Wow,

I appreciate all the attention on this post. Special thanks goes to Tony for creating the stir. Hope to see you back in Texas at one of our events. We all want big fish and plenty of them. Hopefully our management system will continue to support fishermen and the fishery.........

One point that I do want to make is that many of you assume that a hybrid will continue to grow. This is not necessarily true. Some will and some won't and there are many factors which influence growth. I have worked with TPWD on the hybrids in Hubbard Creek since 1997. These hybrids were only expected to live 5 to 7 years. They thought the fish were cross breeding with the sandbass at Hubbard Creek but they were not. All fish were 84 vintage or earlier. THe last stocking there was in 1984 and you can probably still catch some. In 97, 98, 99, and 00 we caught hybrids there like they were going out of style. Biggest around 12.5lbs. Most of these ancient fish were around 5 lbs. The last Hybrid I caught there was last year. It was an 18 year old fish that weighed less than 5 lbs. Age was verified by the biologists by analyzing the ear bone. Flesh was taken to verify species.

MWA

Aw shucks Mike, whats a little free advertising ! Yea I did mean Miller Creek, just that we always called it Munday.

Park,

I go with a guide to learn more methods, techniques, learn a new lake, patterns, etc....but that is me. Catching fish is a bonus, sure i expect to catch a few, but the learning for me is the main reason.

Now others who do not fish near as much as I do go to load the boat, entertain clients, whatever. I cannot speak for them, but if you look in the paper, Lake Whitney Views, I would bet all those pics of stripers that were caught with guides were the result of trips to go catch fish, a few may have been for learning, but I would bet most are to catch fish. Look at Texoma, why do folks go there? To catch a lot of fish.


Tony,
Wondering why you are no longer affiliated with NSBA?


The catch and release attitude, though it is contagious, does not always work. I have watched men at CC leave the hybrid in the water and take the sassy shad out of his mouth and the fish be released only to stay near the top and die,

When and if I release one in this hot weather, I grab the fish with the head going into the water first and let them dunk like a missle down into the water. This starts them going down to cooler water and the depth from which they came. A guide in Arkansas showed me this method and said it was the preferred method for releasing fish in hot weather.

Out of all the trips I took this year, I only had one where the guy wanted to keep a few fish, but throw the majority back. The rest wanted a box full of fish and they got it.

I am not sure what others freezers look like, but as much time, effort and care I put into my hunting and fishing, I package the game in vaccum bags and have only had one bag of deer, or fish freezer burn and it was because the seal was broken on the bag. So, my freezer stays full with a rotation of in and out of new stuff. Nothing is wasted at all.

Ok you guides, it is ok with me if you want
to keep your fish. I release when I have a
bunch already in the freezer, but you are
right, it is tough for a Hybrid to survive
this time of year, The fish and game dept
are more aware of what to do with the limits
etc. than I am so what they say is fine with
me. I do almost always keep smaller Bass
when fishing a slot lake, but I believe that
this is what they want you to do. The guides that I have talked to have all seemed
to be very helpful to me, and I for one
appreciate the Pictures stories and advice
that each of you put in the report. So keep
on taking care of the customer, That is your
business. Were I a few years younger and
still had a little ambition, I would probably try it too, I only guided one trip
but I think I had more fun than the customers. So keep on introducing newcomers
to the thrill of catching fish, and don't
worry about the ones that say you shouldn't
catch so many.

------------------
Hooked on Hybrids

Dennis------Slabshad

I am glad Mr. Hughes stated his experience
in releasing hybrids caught in hot water. I think how you handle them makes all the difference. I use a boga grip not a net,and the fish is only out of the water for a few seconds if at all. I do not release it untill it swims off under its own power.
The other key here is using tackle that
will allow you to land the fish in a resonalby short amout of time. You can let
a hybrid fight until it dies, or you can
land it and release it with life left in it.
Everybody can make up thier minds as to
C&R or C&Eat, I have no problem with that.
I just don't want everyone that catches
a hybrid from june to october to think they
have to kill it.
my 2 cents
MO

I fish Proctor from March until November, so I cannot really speak for any other lake about hybrid survival in hot weather. I catch 100+ keeper hybrids a year, and from my experience, when the water gets above 84 deg., survival drops dramatically.

I normally leave the hybrids in the water when I remove the hook. I was hoping this would help them survive because I have a freezer full and do not want to clean any for awhile. I use 20 lb. big game and get them in pretty quickly. I also use circle hooks which has been shown to increase the survival rate of fish.

A month ago, I caught one perfectly in the mouth, removed the circle hook while it was in the water, and watched him swim off. I continued to fish and about 5 minutes later he was floating on the surface. This had not been happening until the water was at 85 deg. with the air temp around 90 deg. Since then, I now catch my limit and go home no matter how early it happens (of course lately getting my limit has been a problem ).

Three weeks ago, I was trolling and had to pick up someone else's hybrid they had caught and released because it was floating on the surface.

The smaller fish to about 4 lbs appear to be in better shape after a fight and will most likely survive, but the 5 to 8 lb fish really stress, and by what I have seen, have a very poor chance of survival.

Just going by my observations on Proctor, if I was going to catch and release hybrids so they could grow to be those bigguns, I would not fish for them from mid July to mid or late September until the surface temperature fell below 82 deg.

My 2 cents which I know isn't worth much.

[This message has been edited by DGHolmes (edited 08-19-2003).]

Have to agree with you on Proctor DG. It is a tough lake to release fish on. A lot of that has to do with the low DO levels at Proctor most of the summer. Those high fertilizer loads from the peanut fields make for a soupy lake. I've fished live bait many a time during the summer on Proctor when there was NO OXYGEN below 10'. So the fish were already stressed before being hooked.

It is my understanding that the high nutrient level is due to the dairy run off but it's probably a combination of both. THis high nutrient level allows the shad to flourish and therefore the lake can support a tremendous amount of predators per acre.

This shallow reservoir is also susceptible to losing it's baitfish population due to a extended cold snap, which was the case this past winter. But it does not take long for the bait to rebound.

MWA