NEWS RELEASE

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission

July 27, 1998

CONTACT: Fred Cross(850) 265-3676 David Yeager(850) 957-4172

FWC WANTS TO HEAR FROM STRIPER AND HYBRID ANGLERS ON CHOCTAWHATCHEE

If you enjoy fishing for striped bass or hybrids in the Choctawhatchee River, then the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission wants to hear from you. Your help is needed to keep an "angler diary" to aid fisheries research.

For more than 20 years both stripers and striped-white bass hybrids have been stocked in the Choctawhatchee but little information has been obtained about the survival and growth of the popular angling species. Fisheries biologists could obtain much of this information by conducting expensive angler surveys.

However, they are hoping to obtain much of the same information from area fishermen willing to record how many fish they catch each trip, sizes of the fish, presence of any tags and other data. Anglers wishing to participate can call Fisheries Biologist Fred Cross in the FWC's Panama City Office at (850) 265-3676 or David Yeager at Blackwater at (850) 957-4172.