Candlewood Striper!!

I saw this on the Book of Faces this morning!
[img]http://www.ctfisherman.com/ubbthreads/pi...0602_112450_sam[/img]

To quote "Metal Detection Expert... Gary Drayton" from the TV series "The Curse of Oak Island"...

Holy Shamoley!!!... That's a "Bobby Dazzler!!!"

Wonder how many more of them are there?

Like to see more proof. There was one caught a few years ago but now a Hybrid?

Mmmmmmmmmnaaaaaaah....

Well..... "What-If?".... "X" amount of years ago somebody(s) caught a bunch of schoolies, let's say from the Housatonic River (seeing as it's close by) put them in their livewewll, then transported them to Canlewood and proceeded to release them, possibly more than once for again "X" amount of years. Plenty of forage fish in Candlewood, that may also be a contributing factor to the trout population drop-off?

The the "HYbrid" factor,... the schoolies (that had been transplanted) banged a bunch of SMB or LMB or both GANG-BANG (I know that's not how fish reproduce, I just thought that it sounded funny.) that may be an actual explanation of how/if this is a for real catch of the Stripped Bass Hybrid?

I dunno, just sounds like it "could" be a realistic scenario to me.

It would be interesting to have the DEEP do some electroshocking to see if they can find any evidence....

doesnt suprise me at all, anyone can purchase the fingerlings from pennsylvania. Wipers live about 5-6 years and are sterile. That fish is about 5 years old.

Hybrid stripers are a cross between a striper and a white bass. I don't know of any white bass in Ct. As above, probably brought in from Pa. or Jersey where you have access to hybrid fingerlings or do a catch and release into Candlewood of a larger specimen.
The DEEP electro-shocks Candlewood most years for bass and trout and every once in a while for walleye. Both stripers and hybrids are "pelagic" meaning they orient in open water feeding on alewife herring so they are not in the shore line zone where electro-shocking takes place.
The drop off in trout is due to the drought conditions that led to massive trout kills in Candlewood a few years ago. With that, the DEEP cut the stocking of trout in Candlewood in half from up to 20,000 per year to something around 10,000 a year. The left over fish were dumped in Squantz increasing that water's allocation and probably the expanded trout parks got more.

Stripped bass are in the same family as white perch and hybrids between the two have been documented:

https://nas.er.usgs.gov/queries/FactSheet.aspx?SpeciesID=778

Being clear, I'm referring to a white perch/ stripped bass hybrid, not a white bass hybrid discussed above.

That said, it isn't unreasonable to believe that someone could have been throwing schoolies into Candlewood, it's been known to happen around CT with other fish. If it did happen, they would inhabit open water just like the white perch which also spawn in the same zones, so it's not impossible - improbable for sure, but not impossible.

Obviously the most likely explanation is that the guy caught a white hybrid elsewhere and lied about it.

I also believe that this hybrid was brought in from another state. NJ's biggest bass lake is Lake Hopatcong and that lake is stocked with hybrids. In Pa. the most popular lake for bass fishing in the Pocono area is Lake Wallenpaupak which is also stocked with hybrids and standard stripers. I have caught both hybrids and regular stripers in Wallenpaupack back when I had a hunting camp in Masthope Pa.
I would think that if stripers were inclined to spawn with white perch there would be plenty of opportunity to do so in dozens of fresh water streams such as the Mullica River in Jersey, the Hudson in NY, the Ct. and Housatonic in Ct. plus dozens of other streams where both species exist in both the fresh water and brackish water sections, yet I have never heard of a wild bred hybrid striper of either white perch or white bass.
One requirement of striper eggs is that they stay buoyant after fertilization and that the spawn occurs in fresh water. So that spawning spot requires river flow and/or tidal action to keep the eggs afloat until they hatch. You will not get natural reproduction in a lake unless the stripers can get up into a major river far enough for the eggs to float in current until they hatch. Colorado river up stream from its impoundments, the St. Johns river system in Florida, etc. would be those kind of locations but Candlewood Lake has no moving water of consequence.
So my opinion is that it was brought in alive and released to be caught again or it was brought in and claimed to have been caught in Candlewood.
The hybrid striper programs in Pa. and NJ are popular and successful. When I have mentioned this to our Inland Fisheries people they have had no interest in starting a hybrid program.

Jon, is there a link to the vid?

Here is the post from a while back about the striper on Candelwood:

Striper

Agreed...

Even though it has been documented, it was also noted how extremely difficult it would be in natural conditions.

Also, from the pics, that is 100% a striped bass/white bass hybrid.

What would anyone have to gain by fabricating the story other than 30 seconds of "fame"?

That one was seen by a few people and he was in a tournament