PINE BLUFF, Ark. – Along with competing for a $50,000 prize, participants in Arkansas’ largest amateur fishing tournament also helped once again to enhance the bass population on the Arkansas River.
In late June, the Arkansas Game & Fish Commission (AGFC) had 20,000 fingerlings ready at each of five weigh-in sites on the river for the Simmons Bank Big Bass Bonanza. “As some anglers came in to weigh their fish hourly, we gave them bags of fingerlings to stock on their return trip,” explained biologist Joe Gladden.
The river needs a boost because of decline in spawning and nursery habitat in its backwaters, according to Colton Dennis, AGFC’s Black Bass Program coordinator. “That, coupled with years when the river experiences high flows and flooding during the spring when bass are trying to spawn, make programs such as this very important,” he said.
Some of the more popular waters receiving new residents included Ozark near Fort Smith, Mud Lake near Pendleton, and Lake Longhofer near Pine Bluff.
This format provides an ideal way to make certain that fingerlings are dispersed over a wide area, Dennis added. “They’re spreading out and placing fingerlings in the backwaters and areas that they fish. It’s going to be a more favorable habitat than if we backed up a truck at a ramp and released thousands into an area with a less complex habitat.”
Since 2001, anglers have collected more than $1 million in prizes from this big bass event, as they’ve released more than 1 million fingerlings. About the same time as the stocking began, AGFC also started working with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on other ways to maintain the bass population, including restoring habitat and notching dikes.
Partners in this program include Simmons Bank, AGFC and the state’s Department of Corrections, which houses and collects fingerlings released during the tournament.
