LDWF Stocks over 8 Million Fish Across the State in 2018

This year, in cooperation with the USFWS Natchitoches National Fish Hatchery, the City of Shreveport’s Cross Lake Fish Hatchery, and LDWF’s Rockefeller Refuge, the Inland Fisheries Hatchery Program stocked over 8 million fish into 59 waterbodies around the state.  Species stocked include Florida largemouth bass, northern largemouth bass, hybrid striped bass, channel catfish, bluegill, redear, black crappie, threadfin shad, golden shiners, and triploid grass carp.  These fish species are stocked to enhance sport fishing through improving the genetics of largemouth bass by stocking the Florida largemouth bass, enhancing waterbodies where natural reproduction is limited or non-existent, improving the forage base available for sportfish, to, or to improve sport fishing access. The Florida subspecies of largemouth bass grow larger than Louisiana’s native Northern largemouth bass, so they are stocked with the goal of increasing an angler’s chance of catching a larger than average largemouth bass. 

Below is a table of the stocking totals listed by species.

In addition to the fish releases in the table above, the Red River Waterway Commission (RRWC) with stocking 90,000 advanced Florida largemouth bass fingerlings purchased for the Red River by the RRWC.  These fingerlings were stocked into the five pools of the Red River to enhance the largemouth bass populations in the Red River. 

LDWF’s fish hatcheries primarily stock fish in the spring and early summer, then again in the fall, when fingerlings are large enough to be handled and water temperatures are conducive to fish stocking.

The LDWF Inland Fisheries section is responsible for the monitoring and management of the state’s freshwater resources. These efforts include sportfish population monitoring and management, providing boating access through aquatic vegetation control, sportfish production and stocking through the hatchery system, and aquatic nuisance species monitoring and outreach.

For a detailed list of stocking efforts by waterbody, please email kbutler@wlf.la.gov . 

To view an interactive map of our stocked waterbodies with details about species and sizes stocked click this link http://arcg.is/0GuDKb , then choose ‘Get On the Water’ and select ‘Stocked Lakes’.

For b-roll video or photography of LDWF stocking efforts, visit https://ldwf.cantoflight.com/v/Fishstocking/landing.

The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries is charged with managing and protecting Louisiana’s abundant natural resources. For more information, visit us at www.wlf.la.gov. To receive email alerts, signup at http://www.wlf.la.gov/signup.