Striped bass were once so plentiful in the Cape Fear region that they were classified as one of the nine major striper populations on the Atlantic Seaboard, but this was prior to locks and dams being built along the river to help with commerce between Wilmington and Fayetteville.
Lock and Dam No. 1 at Riegelwood has been in place since 1915. Lock and Dam No. 2 was added two years later near Elizabethtown, and Lock and Dam No. 3 was built in 1935 near Tar Heel. Once the three dams were constructed, the river was passable by barge all the way upstream to Fayetteville.
Many biologists and fishermen believe the installation of these locks and dams initiated the decline of the river’s striper fishery. No fish ladders or any other means to allow fish to continue upstream to spawn were built. At the same time, other anadromous species, including herring, shad and sturgeon, began to decline.
A moratorium on striper fishing was declared a few years ago to protect the remaining fish in the river. Catch-and-release fishing is allowed, but it is illegal to keep a striper from the Cape Fear or any of its tributaries.
A rock-arch rapids fish passage at Lock and Dam No. 1 is being completed. This will allow stripers, shad, herring, sturgeon and other anadromous fish to get across this dam on their way upriver.
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