# Sticky  Striped Bass 411



## fallen513 (Jan 5, 2010)

..and more. 

I recently sent some questions I had to the fisheries biologist in charge of Kiser Lake's stocking program. His reply was ripe with information that answered my questions as well as gave me some insight into the elusive & hard pulling beast that is a striped bass. 

My main question was how do the striped bass live and/or thrive in a lake that is no more than 15' deep at it's deepest point, and gets up to 80 degrees F to the bottom in the summer? This goes against a lot of what I understood makes a striper tick. (colder water, deep water...) 


And here it is:



Thank you for your inquiry into the striped bass fishery at Kiser Lake. You have some astute observations toward the fishery and your email is rather timely. We are currently evaluating the stocking program at Kiser Lake and the points you bring up are very relevant and important. I would first like to review some of the stocking history at Kiser Lake and then I will address your specific inquiries/observations on the striped bass population.

We stocked hybrid striped bass at Kiser from 1992 through 2003. During this time we sampled the lake several times and found the hybrid population doing well. Year to year catch variability was high, but overall it appeared to be a successful fishery. Out of the four inland reservoirs stocked with hybrids during this period, Kiser had some of the higher catch rates and growth looked good. 

Despite the success with hybrids at Kiser, there are problems with hatchery production that needed to be addressed to continue the success and potential expansion of the program statewide. Ohio is blessed with many great populations of white bass, as Im sure you are aware, however we are not so blessed with striped bass. In order to produce traditional hybrid striped bass we need a supply of female striped bass and male white bass. This supply was provided by Seneca Lake and Lake Erie, respectively. Seneca Lake, however, was difficult to net and obtain the larger females to get enough eggs. We were then limited by low supply of striped bass eggs. Obtaining the bare minimum for striped bass eggs is not ideal because there is a crucial time in hybrid production when the fry are very susceptible to temperature drops. Of course in Ohio we frequently experience major temperature swings in the spring and these can cause major die offs of the newly hatched fish. With just enough eggs it is difficult to meet production goals when things out of our control kill our fish. 

To alleviate some of the headache and time trying to obtain striped bass females we decided to grow the reciprocals, i.e. female white bass and male striped bass. We have an ample supply of female white bass, and male striped bass mature at a much younger age (generally 2-3 years, compared to females (3-7 years). However, it was still difficult to net the stripers at Seneca. We would put in a lot of man hours to obtain a few fish. Due to the roaming nature of striped bass and the large size of Seneca it was difficult to net effectively. It was then decided to look for a different lake to grow the male striped bass for broodstock. 

Kiser Lake was chosen as this lake and stocking of striped bass began in 2005. Kiser was chosen because of the success of hybrid striped bass, the small size of the lake (just under 400 acres, compared to Seneca at >3500 acres) and the shallow depths. All of these things combined seem like a good candidate for a new striped bass broodstock lake. We hoped fish would survive to maturity at age 2 or 3 and the lake could easily be sampled in a day or two due to the shallow water and small reservoir size. The reality of the situation, however, was much different. 

We stocked the lake from 2005 to 2009.  During this time we sampled for young of year survival twice and tried to obtain brood fish three times. The first year of stocking provided a somewhat low, but acceptable number of young fish. As the fish grew we started to pick them up in our nets, but they were not sexually mature after two years. As the years passed we were continuing to pick up 2 year old fish, but only a few, and we were not seeing multiple year classes like we expected. This past spring we got the most 3 year old fish , which we assumed to be sexually mature , of any season, but it was still only a handful. After this season we decided to pull the plug on Kiser as a brood lake. 

With regards to the striped bass ecology/biology and what was happening in Kiser Lake I can only make an educated guess, but much of the literature on striped bass supports what we saw at Kiser. 

Striped bass are an interesting species with a lot of plasticity regarding their physiological needs. Basically they cover the gamut of where they survive and thrive from cold ocean bays to warm productive freshwater reservoirs. In this email I will discuss how they survive in warmer, freshwater lakes. Overall the species prefers colder, well oxygenated water. In warm freshwater reservoirs the preferred temperature may disappear. During this time they will search out the coldest water they can find with adequate dissolved oxygen content. When they cant find cold water (less than 77° F) they find reasonable temperatures (2-5 degrees warmer) with good dissolved oxygen (greater than 4 mg/L). The dissolved oxygen is crucial at this time. Im not familiar with the die off you mentioned at Lake Cumberland, but I would guess that striped bass population gets a squeeze during the summer of warmer water. If there is adequate dissolved oxygen they will survive, however, if the temperature is high and the oxygen low the striped bass will die. I am not aware of any spring at Kiser Lake to provide a temperature refuge. Kiser does, however, have a lot of weed growth which provides adequate oxygen during those hot summer months. We sampled the lake during this time for temperatures and found 80° F water temperatures, but dissolved oxygen was three times the needed limit for striped bass to survive. 

In addition, it has been shown that smaller fish (fish less than 25 inches) can tolerate warmer temperatures, up to 82° F. In Kiser Lake this is what we saw. The fish were doing ok up to age 3, but we werent finding any older fish. We speculate most were naturally dying from stress after age 3, or they were harvested before we got the protective length limit on the lake. Either way we didnt see any old fish.

In terms of survival for larger fish in warm reservoirs, the literature suggests this is possible in highly productive systems or where there are temperature refuges. In productive reservoirs the fish hang out in well oxygenated but slightly warm water, just below all the baitfish. Their metabolic rates increase, but if the reservoir is productive enough they can consume an enormous amount of food to stay healthy. Recently a gentleman caught a large adult, I think around 17 lbs, but this is the only one we have heard of in Kiser. This fish must have found enough to eat during the warmer months to stay alive during the summer and then thrive during the colder months. Kiser is a very productive lake in terms of bait fish, but maybe not enough for a large number of adult striped bass. Or its productive to support many large predators, but there are not enough cooler areas for more than a handful of large stripers. Regardless of what happened out there during the summer, Kiser has not turned out to be an ideal lake for adult striped bass. 

I know this is a lot of information to digest, but it is hard to explain that fishery in just a few paragraphs. As I said before we are currently evaluating Kisers stocking program. I would be interested in any thoughts you have on the lake and the fishery. You mentioned you are an avid fisherman, especially for morone spp. How has your success been at Kiser? Did you fish it before when it was hybrids and after when it was striped bass? If so did you notice a big difference in the fishery. Feel free to give me a call to discuss this and any unanswered questions or write me back. I hope this email was helpful and informative toward an understanding of our stocking strategies at Kiser and striped bass ecology in general.







A special thanks to Ethan Simmons for taking the time to reply with such a well thought out & informative response.


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## Salmonid (Apr 14, 2004)

thanks, thats some good info, I had a feeling the Stripers were on the short list there since no one had seen any bigger fish and I knew it was supposed to be a broodstock lake. Perhaps they need to sample there Stripers from below Meldahl.....or better yet, work a deal with KY. 

Thanks again for posting this. 
Salmonid


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## Buzzin (Jun 22, 2010)

Awesome info Seth thanks for sharing that with us. Its amazing that the weed growth offers that much dissolved oxygen and even more so that as the water warms the fish get less oxygen and get even more of an appetite and will die if they can't compensate their hunger or find cold water with some O2. So even if the lake is huge there has to be good temps, good O2 levels, and an amazing amount of bait fish to survive. My question is where did the mature fish go? Even if they died from starvation, stress, or O2 levels wouldn't they have floated up being visible? Or do they sink like a rock and turn into mush? I'm also wondering if the striper in kiser are schooling up or if they are all nomads with it being so shallow.


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## fallen513 (Jan 5, 2010)

They don't die en masse per say, so one popping up dead here & there isn't going to be a huge spectacle. 

They do school up, with the larger fish breaking off of the pods during egg laying season. 


Considering that the 18 lb fish is the largest the biologists have heard of, I'd say there is a dwindling population of large striped bass that still have not died...but will soon. With each year (and each summer) you're going to lose a lot of fish, as seen in Cumberland and other lakes where the temp/oxygen criteria are not met.


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## drjkl1 (Jul 2, 2009)

Wow great info. I am impressed that you got such a thorough reply. Clearly you approached them in a positive manner. So bottom line Ohio lakes are better for hybrids than pure stripers, I think we all knew that, but brood stock stripers is an issue for home-grown hybrids. I wonder what new solutions there might be & I wonder if they might begin to restock Kiser w/hybrids?


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## fallen513 (Jan 5, 2010)

drjkl1 said:


> Wow great info. I am impressed that you got such a thorough reply. Clearly you approached them in a positive manner. So bottom line Ohio lakes are better for hybrids than pure stripers, I think we all knew that, but brood stock stripers is an issue for home-grown hybrids. I wonder what new solutions there might be & I wonder if they might begin to restock Kiser w/hybrids?



The new solution is receiving the necessary "ingredients" if you will, from Virginia's DNR. 

Striped bass are done for now in Ohio. They will obtain the white bass from the Maumee & the male components from VA. 



The DNR at the district level does not have control over the hatcheries or the budgets, and so there you have it. I know that all of the biologists at the district level want very much for the hybrid stockings to start up again as it was extremely successful.


Kiser has some pigs in it right now for the taking, just gotta get out there!


Quite a few state record breakers:










...and even more fish of this caliber:











If you don't catch them in the next 2 or 3 years, you'll have to wait maybe a decade for the fishery to become what it is now...and that's assuming they start up the program there again.


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## fallen513 (Jan 5, 2010)

drjkl1 said:


> Wow great info. I am impressed that you got such a thorough reply. Clearly you approached them in a positive manner. So bottom line Ohio lakes are better for hybrids than pure stripers, I think we all knew that, but brood stock stripers is an issue for home-grown hybrids. I wonder what new solutions there might be & I wonder if they might begin to restock Kiser w/hybrids?







> We are currently stocking 5 reservoirs with hybrids: OShaughnessy, Griggs, Charles Mill, East Fork, and Dillon. These lakes get first dibs on the fish. If our hatcheries believe they can provide us with enough hybrids this following spring, Kiser will be stocked with hybrids.




It's all about the benjamins, baby.


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## MARKW6 (May 12, 2007)

Thanks Seth for providing great information. It puts seasonal hybrid/striper fishing in perspective. It kinda helps solve the question "where are they in the summer"? I have asked myself that question for years now to no avail. And it makes me wonder if that's why there so few hybrids in the GMR this fall. No current= no dissolved oxygen. And that's why they were caught at the dams Again Thanks For The Great Post. MARKW6


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## fallen513 (Jan 5, 2010)

If you care about hybrids, striped bass & the lakes that you currently fish for them in (including rivers) , find out who is in charge of that given stretch of water and make contact with them. They want to hear your voice. They want pictures, they want to know that their work is succeeding & if not, why.

I must admit I was surprised with the thorough responses I've gotten to my questions. I've now asked to be directed to various other biologists and supervisors in charge of the rivers and lakes that I fish personally, not just Kiser. 

Turns out, the people I've been directed to are even more knowledgeable when it comes to the morones. They are also eager to answer any questions I have...and I have a bunch. 



The constant I've noticed between these individuals is that *they do not receive enough feedback from anglers. *

Change that & you may see your favorite fishery turn into a world class fishery.


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## Andrew S. (May 22, 2010)

Nice work, Seth.

Those fish in those photos are grotesque. I mean this in the very best way, of course, but still, they are grotesque!


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## fallen513 (Jan 5, 2010)

Andrew Stoehr said:


> Nice work, Seth.
> 
> Those fish in those photos are grotesque. I mean this in the very best way, of course, but still, they are grotesque!


Pretty amazing huh? A genetic anomaly, this random splicing of genes that amounts to a fish that can obtain incredible body mass at a fraction of the length of its dominant parent.


Fish like those below, if caught using conventional methods...are dead. Those are some mature, slow swimmin' nonchalantly eating beasts right there. Big dose of lactic acid and they're toast. 


Have you tangled with hybrids yet Andrew? I was in Columbus on Friday, I thought about you...make sure you have some free time in the Spring.


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## Andrew S. (May 22, 2010)

Not yet.

And I will.


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## drjkl1 (Jul 2, 2009)

I did not see Buckeye on the list of 5 reservoirs, and yes I know Buckeye is a lake not a reservoir, but wondering if thats off the list now? 

I haven't fished O'Shay yet. If I understand correctly thats the most recent on the list & was hearing reports of many smaller fish last year so will have to add that to my "route" for next year.

Confused by those photos of the nice pigs. Thats not Kiser is it? I mean I see a motor and thats a NMP lake.


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## fallen513 (Jan 5, 2010)

Those are DNR guys, so the no motor deal doesn't really apply.


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## fallen513 (Jan 5, 2010)

drjkl1 said:


> I did not see Buckeye on the list of 5 reservoirs, and yes I know Buckeye is a lake not a reservoir, but wondering if thats off the list now?



Off the list. Probably because they received zero feedback on how well it was producing. Catch rates are instrumental in determining the success of the stocking, if nobody reports good catch rates & the creel surveys don't reflect success, apparently they move on fairly quickly.


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## drjkl1 (Jul 2, 2009)

I should have been smart enough to figure that out on the DNR guys, but thanks for not making me look like an idiot. Thought they had an offical looking patch on their hats. Buckeye off the list, bummer. I have a house there at my disposal & I've been spoiled. Well hopefully a few more springs of good fishing beore it goes dry. Having the choice between rowing around an NMP lake or stepping into my boat 10 steps from the house w/a fresh cup of coffee........hmmm, lemme see.


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## fallen513 (Jan 5, 2010)

drjkl1 said:


> I should have been smart enough to figure that out on the DNR guys, but thanks for not making me look like an idiot. Thought they had an offical looking patch on their hats. Buckeye off the list, bummer. I have a house there at my disposal & I've been spoiled. Well hopefully a few more springs of good fishing beore it goes dry. Having the choice between rowing around an NMP lake or stepping into my boat 10 steps from the house w/a fresh cup of coffee........hmmm, lemme see.




My honest advice: Contact the biologist in charge of that lake! Find out what their plan is, provide them some feedback on your success & desire to have it remain a hybrid fishery! It could very well make the difference on whether it gets stocked again. (As posted above, there are 5 lakes in front of it as of now getting stocked, if there are fry remaining, I'd imagine they'll stock Kiser & Buckeye also) 

I suspect, since the lake is very similar to Kiser in that it is very shallow (12' at deepest, maybe 15' in that bowl by the cove?) it probably will not support an old age class of hybrids. 

Have you caught or seen any hybrids caught over 4 lbs or so?


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## drjkl1 (Jul 2, 2009)

Oh yeah, we've gotten some big fish out of there. Plenty of 4# plus fish. My muskie buddy posted some pics of his 24-28" fish, and I have had fish up to 28" as well. I had one fish out of buckeye top 8# for sure. It hit a topwater just before dark and towed me around for quite some time before I landed it. It was toast so I was forced to take it. I tried for a good 15 minutes to get her going, but to no avail. It was a big hump back thing. So clearly we need to hook up for some fishing next year! You can show me why I'm so inept at East Fork, and I'll take you for some nice crankbait/top water out on buckeye.


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## drjkl1 (Jul 2, 2009)

Seth: Here's a couple of pics ("Hylights") showing how different these fish can be, as I am sure y'all well know. My wife holding a 10#er from barren river that IMHO is not that horribly disproportioned. I am holding a real humpbacked 8+#er from buckeye. But like I said nothing but dinks out of EF & my limited efforts at river fishing, both in the boat and working the wall down at Greenup I was pathetic. So on some bodies of water I can hold my own & other places I'm a total tool.


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## fallen513 (Jan 5, 2010)

drjkl1 said:


> Oh yeah, we've gotten some big fish out of there. Plenty of 4# plus fish. My muskie buddy posted some pics of his 24-28" fish, and I have had fish up to 28" as well. I had one fish out of buckeye top 8# for sure. It hit a topwater just before dark and towed me around for quite some time before I landed it. It was toast so I was forced to take it. I tried for a good 15 minutes to get her going, but to no avail. It was a big hump back thing. So clearly we need to hook up for some fishing next year! You can show me why I'm so inept at East Fork, and I'll take you for some nice crankbait/top water out on buckeye.




Well that's good news! It is possible they are just going to take a break from stocking it. If they have continued stocking it for the last few years, it has at least another decade before the supply of wipers is diminished. They can then focus on getting other impoundments up to speed and maybe revisit Buckeye when the fry becomes available. 



As far as East Fork goes, I have to admit, pulling large fish from it has become quite the chore. I've fished it pretty hard for 5 or 6 years now & the biggest fish I've personally pulled has been around 8 lbs, with the second largest being maybe 2 lbs! Hundreds of dinks each season, we just can't seem to get on the big ones.

They're in there for sure, and 20-30 fish days are pretty commonplace but as far as trophy hunting, I prefer elsewhere. We are going to adjust our tactics for the upcoming 2011 season & hopefully it will change my opinion of the lake. 


I'd love to hit Buckeye with someone who has experienced success there, especially topwater. That has flyfishin' written all over it.  

As soon as the river hybrids start biting again, I'll be in touch with you & you can come down & give it a go.


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## fallen513 (Jan 5, 2010)

And those fish you posted are very nice. It takes hooking into one of those & it changes the way you think about fishing forever.  





Concerning the odd shapes & sizes of HSB, I think it lends itself to the hybridization factor. You have a short, stubby fish in the white bass & a long, torpedo like beast in the true striper. Those genes are going to fight with one another & vary greatly with every fish, as you can see. 


I also have another theory that could produce 2 more body types. I was unaware that hybrid striped bass can & do reproduce...though not with one another. They will run with the white bass during spawning season, opening the possibility of a female hybrid's eggs being fertilized by white bass, and a female white bass having her eggs fertilized by an HSB.
It could be rare, it could be common, nobody really knows anything except that it is possible, and it does happen. 

There is also the rare possibility of a striped bass / hybrid back crossing, which could produce yet another body type. I see a lot of "true" striped bass with broken lines & have often wondered..."Is it possible there was a white bass in the wood pile?!" I've also researched New Jersey's previous state record hybrid, which happened to be a 13 lb. *wild* fish, and a cross between a white _perch_ & a true striper. Pretty cool.

I think that the small fish found in East Fork could be the result of using white bass eggs as opposed to cow striped bass eggs. Sunshine bass vs. Palmetto bass...or...original vs. reciprocal.
That is a complete guess on my part, but I have only one other idea on why such a huge population of small fish. They have plenty to eat, it is possible that just the older age class fish have all been harvested or died off during low oxygen periods. (2 drought years in a row now, to say the least) 

If that's the case, within the next 4 & 5 years, we should be catching 20-30 seven & eight year old fish, weighing from 5-10 lbs. I certainly hope that's the case.


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## fallen513 (Jan 5, 2010)

True striped bass, but check out those lines!


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## Andrew S. (May 22, 2010)

Check out these lines. This is in California (photo is of the late Frank Bertaina). Broken stripes in California stripers are very common, and might have to do with low genetic diversity due to the fact that the population was founded by a relatively small number of fish.


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## fallen513 (Jan 5, 2010)

Nice, Andrew. It would be interesting to know the actual genetic anomaly or process that is perpetuating that phenomenon. What actually causes it? Is it genetically related to a certain strain of fish? (unlikely, since I'm seeing it in the Midwest) Is it due to conditions at some point in the life cycle?


I ain't got the answers?


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## Andrew S. (May 22, 2010)

fallen513 said:


> Nice, Andrew. It would be interesting to know the actual genetic anomaly or process that is perpetuating that phenomenon. What actually causes it? Is it genetically related to a certain strain of fish? (unlikely, since I'm seeing it in the Midwest) Is it due to conditions at some point in the life cycle?
> 
> 
> I ain't got the answers?


I don't know whether it's environmental or genetic or, more likely, a combination of both. It's possible that broken stripes in white bass and some populations of stripers are due to similar factors, but it's also entirely possible that they might be due to different factors. It's even possible that what causes broken stripes in the California populations is different from what causes the same phenotype (i.e. appearance) in other striper populations. Patterns of development that result in things like stripes are often the result of multiple genes interacting with each other (and sometimes also with environmental factors), so you can get a similar effect by "mucking up" the system in multiple ways.

It's sort of like trying to figure out why a car won't start. Just because your buddy's car wouldn't start because his battery was dead doesn't mean that's why your car won't start.

Short of any studies looking at stripes in the basses directly (I know of none), the place to generate some ideas would be to look at what is known from the little aquarium fish called a zebrafish (_Danio rerio)_ which has longitudinal stripes as well. It's become a major model system in developmental genetics. I don't know the details, but I do know that zebrafish folks have identified a number of mutations that affect stripe patterns.

Should you choose to head down that path, though, I must warn you: you're going to need to tie some very small flies!


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## drjkl1 (Jul 2, 2009)

Wow that CA fish is unique. I fished the waters out of San Fran working a charter boat (now sunk somewhere in the bay) when I should have been in high school. Never saw anything like that bouncing an 8 oz ball under the south tower of the golden gate bridge. Some of the stripers we pulled out of Norris had broken lines as well, but the body's were distinctly stripers. 

You know I pulled a couple dinks out of Barren River this summer that were yellow. Now that Seth has me thinkig about all the possibilities for some cross breeding, I wonder if those were hybrids crossed to yellow bass. We all have quirk or two in our breeding pool! Son #2 is tall for his age and my wife (5'7") and I (5'10") each have a rogue tall gene so we think after 2 average height kids, now adults, this one will be the family record.

I got an email of my own from ODNR that had buckeye as 1st alternate after stocking the others. Their rationale was the acreage (nearly 3 x that of O'Shay) and that while buckeye's success was promising it was more difficult due to its acreage.

I think this year I'm going to record the peeling of line off a reel from a striper or big hybrid and make that the ring tone on my cell phone! Guess I'll hope to record the sound of a musky peeling braid (distinctly different) and use that for the caller ID from my musky buddies.


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## fallen513 (Jan 5, 2010)

drjkl1 said:


> You know I pulled a couple dinks out of Barren River this summer that were yellow. Now that Seth has me thinkig about all the possibilities for some cross breeding, I wonder if those were hybrids crossed to yellow bass.


I have found white bass & true striped bass to have a bluish tint while hybrids will have a greenish hue. 

Heres a yellow bass x white bass.


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## fallen513 (Jan 5, 2010)

I spent a lot of time on the phone today with the DNR biologist in charge of my home lake & the division where it is located. 

A lot of good info to share, and I have a lot more inbound via email. I will sort through it & post it here when I have it all organized.


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## fallen513 (Jan 5, 2010)

One thing I came away with today, which I think is important and she stressed the importance of, was handling the fish in such a way that they do not die. 

Striped bass & hybrids both are prone to over-exertion during a drawn out battle on the water. If you are targeting these species, make sure your equipment is such that you can end the fight at a reasonable time, before the fish has been fully worn down. 

With striped bass, typically the maneuver that kills them is pulling them from the depths on a hot summer day. The stress from the temperature difference is alone enough to kill the fish, and often does. A DNR official from the state of Kentucky told me that a lot of large fish died this summer not only from the low dissolved oxygen in the lake, but from the anglers who were able to pinpoint the concentrated larger fish in the deeper water...and catch them...and promptly pull them to the surface, only to die a short time after being released. 


The hybrid striped bass, while more tolerant of temperature extremes, is even more prone to stress, but more related to the chemical reaction that occurs in their body after being hooked & trying to spool you 2 or 3 times. 

The biologist I spoke with could not "stress" enough the importance of keeping the fight short, and if the fish is foul hooked in any manner, *cut the line if you want to save the fish.* 

Apparently hybrids that suffer stress AND blood loss of any kind have a virtually nonexistent chance of surviving. That was the first I'd heard of that phenomenon & wanted to know how she could be so certain it was a death sentence for the fish. 

She went on to explain her controlled studies on foul hooked HSB and I listened.  In a lab environment, she recreated various scenarios including battling fish that were foul hooked. (in the throat area for this study) 

100% of those died when released. 



Basically her message was if the fish was bleeding from being foul hooked, it was a dead fish for certain. If you hook into a hybrid, only to find you've hooked it somewhere in the body, clip your hook at the barb or clip your line altogether if you think it is important to save the fish.


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## fallen513 (Jan 5, 2010)

Palmetto bass vs. Sunshine bass



> The first hybrid produced was the palmetto bass. This cross was prevalent during the early production of hybrid striped bass. However, a transition to producing mainly sunshine bass has occurred within the industry for several reasons. First, the decline in the natural stocks of striped bass re- sulted in very restrictive fishing regulations, and consequently it became more difficult to capture large females. Secondly, when compared with striped bass, white bass females have reduced mortality after manual stripping. Lastly, white bass mature at an earlier age and are easier to handle and maintain as broodstock due to their smaller size.






> Aquaculture performance of phase II and phase III sunshine bass (a female white bass Morone chrysops &#1113093; male striped bass M. saxatilis), palmetto bass (a female striped bass &#1113093; male white bass), and white bass were evaluated in separate 12-week yield trials conducted in indoor recirculating-water systems. Phase II sunshine bass, palmetto bass, and white bass had mean initial weights of 40.0 g, 39.7 g, and 41.0 g, respectively. A diet containing 40.2% crude protein (CP) was fed to fish twice daily at a rate of 3% body weight/d. At the end of the trial, sunshine bass and white bass had mean weights of 124.2 g and 126.0 g, respectively and were significantly larger than palmetto bass (93.5 g mean weight). Phase II sunshine bass and white bass outperformed palmetto bass by having higher relative growth (h), mean daily growth, and relative weight, as well as better feed conversion ratios (weight of food fed/weight gained). Survival was 100% for all three taxonomic groups. In the phase III study, mean initial weights for sunshine bass (177.5 g) and palmetto bass (185.9 g) were similar but significantly greater than the mean initial weight of white bass (153.8 g). In this trial, fish were fed a floating trout chow (44.1% CP) to satiation twice per day. At the termination of the study, sunshine bass (611.1 g) and palmetto bass (517.8 g) had significantly greater mean weights than white bass (254.4 g). Significant differences among all three taxonomic groups were found for h and for mean daily growth rate. Both crosses of hybrid striped bass had lower feed conversion ratios when compared with white bass. Relative weight values (ratio of a fishs weight to the weight of a standard fish of the same length) for sunshine bass were significantly greater than values for palmetto bass and white bass. Survival rates ranged from 98% to 100% for the three taxonomic groups. Differences were not detected between sunshine bass and palmetto bass for eviscerated percentage, headed and eviscerated per- centage, or dressout percentage. Sunshine bass outperformed palmetto bass at phase II and phase III sizes under the conditions of this study.


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## Jjju187 (Jan 28, 2011)

Legit info


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## KeithOH (Mar 26, 2010)

Here is big boy from last summer at Kiser. I hope to get a hold of one of the wipers this summer.


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## fallen513 (Jan 5, 2010)

Keith, I've said it before..but man, that is an awesome fish! I am a moronid ADDICT and seeing something like that caught in Ohio gets me goin'. 

Tell me more about your experiences on Kiser & the pods of fish you've seen.


I spoke with the biologist in charge of Kiser, same one that measured your fish I believe. That fish stands alone as the "big striper" that's come from Kiser. 

I know there's more in there & that's just proof we need to communicate with the DNR more. You have been in schools of fish of that same age class, correct?


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## KeithOH (Mar 26, 2010)

Last summer I ended up with 7 stripers when I started to target them in the last two weeks of my fishing season. 1-33", 4-25", 2-12". So you can get an idea of growth rate from year to year. Everyone has been caught when I have seen schools of big fish on the fish finder (6+). With the fish finder full of smaller fish. This is the same area where I catch all of my crappie and some of my bass. Once when I went though a school I picked up a double as I went though them. The 12" just fight like a bass but he 25+33" will pull 50+ feet of line before it slows down. I am not sure what other info I can give you but I think there are a lot more in Kiser. I don't think you hear of many being caught at Kiser because of how you have to do it. Not many anglers want to paddle a Kayak for hours at a time to catch a fish. It is a real workout even if you are fit. By the time I get home I am exhausted. And a fish finder is necessary to find them to only hope they chaise my lure down and bite. And I am sure most people don't have the line and pole set up to bring in a fish of that size with patients.





fallen513 said:


> Keith, I've said it before..but man, that is an awesome fish! I am a moronid ADDICT and seeing something like that caught in Ohio gets me goin'.
> 
> Tell me more about your experiences on Kiser & the pods of fish you've seen.
> 
> ...


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## fallen513 (Jan 5, 2010)

The DNR told me that they had difficulty capturing large striped bass from Kiser. That's what I found so interesting... That...and the fact that stripers are such fast moving, deep blue water fish and not only can they survive in fresh water, they can do it in a 15' deep puddle in the middle of Ohio! LOL!


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## KeithOH (Mar 26, 2010)

fallen513: Did you buy a Kayak yet so you can go to Kiser with me?


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## fallen513 (Jan 5, 2010)

Another expensive hobby. Great!


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## KeithOH (Mar 26, 2010)

What other expensive hobbies do you have? I have a few to many myself!!!


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## SurfPlug (Feb 21, 2011)

Nice post and my first time seeing hybrid stripers. I hope to be fishing there this spring for a few hybrid. For myself I fish the stripers here in the northeast.


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## fallen513 (Jan 5, 2010)

Welcome, SurfPlug.


Care to share some stories about striper fishing from your area? 

I'm guessing you....casted plugs in the surf? Can you tell me what area, time of year is best...average size of fish, biggest fish caught, baits... etc. ? 




Hybrids are awesome and fight harder lb. for lb. (so the saying goes) 

They typically only live 6-8 years and reach 8-10 lbs in Ohio if you're lucky enough to get into them. Of course there are some bigger ones in Ohio's waters but they're much harder to get to. State record = 17 lbs & change, with maybe one or two caught bigger than that each year but not reported. 

Believe it or not, they are very close to the top as far as fish produced for food annually from the United States. 3rd I believe...which is pretty incredible. That's a lot of food!




Keith, _all _my hobbies are expensive! Music production, building guns, photography... sigh.


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## saugeyesam (Apr 20, 2004)

Here are a few we have caught on the muskingum.


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## downtime8763 (Jun 22, 2008)

Enjoyed the post on Kiser,as I live 15 min away and I'm now retired so you Will see me on Kiser in a 17ft alum canoe. I'll be heading in a few weeks to Norris Lake in Tenn. striper fishing as I've done for over 18yrs. and it is a blast!


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## KeithOH (Mar 26, 2010)

downtime8763 said:


> Enjoyed the post on Kiser,as I live 15 min away and I'm now retired so you Will see me on Kiser in a 17ft alum canoe. I'll be heading in a few weeks to Norris Lake in Tenn. striper fishing as I've done for over 18yrs. and it is a blast!


Let me know when you want to go to Kiser and we can meet up. I always put in at the beach.


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## boonecreek (Dec 28, 2006)

Andrew S. said:


> Check out these lines. This is in California (photo is of the late Frank Bertaina). Broken stripes in California stripers are very common, and might have to do with low genetic diversity due to the fact that the population was founded by a relatively small number of fish.


that tought looking fish. need some of thoses in eastfork, that lakes allways gets screwed. i mean we lost the hybrids and got musky. COME ON why not walleye or ring perch.!%


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## fallen513 (Jan 5, 2010)

What's up boone? You still kickin'?! 


Hope so.


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## Daveo76 (Apr 14, 2004)

fallen513 said:


> What's up boone? You still kickin'?!
> 
> 
> Hope so.


Yeah BC , nice to see you post


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## fallen513 (Jan 5, 2010)

That was an old post Dave, my friend... I know BC was fighting some battles... hope he checks in soon....


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## Daveo76 (Apr 14, 2004)

Thanks, I'd been wondering what was up with him,,,


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