Fishy business
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Robert Sisk / News Virginian
Published: April 1, 2007
Fishing for trout is an ever-present piece of Americana.
A mountain stream rippling through a valley that could be located half a mile into the George Washington National Forest or in the wilderness of Alaska. A lone fly fisherman in hip waders stands knee-deep, fly rod in mid-motion, ready to cast the lure that will snag the day's catch.
Not much has changed since the first anglers began to search for trout, but the way the fish make it to that cool mountain run has - somewhat.
The Montebello fish hatchery in Nelson County raises and stocks trout in Virginia's public waters, so that anyone with a trout fishing license can be sure that there will be fish in the water. They stock in urban lakes, isolated rivers and feeder streams. Fish hatcheries like Montebello stock approximately 1.2 million fish in a season - about 700,000 thousand pounds.
"The bread and butter of the program is the put-and-take that we do," Coldwater Hatchery Manager George Duckwall said.
Trout anglers are required to hold a Virginia fishing license and a trout license; the total cost is $36. At first it may seem like a lot of money to stand in the middle of a cold stream with no guarantees, but the money is put back into the hatcheries and the communities fishermen travel in.
"It also provides economic activity," Duckwall said. "Some of the trout country where we stock are some of the most economically depressed areas in the state. This program generates between $90 million and 100 million a year. Here is government taking money, but then putting it back out there and generating more money."
The program is intended for almost entirely recreational purposes. The department maintains 200 different fishing waters and stocks them more than 1,000 times in the year.
Not much has changed in the science of raising trout from fingerlings. For the most part, Montebello rears trout the same way that the fish have been raised for the last 30 years. The most significant change has been the way the fish are fed while at the hatchery.
Facilities used to use ground-up meat products to feed the trout in holding, but the fish were complained to taste like liver. In the 1970s, DGIF began to feed them with a compacted dry compound, similar to gold-fish flakes.
"We are constantly trying to improve the quality of the fish that we stock," Duckwall said.
In the future, the hatcheries will begin stocking sterile trout in an effort to keep them from cross-mating with the wild trout that already reside in the waters.
On April 7, the DGIF will hold trout heritage day. When the hatcheries began to stock Virginia waters year round, the opening day of trout season was done away with.
In an effort to keep the tradition alive in the sport, DGIF started heritage day. In certain waters fishing, is closed the Friday before.
"We allow the trucks to get in and stock [the waters] and scatter the fish around really well," Duckwall said. "When we went to year-round fish stocking, we did away with the opening day of fish stocking. There was a significant segment that missed that. So these waters in the heritage program give those a chance to enjoy that."
The Montebello fish hatchery hosts visitors during office hours and is located right off the Blue Ridge Parkway in Nelson County.
For more information about trout stocking, go to http://www.dgif.state.va.us/FISHING/.
Contact Robert Sisk at 932-3568.
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