The Fish Hawk Newsletter

     A couple of weeks ago, Chris Scalley of River Through Atlanta Guide Services, forwarded an e-mail that Chris Martin of the Fisheries Division of the Georgia DNR had sent out. The e-mail was a reply to questions Chris Scalley had asked about electro-fishing on the River and what the juvenile Brown Trout populations were looking like. The reply was rather interesting. I decided to get in touch with Chris Martin at State Fisheries and find out more.

     Many may not know that the DNR quit stocking the Chattahoochee below Buford Dam with Brown Trout four years ago. They did this to begin a study of the status of the Brown Trout population on the River and to see if they were naturally reproducing in numbers. A few years ago, it was proven that trout were reproducing on The 'Hooch, more specifically, the Brown Trout. The fact that the Chattahochee is clean and had good flows to favor a successful spawn, wasn't necessarily a shock, but the fact that these were "dumb" stocked fish making it happen.

     These fish were originally introduced through stocking programs implemented in the early 1960's, and have been heavily stocked since.    The vast majority of stocked fish have always been Rainbow Trout. The Brown Trout were also stocked, just not in such numbers as the Rainbows. The State even stocked the Chattahoochee with Brook Trout for a while, however, no population remains since it was stopped many years ago. The idea that the "Hooch" was a "put and take" fishery was never really questioned. Anglers from the area have always enjoyed a favorable catch rate with the size of most fish being caught are between 9 & 14 inches. There are, of course, many larger fish caught, even a few in double digits.

     Since the state stopped stocking Browns, many angler complained about that the catch rates of Brown Trout. The state believed the Stocked Rainbows were filling the void of the Browns. Chris Martin wanted to track the populations of Brown Trout in a 3 to 5 year study. His team electroshock-fishes in certain areas, always in the same area, in the same manner at different times of year. This allows them to build consistent data over the study period. Other factors are tracked. Rainfall, dam releases, flow levels, turbidity, and dissolved oxygen levels are all included in the study. The fact that we have been enduring a drought, water wars with Alabama and Florida, and faulty water level gauges at Buford Dam, all during this study, has given The State Fisheries guys some extra bonus material to contend with.   All of this information has really helped with the study. My phone interview with Chris was very interesting. He pretty much talked for about a half hour, and I wrote as quickly as I could. I felt as though I had to quit the call early and he had so much more to add. I will try to paraphrase what he said without miss-quoting him.
                                            ...to be continued