The Bass Thing

[Walcrabass]

After the reply to send the message about our opinions to MDC I have come up with an idea. The person who writes in as "Straw Hat" has inspired me in the fact that he agreed with my position and outlook concerning the Kentucky Bass in the Post entitled "Missouri Bass". Here is my plan.

1. Buy small fry from the state of Texas who has already proven their Florida Strain Bass( or other large varieties) to be healthy, exhuberent, and prolific.

2. Bring them back to Missouri and grow them into fingerling/stocking size.

3. Introduce them into some of our major impoundments.

4. Put a feasable slot limit on these lakes. One which will not destroy tournament fishing. As I suggested before: Nothing under

16" and only one fish over 22". Implement these until things take off and then adjust accordingly.

5. Put the Kentucky Bass in a category of their own. Increase their creel limit. Lower their length limit. I really like the 11"

length myself.

Implementing these things would not require the building of new hatcheries. This would save all that expense we talked about. After all , when we restocked Deer in Missouri we didn't build " Deer Farms" ( New Hatcheries for Deer). Instead we simply got some from another state or two and turned them loose where they had habitat and food. Oh yeah, We put a slot limit on them.(meaning no hunting).

So there it is... low cost... no building of new hatcheries and waiting for money appropriation and construction time...no stepping on the toes of the Tournament Fishermen...Larger Bass for the state of Missouri( I am not looking for 20 pounders just generally increasing the average size appreciably)... and better consumption of the already available food suppply in our lakes.

[Quillback]

The only problem, according to the biologists, is that the Florida srain bass don't do well as far north as Missouri, just a little too cold for them.

[straw hat]

I agree with your concept but there are a couple of hitches with it. The biggest; If my memory serves me correctly, it is illegal for private citizens to introduce non-native species in to public lakes. I know that some states have entered into contracts with private fisheries (eg. Trout Unlimited)in order to stock lakes within that state. That is something that you would have to explore with the MDC.

Secondly; The Florida strain does not survive very well this far north. There is two other options though. You can buy Florida brood stock and release during the breeding season (very expensive and ineffective) or a better idea would be to by Florida/northern bass fry that have already been raised down south.

If you want I can take a look in more detail in the old research articles. Someone has surely done some work on this in the past. Let me know if you want me to look into it.

[Walcrabass]

I agree with your concept but there are a couple of hitches with it. The biggest; If my memory serves me correctly, it is illegal for private citizens to introduce non-native species in to public lakes. I know that some states have entered into contracts with private fisheries (eg. Trout Unlimited)in order to stock lakes within that state. That is something that you would have to explore with the MDC.

Secondly; The Florida strain does not survive very well this far north. There is two other options though. You can buy Florida brood stock and release during the breeding season (very expensive and ineffective) or a better idea would be to by Florida/northern bass fry that have already been raised down south.

If you want I can take a look in more detail in the old research articles. Someone has surely done some work on this in the past. Let me know if you want me to look into it.

[Walcrabass]

I would really appreciate you looking into this matter and I appreciate your involvement since you have professional experience in this area. I was not meaning for any of this to be conducted by private citizens,only by the Missouri Department of Conservation. I have also read about our climate being a little cold for the Florida strain Bass which is why I included other Large Varieties. Thank You very much, maybe we can start the ball rolling to make things a little better.

[straw hat]

I have attached a few web pages which address the stocking of Florida's in states near us.

http://www.arkansassportsmanmag.com/fishing/AR_0406_02/index4.html

http://www.fishingtennessee.com/Articles/Summerlin/Florida%20Bass.htm

http://sports.espn.go.com/outdoors/bassmaster/news/story?page=b_fea_bt_news19_0802

http://okiefish.com/OklahomasLARGEMOUTHBASS.htm

http://www.oklahomabassfishing.com/largemouth.html

If I find any particular research that has been done on this subject that I think you would be interested in then I will pass it along to you. Obviously you have been reading on this issue. If you are truely interested in dealing with this subject your first step would be to contact the fishery biologist for the MDC and talk to him. As far as my involvement... well if you have read my bio then you know my health is not good but I would certainly be glad to help with any advice or research that I can. You might consider sending me a pm with your phone number and maybe we could talk in more detail over the phone. Be prepared though, this could be a very long, aggrevating process with a lot of politics.

[straw hat]

Someone has apparently already beat you to the idea. You might want to read the attached website. I also included a reference to a research article done many years back on introducing Florida's into Missouri. I'll see if I can find an on line copy of it.

L. K. GRAHAM, The introduction of Florida largemouth bass in Missouri ponds, Missouri Dep. Conserv., D-J Final Rep., Proj. No. F-1-R-21, Study 1-14, Job. No. 2, 1972.

http://www.bassresource.com/fish_biology/fish_genetics.html

[straw hat]

I am trying to attach a copy of some research articles I have found. Key points and my notes are highlighted.

Whew!!! I need to take a break. I thought I was out of this business! HAHA

[straw hat]

Well it gave me an error message which indicates I can't attach a Microsoft word document. Sorry.

[straw hat]

I am going to try aqain.

Florida Research.doc