Striped Bass in Trout Waters of the Upper Chattahoochee River, Georgia: Can These Two Fisheries Coexist?

We used mark-recapture methods, diet analysis, and bioenergetics modeling to assess the threat adult striped bass posed to trout stocked in the upper Chattahoochee River, Georgia. An estimated 311 (95% CI = 159-1,166) striped bass inhabited the trout waters during the summer of 1998. Their diet was dominated (numerically) by crayfish (60%) and trout (15%). Striped bass in the Chattahoochee River preyed on stocked trout and are capable of consuming 7-28% of the trout stocked annually. Further, estimates of predatory demand suggest that the current and possibly growing striped bass population pose a threat to the stocked-trout fishery.