Photo by Milt Rosko

For about the last 25 years, the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources (KDFWR) has worked to develop hybrid striped bass fisheries in a number of the state's reservoirs. With the exception of just a couple of spots, the agency has been successful in getting the cross between white bass and striped bass going, and it has fulfilled a special niche for anglers.

The hybrid striped bass is a rather unique species that carries characteristics that make it a little more versatile, and a little more desirable, in some regards, than its pure-strain parent species. The primary reason purebred striped bass are found in relatively few waters compared to other game fish is because stripers must have cold-water habitat year 'round, along with a whole lot of room to roam. Not that many reservoirs fit both of those requirements.

Likewise, the white bass, which can be a prolific species, is highly cyclic in terms of abundance in many lakes, and doesn't grow to a very large size. The average-sized fish caught is only about 11 inches, and that doesn't add up to many pounds per acre of harvest when biologists look at production rates. On the other hand, white bass can live in warmer waters, which are the dominant type of aquatic environment Kentucky's lakes and rivers offer.

The cross between these two species seems to take the best attributes of both and helps to bridge a gap. The hybrid is better suited to warmer water and more fertile lake conditions that stripers can't take very well; hybrids don't have to have as much space as stripers do to wander around. They obviously grow much larger than an average white bass, which rarely reaches the 5-pound mark even at its absolute largest.

One other attractive thing about hybrids, besides their tremendous fighting power, is that this species consumes more prey out in open water than most other native game fish. That's important because a predator species that feeds somewhere most other game fish don't helps to avoid overload on habitat. Since they grow quickly, hybrids can ingest larger prey sooner, thus helping to control baitfish numbers. At the same time, hybrids don't take too much food out of the mouths of the smaller fish like bluegills, crappie and young largemouth (and smallmouth) bass. The primary food source for hybrids is gizzard shad, and within the waters where hybrids have been established, there is an abundance of shad available.

The KDFWR now has five major reservoirs and a couple of smaller impoundments where hybrids are being stocked. The minimum size for a lake to be considered for a hybrid fishery is 300 acres. Of course, there are many other factors that determine whether or not a waterway is suited for this species.

According to Jim Axon, assistant director for the KDFWR fisheries division, in most of the major lakes where hybrid fishing has been developed, the agency has found it has actually gotten two fisheries for their efforts.

"At Barren and Rough River lakes, especially, we've developed some excellent lake hybrid fishing, but it also turns out that a really good fishery has come on below the dams in the tailwaters of these two lakes," Axon said.

"Our creel survey information indicates that up to nearly three tons of hybrids have been being taken below the dam on Barren, and over a ton's worth of hybrids is also being caught out of the Rough River tailwater each year.