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| Conservation
Issues |
Fourth Quarter Progress Report 1998
Largemouth bass studies on the Ohio River
23 February 1999
Submitted By:
Dr. Kyle J. Hartman
West Virginia University
Wildlife & Fisheries Program
Division of Forestry
P. O. Box 6125
Morgantown, WV 26506-6125
(304) 293-2941 (ext. 2494)
hartman@wvu.edu
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
During 1998 a total of three studies were initiated to evaluate the largemouth bass populations and the fishery
for largemouth bass in the West Virginia waters of the Ohio River. The first studies were entitled, "Largemouth
bass habitat use in the Belleville Pool of the Ohio River." This study was comprised of two tasks, each representing
the thesis research for an individual Master's student at West Virginia University (WVU). These tasks were: "Adult
largemouth bass radio telemetry" and "Juvenile largemouth bass habitat use." The other study was
one conducted to evaluate the effects of largemouth bass stocking on embayments of the Ohio River. This study,
("Evaluation of largemouth bass stocking in two Ohio River embayments"), also represented the Master's
thesis for a student at WVU.
To date these studies have been largely successful in meeting project objectives. The two studies involving bass
habitat use have experienced problems in capturing as many fish as we would have liked for either habitat analysis
(juveniles) or for radio transmitter implantation (adults). The bass stocking study has provided the most immediate
results with evaluations of the tag retention and initial, post-handling survival of the stocked bass from hatchery
pond studies at Pallestine Fish Hatchery. Stocked fish have been collected through December in both embayments
where they were stocked and have been reported by anglers in sites within the main river, often a good distance
from the original stocking site.
The bass habitat use studies sampling has not always produced the numbers of wild bass that we had originally hoped
for in these studies. Despite 18 field days and 17.75 hours of electro-shocking (since August 1998) catch rates
of juvenile largemouth bass in the Belleville pool have been very poor. We expect these catches to increase this
spring as the water warms, but we will also try some other gears such as bottom trawls to attempt to gather more
information on juvenile habitat usage during the winter months.
Low bass CPUE has also limited the number of fish that we have been able to implant with radio transmitters for
the adult bass habitat studies. We fully expect to get a large number of the remaining 20 tags implanted this spring,
prior to spawning. This is expected because bass CPUE in electroshocking equipment usually increases in the pre-spawn
period as fish move into shallow embayments where waters warm first in the spring.
Special considerations that we need to make (in consultation with WVDNR) in preparation for this year's sampling
include ways to improve catch rates and information from anglers. For example, should we expand the geographic
range of the juvenile bass habitat studies to try and determine what habitats are in use by bass when CPUE in the
Belleville Pool is low? Should we examine post-handling mortality of bass in association with bass tournaments?
Finally, how can we get better information from anglers? We believe we have already taken some steps towards this
latter question through the flier that WVDNR has presented to persons involved with Bass tournaments for 1999. |
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