Table rock lake bass stocking

[Alex Heitman]

I know this has been gone over before, by can someone explain why the conservation does not stock table rock with bass? I've have read time after time about how lakes in Texas are stocked every year or every other year and they are great fisheries. I just don't u sweat and why a supplemental LM population is not stocked on TR. 

[Champ188]

Babler knows the biologists in the area. Maybe he can chime in.

[Bill Babler]

There are only 2 species that will ever be stocked in Table Rock at this point.  Paddle Fish and Walleye.  The walleye are in conjunction with Arkansas and they carry the heavy load.  Even with abundant bait that would more than handle additional fish, this is what we are going to get.  We are affected here by the spawn and the Corps of Engineers.  High water is not really the answer, stability is and we very seldom see that.

We have even been told that it would be easy to overharvest the bass if our conservations efforts of catch and release would someway change and bass fishermen would start killing fish.  It would influence the ecosystem.

 MDC knows that 90 plus percent of bass fisherman are catch and release and for those that do keep fish, which is pretty few the lake is able to handle that.

I believe with the way this season is starting we are going to see fishing pressure here that we have not even dreamed of.  The forcast for the next 14 days is way above average and we will see lots of folks out and about shedding their Winter Blues.

With gas prices expected to be very low again this Summer I'm sure Branson will experience another record.  It has set records the past two years for tourism and this could be the biggest by far.

Good Luck

[dtrs5kprs]

Increased pressure and low water will not help the fishery. Hopefully it comes up a bit at least.

[aarchdale@coresleep.com]

After diving in Bull and TR it becomes pretty apparent that there are more bass than all the other game fish combined.   Everytime you look behind you, there is a bass following you around.  

[vonreed]

10 minutes ago, aarchdale@coresleep.com said:

After diving in Bull and TR it becomes pretty apparent that there are more bass than all the other game fish combined.   Everytime you look behind you, there is a bass following you around.  

I'd have to agree with that, me and the boys done a lot of free diving just with goggles last year at Table rock and a couple local small streams.  I was blown away at the amount of bass and other fish which are in an area.  Then when you go through the spot with a boat fishing you hardly catch a dang thing. Especially compared to what I know is under the surface. 

[Quillback]

11 hours ago, aarchdale@coresleep.com said:

After diving in Bull and TR it becomes pretty apparent that there are more bass than all the other game fish combined.   Everytime you look behind you, there is a bass following you around.  

They must think you are a large swim bait. 

[Quillback]

I'd like to see them stock some spotted bass fingerlings that were bred from those 10 lb. plus spots they have in California.  I think those CA fish are Alabama strain and we have the smaller Kentucky strain. 

[Champ188]

12 hours ago, vonreed said:

I'd have to agree with that, me and the boys done a lot of free diving just with goggles last year at Table rock and a couple local small streams.  I was blown away at the amount of bass and other fish which are in an area.  Then when you go through the spot with a boat fishing you hardly catch a dang thing. Especially compared to what I know is under the surface. 

And there you have the reason we need to take care of the ones we have. To catch more, we need to have more. As Bill pointed out earlier, we have the forage base to support more fish. Since MDC won't stock any more, it's up to us to keep practicing and promoting catch and release.

[mojorig]

1 hour ago, Quillback said:

I'd like to see them stock some spotted bass fingerlings that were bred from those 10 lb. plus spots they have in California.  I think those CA fish are Alabama strain and we have the smaller Kentucky strain. 

Yes the large spotted bass being caught in California are Alabama Bass, once known as Alabama Spotted Bass. They are a cousin of the Spotted Bass found in the White River lakes. The Alabama Bass is now recognized as its own species.  This is similar to Largemouth Bass vs Florida Largemouth Bass.