SML Striper Growth

[BentRod]

Dan Wilson sent me this chart earlier. This age/length data is obtained through gill nets and anglers turning in fish heads (DWR uses the heads to determine age of fish). It’s important data because as you can see our fish growth isn’t quite where we want it (goal is at the top with Leesville historical growth) - our fish are somewhat stunted around age 6 or 7 - it may be improving slightly if you average out years 2019-2021.

My understanding is that the Striper Club is pushing to get a couple more freezers at marinas this summer so anglers can turn in their fish heads to assist in the collection of this data. You can reach out to Chad Gilmore ([mention]hokiechad [/mention]) with the Striper Club if you’d like to help.

[BentRod]

One additional graph from Dan. This one shows the length range of each age class (for the year 2020). For example, age 5 fish in 2020 ranged from about 25” to 32.5” or so.

You can also see some of the older fish (13-16yr olds) that stalled out back probably in 2010-2014 timeframe and they have never made up that growth - still under 30”.

[herringbone]

Interesting info. Thanks for sharing.

[BentRod]

Bigun wanted posts…

Here is another chart from Dan that shows the gizzard shad catch rates with gill nets in comparison to striper growth of fish age 0 to 3. As you can see, the more gizzards we have in the system, the better our striper growth is early in their lifecycle. He’s a little concerned that the threadfins have thinned out the gizzards and have caused a decline in striper growth early on.



It’s my understanding that Dan will be speaking at an upcoming Striper Club meeting and likely sharing much more data and insights into the current state of the fishery than shown here. I suggest you join the club and attend the meeting or possibly watch on Facebook if they stream it.

Here is a link to this month’s Striper Club meeting with the hatchery folks - very informative.

fb.watch/b3vAheueL7/

[piper]

Feb 7, 2022 19:49:52 GMT -5 BentRod said:

Dan Wilson sent me this chart earlier. This age/length data is obtained through gill nets and anglers turning in fish heads (DWR uses the heads to determine age of fish). It’s important data because as you can see our fish growth isn’t quite where we want it (goal is at the top with Leesville historical growth) - our fish are somewhat stunted around age 6 or 7 - it may be improving slightly if you average out years 2019-2021.

My understanding is that the Striper Club is pushing to get a couple more freezers at marinas this summer so anglers can turn in their fish heads to assist in the collection of this data. You can reach out to Chad Gilmore ([mention]hokiechad [/mention]) with the Striper Club if you’d like to help.

Random Question - How is the stripers age determined? 

[johnr]

Ear bones..

[bigun3]

    Dear Tyler  
 
  There are not enough fish heads turned in, to reach any conclusion of a trend and should be removed from the chart in the first post. Also, there are quite a few bigger fish that are released, that are not represented in any collection of data. I personally released 5 citations last year. Caught another one that didn't make it (yams 30lber) ..... and there are waaay better fishermen than me on the lake that release the bigger fish they catch.

    I do somewhat agree with the gizzard to growth graph.   
    The reason I don't totally agree.... Back in the day, the lake was full (millions)of threadfins and big fish. I have seen schools of threadfin 60' thick. Every cold winter, there would be a huge (hundreds of thousands) die off of them floating dead everywhere. They would eventually sink, where the fish were waiting with open mouths, resulting in big, fat, stripers. 

    And besides, you and Mike rarely fish anymore, so there has to be bigger fish in the lake. 

   thank you for posting. 

   Your friend
      Bigun

 

 

 

[BentRod]

Without a doubt the data on the larger fish is lacking. Dan knows this but he has what he has. I think his younger fish (age 4-7) data is pretty solid after about 2012 - Todd used to keep him well stocked up during summer - not sure whether that’s still the case or not. Even still, there’s enough data there over the last 20yrs time to make conclusions. Personally, I like what I am seeing - overall population is up, fish are growing slightly better up to year 6, and the gizzard forage is better than Dan’s data shows I think, although the threads are way up. Follow the year 6 column down from about 2012 to 2021, and there are improvements from 27” up to 30” year over year on average. That’s a good sign IMO as the concern years ago (back in 2013) was that the fish were stalling out at the bottom of the slot limit. We may now be seeing the full effect of changing that slot limit 6-7yrs ago - timing makes sense anyways.

My only concern would be, will the fish stall out at 30” now or are they moving on through after age 6? We aren’t far enough out of the slot change to know how the bigger fish are growing because any fish stocked in 2015 (the year the slot floor increased from 26” to 30”) would just now be approaching age 7 - might have a better idea in a few years. Some of the older stunted fish (with what limited data that chart shows) aren’t growing. Dan said this could be the reason behind the decrease in larger fish we’ve seen over the past two years - some of the 5-7yr old fish from the 2012-2015 timeframe may not have grown through to 35”+ if they were stunted, hence the decrease in overall numbers of 35”+ fish now some 7-10yrs later. And yes, we’ve caught multiple citations over the last couple of years (wouldn’t know the age of fish released anyways), but by and large the numbers of larger fish are down - data supports this including the last 2yrs of Mafia tournament results. The overall numbers of fish are up though and that’s great news.

I’m not sure we can compare the old days to now. Lots of differences in the lake, water quality, forage population, fishing pressure, etc.

[bigun3]

   I was just comparing striper growth from the old days. Gizzard vs threadfin. Threw everything else out. 

  Back in the old days, the storm had to actually happen before they cancelled school.  

[bigun3]

   I miss the good old days. You could actually have an opinion without offending somebody.  

[BentRod]

Feb 14, 2022 5:24:57 GMT -5 bigun3 said:

   I miss the good old days. You could actually have an opinion without offending somebody.  

Who are you offending now?!

[bigun3]

  
   No worries ... After all these years, I finally figured out, old ways don't open new doors.