The problem with stocking regular striped bass is that Southern summers can be very detrimental to the fish. They must have deep waters that serve as "thermal refuges" where they can escape the heat. Some waterways have documented die-offs of big striped bass due to warm water conditions.

The benefit of the hybrid is that it is much more tolerant of warm water. That characteristic makes it possible to have a lineside bass fishery in waterways that otherwise couldn't support them, like the relatively shallow Tenn-Tom Waterway.

Another advantage, Nichols said, is that the fish are sterile. If you stock hybrid bass in a waterway and later determine you don't want them there, all you have to do is wait a few years and they'll be gone.

He added that the state has been a little disappointed that anglers have not given hybrids more of a response.

"If you create a fishery and no one comes to enjoy it, what's the benefit?" he asked.

THE WARRIOR & TENN-TOM
While several lakes on the Coosa River get stockings of both hybrids and Gulf-strain stripers, the Warrior and Tenn-Tom Waterway get hybrids only.

"Those rivers just don't have the thermal refuges and stripers would be under a lot of stress there," Nichols explained.

A spot that seems unlikely -- the Sipsey Fork of the Warrior River -- holds the state record for hybrid stripers. E.H. Hodges of Chelsea caught a 25-pound, 15-ounce hybrid below Lewis Smith Dam on Sept. 13, 1996.

Although the Sipsey Fork holds the record and still has hybrid striper runs in the spring, the tailraces at Gainesville and Demopolis are considered the better places in this region for hybrid fishing.

Hybrids can also be caught below Jones Bluff and Millers Ferry dams

THE COOSA
The tailraces of Logan Martin Dam and Neely Henry Dam have to be considered the premier locations in the state to catch hybrid striped bass.

They are also great places to catch white bass and regular stripers. Nichols said you can see a pattern to the stripe fishing here, starting in mid to late March and running through the month of April.

"The white bass start moving in below the dam in mid-March to late March," Nichols described. "It can be earlier if we're having an early spring. The hybrids begin running a week or two later, usually in early April. They may be sterile, but they still exhibit that spawning behavior."

The true striped bass then follow, usually in mid to late April. Each run of fish overlaps the other somewhat, so it's possible to catch all three species on a single trip at times.

Hybrids can also be found in spring-fed creeks running into Logan Martin, such as Choccolocco Creek. The fish can sometimes be found relating to a defined channel or bunched up on humps.

Mitchell and Martin lakes also have good fishing as well. There are good numbers of hybrid stripers throughout the Coosa system, Nichols said, so any tailrace on that river is good this time of year.

The fishing seems to be best when the dams are generating power and the released water is creating current. At times, the outstanding hybrid fishing below the dams on the Coosa runs well into summer. Anglers targeting catfish sometimes catch them on chicken livers.