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State Releases Raised Bass In Pinellas County Lake

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By CARLOS MONCADA, The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 24, 2007

SEMINOLE - Thousands of hatchery-reared bass are settling in for a new life at Lake Seminole.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission on Tuesday released 7,000 6-inch largemouth bass into the 700-acre Pinellas County lake as part of a research project to compare growth and survival rates of stocked bass with those of wild largemouths.

'Hopefully, by stocking we can increase the number of bass in the lake,' said Bill Pouder, a fisheries biologist with the commission. 'The overall objective is to provide a good quality fishery for the anglers.'

The bass were trucked in Tuesday morning from the state fish hatchery in Sumter County. They were transferred to a boat that took them to spots in the lake.

In Florida, stocking 1- to 2-inch bass in established populations has never achieved much success, according to the commission's Fish and Wildlife Research Institute.

The commission hopes to have better luck at Lake Seminole for a couple of reasons: The bass are larger, and they were dispersed.

'Traditionally, we'd dump the fish at the boat ramp,' Pouder said. 'The problem with that is, not to say that the fish were dumb, but they would all sit at the boat ramp.'

The project also will gauge whether a new feed researchers have developed for bass translates into better growth and survival rates.

Early on, the hatchery fish were trained to eat processed food. Before they were released, though, they were introduced to more natural food.

'They're going to have to fight for their own food at this point,' Pouder said. 'We stop feeding them the pellet food and start feeding them fish so they can make that shift.'

The bass were implanted with coded wire tags so hatchery fish can be identified and evaluated later.

'We can detect that with a special wand we have,' Pouder said. 'It will allow us to tell what fish have been stocked versus what fish were produced naturally in the lake.'

Bass from other states have been used in restocking, diluting the Florida strain that is most sought by fishermen.

'Our goal is to get those fish over 14 inches, which is the harvestable size,' Pouder said. 'So if we can increase the number of 14-inch fish, that would be great for the anglers.'

Reporter Carlos Moncada can be reached at (727) 451-2333 or cmoncada@tampatrib.com.

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