The following schedule is from the 72nd Annual Conference of the Southeastern Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies which was held October 21-24, 2018 in Mobile, Alabama.
AUTHORS: David L. Armstrong, Jr., Tommy R. Purcell – Alabama Wildlife & Freshwater Fisheries Division; Ryan Peaslee, Virginia Department of Game & Inland Fisheries
ABSTRACT: The Mobile-Tensaw Delta (MTD) is an 8231-ha oligohaline, tidal estuary that supports a popular largemouth bass, Micropterus salmoides, fishery. This system is productive, with an abundant bass population and above-average recruitment to age-1. Subsequently, recruitment of the 2004 year-class was poor and angler concerns peaked. We anticipated improvements in the fishery by stocking advanced-size fingerlings. Intuitively, stocking larger, older fish reared on live food should provide a competitive advantage over native fish assuming, 1) Reduced recruitment of wild competitors, 2) Size stocked fish > wild fish at stocking. As this is an expensive venture, we tested this proposal in two tidal watersheds, Byrnes Lake and Threemile Creek, and a freshwater control, Monroe County Lake which was stocked with delta bass during 1999. During, 2010-2013, a total of 16,380 advanced-size, delta-strain largemouth bass were tagged and stocked. Mean total length (mm) of sub-sampled hatchery fish ranged from 135-256 mm and were approximately 10 mo old at stocking. Recapture rates of stocked bass were low (2.2%) and varied across cohorts, ranging from 1 to 31% with age-1 fish comprising 79% of stocked recruits. Wild fish CPUE was > stocked fish across RSD groups and survival of age-1 fish was higher than stocked fish in most years. Prior to our study, wild bass recruitment improved and stocking rates were below target numbers, contributing in part to low contributions of advanced-size delta bass > age-1. Supplemental stockings should not occur where natural reproduction exceeds a certain threshold.
