The Oklahoma Fisheries Division reported this week it has stocked more than 15 million fish so far in 2018 into state lakes and rivers.
The total is 15.5 million according to Cliff Sager, senior Fisheries Biologist for the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation. The stocking includes channel catfish, hybrid striped bass, rainbow and brown trout, walleye, saugeye, striped bass and hybrid sunfish.
“It truly is a coordinated effort to raise and stock that many fish over a short period of time and speaks to the dedication of the Wildlife Department to improve our fisheries resources,” Sager said.
Among the 15.5 million are 1.4 million Florida largemouth bass which were placed into 39 lakes this year. Sager said previous stocking of the Florida largemouth resulted in several lunkers in the 13 and 14-pound classes caught this spring in the state.
Oklahoma’s current state-record largemouth bass was caught in Cedar Lake (Le Flore County) in March 2013 and weighed 14 pounds, 13.7 ounces. “Oklahoma is really right on the line of where you can expect Florida bass to be successful,” Sager said. “Lakes in the southern half of Oklahoma have shown much greater success in sustaining Florida bass genetics.”
All of the Florida bass that the Department stocks are spawned at the Durant fish hatchery. Most of the fish are raised there, but some of the fry are distributed to state hatcheries in Byron and Holdenville for growing into fingerlings. The state’s fourth hatchery at Medicine Park gets involved by helping to deliver FLMB fry and fingerlings to the various lakes for stocking.
A committee of biologists selects FLMB stocking sites each year based on many criteria. The committee considers the documented success in trophy bass production, as well as angler pressure. Also, lakes with better habitat for bass are more likely to be stocked than lakes where good bass habitat doesn’t exist. Sager said growing trophy bass in a particular lake “is an eight- to 10-year investment.” Therefore, the Wildlife Department concentrates FLMB efforts on the waters that hold the most promise for producing trophy bass.
Since the first of this year, the Wildlife Department has stocked 3,127,834 fingerlings, 12,395,494 fry and 175,027 mature fish of various species into public waters across Oklahoma. Totals for each species are:
- Walleye, 6,302,780.
- Saugeye, 3,099,164.
- Hybrid Striped Bass, 4,318,454.
- Certified Florida Largemouth Bass, 1,418,466.
- Striped Bass, 360,000.
- Rainbow Trout, 133,072.
- Northern Largemouth Bass, 20,246.
- Brown Trout, 7,012.
- Hybrid Sunfish, 3,670.
- Smallmouth Bass, 2,820.
- Threadfin Shad, 2,600.
To see a list of the 39 lakes stocked with FLMB this year, go to https://www.wildlifedepartment.com/fishing/research/surveys and click on “2018 Florida Largemouth Bass Stocking Report.” To see a summary of all stocking efforts, detailing where fish have been stocked this year, go to https://www.wildlifedepartment.com/fishing/research/surveys and click on “2018 Fish Stocking Report.”