SEAFWA 2017

AUTHORS: Jason Herrala, David Baker – Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources

ABSTRACT: Green River is a biologically diverse river that has many excellent sport fish populations including smallmouth bass. Pool 6, specifically, presents outdoor enthusiasts, boaters, and anglers with a large amount of public access. Green River has received a tremendous amount of publicity and so the recreational use of the system has steadily increased over the past 15 years. With this increase in pressure and publicity, additional monitoring and data collection was needed to ensure that the current statewide limits (12.0 in minimum size and 6 fish creel) are sufficient to prevent overexploitation of the smallmouth bass fishery. Based on otoliths collected in 2015, total annual mortality of smallmouth bass in Pool 6 of Green River was estimated to be 35.3%. An exploitation study was conducted from April 26, 2016 through April 25, 2017 to evaluate the contribution of fishing mortality on the smallmouth bass population. A total of 213 smallmouth bass ≥12.0 in were collected and tagged with Carlin dangler tags. Tags were labeled with reward amount, a sequential number and a random identifier on one side. A telephone number to call and report the tag number was provided on the reverse side. To account for non-response bias, 25% of tags had a reward of $75 (assumed 100% angler response rate on fish caught) and the remaining 75% of tags had a reward of $25. Tags were reported from April 2016 – August 2016 with the majority of fish being caught in June 2016 and no fish being caught and reported from September 2016– April 2017. Forty-seven tags were reported (20.6%) of which 34 smallmouth bass were released and 13 smallmouth bass were harvested. Corrections were made for tag loss and non-response to arrive at a corrected exploitation rate of 6.3% (natural mortality=29.0%). With KDFWR sampling showing consistent catch rates and excellent size distribution and the low level of exploitation, it is apparent that the current regulations on this waterbody are sufficient to sustain the smallmouth bass fishery.