Alwives have been here for a while

@@chasewells7922 Hello. These species are anadromous. Nevertheless, I am assuming they were stocked. The only other explanation I can think of is somehow these fish came from the ocean up the Catawba in SC. Do you know?

There used to be bait shops that sold them as live bait in the 90s and 00s. Striper guys used them for live bait and they got released into the lake. Now it's illegal to sell them in NC but too late. All the lakes in catawba chain have bluebacks and alewifes

Thank you for that reply. That answers a lot of questions. What I know is both Alewives, bluebacks and stripers are anadromous. Their natural tendency is to live in saltwater and come annually to freshwater to spawn and then leave and then repeat the cycle. Largemouth as well as stripers like to eat alewives. Maybe State of NC should consider creating fishpassage through the Catawba and Santee and/or Cooper Rivers for two way traffic.

@@landonmoore76 Both alewives and blueback are indigenous to North America, not invasive, are plant eaters, are anadromous and are excellent forage for largemouth.