The world-class fishery isn’t an accident, LDWF’s Reed said.
“The good bass fishing here is the result of combined stocking efforts of the Red River Waterway Commission and the LDWF,” he said. “The Red River Waterway Commission recently purchased another 40,000 phase 2 bass fingerlings (that measure 4 to 6 inches in length) for stocking. The costs of purchasing these (larger fingerlings) are more, but the survival rates are higher.”
The commission has been purchasing phase 2 bass fingerlings since 2002 as a commitment to maintaining the fishery.
But there has been much stocking of Florida bass phase 1- and phase 2 fingerlings in the Red River since the year 2000.
Thus far, with the exception of 2013, the totals of stocked largemouths by pool are:
• Pool 1 — 180,000
• Pool 2 — 180,000
• Pool 3 — 215,000
• Pool 4 — 300,000
• Pool 5 — 487,000
Moreover, the percentage of Florida bass genetics sampled by the LDWF by pool in the last 10 years are as follows:
• Pool 1 — 14 percent
• Pool 2 — 10 percent
• Pool 3 — 9 percent
• Pool 4 — 9 percent
• Pool 5 — 16- percent
“We did sample at the (2012) Bassmaster Classic, and 35 percent of the bass carried the Florida gene,” Reed said.
As for the largest bass taken from the Red River, Russ McVey of Doyline caught a 13.63-pounder on a jig with a crawfish trailer in 2006.
Anglers summer can expect to catch five bass that will weigh 15 to 18 pounds on a good day during the summer — and there can be the occasional 7- and 8-pounder taken.
Reed said the LDWF is currently conducting a three-year study of age and growth rates that will end next year.
“We’ll have excellent information when the study is over,” Reed said. “And the results will include how many fish anglers are catching, releasing and harvesting.
“We should end up with a really good profile on the Red River by 2016,” he said.