Spring/Summer 2002

Current Research: Exploring the Ecological Role of Fire

Fisheries biologists with the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks (MDWFP) soon will be investigating what happens to largemouth bass and where they go once released during bass tournaments held along the Tennessee- Tombigbee Waterway. Much of the study will examine possible "homing" behavior of bass caught on Aliceville and Aberdeen lakes and then released at a tournament weigh-in site in Columbus.

Larry Pugh, a fisheries biologist with the MDWFP, wants to know if the bass return to their original home through the locks or stay put in the gener- al area where they are released during bass tournaments. "Public perception about all this varies," Pugh said. "Some anglers believe that most of the bass stay right around the ramp where they are released, while others think the bass exhibit a strong homing behavior and will move back down or up to the lakes where they were caught."

Pugh and others began tagging bass in March and continued through April. Pugh had planned to tag 500 largemouth bass during various bass tournaments at the East Bank boat ramp in Columbus. "I'm planning to measure each bass and put two numbered tags in it just below its dorsal fin," Pugh explained. "Each tag will have the telephone number and the mailing address of the District One office printed on it. Signs posted at boat ramps will instruct anglers what to do if they catch a tagged bass." When anglers call in a tagged bass, they will be asked certain questions about where and when the fish was caught.