The HYBRID bass.

[Darth-Baiter]

my brother flew to a lake to meet friends.  i couldnt go.

 

the target fish was hybrids from shore.  full-on chest waders, waist deep into muddy water.  they crushed them.  big ones.  it is my understanding the fish are sterile?  they dont reproduce, and are stocked by Tx fish and game solely as a "fun fish".  my brother texted me the entire time.  mostly 5lb fish.  he swears in his experience, they are the hardest fighting fish EVER.  i have never hooked one.  he said it feels like how he imagines a tuna to fight.  haha.

 

he said his hands get sore fighting.  2500 spinning gear, med-H rods.  sounds like a blast and i may try to go next year.  

 

anyone?  thoughts?  hybrids?

[Deleted account]

49 minutes ago, Darth-Baiter said:

he swears in his experience, they are the hardest fighting fish EVER.  i have never hooked one.  he said it feels like how he imagines a tuna to fight. 

 

[TnRiver46]

The don’t fight as hard as a striper but close. Just a white bass on steroids. Bluefish fight harder than striper so tuna would be several leagues above hybrids. We have some of them up to 20 lbs, my buddy brought these two into my boat one day. We were catching 1-2 lb white bass by the dozens with little topwater. He set the hook on the big one and my boat started moving quite rapidly 
 

[Team9nine]

Hybrids are technically not sterile, as they can backcross with their parent lineage. Doesn’t happen a lot, but enough that our DNR stopped stocking them in all the reservoirs that had naturally sustaining white bass populations. They didn’t want to risk the gene mixing possibility with the pure strain whites.

 

They are a very strong fish, and put up a heck of a fight, often to their detriment (easily die from prolonged fights in warm water temps). A couple buddies and I have caught them to just over 18 pounds. I seriously thought I might be able to break our state record at one point (22 pounds), but the local population of big fish died before I could hit that goal…but we caught a couple dozen in that 3 year window that ranged from around 9-10 pounds up to 18+ and pushing 30 inches in length.

 

[Darth-Baiter]

Holy smokes people!   I wanna try for one now.  

[Jig Man]

They are fun on top water in the summer but the nearest is over 100 miles away so I don’t go often.

[casts_by_fly]

This one was about 8# and freight trained a spinnerbait I was throwing around docks for bass. We have them in a couple lakes around here and there are a couple guides that specialize in them. I think I’d prefer they weren’t here and that underlying forage base went to bass, but I’m not sure that how it would work. Seems to be enough to go around and it’s only 2-3 main lakes that I care about. They also keep the riffraff off the bass and make for an interesting bycatch sometimes. 

[Dwight Hottle]

Wipers or hybrids do fight harder than stripers in my experience because they carry more girth to length ratio. So a 30" wiper will have a greater girth than a 30" striper. 

[thediscochef]

Think sand bass with the size potential of stripers. They fight hard for their size 100%. I've only caught then up to 2lbs, I would love the opportunity to hook into one over 10. Sounds like an incredible fight

[GRiver]

We get them here on the St Johns, we watch for the birds. They push the bait fish to the top, birds gather, and we run in throw rattle traps or troll. 

[Bigassbass]

They use to be in a lake not far from my house, I'd see guys catching them but I never caught one and I did target them sometimes.  Lake management killed them out don't ask me how or they died out, they didn't want the white bass crossed.

[Bankbeater]

They are a blast on light tackle.  The biggest I have ever caught was around 2 lb., but boy did it fight. 

[Captain Phil]

FYI

In April 2022, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) stocked hybrid striped bass (also known as hybrids or sunshine bass) in Lakes Harris and Eustis. The FWC stocked 116,132 hybrids in Lake Harris and 52,390 hybrids in Lake Eustis. Hybrids are stocked in the Harris Chain to provide an additional sport fish option for anglers to target and they are known for their hard fighting ability and good table fare. Past studies have shown hybrids are a fast-growing fish, reaching catchable size (12-14 inches) in one year and only live to 5-6 years old due to high summer water temperatures.

[Bluebasser86]

I use to catch quite a few here in the winter months but they've disappeared the last few years in the powerplant lakes. I caught my PB over 11 pounds on a jerkbait right before they disappeared at least. They're way more fun than a largemouth to catch.