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08/05/03
WIPERS INTRODUCED INTO NORTHEASTERN NEVADA
As part of a plan to control undesirable fish in two of northeastern Nevada’s favorite reservoirs, the Nevada Department of Wildlife (NDOW) introduced wipers (a hybrid of white and striped bass) into South Fork and Wildhorse Reservoirs.
According to Mike Green, NDOW fisheries biologist, “NDOW planted 9,000 wipers last summer plus another 10,500 this summer into the reservoirs to help control the chub and suckers in both lakes and perch in Wildhorse.”
“Smallmouth and largemouth black bass were introduced into the reservoirs
to help control the undesirable fish,” says Green, “but there
is a large area of the lakes where the black bass aren’t as effective
as we would like.”
Wipers are a pelagic species, which means that they school and live in the open water in the center of the lake, the same as the chub and perch that are being targeted. Black bass, on the other hand, prefer structure and tend to stay close to the bottom and edges of the lake.
Because wipers are a hybrid, they are sterile, so if the experiment
does not pan out, they would eventually be removed from the lakes through
natural attrition and fishing. However, Green is optimistic that the introduction
will be a success, and has requested that the program be considered for
future years once the results are in.
Last summer, 6,000 wipers went into Wildhorse and 3,000 went into South
Fork. This year, due to low water conditions in Wildhorse, only 3,000
went there, while 7,500 ended up in South Fork.
They can get quite large and are a great fighting, as well as great eating, game fish. The current state record is 17 pounds and was caught by Keith Bachman at Lahontan Reservoir in 2002, while the world record is a little over 27 pounds.
Last year’s fish should be approaching eight inches in length, and by next summer they should be approximately a foot in length and weighing a little over a pound. Though there is plenty of forage for the wipers in both lakes, the short growing season will limit the growth of the fish and it will be a number of years before we see fish approaching the 10-pound classification.
For a picture and description of the wiper and other places in Nevada
where they can be found, visit NDOW’s web site at www.ndow.org and
then go to the fish identification
page in the fish section.
