Georgia Shifts Lineside Stocking Toward More Striped Bass In 2005, Far Fewer Hybrids

A look at this year’s statewide stocking proposals shows it’s not just five middle Georgia lakes that will see a lineside stocking change this year.

All the lakes on the Chattahoochee River are on a list to receive striper fingerlings this May, including West Point and Eufaula.

Statewide, nine reservoirs will be stocked with stripers this year that either have never received stripers or haven’t had them stocked in more than a decade. In addition to West Point and Eufaula, those lakes are Goat Rock, High Falls, Jackson, Oconee, Oliver, Sinclair, and Tobesofkee. Lake Seminole is scheduled to receive 13 stripers per acre this year, up from less than seven per acre two years ago, while hybrid stockings there have gone from 10 per acre to none.

Some anglers have expressed concerns about the plan. One concern is that stripers in general can be more difficult to catch than hybrids. There has also been opposition expressed by a few bass fishermen worried that stripers could change the dynamics of some lakes.

Tim Barrett, a senior biologist with WRD Fisheries, collects the eggs from a striped bass at the Richmond Hill hatchery. Georgiaʼs ability to produce stripers has greatly improved.

At the heart of this shift from hybrids to stripers is the desire to bring back coastal stripers. Efforts by federal and state fisheries agencies to restore populations of Gulf Coast strain stripers and Atlantic strain stripers is key to the state’s decision to stock stripers in lakes that traditionally received only hybrids.

Some of the hybrids stocked in reservoirs pass through dams during high-water releases and make their way into the river systems and to coastal areas. By stocking the reservoirs with hybrids, the state was in effect also stocking the Oconee, Ocmulgee and Altamaha rivers with hybrid bass. Biologists believe hybrid bass may hinder efforts to restore a self-sustaining striped-bass population in the rivers and coastal areas because of competition between the two species for food.

Another factor that allows the state to increase striper stocking numbers is the state’s improved ability to produce striped-bass fingerlings.

The lakes new to the striper-stocking proposal are warmer, more shallow, and generally don’t offer the cold-water sanctuaries needed by older, 20-lb. and larger striped bass. Once stripers in Georgia lakes reach 15 to 20 pounds, they seek out cold-water refuges during the hot summer months. On lakes where a summer thermocline doesn’t set up, larger stripers will migrate up the tributaries in search of cold-water springs. The lack of availability of cooler water will limit the growth of the stripers on these warmer lakes. However, biologists say that stripers will grow well up to the 15- to 20-lb. range in these lakes. Hybrids rarely reach 10 pounds and typically don’t live longer than six or seven years.

Striped bass are collected from the hatchery to put on trucks and taken for stocking on Georgia lakes.

Statewide, WRD hopes to stock about 2.5 million striper fingerlings this year, compared to 1 million in 2003. The goal for hybrid fingerlings this year is 1.9 million, compared to 3.2 million in 2003.

Georgia’s Proposed 2005 Stocking Rates For Stripers And Hybrids

Allatoona
2.5 stripers/ac.
12 hybrids/ac.

Altamaha River
20,000 stripers

Bartletts Ferry
10 stripers/ac.

Black Shoals
10 hybrids/ac.

Blackshear
10 stripers/ac.
3 hybrids/ac.

Carters
5 stripers/ac.
5 hybrids/ac.

Clarks Hill ** Includes South Carolina stocking.
7.5 to 10 stripers/ac.
7.5 to 10 hybrids/ac.

Goat Rock
5 stripers/ac.

Eufaula
2 stripers/ac.
10 hybrids/ac.

Evans Co. PFA
46 hybrids/ac.

Hartwell ** Includes South Carolina stocking.
7.5 to 10 stripers/ac.
7.5 to 10 hybrids/ac.

High Falls
10 stripers/ac.
10 hybrids/ac.

Hugh Gillis PFA
18 hybrids/ac.

Jackson
10 stripers/ac.
10 hybrids/ac.

Juliette
10 stripers/ac.

Lake Rutledge
20 hybrids/ac.

Lanier
8 stripers/ac.

Nottely
20 stripers/ac.
5 hybrids/ac.

Oconee
10 stripers/ac.
10 hybrids/ac.

Oliver
20 stripers/ac.

Savannah River
40,000 stripers

Seminole
13 stripers/ac.

Sinclair
10 stripers/ac.
10 hybrids/ac.

Tobesofkee
10 stripers/ac.
10 hybrids/ac.

Varner
10 hybrids/ac.

West Point
10 stripers/ac.
10 hybrids/ac.