[Mike Pereira] We are tempering hybrid striped bass here
at Cedar Creek Reservoir.
We have 84,400 in this truck right here at Cedar Creek Reservoir, and there is actually
another truck coming with probably about the same amount, be here in about an hour.
[Richard Ott] That is a bunch of fish.
The idea here is that this is a species that does not reproduce itself, these are actually
produced in the hatchery using the eggs of the striped bass and the milt of the white
bass.
They are combined in the hatchery, and we are trying to make these hybrid stripers.
The advantage of the hybrid striper is that that way, we have total control over the numbers
of fish that are out there.
We can match our stocking rates to the amount of forage that is in a particular body of
water.
(sounds of water, boat motor) [Richard Ott]
Typically, we would be using the sonar to find concentrations of fish, if we were fishing.
But today we are trying to find areas of the lake that do not have any predatory fish.
We want to turn these little fingerlings loose in the places they have the best chance of
survival.
So we are going to be watching for schools of white bass or anything else that might
eat these little fellows, and we are going to avoid them any way that we possibly can.
Because we do have so much open water habitat, and because we have such a good shad population
out here, we can support this other predator.
The predator we are using in this case is the Palmetto Bass or what is commonly called
the hybrid striped bass.
It is a species that a lot of anglers do not really understand.
Angler perception is that the hybrid competes with the largemouth bass.
It is not a competition issue, it is a reaction to the habitat that is out here issue.
We know we can not produce largemouth bass.
We do not have the vegetation to do that.
But we have a lot of open water habitat that is real good for the shad and good for the
hybrid striper.
And then again, because it is a hybrid that does not reproduce itself naturally, we have
total control over the numbers that are out here.
If we have a year where we have a very high production of shad, and a very abundant forage
base, we can increase our stocking rate to take advantage of that.
If on the other hand we had atmospheric conditions that limit the production of forage, then
we can temporarily curtail the stocking of hybrid stripers so we do not run into a situation
where we have more fish out here than we can feed.
Once we get out here, we start looking at the graph.
We look for bait balls or we look for other schools of existing predators, and if we see
that, we will just leave this area and go somewhere else.
Right now what I am seeing is mostly open water.
We know we have this good green color that indicates that we have a real good phytoplankton
bloom.
That phytoplankton bloom is what will support the zooplankton bloom, and the zooplankton
are what is going to feed these little hybrids.
So what is going to happen is Jake is going to start releasing these fish.