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

DATE: MONDAY, June 5, 1995                   TAG: 9506060033
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN OUTDOOR EDITOR
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

A SURPLUS AT WALLEYE HATCHERIES

Fifty-thousand-acre Kerr Reservoir has received a heavy stocking of walleye this spring, including 1 million fry and 100,000 fingerlings. The fingerlings were surplus fish, the result of a good production year in state hatcheries, said Eugene Gwathmey Jr., warm-water fish cultural supervisor for the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.

The releases should boost the annual spring spawning run out of Kerr and up the Roanoke (Staunton) River.

``It was the first time in some time that we stocked Kerr with walleye,'' said Gwathmey. ``We had curtailed stocking there.''

Gaston Lake, just downstream from Kerr, received a stocking of 100,000 walleye.

It was an off year for Smith Mountain Lake, where walleye are stocked by the game and fish department every other year. Last year, Smith Mountain led all other fishing spots across the state in walleye citations, with 30. Kerr was second, with 27, and the lower Roanoke River was third, with 24.

Other walleye have been stocked in Claytor Lake (45,000), New River (38,000), Philpott Lake (40,000), Leesville Lake (35,000) and South Holston Reservoir (30,000).

``So far, we have stocked well over 400,000 fingerlings,'' Gwathmey said.

While that isn't a record, the number exceeds what fish biologists had requested for lakes and streams across the state, he said. That means several spots are reaping the benefit of surplus fish, including the New River, where a 14-pound, 2-ounce state-record fish was landed in December.

Gwathmey said the good production is the result of hard work and planning by workers at the Brookneal, King and Queen, Buller and Front Royal hatcheries, all of which he described as ``aging facilities.''

That effort also should pay off in muskie production, he said.

``We sent people to Pennsylvania to observe their muskie-rearing techniques,'' he said. Pennsylvania has one of the most successful muskie-rearing programs in the nation.

The Virginia muskie are in rearing ponds that are a couple of weeks or so away from being ready to harvest, Gwathmey said.

by CNB