Thursday, July 07, 2005
Bill Cochran's Outdoors: Stocking bass no longer a joke
Bill Cochran is a Roanoke Times outdoors columnist.
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Fisheries biologists of the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries have embraced the idea of stocking bass in Virginia streams, a concept that would have been considered preposterous just a few years ago.
You don’t stock bass on top of an established population, because if the river-born fish can’t make it certainly the hatchery-cultured fish won’t. It is a waste of money and could introduce disease or undesirable genes into native populations. So the argument has gone.
But that is changing. When members of the new Concerned Bass Anglers of Virginia recently approached the DGIF fish division about stocking largemouth bass in tidal streams they didn’t get a “You’ve got to be kidding!”
“We are excited about the possibilities,” said Gary Martel, chief of the DGIF fish division.
What Martel means, he is excited in a scientific way. He’s not saying that stocking necessarily is the solution to bass problem spots across the state. He just is anxious to see if stocking is yet another tool to be used in the management of bass.
“We can get some really good information from this,” he said.
Interest in stocking is rooted in the fact that Virginia’s stream bass populations have suffered during recent years. Largemouth bass in the tidal James and Chickahominy rivers have been adversely impacted by a half-dozen years of poor or failed recruitment of young fish to the adult population. The problem, biologists believe, is stress from drought. Anglers say whatever it is has taken the fun out of fishing.
A group of about 75 fishermen, including Woo Daves, the 2000 Bassmaster Classic winner, showed up at DGIF headquarters to campaign for stocking. Biologists were able to tell the mostly tournament anglers that the fishery in the James and Chickahominy already is in recovery, thanks to strong years classes in 2003 and 2004. But the anglers still said they wanted to try stocking, and would contribute to its funding.
Martel is willing to go along with that by agreeing to an experimental stocking in the Chickahominy. The fish division has agreed on releasing 114,000 2-inch largemouths.
“At this point it appears the fish will arrive from Dunn’s Fish Farm in Arkansas the week of July 11th,” said Bob Greenlee, a DGIF district fisheries biologist assigned to the tidal James and Chickahominy. Additional stockings are planned for the next two years.
Once the fish arrive in Virginia they will be marked so their survival and contribution to the Chickahominy bass population can be documented.
“The bass to be stocked are F1 hybrids, a cross between pure Florida strain and pure northern strain brood stock,” Greenlee said. “This cross exhibits rapid growth attributed to Florida strain bass, with improved likelihood of winter survival compared to pure Florida strain bass.”
Samples will be taken in the fall to determine what percentage of stocked fish and native fish make up the population.
Biologists believe that the greatest contribution that stocking holds likely will be to level out the ups and downs of natural reproduction.
“The question is whether supplemental stocking of largemouth bass in complex tidal systems is feasible, and, if so, whether stocked bass will contribute in any significant degree to these fisheries,” said Greenlee. “If so, then we may be able to reduce or eliminate the impact of multiple-failed year classes during future droughts on tidal bass fisheries in Virginia.”
While it is commendable for tournament fishermen to underwrite the cost of bass to be stocked, you don’t have to look far to find anglers who think the fishery would improve without stocking should the number of tournaments be reduced, and even eliminated during the spawning season.
