Hybrid Striped Bass History

The history of Hybrid Striped Bass is very interesting to me, and I wanted to share a few paragraphs from the book listed below for those that may be interested, which in turn necessitates a review of the Striped Bass history in North America.

The following review is based on historical references from:

CULTURE AND PROPAGATION OF STRIPED BASS AND ITS HYBRIDS
Edited by
Reginal M. Harrell
Jerome Howard Kirby
R. Vernon Minton
American Fisheries Society

Chapter 11, page 159
Hybridization, Genetic manipulation, and Gene Pool Conservation of striped Bass

“R.E. Stevens produced the first hybrids between female striped bass and male white bass (SBxWB) in South Carolina in 1965 (Bishop 1968). It has since been demonstrated the striped bass hybrids show heterosis (hybrid vigor), expressed in improved survival, superior early growth rates, greater disease resistance, and increased general hardiness………..

As a result, this hybrid has been artificially propagated and widely stocked in freshwater impoundments for control of shad (Dorosoma spp.) and as a food and sport fish. More recently, the reciprocal of the original cross, female white bass x male striped bass (WBxSB) has been used similarly, and its popularity with management biologists and commercial aquaculturists has increased dramatically over the past few years.

Chapter 1, page 1
History and Overview of Striped Bass Culture and Management

Striped Bass have long been utilized as food, and more recently as a superb sport fish and commercially cultured product. The Massachusetts Bay Colony passed the first legislation in Colonial America to protect a fish species in 1639, when the use of striped bass as fertilizer was prohibited. A tax was levied on the striped bass fishery in 1670 that partially funded the establishment of the first public schools in the new World (Setzler et al. 1980). Antropogenic effects on this species in terms of excessive harvest, destruction of habitat, and pollution have been discussed in literature for more than 100 years Worth 1884; Raney et al. 1952; Mansueti 1962; Coutant 1985a; Goodyear 1985; Price et al. 1985). In recent years antropogenic influences have likely been responsible for dramatic declines in several of the largest coastal populations, most notably Chesapeake Bay and Albermarle Sound (Mehrle et al. 1982)

Striped Bass have been considered desirable for transfer to other areas since they were first successfully introduced to the Pacific coast. In 1879 and 1881, 435 yearling fish were seined from the Navesink and Shrewbury Rivers in New Jersey, transported across the country by train, and released in San Francisco Bay. Within 10 years, an important fishery had developed in central California (Rainey et al. 1952). this population subsequently expanded from southern California to the Columbia River in Oregon.……………..

Inland striped bass programs grew rapidly following the development of culture methodology and facilities, and seven striped bass fisheries had been established in impoundments by 1970, and 23 by 1973 (Bailey 1975). By 1981, striped bass fisheries were established in 100 lakes and reservoirs with a total area slightly greater than 2.4 million acres, while hybrid bass fisheries were present in 179 impoundments (Axon and Whitehurst 1985). Inland striped bass and hybrid programs increased from two established fisheries, which totaled 210,000 acres in the mid-1950s, to 279 lakes (3,953,600 acres) in 1981. Crude estimates indicated these fisheries were yielding annual recreational harvests of over 5.5 million pounds of striped bass and hybrids by 1981.”

HYBRID STRIPED BASS


STRIPED BASS



HYBRID STRIPED BASS
http://www.pondboss.com/cgi-bin/ubbcgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=5;t=000199

HSB Pond
http://www.pondboss.com/cgi-bin/ubbcgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=5;t=000344

George's photos!
http://www.pondboss.com/cgi-bin/ubbcgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=5;t=000308

HSB study results
http://www.pondboss.com/cgi-bin/ubbcgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=5;t=000450

Winter feeding HSBTopic: Winter feeding HSB Topic: Winter feeding HSB
http://www.pondboss.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=20;t=003602
http://www.pondboss.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=10;t=000180
http://www.pondboss.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=10;t=000180

HSB in Hot Summer Weather
http://www.pondboss.com/cgi-bin/ubbcgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=7;t=000341

HSB Lifespan
http://www.pondboss.com/cgi-bin/ubbcgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=5;t=000509;p=1

HSB Pond Record
http://www.pondboss.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=20;t=003596

HSB/Striped Bass Analogy
http://www.pondboss.com/cgi-bin/ubbcgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=20;t=003651

I nominate for Archive status. Anyone second?

Second, but I'd like to see George be able to add to the post later. If he wants to send additions as he see fit, to me, I'll add them on.

I move to add this thread as a link under Bruce's HSB fish intro. Best of both worlds. I will do and later remove my post here.

Outstanding post and fish, George. Does anyone know what the food conversion efficiency is for HSB?

How big is the hybrid in the picture and where did it come from? How old is it?

Burger - According to SRAC - Hybrid Striped Bass -Pond Production of Foodfish:

"The feeding rate should be around 1 percent of body weight per day. Food conversion ratios of 2 to 1 or less are expected."

Those rates are for fish up to 225 g -- 1/2lb. Lets see if this chart will work.

James, this is the "best" specimen HSB photo I have in my photo file, and I don't have a credit for it. Background looks like a shocking boat

HSB photo below is 13#8oz -I took the picture.
Striper is 19 lbs. - photo credit D. Glazener

Those are excellent fish. If I ever catch a twenty pounder or better I would like to mount it. Seeing these large fish makes me wonder what the limit is for a hybrid bass in a pond. Does anyone know what the record is?

James, google TP&WL private waters HSB record.
If I recall correctly, in Texas it's a few ounces over 5lbs...
Go for it..

George, Meadowlark, & Holt may be ahead of me now...but my Spring 2005 class is over 2 lbs already, I will be throwing my "hat" into the Texas record challenge when my HSB are 4 years old If they top the 5 lb mark before me, and my threadfins survive, I'll wait 3 years and try to clip them at 8 LBS.

Consider that a warning shot fired across the bow boys !

Does anyone have any tidbits of info. as to why some HSB have solid horizontal black bars/stripes while others have their stripes jumbled up like some bad binary code?

Reference the first and second photos in the beginning of this thread.

Sunil - The horizontal striping is solid lines on the striped bass and the hybrids have broken lines - jumbled as you call them. The fish in the photo with solid lines is a striped bass not a hybrid. Also note that the striped bass is typically a more slender bodied fish than a HSB.

Any moderator can move items into Archives - correct? Theo, if you like it copy it to archives.

Bill that is correct. But no one else can add to the thread once it is archived and posting on going discussions in the archives is not its design. I added the link to Bruce's HSB pond fish archive so the thread won't get lost. As editor of the archives it is your call Bill.

I had not noted the captions for the first two pics. Thanks Bill.

http://www.pondboss.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=20;t=003596
:p :rolleyes:

Fished Lake Texoma this morning.
Really great morning on the water – air temp 62 degrees – water 50.
Several nice stripers and a smallie.

Note broken stripes on SB, similar to HSB but definitely a striper of questionable parentage.

SMB photo a bonus for PB smallie lovers out there – since off topic I will delete after a short period.

George -- do you have a length measurement on that smallie? Very nice fish, nice color, and nice fins.

George leave the pics up for a while. Thanks.

What do you think about the possibility of it being a result of a HSB backcross with a SB ?

Dr. Willis, I plead ignorance for not documenting.
Not unusual to catch 4lb class SMB.

That smallmouth is outstanding.

Eric, it has to be a backcross or some sort of confused genetics.

The broken stripes are not that uncommon, but with in-breeding from SB that were introduced into Lake Texoma in the ‘60’s, anything is possible.

TP&W biologists tell me that HSB have never been stocked in the lake, but I’ve caught several. May have come over a dam somewhere upstream, or natural spawn?

Texoma is one of the few lakes in the country that have prolific natural SB spawns, and most years there is little to no current to support the literature that insists there has to be a current to support the eggs.

My opinion is that the brackish lake water increases the density causing increased flotation?

George, I see no need to remove the smallie pic. It's great!

But don't be surprised if my face somehow mysteriously appears superimposed over your face.

I don't know who would do such a thing, but it happens.

You've got another Shinerbock coming.

George -- you may very well be right about the brackish water (one of the two arms is "saltier" than the other, isn't it? I can't remember river names -- I've only worked on the reservoir once).

There actually are two ways that striped bass can successfully spawn and recruit in reservoirs. They have nearly neutral buoyancy eggs, just slightly heavier than water. So, when they spawn in rivers, as you mentioned, the eggs are carried downstream with the current until they hatch.

One of the few other places where striped bass consistently and naturallly reproduce/recruit is in Lake Powell. There, the thought is that they spawn along some of those steep canyon walls. The eggs sink so very slowly that they hatch before they reach bottom. So, perhaps the brackish water in Texoma helps keep the eggs from sinking or at least slows their sinking to a slower rate yet? Bob may know?

Really weird distorted stripes on that SB.

A few years back, I read a brief article in a fishing magazine (In-Fisherman, I think?). They were attempting to verify the length of a fish via an old photo. I think it was a pike or a musky.

An ex-military intelligence officer had wrote in; he had a lot of experience analyzing photos.

He suggested that a grown man's hand would exhibit a pretty certain amount of distance between the middle knuckle and the last knuckle on a certain finger. I think it was 1.5"

If I measure my middle finger's knuckle distance (because george's right middle finger seems to be showing clearly), I measure 1.5"

If george's is 1.5", than I think that smallie must be over well 21" long.

I wonder if that smallie isn't 5lbs. or a little more.

The article was about establishing the validity of a photo of the world record 25 pound walleye. The fish had little other verifiable information, so it was subsequently rejected.

I'm pretty sure it was a pike or musky in the article I saw, but as we all know, there's a ton of fish floating around in somewhat suspect photos.

I have been searching diligently for my old HSB threads since the archived links are no longer operative.
Finally found one that I had put a lot of effort into and wanted to “bump” it so maybe others can be found.

Maybe it can be archived separately from Bruce’s HSB pond fish archive that that been lost.





http://www.pondboss.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=11180&fpart=1

http://www.pondboss.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=79022&fpart=1

http://www.pondboss.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Forum/20/topic/003602/Number/0/site_id/1

http://www.pondboss.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=92629

http://www.pondboss.com/forums/ubbthread...c=0&Search=true

Just to get this thread back on track...

Who on the Forum has the farthest geographically north population of HSB? Is it true that they won’t survive in water below 40 degrees Fahrenheit? I read that somewhere.

My HSB do great in ponds that are frozen over for months at a time. My biggest that I've grown is 15 pounds.

The only problem with cold water is that they don't grow much when water temps dip below the low 50's, although some forum members observe feedings with water temps in that general range.

I don't know about the current world record status, but I know that for quite some time it was from a reservoir in Colorado, and weighed somewhere in the neighborhood of 25 pounds.

I have an existing population of maybe 30-35 HSB in the 3 lbs. plus range, and they overwinter with water temps at 39F.

My pond is in Somerset PA. just for N/S reference.

If I were you, Dwight, I'd find a source for some HSB that were 12-15" and stock 30-50 of 'em.

Larger sized HSB of the 12"-15" size are not common and probably quite rare in most states. Sunil is very, very fortunate to have a supplier for the 12"-15" fish. Locating a source within an 8 hr drive of MN is very likely difficult. The most likely way to find these larger fish for stocking would be to locate an aquaculture grower of HSB for the food market. HSB in the 6"-8" size range are easier to find but still not all that common. Are HSB even allowed in water of MN by the DNR?

When do you guys want this thread archived? Now or after activity has subsided?

That is the same size Walleye that I have been considering and about 100 of them.

Do you think the HSB and Walleye would like each other?

This chart from
North American Journal of Aquaculture 61:278–285, 1999

q Copyright by the American Fisheries Society 1999

Cold Tolerance and Fatty Acid Composition of

Striped Bass, White Bass, and Their Hybrids

ANITA M. KELLY*1 AND CHRISTOPHER C. KOHLER

should answer the question. They can survive as long as they are not frozen into the ice = 0 C.

Firstly Dwight is it legal to bring HSB into MN? HSB and walleye would work together if you had proper forage fish. If you pellet fed the HSB fewer forage fish would be needed to sustain both predators. Adding walleye will not work real well if there is an existing population of LMB at or near capacity in the water body. With total LMB competition present, not enough food will be available to sustain the walleye and catch results of survivors will be dismal. Success will depend also on size of water body.

I question if you can even locate any 12"-15" HSB besides Sunil's PA source. To get larger sized HSB in Ohio I had to grow my own in a cage for one to two years. I was able to grow HSB to 13"-14.6" long in small 28"-36" dia cages. Stocker fish were from 4"-6" long.


For you in MN, finding 12"-15" walleye (WE) should not be a big problem.

For reference: a 0.5ac pond that receives high protein 40% pellets near me in NW Ohio has a mixed population of fish that includes a few HSB. Several HSB were caught this summer that were all stocked at the same time; lengths and weights ranged from 24"-27.5" and 8.5-12 lbs.

Getting back to Dwight's original question, Ed Eitel has the most Northwestern population of HSB, in the upper left corner of Nebraska (a little farther North than Bruce). IIRC he said they are illegal in the states North and West of him.

Speaking of Ed, we have not heard from him for some time.

After hours of searchng the archives, I finally found the thread I have been looking for:
http://www.pondboss.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=11180&fpart=1


http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=11180&fpart=1

Here's another one:
http://www.pondboss.com/forums/ubbthread...ite_id/1#import