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Wildlife Commission Fisheries Biologists Jeremy McCargo and Ben Ricks collected 374 striped bass and 140 American shad earlier this week during their weekly spawning stock surveys for striped bass and American shad in the Roanoke River.
Joined by fellow Fisheries Biologist Kevin Dockendorf for the striper sampling on May 8, they surveyed the Roanoke in an electrofishing boat from the Weldon boat ramp downstream to the power lines. On May 9, McCargo and Ricks were joined by Wildlife Technician David Mattocks for shad sampling between the Hwy 48 bridge to the power lines.
McCargo noted that water temperatures have finally started to rise in the Roanoke, approaching 64° F this week.
The striped bass were all tagged and released safely back into the Roanoke, with the exception of three female stripers sent to the Watha State Fish Hatchery for striped bass production to stock inland reservoirs.
“This finishes up striped bass brood fish collections for the year,” McCargo said. “Watha State Fish Hatchery staff will be able to fulfill all striped bass and Bodie bass (hybrid striped bass) stocking requests for North Carolina inland reservoirs with just 15 female striped bass collected from the Roanoke River.”
The 374 stripers that McCargo, Ricks and Dockendorf sampled ranged in length from 10-46 inches. The largest tipped the scales at 45 pounds. Male stripers were collected at about a 5:1 ratio over females (315 male; 58 female; 1 immature). Striped bass catch rates were slightly lower than last week’s sample — 184 fish per hour this week, compared to 228 fish per hour last week.
“There were quite a few anglers fishing on Wednesday, but the crowd wasn’t as large as usual,” McCargo said. “We saw several boats catching good numbers of stripers near the Weldon boat ramp using live bait and artificial fluke lures. Some fishermen were casting flies downriver and having some luck.”
Like striped bass catch rates, catch rates for American shad remain high on the Roanoke River this week, McCargo reported.
“This indicates that the shad are still on the spawning grounds in good numbers,” he said. “We also collected many gravid females. We will continue to sample the Roanoke for shad throughout the remaining spawning run.”
Launching from the Gaston ramp near the Hwy 48 bridge, the fish-sampling crew collected 140 American shad on May 9, ranging between 15-22 inches in length and weighing up to 4.4 pounds. Sex ratio was about 2:1 males to females (98 males; 42 females).
The shad survey work also allowed the biologists to collect fin clips from 80 American shad for a genetics research project in which Wildlife Commission staff is using DNA microsatellite markers to evaluate an American shad stocking program.
“The fin clips that we took during this week’s sample will be compared to American shad brood fish from previous years and used to evaluate the proportion of shad that are stocked versus shad of wild origin,” McCargo said. “If microsatellite markers from fish collected on the spawning grounds match with possible combinations of male and female brood fish on record in our fish hatchery’s DNA database, then we can know the returning adult shad was a stocked fish.”
Earlier in the week, flow in the Roanoke River was 6,500 cubic feet per second (cfs) on Wednesday. The water was relatively clearer than in previous weeks, McCargo reported.
As the water temperatures in the Roanoke approached 64°F this week,some anglers have reported seeing striper spawning activity, better known as “rock fights,” on the surface.
“It’s the lower end of preferred striper spawning temperatures, but spawning should get under way in earnest in the next few days,” McCargo said. “I expect to see an increase in the number of fish on the spawning grounds now that temperatures are getting close to spawning range. However, heavy rains in the upper end o fthe basin are causing high inflows into Kerr Reservoir and flooding upstream of the dam. Consequently, flows in the lower Roanoke River are being increased to15,000 cubic feet per second for several days. This change in water level could decrease water temperatures and delay the spawn for a little while longer.”
Wildlife Commission staff coordinate with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to manage river flow in the lower Roanoke River during the striped bass spawning season.
Anglers continue to catch and release striped bass on the Roanoke River around the boat ramp, the Big Rock and below Troublefield Gut, according to KevinDockendorf, the Wildlife Commission’s fisheries research coordinator in the coastal region.
Throughout the spring, Dockendorf’s weekly creel report from the Roanoke has been based on angler surveys conducted by ChipPeele and Patrick Railey, Roanoke River creel clerks.
“The ‘bite’ has been better in morning,” Dockendorf said. “Effort was lower than during the harvest season, although our creel clerk interviewed anglers catching and releasing about 20 striped bass on average. Some parties reported catching no fish, but a few parties reporting 80-100 striped bass caught and released.”
Dockendorf added that shad anglers were still catching some American shad near the Gaston boating access area last week.
Click here to view map. Note: This map is to be used for general informational purposes only and not for navigation of the Roanoke River. Rocks, logs, and other hazards are likely to be encountered anywhere in this area.
Click here to view map. Note: This map of the Roanoke River Boating Access Areas is to be used for general informational purposes only.
Wildlife Technician David Mattocks displays an American shad collected from the Roanoke River near Gaston on May 9.
Fisheries Research Coordinator Kevin Dockendorf holds a 45-pound striped bass that was sampled from the Roanoke River near Weldon on May 8.