Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, January 19, 1992 TAG: 9201200243
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: D13 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN OUTDOOR EDITOR
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
CLUB WANTS 1 MILLION FISH FOR SMITH MT.
Smith Mountain Lake, often touted in national publications as one of the finest striped-bass hot spots in the country, has lost the glitter that made it famous, some anglers are saying.They want the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries to restore the silver lining of this dream fishery with a stocking of one-million striper fingerlings this year.
Stockings have averaged 300,000 during recent years. That's not enough, Bob King, president of the Smith Mountain Striper Club, told department board members last week.
"We are alarmed at the dramatic decline in productive striped bass fishing at Smith Mountain Lake," he said. "We are asking for - instead of 300,000 - that we get one-million fish this year, 800,000 next year, then level off somewhere around 500,000 or 600,000."
David Whitehurst, the department's fish division chief, said state hatcheries don't have the capacity to turn out one-million stripers for a single lake. Even if they did, releasing that many would be a waste of the resource and a threat to other species in the impoundment, he said.
"In order to produce one-million striped bass for Smith Mountain Lake, then other lakes would go without any striped bass and without some of the walleye that are being stocked," Whitehurst said.
Research conducted by Virginia Tech revealed that the optimum stocking rate for 20,000-acre Smith Mountain is about 300,000 fingerlings annually. If that number were more than tripled, it wouldn't appreciably change angling results, Whitehurst said. The carrying capacity of a lake is limited by factors such as the food supply that is available predator-type fish, particularly when they are young. The lake no longer has the rich source of nutrients it once did.
What a massive stocking might do, he said, is cause a decline in the black-bass population, at a time when bass anglers are expressing satisfaction with their fishery.
Whitehurst said his staff doesn't believe striped-bass fishing is as poor as King and others say.
Last season, Smith Mountain produced 336 striper citations - fish registered with the state that were 20 pounds or more in weight. That was a record count.
The debate is expected to continue Wednesday when fish biologists and fishermen are scheduled to meet 7 p.m. in the Community Room at the Moneta Medical Center.
King, who is a lake guide, said fish officials are overlooking the fact that fishing pressure has increased sharply while stockings have declined from a high of 800,000 in the late '70s. He also said there are more alewives available for the stripers to eat than officials believe.
"We are tired of hearing excuses from the game commission telling us the fish are there when we know the fish aren't there," he said.
The striper club has been campaigning for increased stockings for three year. Having failed in its effort, King said the club has broadened its support to include the Smith Mountain Lake Chamber of Commerce, the Franklin County Chamber of Commerce, the Smith Mountain Lake Policy Board, Appalachian Power Co. and Sen. Virgil Goode of Rocky Mount.
The poor fishing is hurting business at the lake, he said.
"We were told [by state biologists] not to let it get political, that we could work it out among ourselves," King said. "We decided we couldn't wait any longer. The three years we waited gained us absolutely nothing."
Whitehurst said his staff is anxious to work with fishermen on what he called "a very complex issue."
Biologists are looking into the possibility of stocking larger fish for better survival, but that could be both risky and costly, Whitehurst said.
Hydroacoustic equipment to survey fish populations and creel checks to determine angling pressure and success also are desirable management tools, but funding for them has not been available, he said.