The following schedule is from the 72nd Annual Conference of the Southeastern Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies which was held October 21-24, 2018 in Mobile, Alabama.
AUTHORS: Christopher McKee, Jay Haffner – Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries Division, Fisheries Section District III
ABSTRACT: The Smith Lake Tailrace is Alabama’s only year-round trout fishery and is utilized by anglers throughout Alabama and bordering states. This put-and-take fishery is a valuable asset to Cullman and Walker Counties, as well as the entire state. The goals of this project were to determine angler use of the trout fishery, the percentage of stocked trout that are harvested, direct expenditures related to the fishery, and to identify any needed management actions to improve the fishery. An angler survey was conducted from June 2014 through May 2016 on the upper 2.5 mile reach. Concurrently, time lapse cameras were placed at parking areas to estimate effort. Anglers traveled from three states and thirty-one Alabama counties to fish for trout in the tailrace. Angler use was high at 7,400 hours of effort per mile of stream, which resulted in $181,300 of annual expenditures. However, anglers harvested only 16% of trout stocked throughout the course of the study.
