There’s something fishy on campus.

The college recently stocked 250 trout into Adams Pond. 

“This will be the eighth year of stocking the lake full of trout,” said Aaron Conover, director of Norton Outdoors.

Where does a college get all of these fish?

“Originally, we got it from Pantry in North Carolina, (but) it closed. For the past five years, we have been getting them from Brackens Fish Hatchery in Wythe County,” said Conover. 

With that many fish, people might think they are different species that might be stocked, but Adams Lake’s fish diversity is slightly different.

“That’s all we do for now. We’ve had discussions about possibly doing some other stocking, but primarily we’ve been stocking the trout because the other fish are reproducing their own. These trout actually don’t reproduce,” said Conover. 

That being said, Conover has had some outside suggestions of what to stock next.

“I know students have asked about stocking it with large-mouth bass. One thing about them, depending on what you put in and how many, they get invasive as far as the other fish population,” said Conover.

Conover said anglers need to be aware of the catch limit.

“Right now it’s called catch and release until Apr. 1–kind of the guidelines that we put in,” Conover said. “They can catch up to four fish a day after Apr. 1. The reason for that is the lake doesn’t hold cold water, so the water temperature gets warm, and as it gets warm the oxygen levels drop. The rainbow trout are more of a cold-water fish.”

Doing this for eight years might seem boring for people or mundane, but not for Conover.

“It’s always fun seeing students actually help and be a part of it. The other is seeing students and some of the staff along with some of their family members come out fishing. You’ll see them doing that,” he said.

Professor Todd Fredericksen has his own thoughts after being a part of this for the past several years.

“(It is) exciting to see big trout released in the pond and the excitement of the students,” said Fredericksen. 

 Some people might think that many trout being released at one time could affect the food web of the pond, but Fredericksen knows something about that. 

“Trout are probably not a big part of the lake’s food web,” he said. “They may compete for food with largemouth bass while they are in the lake.”

Just like the students, Fredericksen has a preference for fish that could be stocked. 

“Grass carp may help control the overgrowth of plants in the pond,” he said. 

Josh Jordan, senior, is one of the students who helped stock the trout into the pond. 

“It was a fun experience. I haven’t ever done something like that before, so it was a cool thing to see and do,” Jordan said. 

 With the trout being stocked, it might bring out more students to try fishing–or pick it back up, and Jordan is no different.

“Now being out of sports and having a lot of free time, I plan on to fish the trout and other fish we have in the lake,” she said. 

Some minds think alike when it comes to Adams Lake, and Fredericksen and Jordan share the same thought.

“I would probably add some grass carp to help balance and also some crappie and larger bass–some fish that are more popular to be fished in this area,” said Jordan.