WLF doing a good job on Calc River.

[BassYakR]

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

[Hydro]

Good deal !

[Smalls]

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

[BassYakR]

Florida strain also!

[saute86]

That is great. How did the water look?

[Hydro]

Originally Posted by saute86

That is great. How did the water look?

[BassYakR]

Westfork isnt terrible.... lol

[saute86]

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

[funkyflemmons]

hopefully well get some hogs in a few years

[Jwfflipper]

Originally Posted by BassYakR

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

where are the dog fights at?

Jeff

[BassYakR]

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

[funkyflemmons]

what weight has been winning the dogfights this year?

[BassYakR]

10.8 won this passed wednesday

[MathGeek]

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.

[BassYakR]

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....

[Smalls]

Originally Posted by MathGeek

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.

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?

[MathGeek]

Originally Posted by BassYakR

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....

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.

[noodle creek]

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

[BassYakR]

If only 10% make it thats all we need!

[DaPointIsDaBomb]

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