
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, January 8, 1994                   TAG: 9401080170
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: IVY                                LENGTH: Short

FARMER WANTS THE WORM WHO'S HOOKING HIS FISH

Several hundred live rainbow trout are missing from an Albemarle County fish farm, and the farm owner is considering offering a reward for information on their whereabouts.

Kerry Gilmer discovered Wednesday that 350 of his 10-inch rainbow trout were missing from their cage, which floated from a pier in a pond near his home. Gilmer raises and then sells the fish, worth about $700, to restaurants and seafood retailers.

It's the second time someone has taken fish from the farm. Three years ago, more than 100 trout were taken from a holding tank, Gilmer said.

"I don't know how they would have got in," said Gilmer, who lives in a remote area. `It would have taken probably two men to pull the cage out of the water, and they'd have to put the fish in buckets or something and drive them out."

Gilmer said he would consider offering a reward for information that leads to an arrest and conviction. He thinks someone may try to resell the fish.

"This being the second time, I'm real tired of it," Gilmer said. "I would like to find a way to put an end to it."

by CNB