Game and Fish Commission releases titans into Lake Monticello

The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission is hedging its bets on bringing trophy-class bass fishing to Lake Monticello with the release of about 9,000 specialty fish.

These fish are the first segment of a stocking totaling 22,000 Florida bass from Red Hills Fishery in Georgia that are the offspring of fish that have all the genetic elements of trophy-class bass.

The fingerlings, named TITAN MAXX bass by the Red Hills facility, were bred from bass that were genetically tested and have specific genetic markers of fish that exhibit trophy-class growth potential.

The AGFC has been stocking Florida bass for decades, which have had the potential to become trophies, but now it was able to select the Floridas that have the most potential from that group, said Jeremy Risley, AGFC Black Program Coordinator Bass. It’s like they went from stocking college basketball players who are already great athletes to just stocking the elite NBA players in the fish world.

According to Risley, the renovation of Lake Monticellos provided the perfect opportunity to infuse the system with these thoroughbred bass.

When we stock Florida largemouth bass, it’s about introducing big fish genetics into the system, Risley said. We weren’t necessarily adding more fish to most established fisheries because the fish we’re stocking are essentially outgrowing and taking the place of a fish that was already there. With the Monticellos renovation, we were able to work with a cleaner slate and have a higher percentage of Florida and TITAN MAXX genetics from the start.

Josh Sakmar, Director of Biology and Infrastructure at Red Hills, emphasized that the fish are not engineered or genetically modified, but are bloodlines of bass found in the wild.

“All the breeders we used came out of the wild in the state of Florida and all the breeders were tested to the new Florida state standards to be Florida,” Sakmar said. Over the last six years we’ve done a big study where we’ve looked at fish over 8 pounds and looked for genetic markers associated with those fish. What we found were extremely high statistical values ​​for the markers we use. We’ve gone back and looked at all the breeders we have and tested them to identify which ones have these genetic markers and we’ve intentionally bred these fish together.

While Red Hills Fishery’s bass have been used in private ponds to help produce trophy-class black bass, this is their first stocking in a public body of water.

Monticello Mayor Jason Akers was excited about the added attention to Southeast Arkansas’ family-friendly fishing destination.

Lake Monticello and its amenities are one of the most overlooked fun places in our state, Akers said. Whether it’s fishing, our state-of-the-art bike trail, or our disc golf course, we have it all here and we encourage everyone to explore what Monticello has to offer. Our partnership with Arkansas Game and Fish shows that we’re only going to get better and even have better things to come in the near future.

Sakmar and Risley stress that genetics is only one part of the big bass equation, but they hope that the renovation of Lake Monticellos will produce the right habitat needed for these fish to reach their full potential.

The phenotype is a combination of genotype and environment, Sakmar said. We cannot guarantee that these fish will reach trophy size, but we can guarantee that they have the genetic potential.

When Lake Monticello is completely refilled, it will be 1,520 acres. The lake is owned by the City of Monticello and was raised in 2019 to repair the lakes levee after a previous repair attempt with a failed partial lowering. The renewal of the lakes has allowed the vegetation and nutrients to refresh in the fishery, creating a new lake-effect boom for fishing as it comes back online, which should play well with these fish.

Kris Nault, fisheries supervisor for AGFC’s Monticello regional office, explained that in addition to the genetics added through Florida bass stocks and TITAN MAXX fish, growing trophy bass requires the right combination of ‘fish habitat and forage. AGFC has been hard at work on these pieces of the puzzle.

During the Lake Monticello renovation, AGFC fisheries staff created 87 fish habitat sites consisting of brush piles, pallet structures, Georgia buckets and porcupine fish beds, Nault said. We also cut down 1,653 trees along the coast. These habitat structures, along with the hundreds of willows and pines that have grown on the lake bed, are now flooded and provide excellent habitat for bass to ambush their prey and minimize the calories needed to do so.

Fodder for fishing has also been enhanced.

Typically, the golden mean to down ratio is 10:1. We stocked at a ratio of 30 bream to every bass, Nault said. The walleye, walleye and bighead we stocked in addition to the bream brought the catch-to-bass ratio up to 55:1. This combination of the high forage population in the lake combined with great habitat and Florida Bass genetics has resulted in Lake Monticello bass showing excellent growth and condition.

With the table set, the TITAN MAXX bass will have the best chance to thrive that AGFC and the city of Monticello can offer.

We know Monticello was once one of the best lakes in the state for chasing double-digit bass, said Tommy Laird, AGFC fisheries chief. With the combination of excellent habitat and these heavy bloodlines, we may be able to catch lightning in a bottle again.

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