What's Your Opinion?

[Bill Babler]

For one thing LM bass are and big Jaws are big time feeders on gizzard shad,along with our catfish population. Our white bass also prey on gizzards. Not unusual at all to pull a 7 inch shad out of a 3 pound white. I have seen our Big K's chasing and eating gizzard shad and have pulled 5 inch shad out of there mouth at the same time they had my Magnimum Spoon in it. I have caught more K's than I can remember on 7 to 9 inch swimbaits on Table Rock and have them tied on now. a 3 pound K can get a 7 inch swimbait all the way down anytime it wants. One of my biggest sets of LM came up the James River on 7 and 9 inch swimbaits. Believe you me, our bass eat gizzard shad with relish and on an everyday basis.

The absolute main forage on Lake of the Ozarks in central Missouri for LM bass is gizzard shad. I think it could be classified as a pretty good bass lake and they for sure munch gizz, as there main diet.

Every lake you mentioned is stocked and everyone of those in Texas is stocked with Florida Strain LM bass. Since 1990 in just the lakes you mentioned in Texas they have stocked 50 million Florida Strain and 50 plus million Northern LM. That is 100 MILLION PLUS BASS. That is a lot of striper food.

Stocking on Table Rock since 1990-----------ZERO.

Table Rock is not stocked and never will be according to the Missouri Conservation Dept. It is a self sustaining renewable resourse. I have absolutely no use for Stripers in the Rock. Yes we have some spill over and that ammount is tollorable. They are eating machines and would not only eat our shad but everything else that swims in the rock, including small children and some of the smaller jet ski's.

We don't want a Beaver Lake here.

[duckydoty]

Sounds like the population of stripers might just be growing on its own. Kind of exciting. I'm gonna do my best when I get back from Alaska to help slow that growth trend down a little bit. Seems like they have been spilling over Beaver and it wont be long till they start spilling over TR into Taney. I bet them stripers will grow real fast once the get there.

[Feathers and Fins]

Ok Bill, then what about

#31 Potomac River, Maryland/Virginia

#44 Falls Lake, North Carolina

#48 Pueblo Reservoir, Colorado

#63 Smith Mountain Lake, Virginia

#68 Lake Hopatcong, New Jersey

#96 Manasquan Reservoir, New Jersey

I didn’t bother to go through the entire list just grabbed a few I had knew had them, so here are a few off the same list NOT in the south NOT with FLMB in them. Hmm children for striper bait???? Why didn’t I think of that, could have saved me a bundle in raising mine. Dang it!!!!

[Jason Essary]

Im putting the popcorn in the microwave.

I would love the chance to catch stripers in TR. But I believe we have a wonderful thing going so why *&^&*& it up with a new species. Also, dont want my pet 7lb green backs fighting over the gizzards with a 40lb striper.

Popcorns done....

[abkeenan]

I am going to have to agree with Bill and Riverfish. I would think that strippers wouldn't be good for bass fishing. How would taking away some of the food source or even becoming the food source make bass fishing better? Most all of the lakes you have stated are southern lakes as has been pointed out by Riverfish and they have all year to grow unlike TR and northern lakes along with being the bigger florida strain. As far as the other lakes mentioned that have strippers that you claim have helped the fishery....how much of that success in size and numbers is just due to the fact that it is overall fish management in those lakes and not just from the introduction of strippers as the sole determining factor as to why the bass have an increase in #'s and size? Not trying to bust balls but there are many factors into making a fishery successful. Would love to randomly hook into one for the fun but if you are wanting to target them make the trip to Beaver or Bull and chase them there. Just my 2 cents.

[sholder02]

I disagree, I think strippers would really add a whole new element to fishing. A bit distracting, but I think they'd be great to have running around the lake.

[Bill Jr.]

I agree. LOZ has had them strippers in the lake for years and still produces. Seriously though, I fish BS and have never boated one. Not to say i havn't hooked up as I've been broken off with some heavy fish but who knows... I would rather keep them out and let the lakes explode over the next few years. Why mess up such a great thing.

[Feathers and Fins]

I am going to have to agree with Bill and Riverfish. I would think that strippers wouldn't be good for bass fishing. How would taking away some of the food source or even becoming the food source make bass fishing better? Most all of the lakes you have stated are southern lakes as has been pointed out by Riverfish and they have all year to grow unlike TR and northern lakes along with being the bigger florida strain. As far as the other lakes mentioned that have strippers that you claim have helped the fishery....how much of that success in size and numbers is just due to the fact that it is overall fish management in those lakes and not just from the introduction of strippers as the sole determining factor as to why the bass have an increase in #'s and size? Not trying to bust balls but there are many factors into making a fishery successful. Would love to randomly hook into one for the fun but if you are wanting to target them make the trip to Beaver or Bull and chase them there. Just my 2 cents.

Abkeenan, as I pointed out there is plenty of scientific research to go along with my opinion. The stripers are part of the lake management! They are eating the larger shad that are NOT the main food source and are a Biomass competing with the lesser size shad and other fish. That is not opinion but fact from multiple biologist and spanning many years of research. I have posted some of those reports before. So you see they ARE a fish lake management tool. There are many lakes not on the list that have stripers that are used for lake management to help the over-all lake's health.

It is very difficult to dismiss the facts that many lakes on the BASS top 100 have stripers in them as just a coincident. It is difficult to dismiss all the scientific papers showing they are part of very healthy lakes as coincident. Both Northern and Southern lakes, Eastern and Western Lakes, lakes with Florida strain and Other Strains. No the stripers are not the end all be all part of the equation the healthy lakes but are without doubt are part of lake management.

I have seen and been part of these conversations for many years. Most the anglers who are against them are ones who believe they would harm the fishery or draw more attention to the fishery. Its proven if managed correctly they are beneficial to a lake and as far and them drawing more people to the lake, that is not a bad thing as increased license sales go to the resource and increased spending by anglers in the community benefit the community. Arkansas did a survey on how much Striped bass provide to the state and off my head I believe it was 16 million dollars a year! That is a serious boost to the economy.

Much of the negative about the fish in lakes is spread by honestly Bass anglers who have heard rumors or just don’t want their little lake getting spotlight that creates more competition for them.

I fish Beaver you can read my reports frequently, I catch a lot of stripers but I also catch a lot of bass and BIG bass at that! Along with Walleye, Hybrids, Whites, Crappie etc. Beaver is a very healthy lake and very productive on most days. I don’t have any secret to my success other than I don’t fall into any mold of ( you have to fish like this ) I fish many techniques and will change it up fast if need be. I see the striped bass as A fun fish to catch but also as a great lake management tool. I like to keep an open mind and do my research on a subject before condemning it or supporting it. This is one tool that has the years of evidence to support the use of them as a lake management tool and a tool to boost local economy.

[Tfsh4bass]

All I know is I wish Table Rock would get stocked with 50 million Florida strain bass

Concerning stripers they have been in Table Rock in small numbers for years and I caught two one day on a topwater around Baxter 8 years ago and have seen some huge ones way up the White....Baxter boat dock used to have some pics up of ones people had caught and there were several. I fished Norfork the other day and those bass sure don't care about stripers being in there with them and Norfork probably has a larger striper population per acre than Beaver. I fished Ouachita a few years ago and it was a great bass lake full of stripers. I can see both sides of the argument but they can coexist in my opinion.

[Quillback]

Everything I've read from the fisheries biologists says that stripers will not negatively impact black bass populations. That being said, if the local guys don't want them in the lake then they should not be stocked.