John M. Mitchell

During a 2-year period, 250,000 Florida largemouth bass fingerlings were stocked among the endemic northern largemouth bass population of Tradinghouse Creek Reservoir (1985 = 185/ha, 1986 = 123/ha). We used electrophoresis to estimate proportions of Florida, northern, and Florida x northern intergrade largemouth bass within pre-stocking, stocking-year, and post-stocking year cohorts. Ages of largemouth bass were determined by examination of whole otoliths. The proportion of Florida phenotypes within the stocking-year cohort was not increased when the stocking rate was more than 50/ha...

We measured effects of an increase in the largemouth bass minimum length limit from 254-mm to 406-mm and a decrease in the creel limit from 10 per day to 3 per day in Tradinghouse Creek Reservoir, Texas, from 1985 to 1987. Electrofishing and rotenone surveys were used to measure regulation effects on largemouth bass population and predator-prey parameters; angler surveys were used to determine effects on creel rates. After the regulation was implemented, the population structure shifted from one dominated by small, young individuals to one dominated by larger, older fish. Although relative...