Hybrids in Bull Shoals?????

[WebFreeman]

If I remember right, there is a huge striper mounted in the gas station in Kirbyville that came from the upper end of the lake in the 80s. Aren't the trout in the upper end just wash overs from Taney or are they stocked?

I agree w/ Wayne about water levels. I think the corp needs to try hard to regulate the levels of the lakes to make sure good spawns happen, esp. w/ the drought conditions we've had the last few years.

[Phil Lilley]

AJ Pratt asked me to post this for you guys-

Since Bull Shoals Lake is shared by Missouri and Arkansas, its fish populations are managed by the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) and the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission (AGFC). Annually, these agencies stock the reservoir with walleye, catfish, and other fish species. It is common that MDC provides walleye fry to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to raise in their hatcheries, which they later stock back into Bull Shoals and Norfork lakes.

Walleye

Since 1990, MDC has annually stocked an average of over 238,000 walleye fingerlings into Bull Shoals. Back in March of 2007, MDC staff collected approximately 200 broodstock walleye (150 males and 50 females) from the Forsyth area of Bull Shoals (as most know this is an annual event). These fish were sent to MDC’s Chesapeake Hatchery where eggs were collected and fertilized. The broodstock have since been returned to the Bull Shoals along with 1,000,000 walleye fry. The remaining fry have been put into rearing ponds at the MDC and USFWS hatcheries where they will be raised to fingerling size (2-4”) and then stocked back into Bull Shoals and Norfork. Beginning in 2007, MDC has increased their Bull Shoals’ walleye stocking goal from 264,000 to 352,000 fingerlings per year.

Striped and Hybrid Striped Bass

In 2000 the AGFC unintentionally stocked 12,000 striped bass into Bull Shoals Lake. Since then no agency has stocked stripers or hybrid striped bass into the lake. The few fish that were stocked have grown well, with some exceeding 35 pounds and continuing to provide a very limited, but exciting fishery. At this time, there are no plans of future stockings of the striped or hybrid striped bass. However, consideration has been given to establishing a limited fishery with one of the two fish species.

White Bass

Beginning in 2003, anglers noticed a decline in Bull Shoal’s white bass fishery. In the fall of 2004, MDC resumed white bass sampling with gillnets to replicate what had been done in 1998, 1999, and 2000. This effort has indicated that white bass grow exceptionally fast in Bull Shoals, with the fish reaching up to 10 inches during its first year. Also, the species is relatively short lived and seldom lives past 4-5 years. When comparing the six years of data, there is a decline in the overall numbers of fish. The most notable decline is with the “young of the year” fish (5.5” – 10.4”) which were spawned the year of sampling (Figure 1). One reason for this decline is due to drought conditions the region experienced during that time period. Below average water levels are not conducive for good white bass spawns or survival of their young. If small numbers of fish are produced and then faced with a poorer than average growth environment, the adult population will eventually suffer. If water conditions do not improve, it is unlikely that the population will consistently return to the fishing we had in the “good ole days”.

[Tightline]

If you ask the MDC whats going on they will use the excuse low water,if you have flow you will have fish,but I'm not buying it.Back in the early 80s we had the same kind of conditions.Swan creek was no more than 40 ft wide at the at the mouth and White bass literally went up it with their backs out of the water.You could have scooped them up with dip nets.It did'nt effect the spawn back then!And there has been plenty of flow this year from Powersite to draw the fish up so where are they?Hopefully they will show in the next few weeks!

[Sam]

Lilley - That's the Conservation version of why fishing has declined. Thanks for posting it, and I don't doubt there's some truth to it. I don't think there is any ONE cause for the overall decline - other than to say the whole area is so much more affected by human activities than it used to be.

There's a local "rumor" here in town, and probably similar ones in many other communities. People who used to work at a now-defunct manufacturing company here say a bunch of barrels of toxic waste were buried near the bank of the Finley River about 25-30 years ago. Supposedly, it was acid, used hydraulic oil, liquids like that - and the company got around the environmental regulations by just burying the stuff in drums. You know those drums must have rusted out by now.

Of course, the Finley runs into James, the James into Tablerock Lake, etc. I'm not trying to start a big deal here - I don't know the details or exact location, I've only talked to people who worked with the guys who did the (at night) burying. I don't need the EPA knocking on my door, and I couldn't help 'em anyway.

My point is that there are probably dozens, if not hundreds, of deals like that in the Ozarks. I can remember 'way back when most garages, gas stations, and used car lots around here had dirt-and-motor-oil "pavement". And boy, if I had a dollar for every gallon of DDT my grandpa sprayed ..... Even rain draining off oily highways with greatly increased traffic goes into the lakes.

All that stuff gets into the water, and I don't think it has to be of lethal concentration to do damage. It doesn't have to kill fish to hurt fishing, because fish will probably just leave or not reproduce in an area that has poor water quality.

There's lots of areas, Brushy Creek across from Gage's being a prime example, where bass fishing has gone down about 95% in the last ten years. Overfishing and low water in the spring probably have something to do with that, but I wonder if pollutants getting into the water sometimes just make an area low-quality for the fish - so they leave that area and no longer reproduce there. Species with a higher tolerance to bad-tasting chemicals, like mud turtles and gar, thrive where the game fish used to be.

And on top of all that - we've got thousands more fishermen still moving into the area and the Zebra Mussel invasion to look forward to. Far from being on top of all this, MDC hasn't even figured it out yet, or doesn't want to. The long term prospects for quality fishing around here don't look very good to me.

[Dutch]

I for one think the MDC water level idea is a bunch of bunk. That is the story Pratt tried to get me to buy. He wasn't even sampling that part of the lake.

I fished down there for more than 30 years with all kinds of high and low water. It never seemed to make a difference in the spawn. Bull Shoals was always the best white bass fishery in the area for the first 4 months of the year. Now I won't even waste the gasoline to drive down there.

I wish someone would put about a million stripers in it since there are no white bass stocking programs.

[Phil Lilley]

Would it do any good to stock a fish like white bass? Would that like stocking shad? I'd think they'd either thrive or not. They did you years like you said. Does it have to do with the age of a lake. Like Taneycomo- it had it's prime for bows. Grand Lake is still in it's prime I guess cause their white population is still huge.

I don't know. Walleye, whites... hasn't been a good spring- yet. Still might turn on.

[Sam]

Lilley - I know the age of a lake affects the fishing, too.

I've fished two crappie tournaments in eastern Tennessee, at Watts Bar Lake. That's part of the TVA chain, and the lake was filled in 1941. Because that lake is older, it's a lot different from our lakes here.

There's no standing timber. None - it's all rotted out and gone. The lures and techniques we use here don't seem to work there at all. Whatever shad minnows they have for forage are tiny, about 3/4 inch long, and bigger lures aren't productive there.

They have some big crappie, but the crappie fishing is all under the docks. The docks there aren't floaters, they're on pilings, so I guess the water level doesn't change much. I understand fishing for bass and other species is 'way different there also.

As a lake matures it changes, and our lakes in the White River chain are going through some part of that process. Except for the stable water level, I guess they'll get to resemble the conditions at Watts Bar at some point in the future, but I don't know how that works. I sure wish I had got in on the glory days of Bull Shoals when it was about 7 or 8 years old.

[Wayne SW/MO]

Its not the water levels in the lakes, but the creeks that affect the spawn. The whites need a good scattering of the eggs to both aerate them and to diminish the chance of predator fish eating them. The Ozark streams haven't had normal flows in years and there lies the problem. Even the flow over Powersite isn't consistent, and its probably to cold for spawning when it does flow.

I would like to see Wipers put in, but you'll probably have to homestead at the Pothole, in the spring, if they do.

[wildminnow]

well I have heard some people say this decrease in fish is mainly because of people seining top water minnows from the creeks what do you guys think about that?

[PowersiteProwler]

Yes wildminnow, I gathered from Hornyhead Chub here several weeks ago that the Topwaters are valuable to the streams and lakes. Guess I'll be fishing with blackheads from Bob's from now on..... Plus he says that topwater seining is not permitted according to the MDC regulations, although haven't found 1 representative with MDC to validate that to date, but I am fishing with an MDC agent this weekend and plan on hitting him up about it. I'll let you know, who knows, maybe chubs is on to something with this topwater gig.