Missouri's Department of Conservation has provoked the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission by stocking striped bass in Bull Shoals Lake.
Against the AGFC's wishes, the MDC has stocked 17,000-20,000 stripers in Bull Shoals since 2012, according to Arkansas' records. That's a small number considering the vast size of the lake, but members of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, its fisheries staff and black bass anglers in north Arkansas are affronted.
It came to a head Oct. 21 at the AGFC's monthly work meeting in Little Rock when Chris Racey, chief of the agency's fisheries division, briefed the commission on Missouri's activities and its disregard to Arkansas' objections.
The AGFC stocked stripers in Bull Shoals about 15 years ago. Those fish are now of a size that they are setting state records and line class records. The excitement and publicity those fish have generated have prompted Missouri to rejuvenate a trophy striper fishery on the lake.
Arkansas Game and Fish officials say Missouri's activities violate a longstanding gentleman's agreement between the agencies. The overwhelming majority of Bull Shoals Lake is in Arkansas, so Missouri has long respected Arkansas' authority to lead active management practices on the lake, such as stocking.
Likewise, the overwhelming majority of Table Rock Lake is in Missouri, so Arkansas has long respected Missouri's authority to manage that lake.
Commissioner Ken Reeves of Harrison said the issue is especially pertinent because Bull Shoals produced one its best year classes of blacks this year. Annual stockings of big predators are cumulative, he said, and stripers compete with black bass for food.
Lake Norfork, which straddles both states, is the striper fishery, as is Beaver Lake, which is entirely within Arkansas.
Missouri is staunchly opposed to introducing stripers and hybrids into Table Rock, and for good reason. It's one of the best bass lakes in the Midwest, and it's a personal favorite of Bass Pro Shops founder Johnny Morris. The MDC seems to believe it has a big enough stick to ignore Arkansas' objections over stocking stripers in Bull Shoals.
That's where it threatens to get even uglier. At the Oct. 21 briefing, AGFC director Mike Knoedl said he told Bob Ziemer, the MDC's director, that the AGFC intends to stock stripers in Table Rock.
"He just stood there like a cow staring at a brand new gate," Knoedl said. "He finally asked me if I was serious, and I said I was."
Reeves and Commissioner Fred Brown of Corning, also an avid bass angler, said that might be appropriate if cooler heads do not prevail in Jefferson City.
The elevated level of agitation drew in other members of the commission, and that alarmed Commission Chairman Emon Mahony of El Dorado. He urged everybody to be rational and to seek a less confrontational resolution.
"We've had a long, productive and respectful relationship with our sister agency in Missouri, and it's not to our advantage to get in a 'shooting war' with them," Mahony said.
On Oct. 27, the AGFC and MDC fisheries staffs met in Eureka Springs. Reeves and Brown attended, but nobody from Missouri's four-member commission or its upper administration attended.
Brian Canaday, the MDC's chief of fisheries, was Missouri's highest ranking representative. Reeves said he and Brown pressed him hard to justify his decisions. According to Reeves, Canaday said that MDC surveys indicate that Missouri anglers support having a striper fishery in Bull Shoals, and that stripers and hybrids are not appropriate in Table Rock because catfish fill the large predator niche in that lake.
That doesn't make sense because Bull Shoals has catfish, too.
Reeves laughed and said, "I told him the same thing."
We wonder if there isn't a little payback involved. At the genesis of this conflict, Canaday commented extensively in an article we published March 15, 2012. He said, "In the past, Arkansas has proposed it [stocking stripers in Bull Shoals] and we weren't comfortable in supporting it. Now we're more prepared, more informed and ready."
While the drama is juicy, Missouri's and Arkansas' state constitutions mandate their respective game and fish agencies to manage fish and wildlife resources scientifically, independent of politics.
Missouri errs because it cannot biologically justify stocking a large, highly aggressive and highly consumptive predator in an old, infertile lake where the forage base is so vulnerable to weather and temperature. Just because they can do something doesn't mean they should.
Retaliatory stocking of stripers in Table Rock is biologically and sociologically indefensible, too. A lot of Arkansas bass anglers fish Table Rock, too, and it would be a shame to do anything to damage it.
Sports on 11/08/2015