numbered only 286 (a later count showed it to be 292). The year before, the figure was 750.
Anglers eager to gripe about what they see as a declining striper fishery were quick to say, "I told you so."
What you have to remember is that the minimum weight to earn a striper citation was boosted from 15 to 20 pounds at midyear 1989, said A.L. LaRoche III, a regional fishery manager for the game and fish department.
When you compare the past season's 20-pound-plus citations with the citations of 1989 that weighed 20 pounds or more, the figures aren't all that different, 292 to 311, LaRoche said.
"They were the two best years we have had in terms of 20 pounds and over," he said.
One thing concerns LaRoche, however. The stripers that weighed 30 pounds or more numbered 54 in 1989 while last year they had dropped to 41. That means most of the decline last year was in the largest class of fish, the kind that gives fishermen bragging rights and even the opportunity to catch a state record.
The big fish, LaRoche speculates, were the fruits of early stockings, back in the '70s, when he belives opportunities for survival and growth were better than during more recent years.
Some lake fishermen believe stripers in all classes have declined, and things aren't going to get better until annual stockings are increased.
"I have been here for 15 years and on the water much of that time," said Bob King who is a fishing guide and tackle shop operator. "Years ago we used to be able to graph school after school after school of striped bass. And lots of baitfish. Now we graph just tremendous amounts of bait and it is hard to find a school of striped bass. You have to correct that imbalance."
State fish officials plan to stock 300,000 striped bass fingerlings in the 20,000-acre lake this year, a number that matches last year's releases. That's less than half what fishermen like King want, but LaRoche says there are biological limits.
"When you look around, we still are stocking more striped bass per acre than any place in the country," he said. "Most places go five to 10 fish per acre. In Smith Mountain, we are putting in 15."
King said he had heard that some lakes in Tennessee similar in size to Smith Mountain are being stocked with a million or more stripers. LaRoche said he'd heard that, too, but it isn't fact.
"We called down there to check it out and the most they ever put in was 10 per acre, and that was on an experimental basis," he said. "Most of the time it is five. All the data that we have shows you can establish just as good a year class with those smaller numbers of fish. You get better survival."
You also keep your sport fish in balance with their food supply, he said, a fact that not only helps the striper population, but black bass as well. Too many mouths to feed in a lake can hurt everything, and that happened in the early '80s, following stockings that pressed above the half-million mark, he said.
"You have to admit that the lake has made a big turnaround in a lot of other species," LaRoche said, giving black bass and crappie as examples. "I can't help but think that it is not a coincidence that we have cut back on striper stockings."
King believes state fish biologists aren't taking into account what he and fellow members of the Smith Mountain Lake Striper Club see as a sharp increase in both fishing pressure and the number of baitfish in the lake. These factors build a case for increased stockings, say club members, who have been critical of the state's stocking program.
"There is plenty of food," said King. "The reproduction of baitfish has been excellent, just absolutely excellent the last several years. The amount of baitfish we are seeing, shad and alewives both, is just phenomenal."
Samples taken by fish officials show that the gizzard shad population was roughly 225 pounds per acre last year. The year before, it was 240, and in 1988, 300. While these figures are nothing like the 1,100-pounds per acre of the mid-70s, they are improved over the early '80s when the shad population crashed following record sport fish stockings, said LaRoche.
"If it [the shad population] stays around 200, I think we will be satisfied that we've got it back," he said.
Stockings in the future could push past the 300,000 mark, LaRoche has told the striped bass club, but never expect anything like the 600,000 to 800,000 of the late '70s, he said.
"We aren't trying to tell a fisheries biologist that he doesn't know his job," King said. "We are just trying to protect our investment, trying to protect our resource."
King said some fishing guides at the lake gave up their businesses last fall because of poor fishing success. Out-of-state fishermen are starting to go to Tennessee and Kentucky for their sport, he said.
"We are getting a lot of flack anymore about the striper fishing here, about how bad it is. The people here are very, very upset. We have a lot of businesses on the lake that depend on the tourist trade, they depend on the fishermen coming in here. If something isn't done, we are going to have an economic situation here that isn't going to be good."
LaRoche added: "I hear people who say the fishing is not like it used to be. I can't gripe about that, because we haven't had the money for a creel survey and I don't particularly know what is being caught, other than just citations.
"What I do know is the kind of year class we are establishing. And it is as good as it ever has been. That doesn't necessarily mean the fishing hasn't gotten worse. There could be so many anglers out there that the catch is spread out more."
LaRoche still rates Smith Mountain's striper fishing as the best in the East, maybe the best in the country.
"But it is never enough for some people," he said.
by CNB