Performance Differences between Two Endemic Stocks of Largemouth Bass in South Carolina

Abstract

A common-garden experiment was conducted to compare growth of two stocks of largemouth bass Micropterus salmoides, one from the Coastal Plain and one from the Piedmont region of South Carolina. An equal number of fish from each stock were released at age 0 in Lake Paul Wallace, a 113-ha municipal impoundment in South Carolina's Coastal Plain. Boat electrofishing during spring was used to sample the population at ages 1, 3, and 4. Relative survival, mean length and weight, weight frequency distributions, and weight–length relationships were compared between stocks. The Piedmont stock was significantly larger at age 1, whereas the Coastal Plain stock was larger at ages 3 and 4. The weight frequency distributions differed between stocks, as did the weight–length relationships. The total catch for each stock was not proportionally different from stocking rates at age 1. However, the catch of the Coastal Plain stock was significantly higher at ages 3 and 4, suggesting better survival to those ages. We conclude that these two endemic stocks exhibited different performance at one study site in the Coastal Plain. Further evaluations across regions are needed to better define the performance of these two stocks of largemouth bass and ascertain appropriate stocking regions for each stock.