Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, May 30, 1993 TAG: 9305300043
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: D8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
That's hardly the case, but the perception was projected again this spring when fish officials captured brood fish from the New River upstream from Claytor.
"We took flack from some of the fishermen on the river when they saw us out there collecting white bass," said Ron Southwick, a fisheries biologist supervisor for the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.
"Their complaint is that we are taking all of the fish out and bringing them to Smith Mountain Lake. That's not true."
In reality, a few male white bass were being gathered for use in a state hatchery where they were hybridized with female striped bass from the Roanoke River. Some 33,500 of the hybrids are scheduled to be stocked in Claytor come July, and additional hybrids will be used to trade other states for muskie and walleye. Claytor and the New River will share in this barter.
Along with the male white bass collected by Southwick and his crew were eight females. These were put through the hatchery and 290,000 of the resulting fry were stocked in Claytor. Southwick believes it was the first stocking of white bass in the 4,500-acre Pulaski County impoundment since the 1950s.
"It is just to supplement the natural spawn," he said. "There has been a decline in white bass over the years."
The white bass stocking likely will prove to be more of a goodwill gesture than biological benefit, but the hybrids could usher Claytor into a new angling era. Fishermen in several states, where hybrids have been stocked extensively, often laud their excellent top-water action.
The hybrids don't just strike on the surface and fight like a mule, but can be expected to inhabit water that striped bass will avoid during periods of high temperatures.
"The hybrids are more tolerate of warmer-water temperatures," said Southwick. "When I was working in the Southeast [section of Virginia] we had very good success with them in those real shallow lakes."
The striped bass, which have been stocked annually in Claytor for a number of years, tend to stick to a band of water where they find comfortable temperatures and ample oxygen during the heat of summer. This habitat can constrict to little more than a 6-foot shelf of water in the upper section of Claytor. Baitfish frequently will hold above this band, but the stripers will emaciate themselves before moving up to feed on them.
That's one of the reasons Claytor stripers have failed to match the large size of those in Smith Mountain.
The hybrids aren't expected to be that selective, said Southwick. "They will continue to cruise the surface areas during the summertime, eating shad that are sitting in higher water."
This doesn't mean that Southwick plans to cease stocking striped bass. Some 33,500 are scheduled to be released to give biologists an opportunity to see which species provides the best returns for anglers.
Striped bass in recent seasons have been doing better than ever at Claytor, growing in both size and number. A couple of things have stimulated this success, Southwick believes. The lake's shad population has been booming the past half-dozen years, and the cooler summers have provided the stripers a larger band of preferred habitat.
"We have started seeing stripers in the 20-pound class," said Southwick. "I predict that we will start seeing stripers 30 pounds in Claytor Lake."
With bigger stripers and surface-feeding hybrids, along with improved reproduction among the black bass species, Claytor anglers really don't have to worry about taking a back seat to any place.
by CNB