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First of all, I wanted to let you know that Kansas will be participating in the Cabela's Wanna Go Fishing for Millions? contest. Here is a link to the site:
http://www.cabelas.com/browse.cmd?categoryId=107520480&WT.tsrc=CRD&WT.mc_id=fishformillions
It is possible for you to catch a tagged fish in Kansas worth $2.2 million! Anglers must register to participate. The lakes nationwide will be announced May 14th. For now, all the available information is on the Cabela's site.
2011 Early Largemouth Bass Spawning Effort
I am very happy to announce that the Meade Bass Propagation Facility has already hatched over 1.3 million largemouth bass this spring. It looks like we may hit over 2 million.
Some of the fry have been put into rearing ponds to be reared to fingerling size for stocking at Cedar Bluff Reservoir. Some of the fry were sent to the Pratt Hatchery to go into feeding trials. There are two treatments being tried there. One feeding brine shrimp exclusively to the fry and another feeding 50% brine shrimp, 50% wild zooplankton. So far the bass are readily taking both offerings and growing well. We have been able to hold these young bass for over 20 days! Being able to hold bass for 20+ days inside a building assures that the fish are protected for the same amount of time that the male bass protects them in the wild. It means we can protect them from early cold fronts that impact survival in the wild and allows us to wait to stock into rearing ponds or in the wild until weather forecasts show safe conditions. It also means we can start spawning earlier in the future years. The earlier we start, the more we can produce each year.
Over the next few days, hundreds of thousands of young bass will be stocked into Hillsdale Reservoir behind block nets to prevent larger predators from having access to them. This should give the young bass time to adapt to their new environment. The bass going to Hillsdale will range in age from 7 days old to 31 days old.
The one disappointment this year has been the marking effort using OTC. We experienced high mortality when marking fry and have decided drop the plans to mark fry. We will try to mark the fingerlings going to Cedar as we think the older fish will be able to handle to procedure better than the young fry. We plan to conduct a research project with Dr. Martha Mathers of KSU to develop an effecting marking technique for bass fry.
Finally, this should be a great year for bass fishing. The relatively dry conditions have improved water clarity and the high water from previous years has resulted in good recruitment and forage for many lakes. So, good luck to you all this year.
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