ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, September 16, 1996 TAG: 9609170051
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN OUTDOOR EDITOR
Sixty-acre Douthat State Park Lake is little more than a puddle compared with 20,000-acre Smith Mountain Lake or 50,000-acre Kerr Lake, but for George Keller it is bigger than life when a trout is tugging on the end of his line.
From Clifton Forge, Keller is a Douthat regular, one of a fraternity of men and women who fear their fishing is being wrenched away by a Department of Game and Inland Fisheries proposal that would cease summertime trout stocking at the Bath County impoundment.
``It is a great place to go with your family and catch some fine trout,'' Keller said.
But state fish officials say that idyllic picture changes when the summer sun bears down on the lake, robbing it of its trout habitat by raising the temperature and lowering the oxygen content of the water. Stockings four of the past five years have resulted in an unacceptable level of trout mortality, said Larry Mohn, a fish division biologist for the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.
Habitat that is suitable for trout is compressed into about a meter-deep layer - or thermocline - of water, Mohn said. Trout that are dumped into 80-degree surface water either go up Wilson Creek, a tributary of the lake, or they get lucky and find the thermocline, he said. Or they die.
In late August, the department proposed a package of regulation changes for Douthat, including one that would close Douthat's fee-fishing program annually from June 16 through Sept.14. That drew protests from Douthat fishermen at recent public hearings in Clifton Forge and Roanoke. The proposals are scheduled to get a final vote by the game department board in Richmond on Oct.24.
``We do not need ideal trout habitat in Douthat for trout that only live four or five days at most before they are caught,'' said Keller, who heads an organization called Fishermen and Women of Douthat State Park. The group collected more than 1,200 names on a petition expressing opposition to the closure.
``I don't see how any conclusions can be reached to recommend any changes in the rules and regulations on stocking trout at Douthat Lake based on only four water surveys in nine years,'' Keller said. ``There has been one test per year in 1988, 1992, 1994 and 1996.''
Keller and his supporters believe summer-long trout fishing can be maintained at Douthat if:
The upper end of the lake is dredged to remove silt and sediment.
A stocking chute is installed to reach deep water.
Fish are stocked after legal fishing hours, possibly at night, so they have an opportunity to scatter.
Trout are delivered to the lake in better condition.
Larger fish are stocked.
The request to dredge the lake has caught the attention of Del. Creigh Deeds of Bath County, who has said he will consider asking the 1997 General Assembly for special funding.
Already approved is $1.2 million for dam repairs. Keller said the best time to do the dredging would be when the lake is drawn down for the dam work.
Forrest Gladden, the senior park manager, said funds for dredging have been requested without success for several years. The cost has been estimated at $500,000.
``We would like to see it dredged, too,'' Mohn said. ``That may not improve the summer holdover of trout. But if conditions are suitable, we will start stocking.''
Keller believes the fee-fishing program was closed prematurely this summer, one of the coolest and wettest on record. Some mortality was noted July 3, the last stocking before the program was ended, but Keller and his group believe that was the result of transportation problems. When the fee program was discontinued on July 10, 6,880 permits had been sold.
The Douthat fish are trucked from the Corsey Spring Hatchery in a tank that Keller believes is too small and inadequately aerated. Fish officials say a larger truck will be used in the future.
Some of Keller's peers have charged that hatchery officials cut off the oxygen supply to the trout before reaching the lake in an effort to make the fish sick and difficult to catch. Mohn denies that charge.
As for the suggestion to stock after fishing hours, Mohn said limited manpower at the hatchery makes that difficult. He agreed the trout stocked this season have been small.
State officials don't see the summertime interruption of the pay-fishing program as all bad.
When the pay trout-fishing program is suspended, families using the park can fish the lake for bass, sunfish and other warm-water species without having to pay the special $4 daily trout fee.
``Douthat Lake has good populations of warm-water game fish that can provide good angling opportunities during the summer months,'' said Gary Martel, the fish division chief of the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. ``Fishing pressure actually sharply increased during this time period because families using the park could fish without the added fee.''
``I am up here every day, and nobody is fishing this lake,'' said Keller, who used a video camera to document a sparse Labor Day weekend crowd.
``If this is an increase, I'd hate like the devil to see what it was like before,'' he said, counting four fishing boats during a Aug. 31 visit and three the next day.
The 1996 General Assembly established a joint subcommittee to study the feasibility of developing Douthat State Park into a regional, multipurpose recreational facility. The concept is to boost park attendance with new features and facilities. A golf course, horseback riding, and 50- to 250-room lodge have been discussed. Keller said the committee, known as Friends of Douthat, hadn't contacted his group to talk about fishing.
``We want the lake taken care of, too,'' said Roy Reynolds, an angler from Clifton Forge.
LENGTH: Long : 113 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: NHAT MEYER/Staff. George Keller is a Douthat Lakeby CNBregular who is fearful his fishing rights will be eroded by a
proposal that would discontinue summertime trout stocking. 2. During
a visit to Douthat last week, Keller spotted only a single boat on
the lake. color. Graphic. Map. color.