Heat And Drought Threatening Southern Trout Stocking

By admin at Wed, 2006-08-09 09:55 | | Georgia Fishing News

 The prolonged high temperatures and low rainfall of summer 2006 are raising the water temperatures of many southern trout streams to levels that might threaten fall stocking plans. "Ideally, you'd like to see water temperatures in a stream no higher than the mid-60's, but in a number of cases we're seeing low to mid-70's," says Georgia’s Trout Stocking Coordinator Perry Thompson.
"At those temperatures, the survival of stocked fish becomes questionable, so we often have to wait until we reach our stocking site and check water temperature before deciding whether we can release fish. If it's too warm, we have to search for cooler temperatures upstream or stock in another stream altogether."
Depending on water supply, even trout in the hatcheries are at risk. At Georgia’s Lake Burton Fish Hatchery for instance, growth of fish is slowed because feeding must be curtailed, and disease outbreaks are more commonwhen it's this hot.
"About all we can do is reduce the number of trout we're holding and hope for rain," says Thompson.
If you are planning a fishing trip to one of north Georgia's trout streams in the coming weeks and want to find out if the stream is still being stocked, call the WRD Lake Burton Fish Hatchery at (706) 947-3112 any day between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. For more information on fishing, visit www.gofishgeorgia.com.