Thank you floods, Cedar Creek, Lewisville, and Richland Chambers for stocking Livingston with HYBRIDS!!!

All of the flooding kicked our butts down on Lake Livingston but the influx of hybrids from upstream have been a welcomed blessing! there must have been quite a few that washed out of the lakes upstream to find them ganged up like this on a 90,000 acre lake. We would have a fishery that rivaled lake Tawakoni if the TPWD would stock them in Lake Livingston. I understand their reasoning for not doing it but it sure would be nice if they could collect their brood fish from behind Whitney or Texoma and fill Lake Livingston with these bad boys! Oh well, we'll enjoy it while it lasts.

Michael's trip this morning was epic topwater action. Michael sent me these at 8:00!

HINT>>>> if you will catch and release the hybrids the fun will last a lot longer. Glad you are enjoying some of the spoils that us near Tawakoni often take for granted.

Maybe one day I will achieve your level of enlightenment wise giver of hints

I guess I will just never be able to understand why someone would kill off of a finite resource such as the hybrid when the bountiful and naturally spawning sandbass, which taste just the same as hybrids, are caught in greater quantities. Even guides I have been on trips with have rules about what they keep and what they wont. I would put HSB on that list, especially if they were a rare gift from upstream neighbors. Just my 2 cents.

Most clients don't want to release hybrids. If up front with them before or during booking the trip, some are ok with it. They may agree to release them if told after they book the trip but doubt if you get a referral or 2nd trip from them. All species can become finite if not managed properly by ruling authorities.

Very nice hybrids Chris!

This is exactly the point. The authorities manage the use of resources. If the authorities say I can catch something, I have to trust they are managing it properly and do not feel guilty about doing it.

If someone feels the authorities are being too lax, let them take it up with the authorities instead of giving fisherman trouble about their legal catch.

If someone feels the authorities are being too lax, let them take it up with the authorities instead of giving fisherman trouble about their legal catch.[/quote]


Our money, spent by fishermen/women hire many biologists that work for Parks and Wildlife. If they say it's ok, I'll trust them to decide what the limits are. We as individuals, get to choose to keep less, or none, if we want. Hybrids, rainbow trout and such are all" put and take" fisheries, they can't reproduce, so additional stockings have to take place as they will all die off, even if never caught and kept. If my freezer has plenty, most will go back. Sometimes I just don't feel like cleaning them, and they all go back, my home lake is just one big livewell!

Nice work Michael Richardson, you put your clients on great fish(just doing your job)
kept within the limits, and made some lifetime memories for those guys.

Now this is something worth responding to. I would not have responded in such a sarcastic manor had your original response not been laced with sarcasm as well. I too enjoy a little trash talk every now and then lol.

I will write a detailed post next week explaining my thoughts on keeping hybrids. It is an interesting debate with passionate players on both sides. I just wont have time before then, I'm working until noon, guiding on Whitney this evening and Saturday morning, then guiding on Richland Chambers Sunday. Have boat will travel


Thanks for the support guys. Michael works his butt off to stay ahead of what was the standard on Lake Livingston and the results show it.

I get tired of people looking down on someone for keeping fish they caught legally. You run your own business and let others do the same. Goes for all species.

keep bustin em down boys!

So you dont appreciate the sarcastic approach to getting my point across, ok fine lets be direct. I dont usually react to these posts, but get a lot of pleasure out of watching others do it. But when I read your title it sounds to me...."thank you fishing gods for bestowing upon Lake Livingston a bounty of Hybrids" then go on to describe how thankful you are because the TPWD wont do it for you. Then you show the slaughter of this gift with a picture of what looks like about 30 or so Hybrids. Tawakoni, Hubbard, PK, any of the lakes that are refreshed with new stock, fine take all you want or the law will allow. But I cant believe my ears (or eyes) in the heart of Texas when someone says let the government tell we what I should or shouldnt do. We are ALL responsible for protecting the Texas natural resources. If Livingston was given a gift of hybrids then protect them. I dont need to hear your thoughts on keeping hybrids in other lakes. Guides on Livingston can tell their clients up front, this is not a stocked Hybrid lake so throw back any you catch so they can be caught again. I could say look at how the LMB fisherman protect their species, but that would just launch your other discussion in keeping hybrids in general, and I really dont care about that. No sarcasm there. But realize that the TPWD (government) doesnt give a flip about Lake Livingston Hybrid striper protection because they arent supposed to be there. WE MUST CARE. If Walleye somehow made it into our Texas lakes and you caught one, I would hope you would throw it back to protect it and allow it to thrive and hopefully reproduce. My guess, reading these responses, is you would slice it up and brag with stories about your great walleye fishing adventures. Best of luck catching the big ones down there on Lake Livingston (that was sarcsasm). Happy Friday everyone!

CapnKirk, I do that all of the time with Black Crappie that I catch on lakes that don't have them. No matter if it is a keeper or not I always throw them back because I want them to take off (love how they fight).

You guys can do whatever you want, but don't tell me what I should be doing. As long as I am legal, you have no right to give me grief about anything I am doing.

@fishin'aholic2.....yes exactly! Thank you. I was afraid I had traveled into a third dimension here and going crazy.

Not trying to argue with you at all capnkirk, just wanna state my opinion.

I understand completely that you think they should have released them, but i highly doubt if you have someone fishing for fish to keep, that they would have threw back a giant hybrid. They're legal fish and will die, they can't respawn. So saying they SHOULD throw them back for others to catch is kinda bashing them for something i would do everyday of the week.

# Hybridlivesmatter

that made me smile

Lol Can we call them blended? That seems to be the new thing these days...

Hybrids have a relatively short lifespan. By the time they've hit 22-24 inches, they probably don't have many more years left.

They're also stocked purely as a put and take fishery. While they're not 100% sterile, they have a low success rate in spawning, so they're not very likely to reproduce.

I won't often keep a barely legal hybrid anymore, but will usually keep 22" and bigger till I hit my limit. If someone else wants to keep eighteen inchers, why would I complain about it?

10 out of 30 states with hybrid striped bass have state records over 20 pounds, and another 8 are in the high upper teen range. Based on that information, I am thinking that hybrid striped bass can live for quite a long time and get large in the process.

I don't know how old those fish are. These folks are of the opinion that the fish have lifespans of 3-5 or 5-6 years. But, I could be wrong, as both sources could be wrong.

http://fisheries.tamu.edu/pond-management/species/hybrid-striped-bass/

http://www2.ca.uky.edu/wkrec/StripedBassBiology.pdf

I'm 100% on releasing the hybrids. It's called sharing with others.
100% of the dead fish get no bigger. I have caught hybrid to 27 inches on Tawakoni and there is no comparison to the fight of a 20 incher.

These CC hybrids may not be spawning, but they have to be reproducing with the sand bass/yellow bass Barr fish,for many years we have been catching a cross breed hybrid/yellow/sand bass a beautiful fish that unlike a soft sand bass is rough and tough

Hybrids are the trophy fish like the green trash fish one can always fill the freezer with sand bass, unless the hybrid are bleeding,turn em loose,many think different but that cool,,big storm about to hit CC ,be safe ft

Those Richardson boys are trouble I tell ya

Yes they are

I believe they have been catching striper and hybrids below the dam at Livingston since the 80's how would they get in the river if they didn't get washed over the dam at Livingston. Just saying.

Well one source is clearly wrong IMHO.

The TAMU source says "Maximum growth is 15 pounds and they live 3 to 5 years". Since the record hybrid striped bass is almost double that, and many state records are well over 15 lbs, it is pretty easy to conclude that that information should not be taken as fact since its totally wrong (the part about 15 lbs).

The State occasionally stocks stripers below the dam. In addition, the stripers below the dam have a natural spawn which varies from year to year in success.

So, not only do fish get washed through the dam gates, but there are also these other possibilities.

Great pic, Michael! The southern lakes have been good this year and last. Keep up the good work

Looks like your clients caught some rain too

Great Job Michael......Awesome catch !!

Hybrids are not natural, and are deemed a "put and take" resource. Not sure what you're arguing here... TPWD will stock more.

I rarely post on the forum as a lot of us 20 plus year guides don't Whether I post or not I do enjoy reading the forum and often get tickled at how the same argumentative topics resurface every three or four years. Same argument but different people on opposing sides. Before we bash or judge whether or not someone should keep hybrids I think their are some things to be considered. If the fish were legally obtained and they were within the required size and bag limit the only argument you have is your opinion and an argument is all you will end up with. Most of us men only really care about our own opinion right? I am certainly not against catch and release. I have practiced it for many years. I'm not against keeping fish either as I have also practiced this for many years. Yes, it's possible to do both. If you think that every hybrid you catch and release will survive you are sadly mistaken. They don't have to be hooked deep or bleeding. The simple act of hooking a fish is enough to give infection a place to start. Summer water temps make everything worse. Tire a fish from fighting during summer and survival goes way down I don't care how good of shape the fish appears to be in. I would rather a fish go home in a happy fishermen's ice chest than end up turtle food. Now, that last statement is my opinion and I bet the only person that really cares about it is me! If someone chooses to keep fish that is totally their right. If someone wants to catch and release that is their right. I have NEVER witnessed a single internet argument on this subject where one person is able to convince another to do anything by chastising them for what they believe is morally or legally right. The law is black and white and speaks for itself. The question of morals is matter of opinion and how you view the resource. Hybrids are stock and take. If we can prolong life span and size by catch and release then that ensures a few really big ones around. It's good to take and it's good to release.

Go back to the original post..... "We would have a fishery that rivaled lake Tawakoni if the TPWD would stock them in Lake Livingston. I understand their reasoning for not doing it but it sure would be nice if they could collect their brood fish from behind Whitney or Texoma and fill Lake Livingston with these bad boys! Oh well, we'll enjoy it while it lasts."

@catman....I dont disagree with you at all and I think after 3 pages of posts the original point I was making has gotten lost. I am not arguing the right to keep hybrids caught in a TPWD stocked lake. The post was about how unusual it was to see hybrids in Livingston and then a pic was posted of limits of sandbass with these treasured hybrids next to them. Makes no sense to me. Keep the sandies, they have a shorter lifespan than the hybrids anyway, and enjoy the battle a 20" hybrid gives you and the next guy and the next. If he dies from battle scars, so be it. But he is not going on any one's wall and doesnt taste better than the sandies you caught before and after him. Hybrids should be sport fish like the largemouth bass. That is just my opinion as you state, wont change anyone's minds I am sure. Happy Friday everyone!!

What's really funny about the original post is there have been hybrids in Livingston for many years. Not in huge numbers as they don't stock them there. We were catching a few here and there in the early nineties. When Richland Chambers first opened there were some monster hybrids and some nice stripers in there as well. None of which were stocked fish. No doubt they were fish that were trapped in the creeks that fed the Trinity River when the lake was opened. In 92 and 93 we were catching a lot of 10 to 12 pound hybrids and some 10 to 15 stripers. My good friend Bob Holmes holds the lake record striper at 14 pounds and some change that he caught in 1999. I caught one just a few ounces under his one year later. To my knowledge those were the last of the stripers. If anyone has caught one after 2000 from RC please comment.

Hybrids don't reproduce. They are not stocked in Lake Livingston. They wont live more than a couple years more in the lake. They took them legally. Few people on the lake are catching hybrids with regularity on Livingston. It affects almost nobody except the 10 or so fishermen on that lake that actually know how to target them and consistently catch them. I'm not one of those people. I'll catch a few, but not much regularity. You guys need to get your panties out of a wad. It is legal. It's what guides do. They keep and clean fish. He's making a living. The end.

These are just opinions. Many of my customers think the hybrid eat better....especially on the grill. The idea of hybrids being a catch and release fish such as a largemouth is also an opinion.

In reference to the original posting and the spirit in which it was posted perhaps a simple PM stating your thoughts to Chris would have gone further than this ping pong game.

But, then again that's an opinion too.

This is true. I've caught hybrids here and there in Livingston for 20 years, but never numbers like this. It's amazing how far up river those striper run.

They truly are, especially that older one! How dare they make posts on a fishing forum with comical titles. Their pictures of dead fish and people smiling are extremely tasteless should be banned. I'll bet that redneck Chris Richardson doesn't have a bit of higher education and lacks capacity of the critical thinking skills required to understand the scope of an ecosystem. It's people like them that are responsible for hundreds of fishing licenses purchased each year that wouldn't be otherwise. It's people like them that teach others how to go out and have a great time on their own and make the most of a fishery. It's people like them that take pride in teaching the next generation that fishing is fun, and that the lawful harvest of a resource can be a great thing.... scum of the earth I tell ya

The client pays for a service. Sometimes they can be talked into releasing big fish. But not very often. I don't try very hard to change their minds either. It's their fish, they caught it, they have a right to it if it's a legal fish. Keep up the good work Chris.

I think hybrids taste better than sandbass personally. They seem flakier with more texture. I cooked both after my Lewisville trip and will target hybrids and release the sandbass. I think each angler should decide what to do with the fish they catch. I get the point about the scarce resource if the lake is not stocked however people are paying guides to catch and keep fish and if the hybrids are gone or few to come by then it's back to sandbass fishing until the next flood...

I normally keep enough for dinner on my trips so I release plenty of fish to hopefully live another day.

Are you actually saying some folks kept some legal fish to eat?

Oh the horror..... those where MY fish....did you not see MY name on each one? Oh what shall we do this keeping and eating of fish just cannot be allowed.......what about the TROPHIES?

The above is obviously an attempt at sarcasm....

as long as the catch is legal and the fish are used in a legal fashion and not wasted leave them alone....


Good report and great catch Chris...looking forward to seeing more!!!!!