Thursday, October 22, 2009
Follow that trout truck!
Bill Cochran
Recent mail
BILL: Do you know of anywhere on the Internet the 2009-10 trout stocking schedule is posted? I know where to find the daily stocking after 4 p.m. I found on the net that some of the other states do post their schedule ahead of time. Why is the stocking schedule such a big secret in Virginia?
JUDY THOMAS
JUDY:
For many years I can recall the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries announcing the stocking scheduled ahead of time, giving the name of the stream and the day of the upcoming release. That stopped in 1987 when the current system was initiated, which announces the stockings after the fact -- at 4 p.m. on the day of stocking.
There were a number of reasons for the change, fisheries biologist Larry Mohn told me. “All were related to the extensive truck following that had developed,” he said.
The major concern was that the landowners who had opened streams to public fishing didn’t like the crowds that were developing. Many of them closed their stream to fishing. DGIF was losing about 35 percent of the private steams available to trout fishing every 10 years.
“Most posted their land because of the enormous crowds generated by announced stocking which resulted in blocked gates, parking on yards, traffic jams and the like,” said Mohn. “Since we have gone to unannounced, we have had no net loss of available water.”
Trout anglers like the current system, he said. Forty-five percent of them prefer a totally unannounced stocking while 22 percent like the current delayed announcement. That means 67 percent prefer to know about the stocking after the fact.
You can find general information on the trout program, including which streams will be stocked and how often -- just no stocking dates -- on the DGIF Web site HuntFishVA.com. Look under Fishing/Trout Fishing Guide/Catchable Trout Stocking Plan.
DGIF maintains a hot line that announces the streams stocked each day after 4 p.m. It is (434) 525-3474. For years, The Roanoke Times maintained a similar hot line under a different area code in order to save anglers a long-distance phone call. Cell phones pretty well have done away with that need today, along with the DGIF Web site, so the hot line’s use has dropped to the point that Mark Taylor, outdoor editor, is dropping it.
DGIF officials have tried to develop a trout program where anglers will go fishing when they get the urge or have the time, and not be overly consumed with the stocking schedule. Still, there are plenty who try to outguess the system by watching for the hatchery truck.
BILL
BILL: Just wanted to drop a line and say how much I’ve enjoyed reading your squirrel hunting articles, especially the ones about Billy Leonard. I’m 50, a lifelong squirrel hunter trained by Dad and my brothers. It sure is refreshing to find your writing on the subject. I’m in Southeast Kentucky and when I grew up here squirrel hunting was second to nothing else, and now it’s hard to even find other squirrel hunters.
DAVID HARRIS
