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With Va. lakes, the sleepers have keepers WHERE THE LUNKERS ARE

June 12, 2008 12:15 am

WANT TO CATCH big largemouth bass in Northern Virginia? Then think small. Most of the region's reservoirs are small impoundments that hold some hefty fish.

At 2,100 acres, Occoquan Reservoir is considered large, and it led the regional survey of top waters. But Lake Anna, the region's largest reservoir at 9,600 acres, finished in the middle of the pack when Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries biologists sampled them over the past couple of years.

Pleasant and unpleasant surprises for Fredericksburg-area anglers were the ranking of Motts Reservoir as No. 4 on the list and the fact that nearby Hunting Run Reservoir, which had been touted as the land of the lunker bass, ranked 13th.

The rankings are based on electrofishing surveys. The electric current temporarily stuns the fish, allowing researchers to collect them and make quick biological assessments. These are later aggregated to allow broad comparisons of overall density of preferred fish--in this case, largemouth bass.

Fish longer than 15 inches were considered "preferred" for purposes of the study. The index "CPE-P" in the table stands for "catch per effort of preferred fish." This measure how many bass longer than 15 inches were collected by biologists during an hour of electrofishing.

Regional Fisheries biologist John Odenkirk explained that the term "RSD-P" stands for "relative stock density of preferred fish"--the proportion of bass in a population longer than 8 inches (stock size or "recruits") that are also at least 15 inches. Thus, this index describes the size structure of the population. The higher the number, the larger the percentage of the population that is composed of big fish and the more abundant big bass were during the one-hour sample (see table).

Most research has qualifiers attached, and the biologists note that you can't necessarily make "head-to-head" comparisons between big and small waters since catch rates at large reservoirs are usually lower. Either Occoquan is very good, or the researchers were very lucky and happened to electrofish the best honey holes.

Hunting Run, a new reservoir, has great potential, according to Odenkirk, but the problem right now is that there are too many small bass. He advises anglers there to catch and keep some of the fish below 16 inches to relieve stockpiling of smaller fish.

For more on regional fishing opportunities, call the Fisheries Division in Fredericksburg at 999-4169.

New NWTF CEO

We've been tracking the turmoil at the National Wild Turkey Federation following the firing of two top senior officials and the resignation of CEO Rob Keck.

The NWTF is a private, nonprofit conservation and education organization founded in Fredericksburg in 1973. The organization is one of the wealthiest and most powerful of the nation's conservation groups.

Now comes word that Georgia native and resident George C. Thornton replaced Keck as CEO last week and will begin his duties immediately.

Thornton recently retired from the agribusiness industry. He has also served in various sales, financial and management positions with American Cyanamid, ICI Americas, ICI Australia PLC, Griffin/Dupont, LLC and AgWeb.com.

Thornton, reputed to be a lifelong hunter, said, "As a conservationist and hunter, the NWTF's mission really resonates with me, and I'm committed to working with this team of staff, volunteers and partners to fulfill the organization's goals."

He hailed the NWTF's past successes and noted his hopes of finding "new and exciting ways to enrich the experience of our membership."

Lawsuits filed by the two fired senior officials are still pending.

Ken Perrotte can be reached at The Free Lance-Star, 616 Amelia Street, Fredericksburg, Va. 22401, by fax at 373-8455 or e-mail at
Email: outdoors@freelancestar.com.

In last week's column, we noted that Bob Ellis had been selected to be the chief of the VDGIF's Wildlife Division. He succeeded Bob Duncan, who was recently named executive director of the department.

The headline over the column, however, indicated Duncan was taking over the position--his old job. We're sorry if the headline caused any confusion.