[tkwalker]

Originally Posted by bigbird

I think newbies mix the names up. People who catch them pretty much know. We have rockfish, but I don't think we have hybrids in Old Hickory. My buddy caught a 31 lb. a few years ago. We catch some 10-15lb. I want to catch some top water!

Bigbird is correct ... Old Hickory was never stocked with hybrids ... Those that are there have snuck through the lock from Cheatham which was stocked ... They do not reproduce ... I think Alphahawk hit it dead on with the misconceptions or for a better word terminology of the species ... and most of this is colloquial terminology ...

Lets start with the Boss:

(1) The Temperate (which means True) Bass. is the Striped Bass,(Striper/Rockfish ... also most may not know it has 4 olfactory glands ..it can smell better than a cat fish) This is a ocean Fish that was introduced to land Locked lakes by accident in Lake Moultre and Santee Cooper in South Carolina in the 50's ... Which I fished as a kid with my Dad... Landlock record is 68 pounds (may have been beaten since my last data check) Tennessee state Record which is 65 pounds 6 Oz's caught by my competitor Ralph Dallas ... my best was 62 pounds 2 oz's

(2) .. White Bass (stripe/Striped Bass/Sand Bass/Silver Bass) State Record ... 5 pounds 10 OZ..

(3) Yellow Bass Stripe ... State Record 2 pounds 9 Oz's ...

(4)Hybrid (Cherokee Bass, Introduced in this lake is where it got it's name) also called Hybrid/Wiper/Whiterock/sunshine bass ... State Record 23 pounds 3 oz.

These Fish can not reproduce ... pretty much like the Stripers, but 5% do reproduce a year, where a Hybrid cannot ... reason why ...

The hybrid is derived by the sperm of a Male Stripe (white bass max size 5 pounds 10oz ) that fertilizes a Female Egg Striper/Rockfish .. State record 65 plus pounds ... ... Then we have the hybrid max state record to date is 23 pounds 3 oz ...

My experience with the hybrids which is different from the Stripers/Rocks ... Hybrids are like a 23 pound Smallmouth on Lance Armstrongs Steriods !!!

In my days of guiding I have caught a couple of strange genetic altered stripers and hybrids ... Fish missing fins that never developed, Stripers that were of Rock fish size but was proportional to Hybrids also missing part of their anatomy ... After working with TWRA it was discoverd that breeding vats were not properly cleaned between fertilizations and some altered gentics was exposed to other striper species ...

For a fish guide it is located under a sticky at the top of the Forum Page as "TWRA ANGLER GUIDE" http://www.tn.gov/twra/pdfs/anglersguide.pdf ..

Hope this helps .... <'TK><