There is a southern Striped Bass and a Northern Striped Bass. We here in Virginia, North Carolina are right in the midst of the annual migration of Striped Bass(Rockfish) from their summer feeding grounds in New England and in the upper Chesapeake Bay. The southern Rockfish is genetically slightly different from the Northern one. The southern one has developed a tolerance for higher water temperatures than ours.
Many years ago when the Santee Cooper dam was created, there were many Rockfish trapped in the fresh waters, behind the dam. No one realized until then that striped bass could become accostomed to permanently adapt to total life in fresh water. Up until that time it was known that the northern fish spawned in fresh water, not necessarily rocky, as some 90% of all the northern Rockfish spawn in the Chesapeake Bay, which is not rocky. They do LOVE structure and rock piles though!!
The fish sneak up into the bay from their offshore wintering grounds in deep water in the ATlantic Ocean in March to May in huge nunmbers. In the FALL , When they are LEAVING the NE and upper Chesapeake Bay summering areas to go for the deep water, the fish school up and are moving in large schools, from time to fime locating schools of menhaden and partake of a feeding orgy…large ocean sea birds: Gannetts join the migration and are much of the spectacle as they gather over large feeding , migrating schools of rockfish and from a distance appear to be a waterfall or a tornado, or a “beehive” as many refer to them here.
In the 1980’s commercial overfishing of northern rockfish almost liquidated them. A moratorium was placed and the fish have recovered nicely.
Yesterday a 67 lb rockfish was caught at the Chesapeak Bay Bridge tunnel using live eel. The state record of 68 lbs has been broken annually for the last several years. The “stripers” are unable to resisit live eels in the fall. I fish with braided 60 wire line, strong running current around rock piles , bridge abutments and use heavy sin
So you are saying that all tidal rockfish in SC came from the Santee Cooper Lakes and that they were extripated from the rivers before the construction of the SC Lakes? No punn intended, but that sound kinda fishy!
My understanding of the Low Country stripers is that each population of fish in each river system has a distinct set of genetic markers only found in those fish.
Do you have any data, articles, or literature giving further explanation of this phenomenon…I would love to learn more if this is true!
calibogue,you hit it on the head.it was vice-versa.the santee cooper stripers were landlocked from the cooper river.the river stripers were there first.stripers were caught in the cooper river long before the santee cooper system was constructed.you are also correct in the fact that every river striper in south carolina is unique to its own river.but,only because it never leaves it,not because its different from the others.mr allens post here has a few flaws to put it nicely.
native watercraft ultimate 12
“you wont know unless you go.”
Thanks Bob for a great first post. You must know by now though that Santee Cooper has been in a tug-of-war between the Army Corps of Engineers, Santee Cooper Power, and SC DNR. That has spelled disaster for the fishery. It has been mismanaged to the max. In the late 90’s when Santee Cooper killed all the grass, they destroyed the largemouth population. They, SCDNR then stocked millions of stripers and we had some great striper years. Not really big fish but the numbers were there. Again, mismanaged, people took double and triple limits. The fish weren’t protected, the limits were too high and their food source, the blueback herring, was choked off by the ACoE control of the water. It’s almost like a giant puzzle and all the pieces have to come together at the right time. Until one entity takes over, it will probably never recover. Tiny Lund’s record is safe for now.
tiny lunds record was broken by a georgia man fishing in sc.if you are referring to (lake moultrie record?)-it will never be topped-ever.the 55lb record he held for years was broken not too long ago,i think in lake hartwell?
native watercraft ultimate 12
“you wont know unless you go.”
As a longtime member of the Midlands Striper Club I have had the opportunity to attend many presentations by SCDNR biologists regarding Stripers in SC. The Santee Cooper fish are a genetically distinct strain, which is why you will not see hybrids or other strains introduced into the Saluda-Wateree-Congaree systems. DNR strives to protect that genetic purity. Also, the Savannah River system is a distinct strain along with the St. Johns River, the Gulf strain, and the Roanoke and Rappahanock rivers. There was talk many years ago of using Gulf strain Stripers as brood stock for stocking lakes that suffer from summer die-offs due to thermal refuging, as the Gulf fish seem to be more heat tolerant. There are many factors effecting Santee’s Striper collapse, not the least of which is water release from Lake Murray which is required for a successful spawn in the Congaree. The dry springs that we have endured over the past decade have not allowed good recruitment. The rediversion canal seemed to stop the annual migration of shad and Stripers into the lake system, reducing forage and the number of breeding adults. The only instance that I am aware of where Santee fish have established themselves in an anadromous enviroment is the Sacramento River system in California. Fish stocked in that system are reproducing and being caught in the salt as well as the river system. It is much more complicated than north-south. The good news is that fisheries managers are now well aware of the value of Stripers and are taking steps to protect and recover historic fisheries. The Savannah River is a great example. Hopefully, Santee Cooper can return to its past glory.
I am no authority on the North-South Striper argument…the science of genetics may offer some solution. I must admit , I have never heard of a salt water fishery for Stripers down south. As a matter of fact, i never heard of stripers down south until information surfaced nationally(25 years ago) about spawning and large stripers behind the dam of the Santee-Cooper. I am no youngster (74 years old) and read lots of fishing magazines and books…cannot remember the articles, and cannot remember correctly all that has been read.
We here in Va are enjoying a fabulous, recovered striped bass fishery as the fish migrate out of the Cheapeake and into the Atlantic wintering grounds…they also join a large group from N England…It is believed that they co-mingle in the Atlantic during cold winter months. They return to fresh water to spawn only…many (after reaching age of 3 years-not mature enough to spawn until age 3 or 4 years))depart the Chesapeake and join the larger, post-spawning stripers migrating to N England .
American Littoral Society has the best tagging record for these migrating fish and it is an interesting subject…thousands of recreational anglers participate as taggers (including me).
There is a similar mis-management problem in the Chesapeake with Stripers. One of their primary forage fish: Menhaden, inside Chesapeake Bay have been and are being decimated by the industrial harvest of these important forage and filter feeders. Virginia Politics has prevented any restricttions on the industrial harvest of these important menhaden. The Striped bass, that have been managed to a recovered state, have little to feed on and disease and ecological imbalance plague the Ches Bay fisheries. The interdependence of species is complex and poorly understood. However disease and death have followed the Striped bass managed recovery up here, because of the localized depletion of the major forage base (manhaden) for the millions of striped bass that must eat to grow and reproduce. . The
Dernflatlander! How the heck are you? It’s been a long time! It was great to see your name pop up on the screen. I hope all is well. When we going fishing?
Sorry for temporarily hijacking this thread.
Bob Van Gundy
803-727-4069
Custom Aluminum Fabrication
Its true the striper are down there! Have caught them while fishing( none over 5#) for spottails and trout, but have never targeted them, to busy shrimping and trying to catch salt fish. Might try a trip in Jan-Feb if not doing well at the Hill or the water gets too muddy. My buddys that were born and raised in the Edisto/ Jacksonboro area think it is a waste of time, they would rather fish for big stergun and bull reds!
Where did this guy get his info? I can’t imagine he posted such a long and “fact” filled comment just on his own knowledge. Some of this or most of this is wrong regarding the facts about southern striped bass.
