ARKADELPHIA – The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission introduced Florida-strain largemouth bass to DeGray Lake this year with a stocking of 171,000 fingerlings into the Brushy Creek arm of the lake.

This stocking is the first in an 8-year program to introduce the genetics of these large, fast-growing fish and boost the size of the lake’s bass.

AGFC Chief of Fisheries Mike Armstrong said, “We are trying to increase the individual size of bass without passing more restrictive harvest regulations.

“The agency resisted stocking Florida-strain bass in large, clear reservoirs such as DeGray Lake in the past because of the large, prolonged stockings needed to affect the population. But recent research from Alabama and Texas has demonstrated concentrated stockings in an arm of the lake can deliver results in that area.”

DeGray was chosen for Florida-strain bass because it contains the aquatic vegetation they prefer, it lies in the warm climate of the southern half of the state and it is the smallest of the Corps’ hydropower reservoirs in Arkansas.

AGFC District Fisheries Biologist Stuart Wooldridge said, “We originally did not intend to have this many fingerlings for the DeGray project, but the State Fish Hatchery in Hot Springs did a remarkable job, producing a bumper crop of Florida-strain bass this year.”

Millwood Lake and Lake Monticello are two other lakes that have benefited from stockings of Florida-strain bass, and both are at the top of the list for trophy bass fishing in Arkansas.

AGFC District Fisheries Biologist Stuart Wooldridge said, “DeGray is a different type of lake than Millwood and Monticello and is not under the same type of trophy bass management scheme, but we hope to see some size improvement in DeGray with these stockings.”