Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, August 23, 1993 TAG: 9310150337
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN OUTDOOR EDITOR
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
State fish officials say they no longer will be able to stock the Roanoke City water supply impoundment because of regulations that permit boats on the lake only if they are owned by residents of Roanoke or Salem, or Bedford, Roanoke or Botetourt counties.
The regulations were approved by Roanoke City Council in an effort to defend against zebra mussels being inadvertently introduced into the lake.
``In our opinion, restricting public boating to only local citizens is discriminatory toward the rest of the boaters-anglers in the commonwealth that we serve,'' said Bud Bristow, director of the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. ``We will find it difficult to justify allocation of public boating and fishing funds to a resource that provides use available to only a portion of our clients.''
For the past 20 years, the department has stocked more than 750,000 fish of eight different species, a record that has provided a grab bag of variety for anglers. Popular during recent years have been species such as walleye and striped bass.
``Based on the data we have collected in the past, I don't see any opportunity for walleye reproduction,'' said Mike Duval, a state supervising fish biologist. ``So I think in the next four or five years you will be down to an occasional walleye.''
The same can be said of striped bass, although it may take a few additional years for them to disappear because of their longer life span, said Duval.
This likely means that exotic fish will be replaced by native species, such as largemouth bass and sunfish. In addition, stockings of catfish - both channel cats and flatheads - likely will survive through natural reproduction, said Duval.
``There will be less choices, less diversity, but I believe the relative number of fish will be the same.''
Bristow asked city officials to rescind the boating restrictions, and allow boats from outside the region to be launched under the city's inspection program, but the suggestion was declined.
Should the regulations be revised, the state could resume its management of the lake, Duval said.
Some fishermen have delighted in casting to walleye and striped bass, while others welcome the idea of the lake returning to a black bass habitat. But with the restrictions on boating come increasingly more expensive launching rates. The launching fee jumped from $4 to $6 this year for boats that are 10 hp or more. It will go to $12 daily by 1995.
City officials say boating use of the cove has declined by about 50 percent this season.
by CNB