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Originally Posted by Sundancefisher
Wow...lots of commenting on me and nothing negative. Where is my stalker? Anyways...I read two ideas...one was just generally stocking bass and the other was suggesting putting bass in stocked put and take lakes. I did say I was torn...as such I agree with both Donkey and Horsetrader. I believe that it would be cool and I don't see bass taking over anything...like perch or snakeheads or asian carp. I do see it being very expensive to stock bass and to make it somewhat better cost effective we would need to find a large lake and try to establish a population. An aggressive predator in a small put and take lake would need a food source (minnows and crayfish) and such a lake would not support a lot of them. As such very few to be caught and definitely no harvest. In a large lake...I could not see harvest for 10 years (assuming we got a stable population). To get a stable population you would have to protect them and try and get them to naturally produce and then have the offspring survive to reproduce. Seeing consecutive years of successful year classes would be required. Smallies live quite well with walleye, lakers and pike in eastern US. However...winters are different and average water temperatures are probably higher.
If someone told me...hey Sundancefisher...we have approval from the Government including a budget and Alberta fishermen...including them dam locals (LOL...that was for HD)... I would probably pick Newell due to the southern proximity. Wabamun was tried probably due to the warmer effluent from the power plant...but still it did not work (I suspect predation).
So now I have Newell. I would get eggs from an Eastern Canada population...preferably as far north as possible as we know they have the best survival chances. While the eggs are hatching then growing for a couple years...I would open the lake up to liberal fishing limits on Walleye and Pike...extra emphasis on the Pike...less emphasis on the Walleye. Once the smallies are of a larger size...say 12 inches...I would release a large (but not too large) number into the lake...then continue stocking for the next 5 years... Each year test sampling in the Spring to gauge condition factors. Come spawning age...surveys to find spawning areas would be conducted. Then yearly surveys as well as sampling for young of the year and successive year classes.
It would be a fun project...but I would not guarantee that in 15 years we would have a reproducing population.
So...when can I start.
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Sent out E-Mail conformation should hear soon........
