Summer fishing is killing stripers at VA lake

[lampern]

Smith Mtn Lake Virginia

Striped bass is the big get and has always been precious in the waters of Smith Mountain Lake. You can keep two legally, then practice catch and release. But now, we know in warm months, catch and release is just as bad for the population as keeping more than your limit.
"The traditional notion, let's go out and catch as many as we can, what we were in essence doing was killing them," Brenholdt said. "We used to think as long as they didn't float on the surface, they were good, but more recent research has shown with radio tagging and with underwater video cameras that they sink to the bottom and die."

https://www.wsls.com/news/virginia/...triped-bass-population-on-smith-mountain-lake

 

[howboutthemdawgs]

People can’t police themselves and people don’t want more regulation so when we are dealing with **** poor fishing we have no one to blame but our own lack of self control.
Bass tournaments probably kill more fish than any other practice, including fishing for consumption. Since they don’t all float to the surface like your goldfish it’s out of sight out mind

 

[lampern]

I wonder how often this occurs on striper lakes?

 

[TroyBoy30]

if it's a stocked fish why does it matter. they will just put more in. if they don't reproduce naturally they will die anyway.

 

[615groundpounder]

if it's a stocked fish why does it matter. they will just put more in. if they don't reproduce naturally they will die anyway.

Dumbest statement on the internet. If you go by your logic why not throw them on the bank after catching them?

 

[Coenen]

I wonder how often this occurs on striper lakes?

You have to wonder? Really? If you catch them in the dog days, it'd be best to cooler them. Especially if you're lead-coring, or pulling U-Rigs.

Dumbest statement on the internet. If you go by your logic why not throw them on the bank after catching them?

Some do. They're quite the contentious topic in some places.

 

[Rabun]

I do some striper fishing on lanier in the winter months primarily. Seems last couple of years they have been a bit more elusive. Be curious what others think...if in your opinion the striper fishery has declined on lanier based on your recent (last couple of years) experience?

 

[Coenen]

I don't have much of a baseline, but last year was tougher than the year before. I can't cover a lot of water though, so they could just be somewhere else. Weather and water conditions were a lot different in those two years as well.

I've heard tell that it's supposed to really rebound here in the next few years, but I'm not so sure. This is just my opinion, but I'm worried that the presence of gill maggots will limit the growth potential of the fish we have. That's not to say Lanier may not bounce back as a numbers fishery, but the really big fish may be a thing of the past. Again, just my (uneducated) opinion.

 

[lampern]

I've never heard of summer kill being a problem on GA lakes like Lanier or Seminole

 

[Coenen]

Old Thread, but lots of good discussion from some guys that know their stuff...
GON Freshwater Forum Discusses Summer Striper Mortality

 

[across the river]

Dumbest statement on the internet. If you go by your logic why not throw them on the bank after catching them?

How is that a dumb statement? The DNR also stocks tons of trout every year in not even marginal rivers water knowing that the majority will likely die when the temps warm up. Why do they stock them? They do it so people can catch them and enjoy fishing. Some people throw trout back that will likely die as well in the summer when the water warms up. Are you mad at them as well? They stock the fish for people to catch them, not to try to replenish a natural population that can reproduce itself. Are a percentage that get throw back going to die, absolutely. The DNR knows this, and stocks numbers to accost for that'd maintain population levels where they want them even with "release mortality." The goal in most lakes isn't to grow a bunch of trophy stripers. If it was they, wouldn't stock that many.

 

[howboutthemdawgs]

How is that a dumb statement? The DNR also stocks tons of trout every year in not even marginal rivers water knowing that the majority will likely die when the temps warm up. Why do they stock them? They do it so people can catch them and enjoy fishing. Some people throw trout back that will likely die as well in the summer when the water warms up. Are you mad at them as well? They stock the fish for people to catch them, not to try to replenish a natural population that can reproduce itself. Are a percentage that get throw back going to die, absolutely. The DNR knows this, and stocks numbers to accost for that'd maintain population levels where they want them even with "release mortality." The goal in most lakes isn't to grow a bunch of trophy stripers. If it was they, wouldn't stock that many.

I don’t think that is comparing apples to apples. Striper summer mortality doesn’t have to happen given the depths that a lake like Lanier has. These fish can survive just fine in the cool waters. Due to ingenuity and technology it’s not hard to catch them now at those depths. Selective restraint can and would improve the fishery greatly. Sure the state will replenish the stock as long as it makes financial sense but the fish that we all want to catch are a couple age classes old.

 

[across the river]

I don’t think that is comparing apples to apples. Striper summer mortality doesn’t have to happen given the depths that a lake like Lanier has. These fish can survive just fine in the cool waters. Due to ingenuity and technology it’s not hard to catch them now at those depths. Selective restraint can and would improve the fishery greatly. Sure the state will replenish the stock as long as it makes financial sense but the fish that we all want to catch are a couple age classes old.

Again, what are they stocking them for? They are stocking them to catch. They are a stocked fish that isn't reproducing, so they can essentially control what the numbers are regardless of mortality. Same deal as trout, so it is comparing apples to apples. If you have a pond with catfish and pond with talipia that die off every winter, you stock the number of fish you want in both situations. With the cats it depends on how many you catch and keep, with the talipia you start over essentially every year. In both situations, you control the numbers. The DNR is doing the same thing.

How does selective restraint it improve the fishery "greatly"? If it for numbers reasons, you are saying already saying they are easy to catch, so numbers aren't the problem. If it for size considerations, size goes up with lower numbers, so you would actually want less fish in the lake with more food. If anything the mortality would increase the average size, not decrease it. I just love how everybody has all of these opinion on why somebody else shouldn't do something, but can provide absolutely no input as to why other than they don't like it.

 

[lampern]

If fish are dying in the summer why a 2 fish 22 inches or more
Limit?

Why not all 15 fish any size?

 

[jocko755]

Smith Mountain Lake in Virginia may have higher water temps then Lanier. And it may not have the depth.

I don't think Lanier has the same problem.

 

[lampern]

I did read the Lake Oconee is now stocked only with hybrids and not stripers anymore.

Is that water quality related?

 

[Jimmy Harris]

Keep in mind that stripers are stocked when they are less than 2 inches long. It takes several years for them to even become a catchable size fish. Trout, if you want to compare, are mostly stocked as 9" or bigger. They are an immediate resource to catch unlike stripers.

 

[Coenen]

Smith Mountain Lake in Virginia may have higher water temps then Lanier. And it may not have the depth.

I don't think Lanier has the same problem.

Just had a look at Smith Mountain via Navionics website, it is remarkably similar to Lanier. Tough to think they'd have warmer water, being a couple hundred miles further North. Although there is almost a 300 foot elevation difference between the two, Lanier at 1070, and Smith Mtn. at 795. That could be significant, though.

We lose a lot of "released" fish in the summer on Lanier. It's a thing that happens. It almost certainly affects the number of big fish that are available, after all, a dead fish doesn't grow. Do what you will with that knowledge.