Re: CATCH & RELEASE
[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] [ georgia-outdoors.com message board ] [ FAQ ]
Posted by GLAMACH on August 05, 1997 at 10:57:37:
In Reply to: Re: CATCH & RELEASE posted by Hooker on July 22, 1997 at 22:03:05:
Thank you for the info, Hooker. I enjoyed reading this. Prior to this I was very confused where the problems were. > That's great for Arkansas, but not Georgia. The water quality > here is totally different. Arkansas has a limestone base under > their streams that releases a continuous supply of lime into the > water which produces streams of incredible fertility. Lime which > is calcium carbonate is used by aquatic insects to create their > exoskeleton. Therefore a stream that is rich in limestone will have > a superb insect food chain for the trout. > The Chattahoochee on the other hand is an essentially sterile river > because it's bed is a granitic monolith that contains very little > soluble limestone. In fact, the only place the food chain gets a boost on > the Hooch is at sewage outfalls. > The Chattahoochee is an artificial trout stream created by the frigid > water from the bottom of Lake Lanier. The DNR stocks about 200,000 trout > a year into the Atlanta Hooch, and of this number, about 190,000 will die > before the next year. They are eaten by otters, ospreys, trout, stripers, > bass, and cormorants; starved ; and flushed down the river to warmer water > where they hyper-metabolize. Notice that I didn't include fishermen as a > predatory factor. Anglers have very little impact on the Chattahoochee trout > population. Even if there was no fishing allowed in the Hooch, the carry over > from one year to the next would not exceed 5%, because the ability of the river > to feed and shelter large numbers of trout through the winter simply doesn't > exist. This is a sterile, polluted, artificial, put and take trout stream. > I think the DNR does a fabulous job with their management of the Hooch, > and they deserve a pat on the back for giving Atlanta anglers the opportunities > that they provide us with to catch trout. > Trying to apply management practices and test results from Arkansas to the > Chattahoochee is like comparing apples and oranges. It is two totally different > situations. > The one situation that I think it does help is to release trophy > fish that are 15+ inches. These fish have learned how to survive in a harsh > environment. They have switched to a piscatorial diet, and they are now big > enough to outcompete the stockers for food and shelter and continue to grow. These > are the fish that Atlanta Anglers need to be releasing to create a semi-trophy > trout stream. > I see so many "purist" scoffing and commenting about the "trout killers" > taking stockers out of the river. I'm personally glad they do remove these fish > because the river is grossly overstocked anyway, and by removing these "extra" fish, > they make more food and shelter available for the trophy fish and improve the condition > of the trout herd. > Hooker
Follow Ups:
Post a Followup
|