ELKTON -- Fish are returning to the Shenandoah River. After more than a decade, the Smallmouth bass is starting to repopulate. In 2005 the bass lost 80 percent of its population in the South Fork in the Shenandoah River.
Fishermen are happy to finally see life returning. The Virginia Department of Game and Inland fisheries said the number of adult Smallmouth bass is far above the 17-year average in the South Fork of the Shenandoah.
"We haven't seen any sores or nothing on the fish...last week I caught, a good 20," said fisherman Jacob Ball.
The population of the Smallmouth bass has gone up, but the Chesapeake Bay Foundation is not sure if cleaner water is a reason for it. Scientists with the foundation said the bass is still threaten. It still doesn't tolerate the current pollution.