Seen this and wanted to share...


We just completed a gill net survey at Possum Kingdom Reservoir. Gill nets target Striped and White Bass, and Channel and Blue Catfish populations. The results were impressive, especially for Striped Bass and Blue Catfish. The Striped Bass catch rate was the highest we have ever had at the reservoir. The previous best catch rate was back in 1999 before the reservoir started having golden alga fish kills. The high catch rate can be attributed in part to natural reproduction occurring the past few years. Recently, the flows of the Brazos River into the reservoir have been sufficient and occurring at the right time to allow for successful spawning. Most of the time this is not the case, so we must stock to ensure an adequate population exists. We last stocked Striped Bass in 2018 and that was not a full stocking. Of the fish sampled, 71% were below the 18-inch minimum length limit. While it would be nice if there were a higher percentage of legal fish in the population, 23% of the sampled Striped Bass were less than 2-inches of becoming legal length. We collected some fish to analyze age and growth at the reservoir, so we will know how long it takes to grow to 18-inches. We sampled fish up to 30-inches in length. Currently, if you are looking for numbers, fish from Costello Island to the river. If you are searching for big fish, target the lower half of the reservoir.
Blue Catfish also had a record catch rate which was 60% higher than the previous record. Over 92% of the Blue Catfish sampled were above the 12-inch minimum length limit. We sampled catfish up to 30-inches. While found throughout the reservoir, a net just northwest of Costello Island off the river channel produced the best numbers and size of fish.
White Bass and Channel Catfish were sampled at the historical average for the reservoir. We did find some larger White Bass this year than in the past. We sampled three hybrid Striped Bass, which is somewhat rare but not unheard of. While not targeting them, we did see some nice 5-6 lb. Largemouth Bass in a net that was on a main lake point with trees.
We might see you on the reservoir since we are completing our last quarter of a nine-month creel survey. A creel survey is done to try to gather information from anglers as to what species they are targeting, the number of fish being caught and harvested, angling effort, angling economics, and other statistics helpful to manage the fishery. Good luck and enjoy!

Tried around Costello and found a couple keepers but never found any large schools. The water is very clear right now.

I could have told them this as could have any guide. The undersize stripers were in high numbers last year, with some actually hitting 18 inches. Big fish were hard to find as BRA is staffed by idiots. The feds spend billions on "green energy" and these "scientific rockets" remove the generators from the PK dam. I could have used some of that power a couple weeks ago. Open the flood gates and flush huge numbers of stripers down the Brazos to die. Good thing the stripers went up the Brazos and spawned successfully.

I anticipate it will be very easy to catch a 5 fish limit of 18 inch plus stripers on PK this year. Shad will likely start taking a beating from all these larger stripers. Before the floods, catching some shad to fish with was so difficult I started fishing with perch and the perch worked very well. Lures worked well too once shad were hard to find but PK is tough on lure fisherman. You never win a battle with those 75 year old cedars in the lake. When the lake was low I used to gather lots of crank baits from the old cedars exposed in Neely Slough. Lots of shad nets in them too, so you better know what is under where you throw that net if you fish PK.

Awesome post. Thanks for sharing.

that is good news

I'll have to plan on a trip to PK next year. Sounds like some decent sized fish should be around by then if the algae doesn't get them between now and then.

As of early Feb it appears the GA on PK is minimal, Whitney reported none and poor Granbury has high concentration along with reported fish kill in certain areas


https://tpwd.texas.gov/landwater/water/environconcerns/hab/ga/status.phtml