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I am still curiously awaiting the explanation as to how an entire population of fish vanished. I would think there would have been plenty of time to research the case and figure it out at this point. I liked that fishery it was fun. Yes I know Joe B ZZZZZ.
I still maintain the striper fishery has taken off at the same time the white bass have declined.
Open water schooling fish are an easy target.
Early spawn up the rivers and creeks with the linesiders??? You don't think they're eating them?
Rich
No, they're not. I've cut open thousands of stripers, and have found a bunch of stuff, 99% of which is shad and alwives. I have found a few bluegill, crappie, waterdogs, and even a couple of walleye, but never a white bass. I'm not sure why the whites have disappeared, but my guess is an unidentified disease, similar to LBV. That's just a guess, so I really don't know why they vanished, but it was not because the stripers ate them.
You also have to consider that the best striper fishing was in the 80's, same as the White Bass, so I do not think Stripers are to blame. Probably a number of things. I would also be interested in hearing from someone who has a better understanding of this what the real reason(s) are. I also thought the state was trying to reintroduce White Bass to Cumberland by stocking?
Andrew
Stock a place where who knows how many of thousands of fish existed naturally with no reason as to how they vanished? Study? Research? or try dump some more in and see what happens. Try to stock native walleye in the same water that they came from in cumberland and that is stupid? There has to be a reason for the white bass demise and i really think the managers do not care. No i do not think stripers ate them all, as of the mid 80's when the big stripers had their way with little fishing pressure from bait draggers there were plenty. I believe alewives made the difference as to how many fry they eat which is much more than the plankton focused shad. Just my opinion, And if you want to dump fish in the lake to see what happens then use the rockcastle river strain walleye that were here in the first place as far as stocking and let them fight it out.
I would buy into the alwive theory except that whites have disappeared all over the southeast in lakes that have no alwives. (such as herrington)
one of the last years there was plenty of white bass in Cumberland it seemed that the white bass didn't make a spawning run up the creeks at all that year seemed to stay in the coves on the lower end of the lake.You could catch big female white bass till your arms were tired.
I thought Herrington was doing well for White Bass? Taylorsville too. I know Barkely has had a major decline too.
SSKY, I agree, I would like to know why too before more got dumped in there. Maybe fish and game have some ideas? Like I said, probably a number of factors: several poor spawn years, too much angling pressure, competition from Alewifes, combination of these and other factors.
Andrew
F&Ws opinion is that several consecutive bad spawns did them in. Maybe, but I disagree. I just don't think that would totally decimate a species. I could be wrong. As far as stocking w/out research, the whites being stocked are surpluss from the hatchery, not raised specifically to be stocked in C-land, so why not release them? The whites in Herrington are probably doing better than whites in C-land, but they are still a fraction of what they used to be. Plus, there are lakes in most every southeast state that are experiencing the same thing.
Bad spawns, and over harvesting is my theory. I know some biologist that agree with this. I have been keeping up with the reports after the recent stockings the past few years. Word has it they are doing well and the department is very hopeful of the return of a good population of whites in the big C. This is going to be a fairly long process though I'm afraid.
???
It happened somewhere else is not a reason at all, it is i do not know at best. we have plenty of reasons and situations that occur here (on Cland) that can define the issue but they will not be adressed.....!So let it go no one cares do they?