Thursday, July 08, 2010
Bill Cochran's Outdoors: Origin of striped bass in Carvins Cove a mystery
Bill Cochran is a Roanoke Times outdoors columnist.
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Last month, Jim Wardle of Roanoke reported catching a 41-pound striped bass from Carvins Cove, the Roanoke Valley’s 630-acre water supply impoundment. A picture of the fish was posted at the Cove launching site, and later it appeared in The Roanoke Times. This fish reigns as the biggest landlocked striper caught in Virginia for several years.
Now the word is out. There are striped bass in Carvins Cove.
Some anglers have been catching smaller stripers there for several years, and they have kept it under their hat. Carvins Cove is the kind of little jewel the regulars don’t like to share, because its seclusion is part of its attraction.
But once Wardle’s fish was publicized, other anglers began revealing their catches. One angler reported that he lost a big striper when his line popped as he brought the fish to the surface. Others have reported spotting schools of stripers ripping into baitfish on the surface.
The question: Where the heck did these fish come from? The Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries says the last time it stocked stripers in the Cove was 1992.
Now that could explain Wardle’s catch. Stripers are a long-living fish. The 53-pound, 7- ounce state landlocked record caught 11 years ago from Leesville Reservoir was 24 years old, according to Dan Wilson, a DGIF biologist.
“It is possible there are some fish still there from that stocking,” said Wilson.
But how do you explain the smaller fish being caught?
“It is possible that there are leftover stripers that did not grow well and are still small for that age,” said Wilson. “I would like to get some striped bass heads from fish caught at Carvins Cove to determine the age, which should help determine if these are actually old fish or have originated since 1992.”
This leads us to the obvious question: Are striped bass reproducing in Carvins Cove?
All the science on this species says, “No.”
Striped bass aren’t nest builders like black bass. A successful spawn requires them to move upstream into free-flowing water where they cast their eggs and milt to the current. Here the semi-buoyant eggs must remain free-flowing while they hatch. If they sink to the bottom, they die.
There aren’t many places in freshwater that meet such fastidious spawning requirements. Santee-Cooper Reservoir in South Carolina was the first, in 1941. Virginia’s Kerr Lake followed about a decade later. There have been few since. Not even Smith Mountain Lake, with its sizable Roanoke River tributary, meets the requirements.
An exception is Lake Powell in Utah, but it is 186 miles long and lashed with winds that keep the water moving and striper eggs suspended long enough to hatch.
“I am not sure we have such a situation in Carvins Cove,” said Bud LaRoche, a regional fish manager for the DGIF.
So is someone else stocking the Cove? That appears unlikely considering the cost and scarcity of fingerlings.
Next question: Will the DGIF resume stockings of striped bass in the Cove now that there is evidence these fish are surviving there and providing recreation?
“At this point, I am hesitant about stocking striped bass due to the limited shad available,” said Wilson.
Largemouth bass are doing well in the Cove and will get priority management, state biologist say. Even so, “There will still be some room for more stocking,” Wilson added.
DGIF officials met recently with the Western Virginia Water Authority to discuss management options. The authority is in charge of the water supply facility.
“It was a very productive meeting,” said LaRoche.
The authority gave DGIF the go-ahead to stock fish in the impoundment for a public fishery as long as care is taken not to introduce undesirables such as zebra mussels.
Since the 2010 stocking season pretty much is over, releases aren’t expected until next year. Meanwhile, DGIF officials will determine what species will be stocked.
“We also discussed the possibilities of cooperating on renovating the boat ramp at the Cove by making it longer and possibly replacing the unstable courtesy piers,” LaRoche said. “We also talked about the possibility of cooperating on either building a new fishing pier or extending the one that exists.”
Such work would depend on available funding, he said.
