I was contacted by Mr. Bennett and he shared some great information about Ray Roberts that i wanted to pass on. I appreciate the time he took to reply in regards to a recent post on here. I urge anyone with any questions about this subject to contact him via the links provided.

Within the Denison District, Ray Roberts is our most important black bass fishery. Ray Roberts has a good fishery, yet has suffered some primarily due to low water levels prior to 2015. Now that the water level is back up, I am hopeful we will see some grass begin to return as long as lake levels remain somewhat stable.
Stocking Florida Largemouth fingerlings at Ray Roberts will be an important management tool which I will utilize at Ray Roberts. Stocking Florida bass is done to enhance the genetics of the population and �trophy� potential, and does little to impact overall numbers of fish introduced through natural reproduction because roughly 1-3% of stocked fish may survive the initial stocking. Because stocking is done to enhance the genetic potential, reservoirs with the proven ability to produce trophy fish receive priority for available fingerlings. There are additional factors that influence priority for stocking, including new lakes, renovated lakes, or lakes with recent habitat improvements (which many of reservoirs exhibit currently after the rises in water level in 2015 and 2016). And finally, stocking depends on availability of those fingerlings from our hatcheries; and, there is quite a demand for fish each spring considering all the reservoirs in Texas. All this said, Ray Roberts does have proven trophy potential, and greatly improved habitat availability for small bass in recent years. Although about 70% of the bass in Ray Roberts possess Florida genetics, I do believe we can improve upon that and the proportion of Florida alleles in individual fish through strategic stocking. In 2016, I requested Florida largemouth bass fingerlings for stocking in Ray Roberts this spring. In fact, this year our hatcheries will begin working to develop our broodstock directly from Sharelunkers, so that all Florida bass fingerlings stocked around the state will be direct descendants of a 13# or larger fish. I will certainly be requesting a stocking of these fish for Ray Roberts as soon as possible, and I am hopeful this will also result in improvements to the fishery.

Dan Bennett

Ray Roberts 2016 Fisheries Management Report:
http://tpwd.texas.gov/publications/pwdpubs/media/lake_survey/pwd_rp_t3200_1368_2015.pdf

Mark don't cloud up a good story with actual facts

I suspect some armchair/amateur fisheries biologists will try and debate Mr. Bennett's information. I am glad he put it together for the TFF to see myself.

haven't heard of many sharelunkers being brought in this year. interested to see how many fingerlings there would actually be to stock from a SAL

I anticipate Ray Bob producing two - three over 13 this year with the water levels staying where they are. The lake is due big time.

I wonder how many of the bigger fish went down the creek during all the floods. The bigguns seem to love going through the overflows and spillways. Lewisville seems to be putting out some big fish.

I was out with Dannie Golden last year in the spring and this topic came up. A few years back when they did stock the lake he was onsite. He offered to help show them some good areas to go drop the fingerlings so they would stand a better chance of survival with the cover. The declined his help, drove out to the center of the lake and dumped them there. Dannie said they basically fed the sandbass. So if that's their method of stocking, I don't see that helping

He told me this same story... Seems like with a little thought they could get a higher survival rate than 1-3%. Either way sounds like they have big plans for the future of the lake and I am excited to see if it works out.

That's the problem ,the biologist on the lake just dump them wherever on the lake . I know its 15 minutes more work , but putting the fish in area where they will survive is crucial . They don't stock our lake much , one would think when they do they could put in a little effort

Maybe shoot Mr. Bennett an email with your suggestions on where to stock them on the lake. Can't hurt and I bet he replies.

The lake will be in awesome shape in a few years - with the past two years of flooding and all that flooded vegetation that they had to hide in the fingerlings had a very good chance. Lets just hope we can get enough forage and baitfish to sustain this population explosion.

Interesting that they conclude only 1-3% of stocked fingerlings survive but 70% of the fish in the reservoir have Florida genetics. Guess the old saying of the biggest Bull in the pasture gets all the cows might be true with the fish as well.

1%-3% success rate. Keep the money flowing to them. They are using it wisely.

Id take the under on that one.

+1