Saw this on the Media Bass FB… i didn’t realize northern strain or “native” Bass were no longer stocked at all. Thoughts?


https://m.facebook.com/Media-Bass-119617388068793/?tsid=0.4784362213899531&source=result

“Let’s help the T.P.W.D. Improve the bass populations and enhance the fishing for all anglers of all ages. By restocking Northern/Native Bass in Texas lakes we can enjoy year round bass fishing again. Since 1972, T.P.W.D. Has only stocked Florida Bass in public lakes and reservoirs. The initial effect has been good, but, due to diminishing Northern Bass the fishing has has diminished.
It is also proven that the heartiest bass is the F1 Hybrid, a cross between a Northern/Native and a Florida Bass. This petition contends that without a profound population of Native Bass to mix with all the Florida Bass that have been released in Texas Public Waters there is a less than satisfactory level of bass fishing in Texas. The sole goal of a fishery should not be just to try and create a ’Monster Bass’. The goal of a fishery should be to create optimal fishing for the tax payers using the waters.”

https://www.thepetitionsite.com/344...id=68879397&cid=fb_na#bbfb=587878557

This should be an interesting thread, I look forward to reading both sides of the argument.

I'd agree with sticking a bunch of F1's all over the place.

I've never though that Florida strain bass were right for all the lakes in our state. The farther east and south you go in the State they are probably a better fit. Tennessee has a goal of getting Florida genetics into their lakes but trying to keep the bulk of the population around a 50% Florida hybrid. So future stocking for them will be a mix of Native and Florida genetics based on their testing. That seems like something worth looking at here. It sure seems to be working on Chickamauga. I think it would be nice to try some native stockings on some selected lakes. At least at that point you would have a baseline for looking at the benefits and negatives of continuing to increase the Florida bass genetics in our lakes.

Not so sure. Maybe you fellas are not as old as me, but I remember well the days before Florida Bass. Typically we would go out on Toledo and catch/keep a limit of 20 bass 12, 14 maybe 16" long. A 5 pounder was a real catch, and an 8 pounder was a trophy that went on the wall.

Texas will definitely look into this and do a study on it ...... which will take 20-30 years for them to complete - we’ll all pretty much be dead by then.

I'm also old enough to remember the days before the Florida's took over our lakes, and people back then were sounding the warning of exactly what has happened.
Native bass are highly aggressive, and what made bass fishing the sport it was, and as mentioned a 5 pounder turned heads, and 8 pounders went on the wall.
Everyone back then liked the idea of a hybrid Florida and Native Bass hybrid because the original promise was we would have a larger more aggressive bass.
That obviously didn't turn out to be the case as the Florida strain became the dominate strain.
This was during the late seventies and early eighties that this experiment was introduced, and it's taken this long for TPWD to figure this out?

Petition should be to stock F1 and not natives. Pointless to stock natives. Not enough pure floridas in our lakes to justify stocking natives. Just stock F1 to begin with.

To have an informed opinion, I'd need to know the average genetic makeup of the typical bass in Texas and costs associated with changing the stocking strategy.

I'd argue that that bass fishing in Texas is more than satisfactory.

If the goal is to have more fish catches and catchable fish; adding more northern strain would be a drop in the bucket relative to increasing human population densities and fishing pressure.

I remember it well. As an example, our local bass club had a continuing "6 lb pot" that carried over and built up from month to month. We fished 12 tournaments a year, with several on better lakes like Rayburn and Toledo Bend, and that pot built up for 3 years before someone finally caught one over 6 and won it. Go back and check the lake records prior to 1985 and you'll see that most were single digit fish. With that being said, fishing (catching) was definitely easier in those days. I'm sure some of it was due to less pressure, but I think a lot of it was due to genetics.

When the TPWD stock Florida bass, they are not for fishermen to catch necessarily, but to introduce their genetics into the Northern strain. The Northern strain is the dominant species in Texas as far as genetics go. The first spawn with Floridas is going to create millions of F1 fry; way more than TPWD could ever stock. Every time a new class is born, it is more Northern than Florida. Without stocking the few Floridas the TPWD does stock, the bass would revert to 100% Northern. You do not want to revisit those days.

Yep, What Hopper said.

zebra mussels are going to put an end to all of our fisheries anyway - heard that from the TPWD a number of years ago, so it must be true.

Anybody who thinks this is a good idea needs to read this post over and over again until it sticks in their brain. Especially the last sentence.