Dr. Oc
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jul 12, 2010
- Messages
- 46
Below is an email from the NC Wildlife mountain district fisheries manager.
Justin passed along your email to me about Lake Nantahala. I am the lead on the Kokanee stocking project. The Kokanee stockings do not look like they are working, but we are still in the evaluation phase. I will be putting gillnets in the lake this fall and then we will most likely write a report with management recommendations. We have not caught any Kokanee in our gillnets since we started stocking, and I also have not heard of any reports of anglers catching Kokanee.
My management recommendations for Lake Nantahala will be to stock Brown Trout similar to Lake Apalachia. However, there is a caveat. Setzer State Fish Hatchery is about to shut down for major renovations. Currently, we don’t have enough trout to add Lake Nantahala to our stocking program, but following the renovations we will hopefully have some extra trout. I will be advocating to stock Lake Nantahala with some of those extra fish, but we will have to see how everything plays out. The earliest we would be able to stock Lake Nantahala is most likely 2029. So, we will just have to be patient. I am ok with this because it will also give those stocked Kokanee every chance to succeed prior to stocking a predator on top of them.
We will not be stocking Striped Bass or Hybrid Striped Bass. Lake Nantahala is one of our least productive lakes and there is just not enough forage in the lake to support those species.
Right now, the Walleye population doesn’t look terrible, but I am seeing that the sizes of the Walleye are increasing. That could be due to a few things such as the new Blueback Herring forage base. In other reservoirs we have also seen reproduction and recruitment failures following the introduction of Blueback, but not always. We don’t have evidence that is happening so far in Lake Nantahala, but we will be keeping an eye on the population. We are currently doing experimental stockings of Walleye in a few other reservoirs in the mountains and have learned that stocking on top of a reproducing population is not helpful or successful.
We are not looking to stock Smallmouth Bass in Lake Nantahala either. Currently, Lake Nantahala has one of the last populations of pure Smallmouth Bass in the region. Alabama Bass introductions in other reservoirs such as Fontana, have decimated the Smallmouth population through hybridization. We have seen low levels of Alabama Bass genes in Lake Nantahala in the past but mostly pure Smallmouth Bass genetics. I am planning on taking genetics samples from any Smallmouth Bass (or presumed Alabama Bass) that we catch in our gillnets this fall so we can see if there are any changes.
I hope I answered your questions. If you would like to chat or have any more questions just let me know. I really appreciate your interest in Lake Nantahala!
Thanks!
Amanda
NCWRC
----------------------------------------------------------***--
Amanda Bushon // Fisheries Biologist I
Division of Inland Fisheries
Justin passed along your email to me about Lake Nantahala. I am the lead on the Kokanee stocking project. The Kokanee stockings do not look like they are working, but we are still in the evaluation phase. I will be putting gillnets in the lake this fall and then we will most likely write a report with management recommendations. We have not caught any Kokanee in our gillnets since we started stocking, and I also have not heard of any reports of anglers catching Kokanee.
My management recommendations for Lake Nantahala will be to stock Brown Trout similar to Lake Apalachia. However, there is a caveat. Setzer State Fish Hatchery is about to shut down for major renovations. Currently, we don’t have enough trout to add Lake Nantahala to our stocking program, but following the renovations we will hopefully have some extra trout. I will be advocating to stock Lake Nantahala with some of those extra fish, but we will have to see how everything plays out. The earliest we would be able to stock Lake Nantahala is most likely 2029. So, we will just have to be patient. I am ok with this because it will also give those stocked Kokanee every chance to succeed prior to stocking a predator on top of them.
We will not be stocking Striped Bass or Hybrid Striped Bass. Lake Nantahala is one of our least productive lakes and there is just not enough forage in the lake to support those species.
Right now, the Walleye population doesn’t look terrible, but I am seeing that the sizes of the Walleye are increasing. That could be due to a few things such as the new Blueback Herring forage base. In other reservoirs we have also seen reproduction and recruitment failures following the introduction of Blueback, but not always. We don’t have evidence that is happening so far in Lake Nantahala, but we will be keeping an eye on the population. We are currently doing experimental stockings of Walleye in a few other reservoirs in the mountains and have learned that stocking on top of a reproducing population is not helpful or successful.
We are not looking to stock Smallmouth Bass in Lake Nantahala either. Currently, Lake Nantahala has one of the last populations of pure Smallmouth Bass in the region. Alabama Bass introductions in other reservoirs such as Fontana, have decimated the Smallmouth population through hybridization. We have seen low levels of Alabama Bass genes in Lake Nantahala in the past but mostly pure Smallmouth Bass genetics. I am planning on taking genetics samples from any Smallmouth Bass (or presumed Alabama Bass) that we catch in our gillnets this fall so we can see if there are any changes.
I hope I answered your questions. If you would like to chat or have any more questions just let me know. I really appreciate your interest in Lake Nantahala!
Thanks!
Amanda
NCWRC
----------------------------------------------------------***--
Amanda Bushon // Fisheries Biologist I
Division of Inland Fisheries
