Jason Bettinger

Trout Growth and Mortality Following Water Quality and Flow Improvements on the Lower Saluda River in South Carolina

SEAFWA Journal Volume 7, March 2020

The lower Saluda River (LSR) supports a coldwater, put-grow-and-take trout fishery due to hypolimnetic releases from the Saluda Hydroelectric Project. The LSR has historically been noted for low flows (5.1 m3 sec-1) transitioning abruptly to peaking flows up to 509.7 m3 sec-1 with seasonally hypoxic water. Recent relicensing resulted in changes in the Saluda Hydroelectric Project operation that were intended to improve habitat conditions downstream. In a multi-year study, a combination of tagging and boat electrofishing was used to evaluate mortality, growth, and angler catch and...

Evaluation of Two Sizes of Fingerling Smallmouth Bass Stocked into a South Carolina River

SEAFWA Journal Volume 7, March 2020

Smallmouth bass (Micropterus dolomieu) have been stocked intermittently into the Broad River, South Carolina, since 1984, resulting in a popular fishery. Numbers and sizes of smallmouth bass stocked vary annually depending on availability. Two sizes of fingerling smallmouth bass are stocked; however, stocking efficacy of these sizes was unknown. Therefore, contribution and relative survival of small (mean TL=42 ? 0.3 mm) and large (mean TL=150 ? 1.5 mm) fingerling smallmouth bass stocked during 2005?2010 into the Broad River was evaluated by differentially marking with oxytetracycline. The...