DWR Sample Lower Smith River 11-16-21

[Al]

Virginia's Department of Wildlife Resources (DWR), assisted by volunteers from SRTU and DRBA sample the lower Smith River on 11-16- 2021. The sample was from  the ramp just below Martinsville Dam to the ramp at the Sports Complex 



DWR electronic shocking raft on the right, SRTU volunteer's raft on the left. I'm riding in style today on the rear of the raft on the left. The air temperature is to cold for me to risk as dunking while paddling my usual DWR supplied kayak - ?maybe I am getting smarter in my old age.




Safety brief collection plan by DWR team leader and biologist George Palmer before we head out.  Note the neck gaiters and warm clothes. It was chilly when we started out - in fact it stayed that way the entire day.




Your humble scribe and DWR Complementary Work Force Volunteer, the oldest member of the sample team. Proud to say 82 and counting - activities like this keep me going. 



Here we go. Once the current catches us there is not turning back until we reach the Sports Complex.






Once the sampling rafts collection tank is full it is "fish work up" time. We collected some nice fish.






Everything gets identited for by species, measured and weighed.




Some real nice fish. None of them gave up their life in the name of science. Once we collected the data every fish was returned to the water shaking it's head and probably  thinking "what the heck was that all about"

It don't count if you don't get it all down on paper. You may wonder how they keep the paper from becoming a soaked blob - it is special waterproofed paper all printed with templates for data colection. All the data is eventually entered into a computer where programs spot trends that help the biologists make management decisions.


Here are some more nice fish. We didn't collect a whole mess of fish, this was expected because of problems associated with Philpott Dam, but the fish were did collect those that would definately put  a bend in your rod. They all fell within the protected range of 10-24 inches which means they would be illegal to place on a stringer or in your creel. If folks follow the regulation they would enjoy the fight, take a quick picture for bragging rights and slip the fish back in the water for some other angler to enjoy.





Sports Complex ramp is a little touchy to take out. The first thing you much remember is the water drops off way over your waders right at the waters edge. The ramp is really built for kayaks and canoes. DWR vehicles are 4WD and equipped with winches - even then it is tricky.




There ya have it. Not as many fish collected as before the when they were generating on a regular basis - but the fish we did sample were definitely bigger. You also have to consider that the raft probably collects less than 10% of the fish in any given section of the stream.  From a layman's viewpoint if you have a raft, canoe of kayak and want bigger fish instead of huge numbers of fish you should give the lower Smith River a try.

Note: posted by the bossman for Al

[Stone-Man]

Nice report , Al  !!   Are you saying that you are getting smarter as you get older. I sometimes look at places that I used to go and now just shake my head

[trout-r-us]

Thanks for the report Al.
Some nice looking fish. 👍