October 19, 2006

Frankfort, Kentucky – Biologists recently stocked largemouth bass in nine Kentucky lakes as part of the second year of the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources’ Largemouth Bass Initiative. Minor Clark Hatchery near Morehead and Pfeiffer Hatchery near Frankfort produced 138,500 largemouth bass between 4- to 6-inches long.

The Largemouth Bass Initiative takes a proactive approach to bass stocking by sampling lakes in fall to determine the success of the preceding spring’s spawn of largemouth bass. Those lakes that experienced poor spawning the previous spring get a stocking of largemouth bass that fall.

“We were able to stock 13,000 or so in Green River Lake this year and over 23,000 in Yatesville Lake,” said Chris Hickey, black bass research biologist for Kentucky Fish and Wildlife.

Seven other Kentucky lakes received stockings of thousands of 4- to 6-inch largemouth bass. Carr Creek Lake in southeastern Kentucky received 7,241 while Taylorsville Lake received 15,350. Laurel River Lake near London received 56,043 largemouth bass while nearby Woods Creek Lake, current home of the 13-pound, 10.4-ounce Kentucky state record largemouth bass, received 6,920.

Southeastern Kentucky’s Buckhorn Lake received 12,480 largemouth bass while A.J. Jolly in northern Kentucky received 2,040. Beaver Lake in Anderson County received 1,580 largemouth bass. These stockings took place in September and early October.

Stable weather this past spring improved the largemouth bass spawn and should lead to better fishing in a few years.

“We had great environmental conditions last spring,” Hickey said, “so we didn’t need to stock as many lakes as we did last year. We had favorable spawning this past spring. It is important for anglers to realize that they won’t see the benefits of these stockings and this good spawn until three to four years down the road.”

The same stable weather conditions also improved production of largemouth bass at the hatcheries. “The hatcheries produced nearly 20,000 more bass this year using the same number of ponds,” said Ryan Oster, federal aid coordinator for the fisheries division of the Kentucky Fish and Wildlife. “All of their hard work benefits the anglers of Kentucky.”