On Friday, May 3, Arkansas Game and Fish Commission Director Austin Booth, along with other representatives from AFGC, and representatives from Red Hills Fishery, located in Boston, Ga., met at the Hunger Run Access at Lake Monticello for a special presentation. Despite the rainy weather, there was a good number of people in attendance.
“I can assure you that this rain is not indicative of our level of excitement for being here,” Booth stated. “This is a big day for the state of Arkansas and for Southeast Arkansas especially.”
“In 2022, we set out on a journey called Natural State Tomorrow,” Booth added. “One of the goals of Natural State Tomorrow was to align the efforts of the AGFC with the interest of Arkansans. Sounds pretty simple right? One of the results of that has been basically thinking comprehensively about how we do better by Black Bass Anglers.”
Booth continued by stating that Bass anglers have a significant impact on the economy in the state. The US Fish and Wildlife Services estimates that the exact impact is roughly $1.3 billion. Booth noted that this is a lot of money, and it is because Bass angling matters to a lot of people.
“When we thought about how we are going to do better by our Black Bass anglers, to elevate the Black Bass experience that we have in Arkansas, we thought about two things, Booth said. “First, the quality of the fish that we have, and then the quality of the habitat we are providing for the fish. Where these two things come together is where the AGFC is trying extremely hard to improve what we have for the benefit of the people.”
Booth then showed a bucket of fingerling Largemouth Bass and announced that they were of the Titan Maxx strain.
“These little guys come to us from Red Hills Fishery. They may look small now, but every single one of them has the genetic potential to become absolute monster Bass that people will come from all across the country to fish for,” Booth said. “These fish have more high quality genetic markers than any other fish in the country. These fish, for the first time today, will be stocked in Lake Monticello. This is important for one reason, this is the first time in the history of our country that a fish with these genetic qualities will be stocked in public waters. This is big for the state of Arkansas, but it is also a big moment for the Black Bass community as a whole.”
“We could say a lot about Lake Monticello and it’s history and why it’s under renovation. What is most important is where we’re going from here,” Booth stated. “When we thought about which body of water in Arkansas was going to receive fish of this nature, Lake Monticello was the perfect place. The reason isn’t just the amount of habitat improvement that has been done, or the infrastructure improvements that have been made. The most important factor for us was the community that Lake Monticello serves. We are thrilled about this, we wish the rain would have cooperated, but as they say, ‘the fish don’t care about the rain’.”
Representatives from Red Hills Fishery then spoke to educate everyone on what makes the Titan Maxx strain so special. Red Hills is a fishery that solely focuses on Largemouth Bass, more specifically, the DNA and genetics of the species. With the Titan Maxx, they have found the fish with the best possible genetics and spawned them which has never been done.
“We are super excited today because since day one, we’ve had a great vision of not only helping private lake owners but the public fishermen as well,” Steven from Red Hills stated. “Today is the very first time that Titan Bass are going into a public body of water. This is monumental not only for you guys, but Red Hills as well. This has been a long time vision for us.”
Steven added that in the Titan Maxx strain they have not only studied the genetic markers, but they have also found DNA that is indicative of growing trophy bass.
Red Hills stated that in an average body of water, approximately one percent of the native fish have the genetics and DNA to reach trophy status. With the Titan Maxx, every single fish is representative of that one percent, 100 percent of them have the ability and potential to become a once in a lifetime catch.
In an ideal setting, such as Lake Monticello, Titan Maxx are expected to grow at least two pounds per year, but have been recorded growing as large as three pounds per year in smaller private lakes. This is impressive because a one pound per year growth rate is considered successful for native Largemouths.
9,250 Titan Maxx were dispersed throughout Lake Monticello today. An additional 12,950 will stocked in the coming months, bringing the total to 22,000 potential trophies swimming in Lake Monticello.
