Teacher Background

 

Lake Pleasant has historically been regarded as one of the premier largemouth bass fisheries in the state. However, over the past 15 years, the quality of the largemouth bass fishery has decreased, resulting in low angler satisfaction and a general concern for the health of the fishery. The leading viewpoint regarding this decline is that the recent invasion of striped bass may be responsible, in part, for the shift in size structure through competition for resources and predation. Striped bass initially entered the Central Arizona Project (CAP) canal system as eggs or larvae, entrained in Colorado River water pumped in from Lake Havasu. Preliminary results of a recent evaluation of the Lake Pleasant fishery indicate that the striped bass fishery is expanding. Lake Pleasant anglers are extremely concerned that the striped bass population has become established and will eventually out-compete the favored largemouth bass and white bass fisheries by effectively eliminating the primary prey source, threadfin shad.

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