J. Brian Alford

Spotted bass (Micropterus punctulatus) provide popular recreational fisheries in southeastern U.S. streams. We studied spotted bass population structure and diet from wadeable (< 1 m deep on average, n = 174, 21 sites) and non-wadeable (n = 498, 32 sites) reaches of the Lake Pontchartrain Basin in Mississippi and Louisiana to determine if populations should be managed separately by stream size. Sampling occurred April-November 2009-2012 by hook-and-line angling, boat-mounted electrofishing, and seines. Size structure was similar between stream type and with few quality-sized fish (PSD...

Following Hurricane Katrina in 2005, hypoxia-induced fish kills occurred throughout the Pascagoula River Basin in southeast Mississippi. We evaluated the effect of stocking adult Florida largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides floridanus; 200-356 mm total length) into Pascagoula River floodplain lakes to enhance fisheries recovery. We stocked 37 fish/ha into five randomly-chosen lakes in December 2006, whereas five additional lakes were left unstocked to serve as a control. Electrofishing catch per unit effort (CPUE: fish/h) and length-frequency distributions of largemouth bass and...