DNR Completes Stocking of Striped and Hybrid Striped Bass

DNR recently completed its annual stocking of striped bass and hybrid striped bass across several lakes in Indiana.

DNR staff stocked more than 125,000 2-inch striped bass fingerlings in four southern Indiana public lakes and more than 134,000 2-inch hybrid striped bass fingerlings in nine lakes throughout the state. The stockings met or exceeded DNR’s 2021 stocking goals for the two species. 

Striped and hybrid striped bass were stocked in the following lakes:

—Brookville Lake (Union and Franklin County) – 72,600 striped bass

—Cecil M. Harden Lake (Parke County) – 40,600 striped bass

—Cedar Lake (Lake County) – 7,810 hybrids

—Clare Lake (LaPorte County) – 420 hybrids

—Hardy Lake (Scott County) – 1,000 striped bass; 10,000 hybrids

—Lake Shafer (White County) – 12,910 hybrids

—Monroe Lake (Monroe County) – 53,750 hybrids

—Nyona Lake (Fulton County) – 1,040 hybrids

—Patoka Lake (Dubois County) – 11,353 striped bass; 44,000 hybrids

—Shadyside Park Lake (Madison County) – 1,575 hybrids

—Worster Lake (St. Joseph County) – 3,270 hybrids 

Indiana does not have the native sources to spawn striped and hybrid striped bass. DNR relies on commercial sources and state partners to supply fry for its hatchery system. In 2021, East Fork State Fish Hatchery staff developed a new relationship with the Jack D. Bayless Fish Hatchery in St. Stephen, South Carolina. The hatchery supplied Indiana with 500,000 striped bass fry. Good conditions in the hatchery ponds resulted in a surplus of fingerlings. 

The fish stocked in 2021 should reach a fishable size of 14 inches in 2023 and begin to exceed 20 inches in 2024. Thanks to stockings like this, Indiana anglers can look forward to continued quality striped and hybrid striped bass fishing opportunities.