State fisheries add 280,000 striped bass to Hartwell

PENDLETON – The 280,000 striped bass that were added to the waters of Lake Hartwell on Friday afternoon weren't big enough to send local fisherman scrambling for their fishing rods – but give 'em a couple of years.

"They're fast growers," fisheries biologist Dan Rankin said. "A couple of springs from now, these fish will be a good catchable size."

The trophy catches of tomorrow have to start somewhere, and on Friday the 1½-inch long striped bass "fingerlings" began their journey by being deposited along with tens of thousands of their closest friends into the full-pool waters of the 56,000-acre reservoir.

The South Carolina Department of Natural Resources used specially equipped fish-hauling trucks to transport the fish from the Dennis Wildlife Center Fish Hatchery in Bonneau. The DNR stocked approximately 458,000 striped bass last Thursday and Friday at Broyles Landing in Anderson County, Twelve Mile Landing in Pickens County and at Twin Lakes Recreation Area near the Anderson-Pickens county line.

On Friday afternoon at Twin Lakes, State Rep. Davey Hiott of the Pickens County Legislative Delegation joined Ross Self, the DNR's Chief of Fisheries, in depositing the first bucket full of striped bass into Hartwell.

"This is great for our community," said Hiott, who serves as vice chairman of the House Committee on Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environmental Affairs. "Every person I talk to has a fishing license, so in a few years they'll be out here catching these fish."

Natural mortality and predation will exact a toll on the small striped bass, but Rankin – a Clemson-based fisheries biologist for the DNR – is optimistic that a healthy percentage of the fingerlings released will survive long enough to provide plenty of angling opportunity for years to come.

"We feel like they're at a good size to have good survival,," Rankin said. "Predation is always an issue, but we stock enough to account for the fact that we're going to have some natural mortality."

Striped bass should grow rapidly in the fertile waters of Hartwell, which has benefited from above-average rainfall during the past year.

"The lake has come back up, and with all the rain we've had there has been an addition of a lot of nutrients to the system," Rankin said. "That kind of fuels the food chain for the fish."

Striped bass have thrived for decades at Hartwell, and trophy striped bass in the 20- to 40-pound range are caught fairly regularly. In 2002, the reservoir produced a state-record 59½-pound fish for Terry McConnell of Eastanolle, Ga.

McConnell has since eclipsed his record with a 63-pound striped bass caught at nearby Lake Russell in 2009, but Hartwell still possesses record potential as well as ample numbers of fish to produce everyday fun.

"Striped and hybrid bass are schooling fish, and this can result in fast action when you're fishing for them," Rankin said. "They are really aggressive fighters, so it can be an exciting fish to catch."

The Georgia DNR, in partnership with the South Carolina DNR, recently stocked the Tugaloo River arm of Hartwell with more than 240,000 striped bass, with the potential for more to come.

Both agencies also recently combined to stock about 400,000 hybrid bass – which is a cross between a striped bass and a white bass – into Hartwell.