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Post by mwardncsu on Oct 6, 2014 19:27:33 GMT -5
I received confirmation today from Dan Wilson that the proposal to change the slot limit from 26"-36" to 30"-40" passed in the recent regulation cycle and will go into effect on Jan 1, 2015 (vs when the slot starts again this time in 2015). That means that from Nov 1 to Dec 31 this year the slot remains as it has been at 26"-36" but then when the ball drops on New Year's Eve it will change to 30"-40".
Wanted to start getting the word out there so no one is caught off-guard during the change......
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Post by hillbilly on Oct 6, 2014 19:38:39 GMT -5
So what's the consensus feeling about this around here? Good because it protects fish on the upper end to another 4 inches bigger in size, or concern that it exposes additional fish on the lower end to harvesting? Why did they move the slot, do we know?
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Post by mwardncsu on Oct 6, 2014 20:06:12 GMT -5
Hillbilly - yes - somewhere here is a very long thread where it was discussed and debated before leading up to the drafting of the language and also during the public comment period - but the "short"  version is that based on the length data Dan has collected over a number of years (fish heads, gill nets), Dan became concerned over what appeared to be a trend where fish were being stunted in their growth rate around the lower end of the slot and the theory was that this was due to a larger population of fish at this size due to the slot. He was also concerned that with trends he was seeing we might be heading towards an overall stunting of the full population. So, he wanted to remove some of the fish in that lower-slot end size range in an attempt to remove pressure and let those in that size range grow. He had some thoughts on tactics but engaged with a variety of angler groups on the lake - multiple guides, the Striper Club, a group that helped with the tagging effort a few years back, and others from various facets around the lake - which represented a diverse set of anglers - with a variety of backgrounds / experience, desires for the fishery & years on SML. And in full disclosure, yes, I was involved in those discussions as were BentRod, Catsnstripers, Ready2Fish, HokieChad, Striperfan and probably a few others here on the board that I'm missing or don't know about. Several proposals were thrown out there - increasing the overall creel limit from 2 to 4, reducing stocking, raising the lower end of the slot (from 26"to 30") and leaving the top the same, "sliding" the slot (as ultimately was done) and maybe some other options I've forgotten. The groups that I was involved in discussion generally felt that "sliding the slot" was the least risky option, and one that could be course corrected in a few years if needed with less negative impact vs the other options - and provided protection to our limited larger fish in the process. Reducing stocking was concerning to many cause if we had a couple of back to back bad survivability years then it could be tough for the fishery for a while; increasing the creel limit felt akin to "ringing the dinner bell" - sending the wrong message that we had to many fish and it was open season to fill the coolers slam full. The slot change seemed to be the best option to selectively remove a specific size if that was indeed what needed to be done. Now, the real question is if we have too many fish around 25"-27" - and many involved in those discussions shared your concern that are we going to remove too many in the lower end of the current slot that will now not grow to be 30"+ fish..... it's a fair concern. During our discussion we asked a lot about the theory of the fish being stunted due to #s of a given size. We also talked about other potential issues - do we have the right bait, the right size of bait, the right mix of sizes - and raised that we felt a forage study needed to be done as one has not been done for a lot of years and a lot of things are different about the lake now. We discussed if we had a genetics issue - our fish come out of the Roanoke River - basically fish that swim upstream from Buggs - is the length stunted from years of inbreeding - and talked about options for introducing a alternating source of brood stock. Something Dan was open to exploring though he does not directly control. However, these are things that we will be continuing to follow-up on from the Striper Club perspective - and as a body of anglers that care about the striper fishery - any of you with thoughts and concerns should reach out and talk with Dan. I do feel he is generally open to angler input and uses that as a tool in his fishery management. And if he does not hear from you then he can't know what you're thinking..... We will be getting some additional data that we have not for a few years - gill netting is being done again this fall - the 1st round here this week I believe - and then another round in Nov and Dec. It also increases the importance in assisting with the collection of info via angler logs - and fish-head collections (though we don't have any public drop-off sites currently - something we're talking about how we can fix so that we can get oolith data to Dan for use on aging /the larger fish to have better, more statistically significant data) or getting involved via other means.... even if it is just reaching out to Dan with concerns, to ask questions or to provide your thoughts on what you are seeing out there...... |
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Post by mwardncsu on Oct 6, 2014 20:16:52 GMT -5
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Post by hillbilly on Oct 7, 2014 6:18:23 GMT -5
Thanks for the explanation, sorry I asked a question that had already been discussed, which I do recall being out there now
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Post by mwardncsu on Oct 7, 2014 6:22:38 GMT -5
Hillbilly - no worries at all - and nothing wrong with asking questions that might have been previously asked / addresses. I just wanted to provide a summary for those newer here and a pointer to the past conversations since there was a lot of good debate and discussion with a lot of viewpoints from many folks included - and it's an important topic that had gotten pushed down below newer posts.
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Post by striperaddict on Oct 7, 2014 10:30:24 GMT -5
Thanks for digging up this update ... really apreciate your efforts in obtaining this info for us....Thanks again
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Post by striperfan on Oct 9, 2014 17:41:02 GMT -5
There will be a fish head drop off at Captain's Quarter's by Halesford bridge soon. It is sooo important to save fish heads of 26" or more to monitor the growth in SML. This determines the,stocking rate, slot limit, etc. The first net survey produced 79 stripers that could have been caught on rod and reel for everyone's enjoyment !! Without the fish heads, the gill netting will continue, YUK. Please, save your fish heads and put a paper in with them for month and year caught and Weight and Length, I KNOW a little Trouble, BUT, well worth it. WE do have a great STRIPER FISHERY, let's keep it that way!!
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Post by 2 oars & a trash can on Oct 9, 2014 19:18:14 GMT -5
I thought that was mostly a summer thing because once the slot is in there shouldn't be any 26" heads. Except after Jan 1 there could be 26" - 29.9" heads, I guess.
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BentRod
Global Moderator
Posts: 2,252
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Post by BentRod on Oct 10, 2014 5:31:51 GMT -5
There will be a fish head drop off at Captain's Quarter's by Halesford bridge soon. It is sooo important to save fish heads of 26" or more to monitor the growth in SML. This determines the,stocking rate, slot limit, etc. The first net survey produced 79 stripers that could have been caught on rod and reel for everyone's enjoyment !! Without the fish heads, the gill netting will continue, YUK. Please, save your fish heads and put a paper in with them for month and year caught and Weight and Length, I KNOW a little Trouble, BUT, well worth it. WE do have a great STRIPER FISHERY, let's keep it that way!! I think the gill netting is a good thing. I mean if you think 79 stripers is anything, you need to look around. The guides kill more than that on a daily basis. We're losing double that every day in the summer, at least. It's a drop in the bucket compared to the grand scheme of things. Gill netting will give them valuable information on stocking success for next years stocking and future stockings. Not only that, but they get 79 heads to look at. What concerns me is the idea of us going out and killing a bunch of big stripers just for heads. When we stock 350,000 stripers, on average there will be 21 left by year 15, which is about the time they are 20-25lbs. When I sit here and watch everyone kill 16-18lb fish after fish, it's no wonder it takes a lot of skill, water time, and/or a big stroke of luck to catch a 25+ these days - they're all gone. I've come to the conclusion we'll never have what we had 20years ago - it's not possible in this day and age. But like you said, we've still got a great fishery and need to take care of it. |
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Gator
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Post by Gator on Oct 10, 2014 11:13:39 GMT -5
Gill netting surveys are a good thing along with fish head collection. DGIF biologists need all the data they can get for the best management possible. Sure as heck aren't getting it from the diaries. I think that Dan received 29 for 2013?? Problem is that too many people do not give a damn (guides included).
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Post by mwardncsu on Oct 10, 2014 12:37:00 GMT -5
On the striper heads - they way I look at it is I'm certainly not going to go out and kill big fish just to get fish-heads - and it's not going to sway me to decide to keep a big one - but if during the summer I harvest a fish over 26" range to eat, then I'll try and keep the head to turn in so that I not only get a full stomach but also the is info gained from that fish.... As Afloat mentioned, typically collection of fish-heads is going to be a "summer" thing due to the slot precluding keeping most of them when the slot was in place - and it is during that summertime that I personally limit my harvest anyway.
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Gator
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Post by Gator on Oct 10, 2014 14:34:01 GMT -5
Me too mward. Maybe a good way for them to collect large fish heads in the summer is to p/u the floaters all over the lake. ??
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cane
New Member
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Post by cane on Oct 11, 2014 11:04:30 GMT -5
For those of us that are relatively new or just generally naive but have a deep care for the lake and the fish/fishermen can you quickly list what different things we can be doing to help the cause? I do not get to fish very often, but I keep up with what is going on and would like to make sure that when I do I'm helping to contribute to the greater good rather than contributing to the problem without knowing. Thanks for the efforts you guys put in helping keep SML a great destination.
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Post by striperfan on Oct 11, 2014 16:36:57 GMT -5
I did not mean to keep any fish over 26" just for it's head! I mean that if the DGIF get MORE fish heads to examine that they MAY NOT need to GILL NET SOO many. I say CPR to all in the cold water months if enjoying striper is not your thing. BUT, if you are keeping one 26' to 30" that you take the trouble to drop the head off at Captain Quarters. Looking at the new SLOT we want to remove a good number of those stunted fish under 30", to improve or increase the forage for the ones over 30". I personally am very excited if I can HOOK and LAND a Striped bass of almost any size. I guess that I would like to see these cool fish landed on rod and reel and not soo much hauled up in a gill net.
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version is that based on the length data Dan has collected over a number of years (fish heads, gill nets), Dan became concerned over what appeared to be a trend where fish were being stunted in their growth rate around the lower end of the slot and the theory was that this was due to a larger population of fish at this size due to the slot. He was also concerned that with trends he was seeing we might be heading towards an overall stunting of the full population. So, he wanted to remove some of the fish in that lower-slot end size range in an attempt to remove pressure and let those in that size range grow. He had some thoughts on tactics but engaged with a variety of angler groups on the lake - multiple guides, the Striper Club, a group that helped with the tagging effort a few years back, and others from various facets around the lake - which represented a diverse set of anglers - with a variety of backgrounds / experience, desires for the fishery & years on SML. And in full disclosure, yes, I was involved in those discussions as were BentRod, Catsnstripers, Ready2Fish, HokieChad, Striperfan and probably a few others here on the board that I'm missing or don't know about.
