Stocking Largemouth Bass

Type: Nontidal
Region: Eastern
Location: Martinak State Park

Some good news to report to all the bass anglers out there. This is turning out to be a fabulous season for largemouth bass production at our warm water hatcheries. Unicorn Lake Hatchery and Manning Hatchery have already stocked 253,000 largemouth bass larvae into the Choptank River at Martinak State Park and Greensboro. An additional 50,000 fish were stocked into the Patuxent River. We are still harvesting bass from ponds so there will likely be more larvae headed to Maryland waters in the coming weeks. Hatchery staff will now focus on juvenile grow-out for many of the remaining larvae. Raising the largemouth bass to larger sizes prior to stocking should increase survival for hatchery-produced fish.

These hatchery fish should supplement naturally-produced bass populations to improve recreational angling opportunities in the coming years.

The attached photos were taken while stocking largemouth bass in the Choptank River at Greensboro on May 31, 2011. One photo shows a net full of largemouth bass larvae and the other photo shows Manning Hatchery's Sarah Rinn minding the discharge hose while the fish are "quick-dumped" from the transport tank. This stocking procedure minimizes handling stress for the larvae.

Joseph Manning Hatchery (Charles County) and Unicorn Lake Hatchery (Queen Anne's County) are the only two state hatcheries that produce warm water fish species. Together, the produce more than a dozen species including largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, American shad, hickory shad, Atlantic sturgeon, black crappie, channel catfish, striped bass, walleye, musky, tiger musky, hybrid sunfish, yellow perch and bluegill. They even conduct some wintertime trout culture in hatchery ponds.

To learn more about DNR's Tidal Bass Program, click on the following link:
http://dnr.maryland.gov/fisheries/bass/index.asp#status

You can also learn about other hatchery and restoration projects here:
http://dnr.maryland.gov/fisheries/hatchery/index.asp