WLF doing a good job on Calc River.
 

WLF showed up this afternoon at the Dogfights with 500,000 fry for the anglers to release into the calcasieu estuary.

Good deal !

Well ain't that just a coincky-dink? Lol. Good to hear.

Florida strain also!

That is great. How did the water look?

:rolleyes:

Westfork isnt terrible.... lol

I bet it is still a hell of a lot better than Lacassine Bayou or the Mermentau.

hopefully well get some hogs in a few years

where are the dog fights at?

Jeff

Parkside marina.... blast off at 4:30pm... be at launch by 4pm...

what weight has been winning the dogfights this year?

10.8 won this passed wednesday

In general, anglers tend to focus too much on the species they want to catch, rather than on health of the ecosystem and the overall food web.

Stocking 500,000 Florida LMB won't result in much unless there is a healthy food web in place to feed them well so that they grow quickly.

The Calcasieu River is a complicated ecosystem with a lot of management challenges, as described here: http://www.wlf.louisiana.gov/sites/d...pdate_2014.pdf

Hopefully, the length and growth study will become available in 2015, as promised by LDWF. Having genetics for large, fast growing bass is only half the requirement. All these bass need to eat, and the Calcasieu food web may not be ample to feed them.

It's something of a self-correcting problem. If the adult bass in there are now are not well fed, they will eat the fry and move the system closer to balance with very few of the fry surviving to compete as adults.

I think thats BS.... Theres PLENTY of food for them on the river, Shad, minnows, perch, crawfish... and many other things... theres no shortage of shad, minnows or perch thats forsure....

If past stocking efforts are any indication of the concern for the health of the ecosystem, then there isn't much concern. They spent 6 years stocking almost 3 million striped bass in the Calcasieu, a species that is not native to those waters. It even says so in the report.

Also, someone can't add. Table 17 shows stocking history. I count over 2.5 million in 1994 and 1996 alone, yet the table only shows 2.07 million.

????

While I respect your opinion on the topic MG, is there anything that would lead you to believe the ecosystem could not support this stocking? I see nothing from this report, other than the poor status in regard to wildlife and fisheries propagation, that leads me to think it could not support it. I'd be more curious as to why they are stocking now, considering this report states that natural recruitment has been sufficient enough to make stocking inefficient. Could the bass population be too low to hold other species in check?

I'm by no means a fisheries biologist, so I have no idea why they decided to stock the river, although I would suspect they had planned it in advance since it happened only weeks after stocking the Mermentau. Common sense would lead me to believe they determined it was needed, but then again, was the stocking of striped bass needed?

That's a guess, and it may be right. But the food needed is always relative to how many bass are being fed.

Measured growth rates or measured relative weights is a more definitive assessment of whether there is enough food to feed the bass population. Most LDWF reports include data on relative weights and/or growth rates in LMB. The reports for Calcasieu did not have this data, so whether or not there is an issue is an open question.

Out of 500,000 fry, how many of those will even make 10 inches. Just curious?

If only 10% make it thats all we need!

Most them stockings are just for show to make it look like they are doing something. Those big bass clubs are the squeaky wheel that gets the grease and they put pressure on LDWF to stock them friggin Florida strain bass while we got plenty of native bass. Riding around in their sparkle boats and get mad when I keep a fish to eat. Thats what they are there for - for me to eat and I don't care about the big ones. Them bass shows and bass tourneys are what ruined bass fishing. A man can't keep one without getting yelled at.

If they like Florida bass, they should move to Florida

To each their own!

I tend to agree, especially in waters like the Calcasieu R.

I'd rather see them stocking channel catfish. They have a much better time finding food and thriving in the muddier waters and will produce many more lbs of fillets per lb of food.

But hey, I ain't no elitist. If I catch a green trout, we'll have bass for dinner.

Ill continue throwing them all back to make myself feel better... If i want to keep fish to eat ill go catch some sacalait or trout...

Why is it ok to keep sacs and trout and not bass?

Bc i dont fish tourneys for sacs... and trout numbers in bl are fine.. along with them being connected to the gulf of mexico always keeping the waters stocked...

There is a reason limits are set. Each man makes his own decisions, but if Wildlife and Fisheries didn't want you keeping a particular species, they would prohibit or limit the take of them. See the paddlefish and sturgeon for examples.

I've never hesitated to keep fish if they were legal. I will on occasion let smaller fish go, but if everyone were to let every bass they caught go, the population would suffer just as much as if you caught too many.

The fishing clubs and tournaments is where the issue arises from. Look at the Lacassine discussion. Special interest groups were the ones that got the place stocked in the first place. Now people want it to be managed for fish.

To each his own. One group should not be allowed to influence the actions of others or management of a particular body of water.

Bass numbers everywhere are just fine Them rivers are full of bass and they get replenished every time it floods. Bass fishermen shouldn't be making money off tournaments on a public resource. Sparkle boat drivers always wake me too when three drive by and I run my jugs

Fish are for eating

Yep. Just like them trophy buck folks. They want to force all these rules on me and look down on me when I kill a legal buck. Deer are to eat. Antlers ain't. Most them deer they kill ain't real big anywaya

I dont have a sparkle boat.... and i like tourney fishing.... suck it up buttercup

So you think Guides shouldnt be making money off of a public resource either?

That's cool but don't be throwing shade on me by trying to get all these silly slot limits on a fish I like to eat. I shouldn't have to carry a ten page rule book to see if I can keep a fish in a certain body of water. If yall want to catch big bass go to Florida where Florida bass are native and leave our native bass here alone. Don't need any Florida anything over in our waters.

I've always thought that it was ironic that you can guide fishing trips on a public lake, but you can't guide hunting trips on a WMA or NWR.

Well we need florida bass in our waters.... always have had them... always will have them... The river doesnt need a slot limit....never said that

Nope. I can't guide duck hunts on Fausse Pointe so I don't see why they can guide fish on the same body of public water. Double standard

Its also ironic that you need a captains license to be a fishing guide.. but you dont need one to be a duck hunting guide...

We ain't always had Florida bass. They got here when bass fishing turned into big business everybody wanted to catch a big bass and they stocked them. then folks started getting mad when I kept bass to eat

sacaulait fishing is next. All these people with 14 poles hanging off front of their boat. That ain't fiahing

I know a dude goes to high school with my daughter who is a duck guide:work:

Boy couldn't tell a scaup from a ringneck when he hunted with me

well to me... yoyos, jugs, limblines.... that **** aint fishing either... just makes the rivers and lakes look trashy... bc most ppl dont pick their stuff up... every damn tree on the river has a limb line in it.. .thats been there for years...

You right. I pick all mine up but I am in the minority. Catfish and gou aren't gamefish so we don't have to use only rod and reel for them

Always have had them? Why are they called Florida strain then?

There is the Northern strain and Florida strain. Why not Northern and Southern if they are native here? Why do Florida strain have to be stocked if they have always been here?

I was meaning they have been stocked in this area for years and years

This is a great point.

Man is the apex predator ensuring population control and balance in the system.

Well guys thanks for helping my morning pass by quickly.... peace out...

That don't mean it's right. My neighbor stocked them Chinese tallow all in his yard and now they all over my place. He got them from he state a long time ago

Really, because that report that MG posted earlier shows only one stocking event since 1994, and it was Northern strain, not Florida. That report also showed that genetic analysis in 2012 and 2013 only indicated a 12.2% and 10.3% genetic influence of Florida strain.

Doesn't sound like there is much of a presence of Florida strain.

Again i wasnt meaning only the calcasieu river... Originally this post was about the calc river but dapoint was talking about stocking florida strain in general and not messin w his limits...

I agree on the "florida bass" statements. I wish we would just stock native bass. I find they bite more consistently than those stupid florida bass.

Definitely agree!! False River and Chicot are prime examples.