THE SPORT FISHERY 



Creel census 



Season and regulations 



Upon the reopening of fishing in 1956, 

 the season was lengthened to correspond to that 

 of the State of Virginia. It now opens in early 

 April on the same date as the State, and it 

 closes on the same date as the State, or on Oc- 

 tober 15, whichever is the earlier. 



A Virginia license is required in the park 

 and, until recently, the high cost of a non- 

 resident permit deterred many tourists from en- 

 joying the fishing. Now a short-term permit 

 is available to non-residents at a lower cost. 

 Only artificial lures are permitted; the daily 

 bag limit is 8 trout; and the minimum legal size 

 is 9 inches. 



A 9-inch minimum size was adopted as 

 a compromise between recommendations for 

 fishing-for-fun-only and the renewal of the pre- 

 vious 7-inch limit. It was applied primarily to 

 protect the spawning potential, especially during 

 the recovery years . It also serves to improve 

 the sporting aspects of trout fishing, as demon- 

 strated on the North Branch of the Au Sable River 

 in Michigan (Cooper, 1951). Although the high- 

 er size restriction cuts down the yield of trout 

 to fishermen, such yield is, and must continue 

 to be, of secondary importance in Shenandoah . 



The trout resources and the sport fishery 

 can be preserved best by applying a fishing-for- 

 fun-only program on the streams such as has been 

 tested on selected streams in Great Smoky Moun- 

 tains National Park (Lennon and Parker, 1960). 

 The program would be especially appropriate in 

 Shenandoah, and a start in this direction was 

 made in 1961. Under terms of an agreement be- 

 tween the park and the State of Virginia, the 

 headwaters and tributaries of the Rapidan and 

 Staunton rivers were opened to fishing-for-fun 

 (Sheridan, 1961). All trout captured must be 

 returned to the water immediately . Although 

 only months old, the program has been called a 

 success from the standpoint of angler participa- 

 tion and fishing quality (Birchfield, 1961 and 

 Yeager, 1961). 



The streams in the park are not subject 

 to the fishing pressures which are typical of 

 northern trout waters. In general, the pressure 

 is relatively heavy during the first several days 

 of the season. Thereafter, the drop is so sharp 

 that one must search for fishermen. For ex- 

 ample, there were 38 fishermen on the 5 -mile 

 long Big Run on May 1 and 2, 1956, when the 

 park was reopened to fishing. On Memorial Day, 

 there were only 7 anglers on the stream . On 

 opening day in 1957, 28 fishermen were counted 

 on the stream . On the same day, park rangers 

 counted only 191 fishermen on 17 streams. 

 Within a few days after the openings, fishermen 

 were also scarce on the State -managed trout 

 waters beyond the park boundary. 



It appears that the average fisherman in 

 the Blue Ridge region fishes for trout several 

 times immediately after the season opens and 

 then devotes his efforts to the abundant warm 

 water fisheries in larger waters. Only the rel- 

 atively few avid trout fishermen frequent the 

 mountain streams throughout the season. 



Limit catches of 8 trout are rare. We 

 checked anglers during their fishii.g who had up 

 to 6 legal trout. Most of the fishermen expressed 

 approval of the 9-inch minimum size and satis- 

 faction with the quality of fishing. They stressed 

 that fewer 9- to 14 -inch wild trout in the creel 

 were preferable to several more 7 -inch wild 

 trout . 



Management aspects 



Wild brook trout occur in at least 37 of 

 the 46 streams . No trout were found at the sites 

 surveyed on 9 streams, but we cannot conclude 

 that they are barren of trout. The exotic rainbow 

 trout is established in the North Fork Moorman 

 River, but the population is small. Smallmouth 

 bass and redbreast sunfish are found in the lower 

 courses of a few streams, but in such small num- 

 bers that they are of no importance in the sport 

 fishery . Thus, management should be directed 

 almost exclusively to the brook trout. 



The outstanding factor which influences 

 the trout populations and the sport fishery is the 



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