LAKE GASTON -- It's too early to tell what effect, if any, regulation changes will have on striped bass at Lake Gaston.
But if there are any changes in the lake's land-locked striped bass population, one of the best in the state, the trend most likely will be picked up by state fish biologists.
Last week, biologists Kirk Rundle and Bill Collart of the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission set gill nets at various spots on the 20,300-acre lake, which straddles the North Carolina-Virginia border inside the Interstate 85 and Interstate 95 corridors.
Every winter, the biologists try to collect a sample of 100 of the lake's striped bass.
"If we didn't catch carp and catfish, our day would be a whole lot easier," Collart said, only half-joking.
Although the striped bass are easily undone from the nets, common and grass carp in the 10- to 15-pound range and big blue catfish tend to roll around in the nets, making it difficult to get them out.
Even worse, Collart was only a day removed from being poked in the hand by a catfish spine.
"It got down to the bone," he said.
Counting fish caught in nets isn't a very reliable way to estimate how a fish population is doing because of the variables such as fish movement. Plus, the biologists use mesh sizes that are generally too small for bigger fish.
Although size, location and other data are kept, the most important information being collected is inside the heads of the stripers.
By removing each fish's otoliths, a calcareous concretion in the fish's inner ear, two important pieces of information can be gleaned: the age of the fish and its growth rate.
Removing the otoliths requires killing the fish, which is why such a small sample (100 fish) is taken.
Age and growth also can be estimated by analyzing a fish's scale, but the otoliths are considered much more accurate.
Crowding and too much competition can result in slower growth rates, so biologists are seeking a fine line with striped bass at Gaston.
"We need to make sure our stocking rates are correct," Rundle said.
Regulation change
On Aug. 1, the state eliminated the minimum size limit on Gaston and on Roanoke Rapids Lake from June 1 through Sept. 30. Virginiafollowed with the same rule, which is going into effect this year.
A study in 2008 showed that 90 percent of striped bass caught from June through September were under the 20-inch minimum and needed to be released. But in warm weather, striped bass don't handle the stress of being caught very well, and they die very easily when the water temperatures is greater than 70 degrees.
Biologists are hoping that, during summer months, fishermen will quickly catch their limit and then move on to another species.
If the rule change results in a crowded population of striped bass, the state will consider pulling back on the number of fish it stocks each year.
Since 2000, more striped bass have been stocked in the lake per acre than in any other lake in the state. The lake gets about 25,000 fingerlings (about an inch to two inches) every year.
The state recently had stopped stocking Falls Lake with striped bass, because it was determined that Falls, with its shallow water, wasn't ideal for land-locked striped bass. So some of those fish were diverted to Gaston, where 20 fish per acre are stocked in the lake.
A pressured fishery
Although the fish don't have access to the Atlantic Ocean because of dams, stripers of the Roanoke River strain are stocked in Gaston, an impoundment of the Roanoke River.
"They're native to the system," Rundle said.
The river has the state's thickest run of striped bass every spring, when fishermen flock to Weldon to catch the spawning fish, sometimes in big numbers.
The land-locked fish, while genetically linked, are a different animal.
The state started stocking stripers in the lake in the 1970s, and the fish were a well-kept secret until the late 1980s, when more and more fishermen started targeting them.
"We'd see fish in the 30- and 40-pound range," Collart said as he clipped the otoliths from a 14-pounder, the largest fish netted that morning. "With the low fishing pressure, it was easy to grow 20-pounders."
Rundle added, "You had a fishery that was untouched. Then it got popular."
On this day, most of the netted fish weighed between two and three pounds.
"You get too many of these and the growth rates will slow down," Rundle said.
Although bigger stripers aren't as abundant as they once were, a few lunkers remain be caught.
"The pressure is up, but every year we hear of a few 20-pounders," Rundle said. "If they can get by the anglers, the potential is here. [Gaston] has enough deep water, habitat and forage."
