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Chapter Events to Attend
For
Information: IMMEDIATE RELEASE Bob
Miller 865/436-1207 BROOK TROUT FISHERY
PROJECT Anglers on selected
streams within Great Smoky Mountains National Park will be
able to fish for and keep brook trout for the first time in
over 25 years as part of a 3-year experimental project set
to begin at noon on July 1, 2002. Park managers at the
Smokies have identified eight streams ? four each in
Tennessee and North Carolina - where anglers will be allowed
to fish for brookies for the first time since
1975. Brook trout are the
only trout species native to the Smokies and were
historically found in nearly every watershed from their
high-elevation headwaters down to about the 2,000-foot
elevation. However, in the decades just prior to the Park's
creation in 1934, the brook, or "speckled" trout, was
eliminated from much of its range by the siltation and other
effects of the heavy-handed logging practices of that
period. To provide for a
continued sport fishery, individuals, logging companies, and
later, the Park, stocked the streams with non-native rainbow
trout which originated in the Sierras. Early Park managers
hoped that as the forest recovered, brook trout would
naturally spread back down from their high-elevation refuge
streams, but this did not occur because the non-natives grew
faster and out-competed the brookies. By the mid-1970's
biologists were concerned about losing the brook trout
altogether and imposed a ban on fishing for them under the
assumption that angling pressure was contributing to their
decline. After decades of annual fish surveys in streams
throughout the Smokies, Park biologists have come to doubt
that barring angling has had any benefit in protecting fish
populations. The surveys have shown that the density and
size of fish in streams where fishing is permitted, versus
those where it is prohibited, are virtually identical.
Fisheries Biologist
Steve Moore said, "The Park has two central goals in
managing its fishery: to protect and restore native species
and to provide for an enjoyable angling experience for
visitors. This 3-year experimental program will allow us to
find out if we can do both." The experiment will
allow angling in eight streams that are currently closed to
fishing, while continuing to prohibit fishing in eight
adjacent, and very similar, streams. Biologists will sample
fish populations through electro-fishing, and at the end of
the experiment, will compare the fish populations in the
fished versus un-fished streams. If it can be shown that the
populations are statistically about the same, Park managers
will decide which other brook trout streams may be opened to
fishing. At 12:00 noon on July
1, only the following streams will reopen to fishing for all
the species that anglers are currently allowed to take as
well as for brook trout: In North Carolina:
Beech Flats Creek above Kanati Branch confluence, all of
Bunches Creek within the Park, Hazel Creek upstream of
Proctor Creek, and Lost Bottom Creek upstream of Palmer
Creek. In Tennessee: Cosby
Creek above Rock Creek confluence, all of Indian Camp Creek
inside the Park, Walker Prong upstream of Alum Cave, and
Fish Camp Prong upstream of Goshen Prong. Park managers
emphasized that all other streams currently closed to
fishing remain closed, and that taking brook trout anywhere
in the Park except for those eight experimental streams
remains strictly prohibited. Signs are being posted at the
appropriate locations to help anglers identify which streams
are being reopened under this experiment. All other Park
fishing regulations, including the 7" minimum size limit on
trout, remain in effect. The delayed harvest section of the
Tuckaseigee river has proven to be immensely popular.
Tuckaseigee Chapter members help to make this program
possible. Regulations are as
follows: Fishing only with single hook, artificial
lures, no natural bait may be possessed and no fish may be
harvested or possessed while fishing these waters between
October 1, 2000 and one-half hour after sunset on June 1,
2001. These waters are closed to fishing between one-half
hour after sunset on June 1 and 6:00 am on June 2. At 6:00
am on June 2 these waters open to fishing under Hatch-ery
Supported regulations: no bait restriction, no minimum
length limit and 7 trout per day creel limit. These waters
are marked with black and white signs. (See NC WRC website
for additional infor-mation on NC fishing
regulations). Volunteers are always welcome to help
stock the Tuckaseigee.No prior experience is necessary.
Remember, volunteers get a spe-cial bonus: knowing where the
big ones are. April 20 - Tuckaseigee River Clean
Up April 27th - "Ducks on the Tuck" -
Details to be announced later by our own duck-meister - Hoyt
Roberson, Jr.
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