Great article from “The Online Fisherman”: Can Tennessee biologists turn Lake Chickamauga into another Lake Fork? Probably not. Lake Fork in Texas is the gold standard for trophy bass fisheries, and duplicating the success there is not a reasonable expectation, especially for a state with a less-than-hospitable climate. But resource managers in Tennessee are hopeful that they can grow bigger bass in Chickamauga through the introduction of Florida-strain largemouths into the population.
“I’m convinced that Florida bass will grow big in Tennessee,” said Bobby Wilson, fisheries chief for the Department of Wildlife Resources (DWR). “I hope that can happen in Chickamauga. And, if it does, we’ll move to other lakes with the plan.”
So far, Wilson has one very persuasive piece of evidence to support his conviction. In October of 2009, biologists electro-shocked a largemouth that weighed 16 pounds, 15 ounces. The fish was found in Browns Creek Lake, where Florida largemouths also have been stocked. By contrast, the existing state record is 14 pounds, 8 ounces and was caught in 1954.
“We’ve had a few 13-pounders reported by fishermen (from agency lakes),” Wilson said. “They probably were Florida bass. But the verdict is still out on Chickamauga.”
The same goes for Lake Guntersville, just to the south in Alabama.
Keith Floyd, a fisheries supervisor for the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources said they are in the process of finishing up the project right now.
“We haven’t stocked them (Florida bass) on a regular basis, he said. It’s been periodically in one or two embayments (small bays), to see if we can incorporate Florida genomes into the population.” Continue reading….
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