1. A 9-year Trend of Striped Bass Spawning in the Upper Coosa River Basin 1997- 2005 Bill Davin Berry College Mount Berry, Georgia

2. OBJECTIVES - After Establishing the Occurrence of Spawning. IDENTIFY THE GENERAL LOCATION(S) OF THE SPAWNING ACTIVITY, COMPARE THE MAGNITUDE OF THE SPAWNING ACTIVITY ON AN ANNUAL BASIS, AND EXAMINE WHAT, IF ANY RELATIONSHIP EXISTS BETWEEN ANNUAL SPAWNING ESTIMATES AND VARIOUS ABIOTIC FACTORS.

3. METHODS - Sampling Sampling was conducted during each spawning season from 1997 through 2005. Typically samples were taken 2 to 3 times per week, April through June. Each sample was collected by filtering approximately 100 m 3 of water through a 750  m plankton net (5:1 ratio). 1/4 m net was used in 1997 and a 1/2 m in 1998-01.

4. Sampling Sites: 1997 -2005, 1998 & 99, 1998 only TNNC GA AL Weiss Reservoir Coosa River Oostanaula River Coosawattee River Conasauga River Chattooga River Site A Site B Site C Site D Site ECarters Lake Allatoona Reservoir Etowah River 0 15 30 km

5. Egg Stages Stage 1 (0 - 9 hrs) Stage 2 (10 - 19 hrs)

6. Stage 3 (20 -25 hrs) Stage 4 (26 - 33 hrs)

7. METHODS - Spawning Areas Determination of spawning area was based on temperature corrected age (hrs) of the eggs and the mean daily velocity of that river section, assuming an 80% drift rate. 1 D e = 10.77e -0.0934T

8. CORRECTED EGG AGE BY YEAR SITE A 19971998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004

9. TNNC GA AL Weiss Reservoir Coosa River Oostanaula River Coosawattee River Conasauga River Chattooga River Site A Site C Carters Lake Allatoona Reservoir Etowah River 0 15 30 km SPAWNING AREA IN THE OOSTANAULA RIVER ?

10. Spawning Summary - Site A Spawning Period 1997 - 13 days (16 - 20 o C) peak on May 15 th 1998 - 32 days (15 - 25 o C) peak on May 12 th 1999 - 50 days (16.5 - 23 o C) peak on May 5 th 2000 - 38 days (14.4 - 22.9 o C) peak on May 3 rd 2001 - 39 days (14.8 - 22.4 o C) peak on May 7 th 2002 – 68 days (16.7 -25.9 o C) peak on April 19 th 2003 – 60 days (15.3 – 21.8 o C) peak on May 1 st 2004 – 58 days (16.3 - 24.1 o C) peak on May 7 th 2005 – 43 days (16.4 – 21.3 o C) peak on May 11 th

11. Spawning Summary - Site A Peak Egg Density 1997 - 4.7 eggs/m 3 @ 17.7 o C 1998 - 77.6 eggs/m 3 @ 18.5 o C 1999 - 11.0 eggs/m 3 @ 19.3 o C 2000 - 108 eggs/m 3 @ 19.9 o C 2001 - 2.3 eggs/m 3 @ 21.5 o C 2002 - 1.1 eggs/m 3 @ 21.2 o C 2003 – 4.55 eggs/m 3 @ 19.6 o C 2004 – 4.35 eggs/m 3 @ 20.1 o C 2005 – 7.8 eggs/m 3 @ 18.2 o C

12. Mean = 6.1  1.85 eggs/ m 3

14. Spawning Activity EGG WERE ONLY COLLECTED AT SITE B IN 2001 (4), 2002 (4), and 2003 (3) Sampling Sites: 1997 -2005, 1998 & 99, 1998 only