That's interesting information slopez. I noticed that in the past all the TPWD has stocked was Palmetto bass. Last year they stocked Palmetto bass and then later in the year they stocked Sunshine bass. Maybe we are confusing the stripers with Sunshine bass or maybe they got mixed in with that stocking. The striper I caught was also much smaller than the Palmettos I was catching so it makes sense that they were part of the later stocking.

Palmetto is a female striped bass and male white bass. Sunshine bass are a mix of a female white bass and a male striped bass.

Sounds like a pretty awesome trip to me. Hope you got some pics. Fishing wise, this has definitely been an off year for me. Either I don't have the time, or I have the time but conditions are off. Hoping to get a new kayak here in the next few months and hopefully get back out on the water.

Oh yeah, and pound for pound it's tough to beat the fight from a smallmouth bass. I used to catch them in the rivers back in Michigan and they are a blast.

No doubt. They come a very close second to catching hybrids. Even the 2.5 lbers I caught were pulling drag and made multiple runs.

I have never heard of any lake that stocked strippers, sounds like my kind of lake. Stripers on the other hand...

Somerville gets the hybrids only, due to shallow water warms up too much. The pure stripers need to deeper cooler water to stay healthy. Lake Buchanan Used to get stripers but now also get hybrids also. I think the large number of guides give them the pull for a large chunk of the stocking every year. Lake Canyon is stripers only or it was.. The only lake in texas that does not need to be stocked is Texhoma they naturaly breed there I think because has enough up streem flow.The srtiper brood stock is collected at Texhoma by TPW on the spillway side. Not sure where the white brood stock is collected. Thats all I know. And only found out about the sunshine, palmetto thing last year. and not sure what they gain on each one. If my data is off I will be humble if corrected.

I went to Irwin bridge yesterday morning. I was chilly and quite. Crappies were biting good until 9. Spend another one hour to search crappies around in the bridge but found nothing. Then went to Newmen's bottom and arrived at the steel bridge at about 11:00. There were still white bass in the creek. Caught about 30 whites by 2:30. A big surprise is that there hybrid bass in the creek. I hooked two of them, but counld not land them. Fought 5 mins to get the second hybrid bass on the muddy bank. It's more than 20" long. I tried to hold it with one hand but it's slippery and it went back to the water.

Wow, great report Peter. The older group of hybrids are in the 23 inch or better range so I bet he was around 7 or 8 lbs. I know they were a great fight. It's hard to land them with all the trees in the water to get snagged on too. So just wearing one down and getting it up on the bank was a great accomplishment. Well done.

Stripers (brood stock) are collected by TPWD below lake Texoma and Livingston as both lakes have sustaining populations of the big fish. The criteria for which lakes get stocked is based on several factors, first being survivability and utilization (economy).

TPWD doesn't waste resources especially when it comes to stocking. If they have a very good spawn at the hatchery than they have options in expanding the stocking to less productive fisheries, an example would be redfish in Lake Bryan or maybe hybrids in smaller community lakes.

As far as stray stripers in lake Somerville goes all these fish are raised in the same hatcheries in big brood ponds and transported in the same trucks so it is very likely some mixing happens.

I'm not sure of the differences between the striper/whitebass-male/female relationship as to growth rate or typical characteristics but suspect it has more to do with which striper is captured and viable for spawning. It has got to be way easier to collect whitebass for spawning than stripers, especially big female stripers ready to drop eggs.

Just like us humans the males of both species are always "ready to go" so we are waitin' on a woman!

Sorry for spelling. STRIPER it is. No kidding, if they stocked it with strippers, I'm all in for several trips. Load the cooler with beverages and stay a while. LOL

What size were those whites you were catching PeterF? I figure they won't be there much longer.

50% of them are big ones 14-16in. The other half is about 11in. all are males. They are active, but not many left in the creek.

Thanks for the info. Man I haven't seen anything 16 all year. I need to switch creeks!

This!