TWRA will be stocking several thousand Florida largemouth bass fingerlings into Ft. Loudon Lake on Friday at Ish Creek boat ramp in Louisville. The stocking is part of a larger effort to expand Florida largemouth bass genetics into more waters across Tennessee.
After the very successful and popular Florida largemouth bass stocking into Chickamauga Reservoir, plans are now to ramp up the program to include Nickajack, Watts Bar, Fort Loudoun, and Kentucky Reservoirs.
In 1998, TWRA began stocking Florida largemouth bass into some smaller, Agency-owned lakes in the middle and western part of the state. However, the TWRA also wanted to consider stocking Florida largemouth bass into at least one larger reservoir with the goals of (1) increasing the Florida largemouth bass gene to at least 15% and (2) growing bigger bass.
In 2000, TWRA stocked Chickamauga with Florida largemouth bass as an experiment. Ten years later, testing revealed that the Florida largemouth bass gene had increased to an average of over 33% across the lake, thus meeting the goal of at least 15% Florida genetics andfishermen began reporting astounding catches with tournament anglers weighing five bass over 30 pounds. In 2012, Chickamauga made bass fishing news when tournament anglers caught a limit of five bass weighing nearly 45 pounds.
In February of this year, while fishing on Chickamauga, 28-year-old Campbell County High School history teacher Gabe Keen made history by catching the new state record largemouth bass weighing 15 pounds 3 ounces. Genetic testing revealed that this fish was a cross between a Florida largemouth bass strain and a northern largemouth bass strain.
According to TWRA Fisheries Biologist John Hammonds, “This hybrid type cross is the desirable fish as it grows big but retains its aggressiveness, similar to the favorable qualities of hybrid vigor.”
More information about the stocking of Florida largemouth bass into Tennessee’s waters can be found at: http://www.tn.gov/twra/fish/Reservoir/FLMBstocking.pdf
Ish Creek boat ramp is a TVA lake access between Friendsville and Louisville that can be accessed off Highway 333 Quarry Road. For a detailed map, visit: http://www.tnfish.org/ReservoirLakeMapsTennessee_TWRA/FortLoudounReservoir_IshCreekTVABoatRamp_TWRA.htm