Fewer stripers going in Smith Mountain Lake



Concerned about the "red flags" he sees regarding the striper fishery at Smith Mountain Lake, fisheries biologist Dan Wilson has made the call to reduce the number of fingerling stripers stocked in the lake this spring.

This year the lake will get 250,000 baby stripers.

The baseline number is 350,000, but the lake has gotten as many as 450,000 striper fingerlings in recent years.

Wilson, who oversees the lake's fishery, said two factors were of concern to him.

This winter brought a significant kill of threadfin shad, a forage fish that had been abundant.

Also, Wilson said he has found that striper growth rates are slowing down.

The conditions are similar to what the lake experienced in the years leading up to a mysterious striper kill in 2003 that all but wiped out the lake's larger stripers.

At the time of the kill the lake's stripers were heavily afflicted with copepod parasites in their mouths and gills. Those parasites typically aren't fatal, so scientists worried that other contributors, possibly including overcrowding and a forage shortage, may have compounded to kill the fish.

"I'm not wanting to wait three or four years to see if the same thing happens," Wilson said.

The lake's striper population has rebounded nicely. While large fish are not as common as they were prior to the kill, the lake has been producing an increasing number of 20-pound-plus fish.

This year's reduced stocking doesn't represent a new direction, Wilson added.

"It's going to go up and down," he said.

Long wait for spring squirrel changes

Of the hunting regulations changes recently adopted by the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, the one that will keep hunters waiting the longest is the expansion of the spring squirrel season.

The change will increase the number of public wildlife management areas where spring squirrel hunting is allowed, and also open the season on private land.

But the changes don't take effect until next June.

For this season, which opened Saturday and runs through June 20, hunters are still restricted to 17 designated wildlife management areas.

River Renaissance draws big crowd

The Float Fishermen of Virginia's first Roanoke River Renaissance was a hit.

Ken Ingram, organizer of Saturday's low key float, said the event drew about 100 paddlers.

The river was rolling, especially early in the day, when paddlers made the trip in about 45 minutes. But there were no safety issues.

Ingram said the group is already working on plans for a sequel next year.

http://www.roanoke.com/outdoors/wb/207733

Hope to get up there sometime this fall.I don't really care what size they are as I don't keep any fish I just like the pullllll