Hot Topic: Striped Bass Collaborative Anglers Project (SBCAP)
Calling all Anglers: LDWF Needs Your Help!
The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries is calling upon anglers to join LDWF’s Striped Bass Collaborative Anglers Project (SBCAP) to help support active management of Striped Bass in Louisiana! Help our biologists better understand the Striped Bass population in the Lake Pontchartrain and Pearl River Basins – which is the western edge of the historical range of the Gulf Strain Striped Bass population.
Anglers who fish any Louisiana waterbody east of the Mississippi River, including Lakes Maurepas, Pontchartrain, and Borgne (as well as all rivers that drain into those lakes) and the entire Pearl River system can help by submitting important biological data from their Striped Bass catches.
Striped Bass Sampling Area Through the Striped Bass Collaborative Anglers Project
How Can You Help?
We need tissue samples from the Striped Bass you catch. Data can be collected and submitted from harvested or released catches in 2 ways:
1. Through a fin clip kit
- Click here to order your kit. The form will ask if you want to order a fin clip kit. Choose 'yes' and complete your contact information.
- Once you receive your kit and have a fin clip ready for pickup, you can click the same link a second time, choose “no”, and schedule a pickup for your fin clip.
2. Or by having LDWF collect your cleaned carcass (only striped bass are needed for collection)
- Click here to schedule a carcass pickup from an LDWF biologist. The form will ask if you want to order a fin clip kit, choose 'no' and complete the information requested in the form.
- LDWF is interested in carcasses from harvested Striped Bass (see the Striped Bass identification image below)
- Either the entire carcass can be submitted, or after fileting, the head with dorsal or pectoral fin still attached may be submitted (for this option to be utilized, an angler must record the total length in inches to the nearest 1/8th of an inch before cleaning the fish).
- Carcass samples may be fresh (on ice) or frozen.
- Frozen samples should be placed in a sealable plastic bag and labeled with the harvest date and general location (e.g., Lake Pontchartrain or Pearl River).
- Location of capture should be as specific as the angler feels comfortable with. However, at a minimum, the area must include the waterbody where the fish was caught.
Samples will be analyzed by LDWF biologists for age determination (otoliths) and genetic origin (Gulf Strain, Atlantic Strain, Natural/Stocked).
Is it a Striped Bass? Identifying Yellow, White, Striped, and Hybrid Striped Bass
