Carters Lake Hybrid Record Falls

Dick Neubert, of Hiawassee, (left) holds the Carters Lake record hybrid bass, a 13-lb., 5.4-oz. fish caught on May 27, 2011. He caught it on a Super Spook while fishing with guide Louie Bartenfield (right).

It’s getting hard to keep up with who is the lake record holder for hybrid bass at Carters. Since 2009, the record has changed hands four times. All of those fish were caught in the month of May.

The newest record holder is Dick Neubert, of Hiawassee, who caught his 13-lb., 5.4-oz. hybrid with a Super Spook while fishing topwater with guide Louie Bartenfield on May 27, 2011. It replaced the 11-lb., 14-oz. fish caught on May 26, 2010 by Martin Pride.

Fisheries Biologist Jim Hakala attributed good growth rates on Carters since the initial stockings of hybrids in 2003 to lots of available forage. He said spotted bass and walleye are also benefitting. Jim said the unexplained arrival of alewife, a herring species similar to bluebacks, in the reservoir in recent years could be a contributing factor to the high  turnover in the hybrid record.

He also said there are some “original-cross” hybrids in the lake, which were stocked between 2004 and 2006. Original-cross hybrid bass, a hybrid created with a female striper and male white bass, are thought to grow larger than “reciprocal-cross” hybrids (male striper/female white bass). Most hybrids stocked in Georgia are reciprocal-cross because it’s easier to obtain white bass than stripers for eggs.

Hybrids typically live seven or eight years, said Jim, but some do live longer.  He thinks the lake-record turnover should begin to slow some with this most recent catch. But he did not dismiss the possibility of a 15- or 16-pounder or one even larger eventually setting the bar for hybrid bass on Carters.

The Carters Lake Page