AGFC Seeks Public Input to Revise Stream Bass Management Plan

“The AGFC has decided to develop a new management plan that focuses on all black bass species, including smallmouth, Neosho, largemouth and spotted bass populations in Arkansas’s wadeable and floatable streams,” Naas said. “This plan will exclude major river systems like the Mississippi, Arkansas, Red, St. Francis and the lower sections of the White and Ouachita.”

Naas says the plan will be the result of collaboration between AGFC Fisheries Division staff and a Stakeholder Advisory Committee that will consist of volunteers who represent a variety of public interests pertaining to angling and stream management.

“It won’t be only bass anglers contributing, but outfitters, paddlers, land owners and local business owners who benefit from visitors to these streams,” Naas said. “The plan will include management goals that reflect stakeholder values, along with specific objectives and strategies designed to achieve each goal. This will provide broad guidance on policies addressing complex management challenges and issues related to producing high-quality stream black bass fishing experiences.”

Responses to this survey will directly inform the committee and staff as they draft the plan. The draft will then be circulated for public comment, and adjustments will be considered from that final comment period before the plan is submitted to the Commission for adoption.

The survey will be available until Aug. 9, and all responses will remain confidential. Take the survey at agfc.com or click the following link to get started: Stream Black Bass Management Plan Survey

Contact Naas at eric.naas@agfc.ar.gov or Jeremy Risley, Black Bass Program Coordinator, at jeremy.risley@agfc.ar.gov for more information on this survey and bass fishing in Arkansas.

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CUTLINES:

ANGLERS IN BOAT
The AGFC is gathering input to revise its stream smallmouth bass management plan to include management for all black bass species and anglers who pursue them.

RELEASING SMALLMOUTH
Fisheries in Arkansas’s warmwater streams are drastically different from those in reservoirs, prompting special focus for the black bass that rely upon them.