Smokies extends Experimental Brook Trout Fishery Project

Great Smoky Mountains National Park biologists are extending the opportunity for anglers to fish for native brook trout in selected streams in North Carolina and Tennessee until June 2006. Because of the results of recent fisheries research and the success of the Park’s brook trout restoration effort, Park managers in 2002 began the Brook Trout Experimental Fishery Project. The project opened eight streams to brook trout fishing for the first time in 25 years to determine if angling pressure impacted brook trout populations in the monitored streams. During the study period, creel surveys were distributed to capture such data as average number of fish caught, average size of fish, total number of fish caught per trip and per hour, and percentage of anglers who actually harvested their catch. The brook trout experiment also compared fish populations in the streams opened to brook trout fishing with adjacent streams that are closed to fishing to determine if fishing of the protected species had a negative impact on fish populations. Park Superintendent Dale Ditmanson said that “The 6-month extension to the experimental period will give Park biologists time to fully evaluate the survey data. At the end of that period, we expect to make a decision regarding the future of brook trout angling in the Smokies.” The following streams are the only waterways open to fishing for brook trout: In North Carolina: Beech Flats Creek above Kephart Prong confluence, all of Bunches Creek within the Park, Hazel Creek upstream of Proctor Creek, and Lost Bottom Creek upstream of Palmer Creek. In Tennessee: All of Cosby Creek, all of Indian Camp Creek inside the Park, Walker Prong upstream of Road Prong, and Fish Camp Prong upstream f Goshen Prong. Park managers emphasized that all other streams currently closed to fishing remain closed, and that taking brook trout anywhere in the Park except for those eight experimental streams remains strictly prohibited. Signs are posted at the appropriate locations to help anglers identify which streams are open under this experiment. All other Park fishing regulations, including the 7” minimum size limit on trout, remain in effect. A Great Smoky Mountains Fishing Regulations brochure is available at the Park’s visitor centers which delineates the streams on a map. “Our goal of the project is to determine whether the Park can still protect and restore native brook trout while providing angling experiences for brook trout,” said Steve Moore, Park Fisheries Biologist. Brook trout are the only trout species native to the Smokies and were historically found in nearly every watershed from their high-elevation headwaters down to about the 2,000-foot elevation. However, in the decades just prior to the Park’s creation in 1934, the brook, or “speckled” trout, was eliminated from much of its range by the siltation and other effects of the heavy-handed logging practices of that period. Biologists were concerned about losing the brook trout altogether and imposed a ban on fishing for them under the assumption that angling pressure was contributing to their decline. After decades of conducting annual fish surveys in streams throughout the Smokies, data collected has shown that the density and size of fish in streams where fishing is permitted, versus those where it is prohibited, are virtually identical. Trout distribution surveys have been completed in 80 percent of the Park’s watersheds. Of the 1,166 miles of streams surveyed, only 430 miles or 37 percent contain trout. Brook trout occupy 169 (39%) of these 430 miles, however 82 percent of these populations are found above 3,000 feet.