Using Specialized Angling to Assess a Trophy Florida Bass Fishery at Calling Panther Lake, Mississippi

Angling for trophy Largemouth Bass Micropterus salmoides and Florida Bass M. salmoides floridanus supports popular fisheries, particularly in the southern United States, where conditions are favorable for growing large fish. Traditional standardized sampling gears, such as electrofishing and creel surveys, often prove ineffective at obtaining sample sizes that are adequate for assessing the quality and temporal trends in trophy fisheries. In this study, we assessed the trophy Florida Bass population in the newly impounded Calling Panther Lake (163 ha), Mississippi, by using a nontraditional, specialized angling technique, and we compared the results with data collected by the more traditional techniques of creel surveys and electrofishing. The specialized angling technique utilized a select few highly skilled and devoted anglers that targeted only the largest bass in the population. The specialized angling technique collected nearly 8 and 24 times more trophy Florida Bass (>= 3.6 kg or >= 56 cm TL) than creel surveys and electrofishing, respectively. As a result, this was the only method that reliably collected enough trophy-sized fish to estimate the population size in Calling Panther Lake. Mark-recapture data were used to estimate an abundance of 150 trophy Florida Bass (95% confidence interval [CI] = 118-206) in 2011 (density = 0.92 fish/ha; 95% CI = 0.73-1.26). The use of data collected by specialized anglers provided vital information for the trophy segment of this bass population, which is often difficult for fisheries managers to obtain with traditional techniques.