ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, July 14, 1996 TAG: 9607150142
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-6 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: Bill Cochran
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN
The bad luck continues.
Last year, a June flood washed away the 300,000 striped bass fingerlings scheduled to be stocked in Smith Mountain Lake.
This year, state fish officials aren't certain what happened to the crop of fingerlings. When the rearing ponds were drained at the Brookneal hatchery, the fish just weren't there. Not many, anyway.
Thus far, Smith Mountain has received about 47,000 fingerlings from Brookneal and 19,000 from a state hatchery in Front Royal. The 66,000 total is 234,000 less than what what officials had requested for the 20,000-acre lake.
Much of the loss last year was recouped when Virginia received 267,000 fingerlings from North Carolina. There is no chance that will happen this time, because North Carolina also had a lousy year, said A.L. LaRoche, regional fisheries manager for the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.
``When you drop to 66,000, that is quiet a drop,'' LaRoche said. ``Even if we had 100 percent survival, which would never happen, we would be talking about a year class of 66,000 fish. Normally, if you are stocking 300,000 and you get 30 percent survival, you are talking about a year class of 80,000 to 90,000 fish when they reach a year old.''
Fishermen are going to notice fewer fish coming into the 20-inch legal size three years from now, but the poor production year won't necessarily wreck the program, LaRoche said.
``Most striped-bass fisheries, including Smith Mountain, are dependent on four- or five-year classes,'' he said. ``The catches are 3-, 4-, 5-, 6- and 7-year-old fish. If you have one bad year, you don't really notice it. When you get into problems is when you have two or three bad years in a row. Then you are missing as many as three year classes out of the five you are catching from.''
While last year's stocking was less than the targeted 300,000, the decline won't be noticed if the survival was good, LaRoche said. The survival rate won't be known until surveys are completed later this year.
``But if last year was a bust and this year is a bust, we start getting to the point that we get a little bit worried about it,'' he said.
On the positive side, survival was above average in 1992, 1993 and 1994, when stockings averaged more than 300,000, LaRoche said.
``We had some of the best survival we've ever had,'' he said. ``In 1992, it was 39 percent; 1993, 37 percent; 1994, 29 percent. All of those are on the upper end of the scale. Last year, we don't know yet. Conceivably, we could have four good years in a row.''
A problem this year is fish officials in Virginia and North Carolina pretty well had all their eggs in one basket. With Virginia's Brookneal hatchery destroyed by flood water, state fish officials collected stripers spawning out of Kerr Lake and transported them to a North Carolina hatchery. That meant when North Carolina had problems, so did Virginia - and other states that depend on North Carolina's stock. There was no back-up system.
``The guys in North Carolina did a great job and went out of their way to help us, but it is tough to rely on other people,'' LaRoche said. ``You can see what can happen.''
This week, board members of the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries are scheduled to hear a preliminary report on plans to rebuild the Brookneal hatchery.
Even under the best of circumstances, a new facility won't be ready by next spring. That has fish officials pondering the idea of shoring up the old, condemned hatchery enough to squeeze out one more season of fingerlings.
Claytor Lake and Lake Anna received their allotment of stripers this year; Leesville didn't get any fish.
LENGTH: Medium: 70 linesby CNB