Yellow Bass and Landlocked Stripers
Kevin Dallmier
Dateline: 6/7/99
When the Georgia Outdoor Writers met at Rome, I had several questions. Kevin was there and responded to me. The first was about landlocked stripers reproducing. I knew they did in a couple of places - never knew they did in Georgia!
Kevin said:
The stripers reproducing is really interesting. It is one of those things I don't think anybody has truly figured yet, but we have a better handle on it now than we did a few years ago. Sure has added another facet to the fishing in the Coosa and Weiss. Some people don't like them, but when you can go out in August and see a 10 pound fish smash your Spook with murder on its mind, I'm all for it. I love to catch stripers using bass techniques. I am not much of a fan of fishing shad on bottom, etc., but throwing plugs and jigs into thick cover and catching big mean hard-fighting fish is about as good as it gets.
Another question I had was about some fish we caught - you can see a picture of this one. My question - "Several people caught golden colored fish. What causes that? Scott is holding one that was very golden colored - the picture does not do it justice. Looked almost brass!"
His answer:
From a closer review of the picture, it looks like a yellow bass. They are thick all through the Coosa system now. Interesting story there too. Yellow bass are native to Tennessee and Mississippi drainages and I don't think had ever been found in GA (even though we have a little bit of TN drainage water). That is until the early 1990's (1991 I think) when we caught some in a gill net in Carters. White bass showed up in Carters about the same time.
Our guess is that someone went to Chickamauga or Nickajack, caught some fish that they though were all whites, and decided that Carters needed white bass so they hauled them back and dumped them in. Problem was that some yellow bass were mixed in too. In the next few years, the population in Carters boomed and then in the summer of 1994 I caught one in the Yellow Creek area of Weiss in AL. Ever since then, they are everywhere. Weiss itself, Coosa River, Chattooga River, etc.
I have always wondered whether they spread down from Carters that fast or if someone hauled some back from Guntersville and dumped them into Weiss about the same time period they first showed up in Carters. The ones in the pictures are average size. They don't even get as big as a white bass. They are really almost a trash fish. They don't get big enough to interest most anglers and are just out there taking up space that could be used by better sport species. The best way to ID one is the yellow that you have notice and the fact that the dark lines are distinctly broken about 2/3 of the way back. Its not a - - - - break like you see on hybrids, but a distinct offset of each line. Something like =====_____ . Wish they weren't here, but we have them now so no use worrying about them.
Fishtales One Year Ago: 06/08/98 - Relaxation Techniques - David Bass tells us how he relaxes to get ready to fish a tournament.
