I remember when I was a kid(80's-90's), I would sit underneath Katy bridge over Lake Whitney and striper fish w/ my grandpa. He would catch striper in the 10-15lb range all night, every time. What has happened to that? If a man catches a 15lb striper now its a trophy? I don't get it...can some one please tell me what has happened to all the trophy fish and how come you never see them caught anymore?

Give the lake some time, it will recover. It gets a healthy dose of fingerlings and fry stocked most years as well. Drought's, floods and GA take a toll on the fish.

among advances in fish finding tech I think the biggest is the internet.You used to have to put in the hard work and find them.You might have been able to make a phone call to a local bait store and ask but now it is to easy,just ask where they have been catching them and someone will send you a pm or will put it out right in the open telling what bait is working.I know it still is challenging but I think this has created a disadvantage for fish to reach there max growth potential.And just from the looks of it and all the center console boats you see now striper fishing has exploded in popularity so lot more pressure on the fish.

the golden algae all but wiped out the striper population on Whitney. TPWD is doing a great job on restocking them and the floods of the past years have really benefited the stripers. Just have to give the fish time to grow. The lake is as clear as it has ever been and and the lake is fishing better than it ever has.


2018 stocking report


https://tpwd.texas.gov/fishboat/fish/act...8&Submit=Go


2018 Fishing Forecast

http://www.texasgetawayvacation.com/fishing-forecast.html

Ok, those are all very legitimate reasons that I can understand, however I have to ask this question. Do fishing guides play any significant role in this situation? I ask because I was always taught that if you kill all the smaller fish then they will never become bigger fish. Or are the number of fish so far greater than what one would imagine to be in the lakes that theres no way keeping every 18"-22" fish will effect this?

This is JMO but I do feel that guides along with the internet have done nothing but hurt fisheries. I'm not saying I don't like guides (I do and have several that I know and talk to) but I definitely think that them along with the internet have made a huge difference in the number of trophy fish.

I just think the minimum size should be increased. Make it 22 inches and I believe you will start seeing bigger fish in a year.

Excellent points! I agree the biggest set back was the golden algae kill but constant intelligent fishing pressure by guides and anglers that constantly harvest limits of fish cannot be a good thing on any lake. A larger length limit would be awesome or a slot limit. The way I see it, people don�t fish because they are starving for meat. People fish because it�s a sport and great to eat. So why not do everything possible to create trophy fisheries!?

Even catch and release takes its toll in the summer months, regardless of size .

I would like to see something Like a 3 fish limit with only 1 over 22".

I like that. At one point in time we had a two fish limit on the lake I fish most.

Multiple Golden Algae blooms hurt the Brazos River system. It seems like Whitney got hit the hardest judging by fish size. Drought.

It was when I was a kid, and has just in recent years really started to come back to what it was.

Anejo: Increasing the size of a keeper will not help. All it will do is give you more small fish. Takes a ton of baitfish to keep a striper alive. Like all Ocean fish they eat almost constantly. Also, they are not semi dormant in Texas winter. The 48 deg water that causes shad to slow down and want to go into survival mode is almost a perfect temp for them.

Just check out the huge stripers caught in Arkansas. The regulation in Arkansas are Six stripers a day no minimum length. The issue with stripers is not fishing pressure but bait.

Gborg: I see a lot of catch and release stripers floating at PK. That 85 deg surface temp does a number on them.

The way to get bigger fish is to keep more small ones. Decreases competition for food source for remaining fish, who then grow bigger faster. Same applies for pretty much all fish. You can either have lots, or big ones.