Anglers encouraged to keep stripers for conservation

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Fisheries biologists recently announced they would like anglers to consider keeping their catch while striper fishing during the heat of summer. They say keeping the fish may actually increase the number of stripers available for other anglers.Keeping fish in the name of conservation may sound strange during the modern era of catch-and-release, but they say there is a method to the madness. According to studies on delayed mortality, stripers caught any time the surface temperature exceeds 75 degrees face a much greater risk of dying, even after release.

Supervising Biologist with the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, Brett Hobbs, says during the summer in Lake Norfork, Ouachita and Beaver stripers seek deeper, cooler water. According to Hobbs, it’s the time of year when stripers are not prospering, but just surviving. The upper layer of water has plenty of oxygen, but not the cooler temperature stripers need.

Hobbs explains, when caught from deeper and cooler water, stripers undergo an extreme amount of stress, both from the fight and from the water temperature. Many may seem OK at release, but never recover to get back to their preferred water temperature.

Hobbs says stripers are notorious for fighting hard, but they are pretty delicate. He says he’s received calls from concerned striper anglers who say they have seen people catching and releasing many stripers, likely not knowing those fish were poor candidates for catch and release.

Hobbs says Arkansas Game and Fish wants to encourage people to come and fish for the stripers, enjoy the resource and keep a few for the freezer. Game and Fish wants people to know that they may actually be doing more harm than they think when they catch and release stripers when it’s hot.

He also says he believes it’s more a matter of anglers wanting to do what’s right for conservation, just not knowing all the facts about the species and what impacts catch-and-release fishing can have.

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