Thursday, September 22, 2005
A split in the ranks of Smith Mountain Lake anglers
Bill Cochran
Recent columns
Most people agree that the striped bass fishing at Smith Mountain Lake is only a shadow of what it once was. If you don’t believe that, you weren’t part of the good old days.
That’s when Smith Mountain made just about everyone’s National Top-10 Striper Hot Spot list. The fish validated the good press by tossing water as high as July corn while chasing wide-eyed baitfish on the surface, and by rolling in the shoreline shallows after dark, sounding like hogs falling into the water.
Maybe it is unrealistic to anticipate a return to the glory days, but many agree that the fishing could -- and should -- improve from its recent crash.
Ideas differ on how to accomplish a turnaround. The fishing fraternity is split over whether to make drastic regulation changes or stick to the current management course and hope it works.
No where is the riff more evident than between the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries’ staff and members of the Smith Mountain Striper Club.
Under consideration are several bold changes in striped bass fishing regulations that have been proposed by DGIF. They are subject to a final vote on Oct. 27.
The proposals involve a slot limit along with catch limits that differ according to whether it is cold weather or warm weather. They are designed to accomplish two basic goals: protect the lake’s larger striped bass and reduce the number of young fish so they will not overpower their food source.
Current regulations are simple: two-fish per day, 20 inches or longer, year-round.
Dan Wilson, DGIF biologist in charge of the lake’s fishery, believes the new regulations are needed because the old ones aren’t working. Citation catches have bombed, it takes a lot longer for an angler to catch a striper and -- this one is a real red flag -- growth rates of stripers are down, Wilson said.
“We can not continue the exact same thing we have done in the past,” he said.
Ron Curtis, president of the striper club, which has about 700 members, believes that current regulations are working. The striper population is rebounding and there is an abundant forage base this year, he said. The plan that is in place needs to be given more time, Curtis believes.
Frank Skillman, a member of the club’s board who fishes 300 times a year, reports that his catches this year already reflect a marked improvement in size.
The crash in the striper population wasn’t the result of unsound regulations, but came when “the reservoir was dealt a double disaster,” said Curtis. An outbreak of parasites killed most of the large fish and a winter kill wiped out virtually all of the threadfin shad, an important food source for stripers, he said.
Some members of the club differ with Curtis and his board of directors. The club’s Preservation Committee recommended the slot limit as an emergency issue, but the club’s board of directors turned it down.
“There are those of us who believe the fishery was in trouble before the threadfin winter kill,” said Tom Byrne, who has been a club officer. With a decline in food, the larger stripers no doubt were stressed and became prime candidates for the parasite infestation, he said.
Byrne has voiced a public rebuttal to the striper club’s stand and has chastised DGIF for yielding to club pressure to maintain high annual stockings of stripers without increasing the forage fish base.
DGIF board members will have the tough task of choosing whether to back their biologists or support striper club members who have worked closely with the agency in the past.
Both sides say they hope the debate won’t strain relationships. “We remain cooperative with the VDGIF, but differ broadly on this issue,” said Curtis, adding that the new regulations would disrupt the club’s striper tournament efforts...
Wilson said he is not offended by the position taken by the club. “Someone questioning what I am doing is a good thing for me,” he said. He said it makes him dig harder to defend his data. He believes his data is sound, but he is not going to shove it down the throat of his opponents. The club, he said, has been “a tremendous help” in the past.
If the club prevails in keeping current regulations, “We aren’t left with many tools in the box,” Wilson said.
One big tool that remains is the stocking rate. The club has supported heavy stockings since its founding about 20 years ago.
People like Byrne and Wilson wonder if the stocking rate has been shoved up too high.
“We had some bad things happen because we had too many fish in the system,” said Wilson.
DGIF PROPOSAL: Eliminate the current two-per day, 20-inch minimum size limit and implement a 26- to 36-inch slot limit from Oct. 1-May 31. During this period anglers could keep two stripers. From June 1 to Sept. 30, there would be no size limit and the catch limit would be four.
