This past Tuesday morning, Feb. 04, a group of experienced anglers put their skills to good use on the clear, cool waters of Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir in an attempt to collect mature, egg-laden white bass for use in the production of hybrid striped bass by Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) personnel.

Joining me were Andy Amburn, Phil Moore, Cody Talley, and Dustin Marsh.

CAPTION: From left: Dustin Marsh, Phil Moore, Cody Talley, and Andy Amburn joined local fishing guide Bob Maindelle to collect mature female white bass to enhance hybrid striped bass production by TPWD. Right photo shows the 64 fish transferred by these efforts to the TPWD hatchery in Dundee, TX. These fish will produce millions of eggs each year they are in captivity.

I took Moore, Talley, and Marsh aboard my boat, while Amburn set out on his own boat. In this manner we were able to cover different parts of the lake and catch fish from different schools of fish, thus increasing the likelihood of dissimilar DNA being possessed by the captured fish.

We met at 7:15AM and determined that we would retain all legal (10-inch minimum) white bass which did not emit milt when their abdomens were gently squeezed, thus increasing the likelihood that only female fish were retained.

By the time the first hour had passed, those in my boat had landed over thirty fish, fifteen of which we retained.

We noted some issues with barotrauma due to the depth from which some of the fish were taken from. Fortunately, Marsh, a large animal veterinarian who specializes in dairy herd care, had some 18-gauge needles in his work truck.

We vented the fish exhibiting signs of barotrauma and got them to right themselves and got back on track thanks to Marsh’s ingenuity.

The tactics we used to capture these fish included slowly reeling white, 5/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs upwards off bottom to draw bottom-hugging fish upward, and/or reeling these same lures past suspended fish as we viewed them on Garmin LiveScope.

Occasionally, when in less than thirty feet of water, after we had fished an area thoroughly with vertical tactics, we used white, curl-tail grubs on jigheads to work out away from the boat horizontally using a “sawtooth” retrieve.

Over the course of four hours, we found fish at four distinct areas, ranging from twenty-seven feet to forty-seven feet in depth.

As we concluded our efforts around 11:15AM, we met back up with Amburn just after we had finished transferring the second batch of fish from my boat into the TPWD trailer operated by Talley.

After Amburn’s fish were transferred, the total number of white bass headed to the Dundee Hatchery for hybrid striped bass production was sixty-four. Over fifty percent of these exceeded 15 inches.

Not all the fish we landed were able to be retained. We returned all male white bass, all undersized fish, and all fish of other species to the water.
Those that were retained were transported the same day to the Dundee State Fish Hatchery near Wichita Falls, Texas.

Within a few weeks these fish will be induced to release their eggs. These eggs will be mixed by hand with the milt (fish version of semen) from male striped bass to produce a hybrid striped bass referred to as the sunshine bass.

Several million fry will be able to be produced from this small batch of sixty-four female white bass.

These will be stocked as either fry or fingerlings in reservoirs across the state to sustain the popular hybrid striped bass fisheries in those locations.

This cooperation between the TPWD and private sector has taken place for several years now and has played a part in producing and stocking hybrid striped bass more predictably and consistently.

Prior to using angler-caught female white bass, TPWD personnel relied upon the capture of female striped bass collected via electro-fishing efforts at a handful of locations in north and northeast Texas.
For various reasons, these locations have failed to consistently yield the number and size of female striped bass required to meet the statewide demand for hybrid.

Since male striped bass are not nearly as challenging to locate and collect, TPWD biologists began experimenting with using the opposite gender mix for hybrid production – something which has been done in the private sector at places like the Keo Fish Farm in Keo, Arkansas, very successfully for many years.

Amburn summarized our morning’s effort well when he said, “This was fun — it was like fishing with a mission.”.