By: Jake Bussolini
Nearly 20 years ago, I came to Lake Norman hoping to spend my retirement years with my lovely wife, living on the shores of this beautiful lake. All of my life I fished in northern waters and coming south where man-made lakes are normal was somewhat of a shock to me. It didn’t take many days with small catches to convince me that I needed to develop a completely different style of fishing to be successful on this lake. With my science background, I decided that I needed to thoroughly study this lake to gain the kind of success that I wanted. I quickly realized that for most of my life, wherever I fished, the natural bottom structure like stumps, trees and brush provided great places for the fish to habitat. If the fish hung around a fallen tree one day, they were likely there the next day. Not here on Lake Norman. The practice of clear cutting everything as part of the lake’s construction, created a situation where the fish are always moving, looking for food and safe places to hide. This made fishing Norman more difficult than was my standard.
I diligently studied the lake day after day until I increased my catch rate from less than one fish an hour to more than five fish per hour. Based on all of my research, I started writing and since moving here I have published seven books about freshwater fishing. My computer files are filled with data and photos from my research and I consider myself reasonably knowledgeable about the lake. But to increase my education, I fished with several of the guides that had been fishing the lake for many years, some who had fish here since their birth. These trips provided me with the tips and secrets that these guides had buried in their brains. I cherished this information.
Now comes 2018 and all of my knowledge seems to have had no relationship to achieving success on Lake Norman. Since writing my first book, I have traveled around the country fishing more than 100 different lakes and rivers here and in Canada. But this year I had to ask myself, “what has happened to the fishing on Lake Norman?
One of the benefits of this lake was that it was a 12 month fishery due to the abundance of Striped Bass. This cold water fish filled in the colder months when the other lake species were scarce. Largemouth bass were very active all during the warm month and crappie were being caught in nice numbers and large sizes. If all else failed, it was always possible to pull up a 20 pound blue catfish or an occasional huge flathead catfish and white bass were a bonus catch.
Today, almost everything has changed. Unusually warm water in late summer accompanied by low oxygen levels killed off all of the Striped Bass. The lake was invaded by white perch that rapidly caused the demise of all of the white bass. Spotted bass slowly but steadily replaced most of the largemouth bass and to top off the fish species changes, Hydrilla plants suddenly showed up causing very serious problems to the ecology of the entire lake.
Many reputable fishing magazines that always listed Lake Norman as a fine fishery, suddenly no longer mentioned the lake. Even some North Carolina outdoor magazines stopped mentioning this lake as a good fishery.
After a long series of studies and arguments with local anglers, the State finally agreed to replace the lost Striped Bass with Hybrid Stripers that are more likely to survive the warm, low oxygen water. The spotted bass seemed to thrive but the largemouth bass have all but disappeared. There are also signs that the white perch will eventually eradicate the crappie crop. Random fish kills have occurred nearly every year over the past 6 years and this summer we even witnessed a Catfish kill of nearly 1000 catfish caused by excessively low oxygen levels. As important as all of the above, the extreme cold last winter caused some icing in the shallow coves causing a kill-off of large schools of Shad, which provide an important food source for all fish species. More recently a serious invasion of hydrilla has occurred at the south end of the lake.
None of these events bode well for the future of Lake Norman as a world class fishery. In this authors opinion there are a few known causes of the problems. Most important, the oxygen levels in the water during the summer months, is the largest single problem that needs attention. This problem is not unique to this lake and has been solved in other oxygen starved waters by the introduction of external oxygen sources in strategic locations during the hot months of summer. Duke Energy claims ownership of the lake so they should also show interest in the health and welfare of the various species of fish that are housed here. Introduction of fresh air is not an excessively costly solution to the low oxygen problem. Since additional hot water is introduced into the lake by the hot water discharges at the two Duke power plants, they should feel some responsibility to contribute to the known solution to the temperature and oxygen problem.
The Hybrid stripers that are being introduced are apparently doing well in terms of health and growth. The Wildlife Resources Commission personnel feel that the low nutrition level of the lake water is limiting the eventual growth levels of these hybrids but the fish will live a healthy but possible shorter lifespan. To insure a good start to the new hybrids, this author recommends that a specific season be established fo fishing hybrids to permit the recent supplies to live more freely during the growth months of the summer.
This author also feels that the lake is being over fished. There are an excessive number of fishing tournaments on Lake Norman year-round. These tournaments are bringing a large number of non-resident boats on to the lake with little or no control of possible foreign species that they may carry or the foreign plant life that may be attached to their boats. Recently published articles are now admitting that the tournament environment causes much higher mortality rates for the fish than previously admitted, in some cases as high as 30% for fish that are caught, culled and put through the weigh-in process.
Most anglers who fish the lake regularly, know that the catch rate of illegal fish (hybrids being caught by unlicensed anglers) is growing rapidly, especially where large bank-fishing areas exist at the north end of the lake. This problem is well known by lake officials but little or no corrective action has been taken. These bank fishing areas should be closed until better controls can be established by wildlife officials. This is an easy solution that is being blinded by political correctness.
The hydrilla problem is well known by lake officials and it appears that the proper corrective action is being taken. The input of grass carp is the known best solution to hydrilla growth. These fish feed on this plant and this year’s stock of more than 10,000 carp is the right step toward a solution. But the practice must be continued on a smaller scale in future years since this problem is not a short term one. It is a known fact that chemical or cultivation treatment of hydrilla is not a long term solution and can actually cause an increase of the growth problem. Private residents should not try chemical treatment around their docks because it will have long term negative effects on the lake water.
There are no known plans to address the white perch problem or the hinted reduction of future crappie numbers. This author believes that the Hybrids are being properly managed and tagging results show good progress for that species. I have also suggested to the Wildlife Resources Commission that they establish a “Frequent Angler Reporting System”, using anglers who fish the lake waters regularly, to report their finding through a social media system. This would provide a larger bank of reliable data than can be achieved by electro fishing or tagging. More data could provide hints at better solutions to the problem of shrinking fish populations in the lake.
As for the over-fishing of the lake due to excessive tournaments, the various fishing clubs and organizations that exist on and around the lake should be asked to begin limiting their sponsored tournaments. Most experienced anglers will understand the need for practicing good fish conservation practices if they are presented with the problems that are being witnessed on the lake.
It’s time for all of us to wake up to the potential problems that I have mentioned. We can bring Lake Norman back to its previously recognized status as a top notch fishery, but all anglers need to get involved, or at least get more interested in supporting solutions to existing problems.