Did Paddle Fish Ever Live In North Carolina?

[joesmoke74]

My question Is of course the title of this thread, were there ever PaddleFish swimming around in Western North Carolina waters? The PaddleFish Is a good meat fish and strong fighter when snagged (They
will not take any sort of bait or lure for that matter) also this Is the only
fish I have been snagging for, everything else Is caught on bait or lures
of course! Nonetheless If they indeed exsisted at one time In North Carolina, I wonder why don't the North Carolina Wildlife Commission restock them like many other states are doing. The way I see it humans
destroyed their habitat with dams and so on, not to mention ruthless
overfishing of once stable populations. So we should bring them back of course, I believe North Carolina anglers
would enjoy having a once expirated fish alive and well swimming our
Western, NC river systems. By the way many state these days have
strict bag limits, such as one fish per person. Also many anglers In states like Arkansas, Missouri and so release the big females and
keep only the smaller males.