CPUE

Tandem baited hoop nets (TBHN) are the most efficient gear used to evaluate channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus) populations in reservoirs. However, sampling month and bait used in TBHN have varied among collections in Arkansas and in published studies. Understanding how catch rates and size structure might change by season or bait type will help inform standard sampling protocols used by management agencies. We evaluated catch rates, size structure, and turtle bycatch of TBHN in two lakes in eastern Arkansas (Lake Greenlee and Lake Des Arc) using Zote^TM soap and...

Negative impacts from non-native congener introductions have emerged as an immediate threat to black bass conservation and management. Largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) historically comprised the sole black bass fishery in Moss Lake, North Carolina. Alabama bass (Micropterus henshalli) were illegally introduced into Moss Lake and were first detected during a 2008 electrofishing survey conducted by North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission biologists. Since this detection, Alabama bass rapidly increased in abundance throughout the reservoir...

Due to overharvest of paddlefish (Polyodon spathula) throughout Alabama, the Alabama Division of Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries (ADWFF) approved a moratorium prohibiting the recreational and commercial catch, possession, and harvest of paddlefish beginning November 1988. However, due to increased demand for paddlefish eggs, a provisional fishery for commercial paddlefish harvest was approved beginning March 2013 in the Alabama River, Mobile River Basin, Alabama. As part of this provisional fishery, a new reporting form was required of all commercial...

In recent years, commercial paddlefish harvesters have renewed their requests for opening a potential commercial paddlefish (Polyodon spathula) season in Alabama reservoirs of the Tennessee River, including part of Pickwick Reservoir, all of Wilson and Wheeler reservoirs, and the majority of Guntersville Reservoir. These reservoirs of the Tennessee River once supported robust stocks of paddlefish; however, beginning in the 1940s overexploitation became evident as the number of paddlefish harvested declined. Because of this widespread overharvest, a commercial and recreational...