Some of the trout in Big Run demon- 

 strated a preference for spawning in the newly 

 dug gravel which the National Park Service used 

 to rebuild the fords washed out by hurricanes 

 Connie and Dianne during the summer. The 

 preference was most obvious in sections of the 

 stream where the natural bottom material is 

 mostly a shalt-type shale type gravel. 



1956 : --On the basis of the successful 

 reproduction in 1954 and 1955 and the improved 

 survival and growth of trout, the park was re- 

 opened to fishing on May 1. The fishing season 

 was lengthened to conform with the State of 

 Virginia season. The regulations included a 

 9 -inch minimum size, a daily possession lirhit 

 of 8 fish, and a requirement that only artificial 

 lures be used. As expected, anglers quickly 

 removed most of the trout over 9 inches long. 



Despite some low water levels in the 

 spring, the year was favorable for the continued 

 improvement of trout populations. The hatch of 

 brook trout was good, and advanced fry collected 

 in Big Run and Piney Run in late April ranged 

 from 1.0 to 1,4 inches long. It was noteworthy 

 that a successful hatch occurred in North Fork 

 Moorman River for the first time in several 

 years. Furthermore, rainbow trout spawned 

 successfully in Moorman River for the first 

 time. 



The large and attractive North Fork of 

 Moorman River is perhaps the most marginal 

 of the park trout streams . It is easily accessi- 

 ble, however, and it receives heavy pressure 

 from fishermen who reside in the Charlottes- 

 ville, Virginia, area. It was stocked repeated- 

 ly with rainbow trout in the late 1940's on the 

 assumption that this species would do better than 

 native brook trout in the relatively warm water. 

 It appears, however, that the rainbows moved 

 downstream into the Charlottesville Municipal 

 Reservoir, a short distance out of the park, and 

 became established there . None was seen in the 

 North Fork during the severe drought years. 

 Some large specimens were observed in the 

 spring of 1955, but no evidence of spawning 

 could be found. Rainbows up to 20 inches long 

 moved upstream again in the spring of 1956, and 

 some successful reproduction took place . An 

 estimate made in November included 77 



young-of -the -year per acre which ranged from 

 2.3 to 4.7 inches long. 



Hogcamp Branch, a remote tributary of 

 the Rose River, contained a contrasting abun- 

 dance of trout. It was one of the very few streams 

 in the park which escaped the damaging effects 

 of the droughts and floods . Furthermore, it had 

 a good population of brook trout before the fish- 

 ing seasons were closed for two years . There 

 were 2,679 trout or 165 pounds per acre in the 

 fall of 1955. They ranged from 2.4 to 10.4 

 inches long, and 15 percent were over 7 inches 

 long (table 4). This was, by far, the largest 

 population which has been found in the park . 



Hogcamp also provided an example of 

 the impact of heavy fishing pressure on a small 

 stream. The stream was fished hard in 1956, 

 and the larger fish were removed. Most of 

 the 2,125 trout found per acre in the fall were 

 young-of -the -year and yearlings, and the weight 

 of trout per acre had dropped to 50.8 pounds. 

 Less than 3 percent of the fish were over 7 inches 

 long, despite the fact that the minimum legal 

 size was 9 inches. 



The population estimates for 1956 in 

 table 3 are misleading in one respect. We at- 

 tempted as far as possible to base the estimates 

 on collections which were made at the same sur- 

 vey stations year after year. Supplemental 

 surveys in the fall of 1956 disclosed that brook 

 trout were again present in the extensive areas 

 of mainstream, headwaters, and tributaries 

 which had been dry in 1954 and barren in 1955. 

 Thus, we concluded that the populations had im- 

 proved greatly in numbers and distribution even 

 though the estimates do not demonstrate the 

 fact. Big Run, for example, shows a decline 

 in 1956, part of which is attributable to fishing. 

 There was, however, a large movement of trout 

 into the barren headwaters and tributaries which 

 reduced the numbers and pounds of trout in the 

 mainstream . 



1957 :-- The over -winter survival and 

 growth of trout was checked in several streams 

 in April. The survival of fingerling brook trout 

 was good, but their growth since the previous 

 November was small. The survival and growth 

 of fingerling rainbow trout was very good in the 



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