Ronald L. Johnson

Evaluation of the Commercially Exploited Paddlefish Fishery in the Lower Mississippi River of Arkansas

SEAFWA Journal Volume 4, March 2017
Fisheries Outstanding Technical Paper

Paddlefish (Polyodon spathula) are a commercially-exploited species harvested primarily for their roe. e objectives of this study were to describe population characteristics of paddlefish in the lower Mississippi River (LMR) of Arkansas and use population-simulation so ware to deter- mine the length limit required to prevent recruitment over fishing by maintaining spawning potential ratios (SPR) over 30%. Paddlefish (n = 534) were collected from the LMR in cooperation with commercial fishers during the 2008-2011 commercial seasons. Lengths ranged 150-1095 mm eye-fork length and ages, 2-24...

Effectiveness of Slot-length Limits to Maintain an Arkansas Trophy Largemouth Bass Fishery Characterized by High Voluntary Release Rates by Anglers

SEAFWA Journal Volume 3, March 2016

Lake Monticello in southeastern Arkansas is a renowned destination for trophy-sized (≥3.63 kg) largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides; LMB). However, little analysis has been conducted on population characteristics of this population and the anglers fishing for them. Therefore, the size structure and potential harvest of the bass population was evaluated in the context of an existing 406-533 mm slot-length limit (SLL) and other potential SLLs. A total of 1023 LMB was collected using electrofishing during springs 2006-2007. Differences in growth were detected among gender with only one male...

Shifting Genetic Composition of Largemouth Bass Populations in Dendritic Arms of Two Large Arkansas Reservoirs Through Stocking of Florida Largemouth Bass

The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission has been annually stocking Florida largemouth bass (FLMB, Micropterus salmoides floridanus) at rates of 250 fish ha-1 into small dendritic sections of two large Arkansas reservoirs, Lake DeGray and Lake Ouachita, since 2006 and 2007, respectively, to alter local pre-existent northern largemouth bass (NLMB, Micropterus s. salmoides) populations. The management goal for these actions is to have 40% of the local largemouth bass (LMB) population possessing FLMB alleles within eight years of the initiation of the stocking program. Microsatellite...