Conservation Programs & VA DWR Partnership
Protecting SML's trophy striped bass fishery and helping ensure best practices management are foundational objectives which are at the core of Smith Mountain Lake Striper Club. The Club is pleased to work closely with the professional biologists and staff and VA Department of Wildlife Resources, DWR, on some of these initiatives.
SMSC thanks Dan Wilson, DWR Fisheries Biologist, for the excellent work that he and DWR are doing to maintain a truly spectacular trophy striped bass fishery at Smith Mountain Lake.
In the section below, you will find articles and links to a variety of resources related to the conservation and protection of our striped bass or other fisheries. We hope that whether as a club member or a SML visitor, you also will support sustainable fishing at the lake!
SMSC thanks Dan Wilson, DWR Fisheries Biologist, for the excellent work that he and DWR are doing to maintain a truly spectacular trophy striped bass fishery at Smith Mountain Lake.
In the section below, you will find articles and links to a variety of resources related to the conservation and protection of our striped bass or other fisheries. We hope that whether as a club member or a SML visitor, you also will support sustainable fishing at the lake!
Dan Wilson, Fisheries Biologist | O 434-525-7522 / M 434-942-0405 | dan.wilson@dwr.virginia.gov
Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources, 1132 Thomas Jefferson Road, Forest, VA 24551
Below are 3 links for SMSC members and lake anglers to videos from DWR on Striped Bass management.
Feel free to contact Dan directly with any questions or comments using the info above. Enjoy these videos!
1- Sampling and management of reservoir striped bass:
https://www.facebook.com/VirginiaDWR/videos/744189692801024/?__so__=serp_videos_tab
2 - Striper broodstock collecting and hatching:
https://www.facebook.com/VirginiaDWR/videos/480117896611532/
3- Pond harvesting and stocking of striper bass in VA:
https://www.facebook.com/VirginiaDWR/videos/into-the-world-harvesting-and-releasing-striped-bass-at-dwr/155507409983304/?__so__=permalink&__rv__=related_videos
The document below contains important information about VA DWR's management of Striped Bass in Smith Mountain Lake.
This info is updated annually to include the latest information gathered from DWR field research.
Feel free to contact Dan directly with any questions or comments.
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Sustainable Preservation Limits
(Adopted on 11/3/2017 by A Unanimous Vote of the Smith Mountain Striper Club Board of Directors & Supported by the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources (VA DWR)
SUMMARY
Field research has shown there is an exceptionally high mortality rate (50-85% die) for striped bass caught from & released back into warm water (75 degrees or warmer). It is believed to be possible to achieve an improvement in the rate of striped bass preservation, & to increase the number of 3+ year old striped bass surviving in SML to catch in future years, by decreasing the number of striped bass caught per person during the warm water months of June through October.
During each of the past 5 years, striped bass anglers have caught fewer & fewer stripers per “angler day fished” (a 5-year cumulative decline of 46.5%). SML anglers have seldom caught more than 2 striped bass per day per person (7% in 2016). Therefore, adopting a new warm water catch limit of 2 striped bass per person per day will impact relatively few anglers. Most importantly, better stewardship of the limited & fragile striped bass population in SML will help preserve & protect the opportunity for everyone to catch striped bass on Smith Mountain Lake in the future.
Enforcement of the new warm water catch limit will be voluntary through education, self-discipline & enlightened self-interest. This change should complement, not take the place of, other efforts to increase the striped bass population in SML, such as improving the first-year “recruitment” (i.e., survival rate) of striped bass fry.
Download the full report on "Sustainable Preservation Limits" with detailed information & research on warm-water mortality here...
SUMMARY
Field research has shown there is an exceptionally high mortality rate (50-85% die) for striped bass caught from & released back into warm water (75 degrees or warmer). It is believed to be possible to achieve an improvement in the rate of striped bass preservation, & to increase the number of 3+ year old striped bass surviving in SML to catch in future years, by decreasing the number of striped bass caught per person during the warm water months of June through October.
During each of the past 5 years, striped bass anglers have caught fewer & fewer stripers per “angler day fished” (a 5-year cumulative decline of 46.5%). SML anglers have seldom caught more than 2 striped bass per day per person (7% in 2016). Therefore, adopting a new warm water catch limit of 2 striped bass per person per day will impact relatively few anglers. Most importantly, better stewardship of the limited & fragile striped bass population in SML will help preserve & protect the opportunity for everyone to catch striped bass on Smith Mountain Lake in the future.
Enforcement of the new warm water catch limit will be voluntary through education, self-discipline & enlightened self-interest. This change should complement, not take the place of, other efforts to increase the striped bass population in SML, such as improving the first-year “recruitment” (i.e., survival rate) of striped bass fry.
Download the full report on "Sustainable Preservation Limits" with detailed information & research on warm-water mortality here...
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Fish Diaries
How can you become a better fisherman while helping the fishery at the same time? Keeping a fishing log or diary is an excellent way to capture information over time to which you can refer back to on what worked, when, how, etc. This information is also valuable to the VDGIF biologist in order to help assess the on-going state of the striped bass fishery at Smith Mountain Lake. VDGIF provides a handy fishing log booklet which can be obtained at the Smith Mountain Striped Club meetings or by contacting VDGIF directly. This log book is simple to use, only requiring a minimal set of information on each trip - information such as date, # of anglers, duration of fishing time, time of day (day, night), type of bait used (live, artificial, both), and a length for each fish harvested or released. This data provides very important information on the fishery and striped bass population that cannot be collected by any other method and helps guide stocking and management decisions. As such, while it may hurt your pride a bit, it is just as important to record those "skunks" as it is those great days on the water as this information is needed to determine angler catch rate / hour which is one of the management objectives.
At the end of the year, diaries may be submitted by bringing them to a Club meeting, passing along to a fellow Club member to submit, or mailing to the address inside the diary (VA-DGIF, c/o Dan Wilson, 1132 Thomas Jefferson Road, Forest, VA 24551).
At the end of the year, diaries may be submitted by bringing them to a Club meeting, passing along to a fellow Club member to submit, or mailing to the address inside the diary (VA-DGIF, c/o Dan Wilson, 1132 Thomas Jefferson Road, Forest, VA 24551).
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Fish Tagging
"There's gold in them there waters....." Well, maybe not gold ..... or is there.....), but there is money swimming around out there, just waiting for the right angler to find it. As a part of a conservation initiative by the VA DWR and various anglers on Smith Mountain Lake, a number of striped bass have been are tagged in order to obtain information on how anglers shape and impact the striped bass population. The tags will be found either just above the anal vent on the lower side of the fish, or on the top on either side of the dorsal fin and look similar in nature to yellow coffee stirrers (although depending on the duration to which these the tags have been on the fish they may be covered in some level of algae).
When an angler catches a tagged fish, the tag may be clipped off flush with the fish's body and the fish returned if practicing Catch & Release, or if the fish is harvested the tag can be removed upon cleaning. The angler should record the date, fish length, location (nearest channel marker) and note if the fish was harvested or released. Send this information, along with the anglers name and mailing address and the tag itself to the address listed on the tag (also listed below for convenience). There is a random reward of $5-$50 for each tag returned, along with information on the date and location where the fish was originally tagged. While the monetary reward is certainly nice, the information collected is invaluable to our local VDGIF Biologist and provides better management of the striped bass fishery at Smith Mountain Lake.
Return Tags to:
VA DWR
Dan Wilson, email address dan.wilson@dgif.virginia.gov
1132 Thomas Jefferson Rd
Forest, VA 24551
When an angler catches a tagged fish, the tag may be clipped off flush with the fish's body and the fish returned if practicing Catch & Release, or if the fish is harvested the tag can be removed upon cleaning. The angler should record the date, fish length, location (nearest channel marker) and note if the fish was harvested or released. Send this information, along with the anglers name and mailing address and the tag itself to the address listed on the tag (also listed below for convenience). There is a random reward of $5-$50 for each tag returned, along with information on the date and location where the fish was originally tagged. While the monetary reward is certainly nice, the information collected is invaluable to our local VDGIF Biologist and provides better management of the striped bass fishery at Smith Mountain Lake.
Return Tags to:
VA DWR
Dan Wilson, email address dan.wilson@dgif.virginia.gov
1132 Thomas Jefferson Rd
Forest, VA 24551
Fish Heads
No, we're not talking about making soup.... our goal here is to collect growth data on the fish in our striped bass fishery at Smith Mountain Lake. It turns out that striped bass are "related" to trees in that it is possible to age a fish by counting their "rings" - in the case of a striped bass it is the "rings" on the otolith bone - a small bone found within the ear of the fish. While the "rings" on the fish's scales have also been used as an indication of age, scales are not an accurate predictor of age for older fish. The otolith bone is a much more accurate indicator of age, which is vital for making sound management decisions.
Our local VDGIF Biologist would be happy to receive just the otolith bone from anglers, but it is a small bone that can be difficult to collect without some skill and knowledge. However, this information is valuable and a collection station have has been established where anglers can drop off fish heads from harvested fish so that they can be later processed to collect the otolith bone. When dropping off a fish head, be sure to provide the date the fish was caught along with the fish's length. If you include your name and/or e-mail contact information then once processed the VDGIF biologist will generally provide you with the details on the fish's age.
It is important for anglers to understand that collecting data in this manner allows VDGIF to gain insight on the growth rates of our fish in their mid and later years. Similar data is collected through the use of gill nets at various times of the year, but this generally produces data points on young fish up to 4 years of age, so the data from fish head collections is vital to understanding the on-going growth rates. Anglers are asked to collect only striped bass heads for fish 26 inches or larger. VDGIF has plenty of younger fish available but really needs the larger fish to monitor the entire population.
Summer time is an excellent time to collect fish heads due to the lower survivability rates of fish in warmer water and the increased rate of harvesting by many anglers. So in addition to enjoying a tasty filet of striper, consider taking a few extra minutes to detach the head, drop it in a freezer bag and then drop it off at one of the local drop-off locations.
Our local VDGIF Biologist would be happy to receive just the otolith bone from anglers, but it is a small bone that can be difficult to collect without some skill and knowledge. However, this information is valuable and a collection station have has been established where anglers can drop off fish heads from harvested fish so that they can be later processed to collect the otolith bone. When dropping off a fish head, be sure to provide the date the fish was caught along with the fish's length. If you include your name and/or e-mail contact information then once processed the VDGIF biologist will generally provide you with the details on the fish's age.
It is important for anglers to understand that collecting data in this manner allows VDGIF to gain insight on the growth rates of our fish in their mid and later years. Similar data is collected through the use of gill nets at various times of the year, but this generally produces data points on young fish up to 4 years of age, so the data from fish head collections is vital to understanding the on-going growth rates. Anglers are asked to collect only striped bass heads for fish 26 inches or larger. VDGIF has plenty of younger fish available but really needs the larger fish to monitor the entire population.
Summer time is an excellent time to collect fish heads due to the lower survivability rates of fish in warmer water and the increased rate of harvesting by many anglers. So in addition to enjoying a tasty filet of striper, consider taking a few extra minutes to detach the head, drop it in a freezer bag and then drop it off at one of the local drop-off locations.
2011 Fish Length data collected via gill netting & otolith collection.
Drop off Locations:
We are currently looking for new drop-off locations - stay tuned.....
Otolith picture credit of the New Jersey Division of Fish & Wildlife - http://www.nj.gov/dep/fgw/artstrpbass10.htm
Striper Management Data
The two documents attached are the latest information capturing the various collected data on the striper fishery, used by our DGIF Biologist to aid in his management of the fishery. Information on stocking, gill-net surveys, angler diaries, fish-head collections and others are captured in these documents.
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