Oconee trout find new habitat in the midlands

A helicopter and a special lift bucket lowered thousands of rainbow and brown trout this week into the lower Saluda River near Columbia.  They came from the Walhalla National Fish Hatchery in Oconee County.  The cold waters released from the bottom of Lake Murray provide suitable habitat for the trout in the Saluda River, creating a unique and popular fishery in the midlands of South Carolina. The Department of Natural Resources tagged many of the trout with what’s known as a T-bar tag attached just below the dorsal fin of the trout. Each tag will be individually numbered thus providing a means of gathering data on a particular fish. And anglers can assist DNR biologists by reporting their catches of tagged trout. This is being done as part of a study to collect information on the river’s trout population such as survival rates and the number of fish that succumb to natural and angler mortality as well as information on the fishes’ growth rates.  In all, the trout are stocked in more than 50 cold-water rivers and streams in Greenville, Pickens and Oconee counties, in Lake Jocassee, and in the cool tail-waters below the Lake Hartwell and Lake Murray dams.