I would be all for a petition for a study to be done by biologist. I don't think it is a good idea for anglers or guides to come up with their own management plan. It would be great for TPWD to focus on trophy striper and hybrid instead of largemouth for a while.

I think its a good start. Like anything it may need to be tweaked.

Mr. Prichard,

Thank you for your email and interest in the striped bass fisheries on Lake Texoma and other reservoirs around the state. Being a striper guide you know that Texas has some of the best striped bass fisheries in the country, especially Texoma. Those fisheries are the quality that they are because our District Biologists put forth a lot of effort to
monitor and manage those fisheries on a lake by lake basis. This is evidenced by the fact that there are several striped bass fisheries in the state that are managed with customized striped bass regulations; in other words they are managed with something other than the statewide
striped bass regulation. Implementing something such as a statewide tag would make it more difficult for our biologists to manage those fisheries on a case by case basis.

As you know there are a number of environmental and biological
conditions that impact our striped bass fisheries. You mentioned the summer time squeeze that our striped bass populations experience when water temperatures rise and the fact that it can affect the survival of striped bass. That summer time squeeze is in fact more stressful on the larger and older striped bass in our reservoirs. Another environmental condition that several of our striped bass populations are impacted by
is golden algae. Reservoirs such as Whitney, Granbury, EV Spence, PK and Kemp have all been impacted by golden algae, some worse than other. In fact the striped bass fisheries at Kemp and EV Spence no longer exist while the ones at PK, Whitney and Granbury are impacted by varying degrees on a year to year basis. In those reservoirs there is a chance that the striped bass could die due to a golden algae bloom before attaining what would be considered a trophy size.

From a biological perspective, a tag likely would not achieve the
outcome you are looking for because in most striped bass fisheries in the state things such as recruitment, growth and the availability of forage play a bigger role in whether or not a trophy fishery could be developed. All of the striped bass fisheries in the state, with the exception of Lake Texoma, are maintained through regular stockings of striped bass fingerlings. Lake Texoma has a very high level of natural
recruitment and as such the lake produces a lot of striped bass. The growth rates of striped bass in Texoma are slowed due to the competition for forage. Consequently, that is why Texoma has a higher bag limit (10 fish/day) and no minimum length limit. The level of recruitment in our other striped bass fisheries in the state could be controlled by simply
reducing the stocking rate or the frequency of stocking. Doing so would reduce the amount of competition for available forage which could result in faster growth rates. However, this would not guarantee the production of trophy size fish because favorable water temperatures and oxygen levels during the summer would have to exist in order for the striped bass to survive long enough to attain trophy size. Furthermore, in order to do this it would mean substantially fewer striped bass being
stocked into a reservoir which means fewer striped bass available for guides and anglers to catch. Which brings in the social aspect of fisheries management; are anglers and guides willing to give up higher catch rates of fish in order to catch fewer but larger fish? That is a question that would need to be asked of all the anglers and guides utilizing a fishery. Historically, Texas anglers have been more in favor of having higher catch rates of good size striped bass to catch
and eat than catching trophy sized fish; a lot of guides especially
prefer the higher catch rates because it makes it easier for them to put their clients on fish.

As you can see the management of striped bass in Texas is pretty
complicated and in my opinion is best done on a lake by lake basis. Don't get me wrong I am not against the concept of producing some trophy striped bass fisheries in the state but it would have to be done on the right water body and the anglers would have to support it. Thanks again for your interest in the striped bass fishing in Texas!

Mr. Prichard:
Thanks for your interest in fishing for striped bass and Lake Texoma. I am the biologist charged with managing the fishery here at Lake Texoma, which I have been doing for the past 33 years. I apologize for being tardy in responding, but I have been attending the Southern Division American Fisheries Society annual meeting in Tampa FL. I think my regional supervisor Brian Van Zee adequately covered your question(s) and responded
to your trophy tag proposition. In addition to his comments I would add that in the process of creating a trophy fishery, a lot of fish are lost to angler induced catch and release mortality. We conducted such a study on striped bass in Lake Texoma in the late 1980's and early 1990's. The paper
was presented at and published in the Proceedings of the 46th Annual Conference of the Southeast Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies in Corpus Christi. Over a two-year period, we studied the effects of season and bait type on survival of caught and released striped bass. All seasons
and all bait types considered, overall mortality was 38%. The highest mortality occurred in the spring and the highest mortality was associated with live bait. And, as expected, the highest mortality for any reason occurred in the largest fish. So if, on average, 40 of every 100 striped
bass are going to succumb to angler catch and release mortality and this mortality is concentrated on the largest fish, you can see where this leads. We concluded it was best to let anglers enjoy these fish rather than have
the fish die after release. Therefore, our regulation of 10 fish with no minimum length limit, but only two of the 10 fish daily bag limit can be 20 inches and greater. This has proven to be a workable solution for anglers as well as the striped bass population. Along with Oklahoma Department of
Wildlife Conservation fisheries personnel, we conduct annual gill netting surveys of the striped bass in Lake Texoma and according to our results, the population is holding its own with a fairly consistent proportion of fish in the 20-inch and larger category and in a dynamic system like we have in Lake Texoma, there is always the opportunity for a trophy fish to show up.
Bottomline, Lake Texoma is still the premier striped bass angler destination and there is pretty much some action to be found any season of the year.