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| FishTails |
Spring Rains, Too Much of a Good Thing
[May 29, 2002] - By Chris Lawrence
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| Photo By Jim Matuga - High, muddy water flows through the gates of
the Morgantown Lock and Dam on the Monongahela River. |
The heavy rains West Virginia has endured this spring come as a blessing and a curse wrapped up in one big,
muddy package. Like many eastern states, West Virginia has been suffering for several months from the effects of
drought. For those areas, rain has been a Godsend. However, biologists with the West Virginia DNR say the high
volume of rain has hurt more than fishing this year in the Mountain State. There can be "too much of a good
thing."
The West Virginia Bass Federation's Buddy Trail saw heavy rains during its first three events of the year. The
fourth scheduled tournament, Ravenswood, saw conditions so bad that WVBF Board members deemed them unsafe and postponed
the tournament until later in the summer.
"The river is high with a lot of current and debris." Noted WVBF President John Burdette in an Internet
message to members at WVBass.com. "The lockmaster told me the flooding on the Mississippi River would cause
the Ohio to go down slower than usual. He also said the weather forecast is calling for heavy rains in the Ravenswood
area tomorrow. It is just not worth the risk of getting someone hurt or tearing up equipment."
WVBF members living along the Ohio agreed with the board's decision, most saying had the tournament been held they
would not risk it. Even those with a stake in the Buddy Trail Championship were willing to forgo their chances
before venturing onto the river.
While those conditions have zapped fishing on many days this spring, their true impact may linger for several years.
"Turbidity keeps the fish from feeding as well." Says DNR fisheries biologist Frank Jernejcic. "The
food that they do eat is not as healthy and productivity is reduced. It has a cascading affect on the fish, the
food chain and the population."
Jernejcic adds that fish reproduction is also impacted in year when the spring has been marked by high water. Nests
tend to get washed out by the faster currents flowing in areas that are normally slack water. Data collected in
WVBF Tournaments and other trails over the last 27 years bears out Jernejcic's theory. It takes a fish about three
to four years to grow to the 12-inch "keeper" size in West Virginia.
"We have been able to tell from that data that in years when we have a flooding event, we'll have a poor fishing
three to four years later." Says Jernejcic.
River systems aren't the only areas to be impacted by the heavy rains this year. Kevin Yokum is the DNR's District
Fisheries Biologist for Sutton, Burnsville, Stonewall Jackson, and Tygart Lakes. He says the impact is equal, but
happens in a different way.
"Since about the third or fourth week of April we've seen the water levels in those reservoirs fluctuating
over summer pool almost a majority of the time." Says Yokum. "Unlike a river environment we don't typically
have to worry about a nest getting washed out. The biggest thing we do have to worry about is fish laying their
eggs on a bed, the water goes down, and the nest is left high and dry."
Yokum says they've seen that to some extent in all of the state's reservoirs this year. However, he says the real
impact won't be known until this fall when annual fish sampling surveys are conducted.
Yokum points out fluctuation is a way of life on Tygart Lake. The Tygart levels are controlled by the Corps of
Engineers in Pittsburgh rather than Huntington and will commonly drop or rise 10 to 20 feet overnight. In Tygart,
fish have adapted to those conditions and will usually suspended and spawn in deeper waters than usual. On lakes
like Stonewall Jackson, where the levels are usually stable, is where the real problems occur.
Since West Virginia's lake levels are man-made it's possible to control that negative effect on fishing by holding
water in the impoundment. However, in a year like this one, that becomes increasingly difficult.
"We do work with the Corp of Engineers to minimize those impacts." says Yokum. "But in years like
this year, their hands are really tied."
Recreation is a high priority on the Corps lakes in West Virginia, but the number one mandate for those dams is
flood control. The first job dam operators have is to insure homes and property are protected from devastating
floodwaters. Unfortunately in a year like this, bass become a distant second and even pale in priority when stacked
against human suffering. |
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