Stripers Can Live In Harmony With Bass

[Ham]

Fact: Lake Ouachita is far from being a banner bass fishery. I am a Hot Springs-area native. If not for the efforts of the Arkansas Black Bass Coalition, which actually amounted to a group of Hot Springs-area anglers formed expressly to address declining catches at Ouachita, the lake would not be as productive as it is now.

Fact: Stripers have but a fraction of the positive economic impact on the Hot Springs or Northwest Arkansas areas as black bass. The main beneficiaries of the striper fishery are a handful of guides.

Final fact: I couldn't give a hoot less anymore. The Arkansas Game & Fish Commission is gonna do what they're gonna do for whatever reason they please. I'm just glad to live near enough to Table Rock and Grand lakes that I have superior options when I get ready to go fishing.

This.

[Feathers and Fins]

You know James I have gotten to the point I typically ignore your little rants when it comes to stripers because in the past I have tried to provide you with Scientific Information for you to read for yourself. You don’t like Stripers we all get it and hey that’s your choice. Had you not brought up the word (FACT) I would have just ignored this post as just another bias unfounded rant by a person who for some reason does not like striped bass. Shame as a man who writes outdoor articles I would hope more than most that you would do the research before spouting off untruths to people and misleading people when the science completely contradicts your assertions.

But again you are telling people Facts that are not true and can be disproved by research done on the subject by many state DNR agencies Biologist.

Fact: Table Rock far outproduces Beaver in terms of black bass species because it has tons (literally) more shad. Stripers significantly reduce the forage base in a lake, therefore reducing its carrying capacity for the black bass species. Shad cannot be stocked in sufficient numbers in large fisheries to adequately make up for what the stripers eat.

This is absolutely refuted as being incorrect by numerous studies But just one study for ease of this post is By TWR on lake Norris with these findings.

Collectively, the targeted predator populations in Norris Reservoir consumed a total of 290 kg/ha of clupeids and 32 kg/ha of lepomids. Of the total demand for clupeids (shad), black crappie accounted for 31%, striped bass 21%, walleye 18%, smallmouth bass 15%, largemouth bass 12%, spotted bass 3%, and sauger 1%. Age 0 clupeids represented 92% of the total demand for clupeids and 83% of the total prey demand. Of the total demand for lepomids (SUNFISH), largemouth bass accounted for 39%, smallmouth bass 27%, walleye 15%, spotted bass 11%, striped bass 7%, and sauger 1%.

As you can see by the sampling, Largemouth and Spotted bass were representing only 15% predation on Clupeids ( Shad ) Yet their diet was much heavier on the Lepomids ( Sunfish ) of 50%.

The studied went on to note the following;

Yet even more interesting was the finding that although lepomids were eaten by striped bass and several other predators, black basses were eaten only by other black basses. By weight, black basses represented 9% of the diet of largemouth bass, 3% for smallmouth bass, and 14% for spotted bass. So 27% of the “Bass diet was other bass” and 66% were sunfish with 30% being shads.

This studied is backed up by many others showing the diet percentage of bass species, so shad stocking in actuality would have little to no impact on the Bass populations, but as the research shows sunfish stocking would. Now as someone who is on Beaver on average of 150 days a year I can tell you the shad populations of both Gizzard and Threadfin have been excellent the last 5 years, this year may be different as we did have a major die-off of the young smaller year class due to extreme cold NOT due to predation.

[Old plug]

i believe striper have a much more selective diet than bass.

i may be wrong about this but i thought the turn down in fishing had something to do with disease that came in on ducks or other water birds feet. Ducks and other water birds no doubt.

[1969Larson]

Fact: Table Rock far outproduces Beaver in terms of black bass species

When you say "outproduces" maybe you just mean it is "easier?" Did Beaver Lake "outproduce" for 1st Place Matt Arey in the FLW and "underproduce" for everyone else or did he just figure her out for those four days when others didn't?

Actual Facts: 2014 Black Bass Tournament Winning Weights

Tablerock Bassmasters April 3-6: 61 lbs

Beaver FLW April 10-13: 59 lbs

The difference is 2 lbs over an average of 20 keepers = 0.10 lb/fish -> This means that fish weighed in during tournaments 1 week apart under similar conditions by professionals were 1.6 oz per fish heavier on Tablerock. Is this the "outproducing" you blame on hundreds of thousands of predator fish up to 60 lbs with voracious appetites?

[Feathers and Fins]

i believe striper have a much more selective diet than bass.

i may be wrong about this but i thought the turn down in fishing had something to do with disease that came in on ducks or other water birds feet. Ducks and other water birds no doubt contribute a good deal to the moss in Table Rock no doubt as well.

This is true especially when it comes to Beaver lake http://libinfo.uark.edu/aas/issues/1981v35/v35a11.pdf that is older literature mind you but does show they predominately feed on Gizzard Shad

[Champ188]

F&F, myself and everyone I know always find black bass fishing tougher on striper-stocked lakes. Maybe we're all idiots. Don't have your wealth of scientific data or your vast experience at fishing various bodies of water from coast to coast.

But I am smart enough to drive to Table Rock or Grand. So enjoy your stripers. I won't be in your way at any of the ramps on Beaver.

[bfishn]

The wealth of scientific information is available to anyone on the web (that wants it). Some you have to pay for, but there's enough free peer-reviewed papers for any subject that blows your skirt up to keep you occupied a while. Let Google Scholar be your guide;

http://scholar.google.com/