Striped bass

[Leon Roskilly]

The American striped bass lives its life in salt-water, but spawns in freshwater.

 

In the states, some populations have found themselves land-locked by dams, and have adapted to living entirely in freshwater.

 

This led to them being stocked in lakes, and in some lakes successfully spawning there.

 

 

A striped bass reportedly caught at Dover breakwater raises some intriguing questions.

 

 

Was this a fish that began life in the Hudson and made a wrong turn, or have changes in sea-temperature and ocean currents bought a breeding population to this side of the Atlantic? (Striped bass were caught by a German trawler some years ago).

 

 

The fish caught at Dover is clearly a juvenile, did it start life perhaps in the Thames or the Rhine etc?

 

Was this an isolated incident, or a first sign.

And will UK river anglers get the chance of catching a striper, maybe even some stillwaters?

 

The Dover Breakwater fish

 

 

This one is bigger

Edited September 7, 2013 by Leon Roskilly

[Phone]

Leon,

 

I'd bet you "hope" they haven't migrated across the pond. They are voracious predators. I'd hate to think, as an invasive species, what they would do to your native "dink" populations.

 

Phone

[Ken L]

I think there was also one caught off Holland a while back and the suggestion was that it was an escapee from a fish farm - so presumably there is a breeding operation somewhere in Europe.

They would make a fabulous addition to our available species but with our native bass under so much commercial pressure, that may not be a good thing.

 

Hyvrid stripers are widely stocked in the US and I always wondered why nobody ever stocked them over here. They don't breed so they shouldn't concern the EA and they would make an interesting addition to some of the trout lakes.

[barry luxton]

 

They would make a fabulous addition to our available species but with our native bass under so much commercial pressure, that may not be a good thing.

 

 

They are not, not in the uk, all it is, is hype from the secular selfish catch and release sports anglers who wish to see pointless bag limits, slot sizes, closed seasons, on the rsa along with commercial bans on the stock. Now if you was talking about the French take I would have to agree.

Edited September 7, 2013 by barry luxton

[Phone]

Ken,

 

"Wipers", among other things, are used to control baitfish populations as well as provide sport for anglers.

 

Often schooling by the thousands, these stocked fish will surface feed on baitfish like your dinks. Wipers (other names also apply) are a hybrid between the striped bass (Morone saxatilis) and the white bass (M. chrysops). This hybrid cross typically produces a faster growing offspring which attains larger size. (read that as eats more - faster).

 

I can't think of one good reason to introduce them other than to eliminate all the dinks in the UK.

 

Wiper ploidy manipulation is NOT completely understood. F1 is at least 90% sterile. Still that is a crack in the safety net.

 

Phone

(the grass is not always greener on the other side of the fence)

[gozzer]

Phone

(the grass is not always greener on the other side of the fence)

 

Been saying that for years Phone, but still, we've let just about everything else into our waters, why not them.

Who needs indigenous species, when the happiness of some anglers is concerned. As long as it puts a bend in their rod, who cares. It's a fish, innit?

 

John.

[Ken L]

Phone.

 

A quick look suggests that "Wipers" are functionally sterile. The limited sexual potential that you are referring to is the possible breeding of male wipers with female white or striped bass.

That's not going to be an issue here because neither species is present.

 

Controlling small bait fish might be wanted in some situations.

Reducing the numbers of small fish might be desirable if you are trying to make more invertebrate food available to larger fish or if you want to increase clarity by allowing zooplankton to eat suspended algae without being eaten itself by small fish.

 

Edit: While I usually agree with you John, Hybrid bass are not in the same league as carp or sturgeon or catfish.

They would be much more analogous to rainbow trout. They can be socked and caught. A few might escape in floods but where they do, they will not be able to breed.

Edited September 7, 2013 by Ken L

[Phone]

gozzer,

 

My concern is that they expecially like carp fry.

 

Phone

[Ken L]

gozzer,

 

My concern is that they expecially like carp fry.

 

Phone

You're a bad man.

[azrael]

yes please to strippers