Trout-virus scare a false alarm

Anglers who enjoy fishing the upper reaches of Lake Mohave will be happy to learn the Willow Beach National Fish Hatchery will resume its rainbow trout-stocking program on Jan. 16. The first plant will be made at Willow Beach, with second and third plants scheduled for Davis Camp and Riverside below Davis Dam. Those plants will occur the following week.

That’s good news to hatchery manager Mark Olson.

The hatchery, operated by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, temporarily suspended its stocking program just before Thanksgiving when officials learned an infection known as Cutthroat Trout Virus might have entered the facility on a shipment of rainbow trout eggs from the Ennis National Fish Hatchery in Montana.

CTV is an infection sometimes found in fish-rearing facilities where large numbers of trout and other salmonids are raised. Rainbow trout show no clinical signs of CTV, but the concern, Olson said, was the possibility that CTV could have been spread throughout other waters through stocking activities. And further complicating the situation was the unknown impact of CTV on other fish species.

More than 900 fish from the Willow Beach Hatchery were tested. Those samples were sent to the Dexter Fish Health Unit in New Mexico for evaluation. The samples collected came back negative, which opened the door for resumption of stocking activities.

While fishing activity near Willow Beach has been slow since stocking activities were suspended, the situation gave trout in the hatchery an opportunity to grow. Clyde Parke, the Lake Mead hatchery manager, has had a good look at the Willow Beach rainbows and said many are 14-inch fish. Of course, striped bass anglers will enjoy the pursuit of stripers attracted by the trout plants.

• WEATHER AFFECTS WATERFOWL HUNT — Pahranagat Valley locals are saying the winter of 2008-09 could be the coldest since 1949. That remains to be seen, but Ron Mills, manager of the Key Pittman Wildlife Management Area, says the winter weather has affected waterfowl hunting. When the front settled in Dec. 16, the valley filled with ducks. The temperature dropped, water froze, and the birds wasted no time heading south.

Hunters still have been able to bag a few birds at Key Pittman. Mills has seen geese, gadwalls, widgeon, mallards and a few scaup, but their numbers are limited. The problem for hunters, he said, “is trying to con the ducks off the open water and into shooting range.”

Some of the birds that headed south made their way to Overton, where hunters saw a surge in success. In the past weeks, bird numbers began to fall off, said Keith Brose, manager at the Overton Wildlife Management Area. There still are geese and ducks. Goose numbers fluctuate and might be as high as 120 birds one day and as low as 15 to 20 birds the next.

Hunters also might find open water and jump-shooting opportunities along the sloughs and ditches at the Kirch Wildlife Management Area north of Hiko. With the exception of Dacey, the reservoirs are about 90 percent frozen with areas of thin ice. Caution should be used.

Nevada’s duck season closes Jan. 23 in Lincoln and Clark counties and Jan. 24 in all the others. Goose season closes Jan. 25.

Freelance writer Doug Nielsen is a conservation educator for the Nevada Department of Wildlife. His “In the Outdoors” column, published Thursday, is not affiliated with or endorsed by the NDOW. Any opinions he states in his column are his own. He can be reached at doug@takinitoutside.com.