WHERE THE HYBRIDS ARE STOCKED
All told, the DWFF has stocked more than 18 million hybrids around Alabama since 1974, according to Nick Nichols.

The DWFF fish-stocking reports for lakes from last year showed 20,160 hybrids were stocked at Demopolis; 14,400 at Gainesville; 6,720 at Holt; 50,000 at Jones Bluff; 39,980 at Jordan; 24,000 at Lay; 46,200 at Logan Martin; 35,520 at Mitchell; 2,200 at Oliver; 18,240 at Warrior; and 34,000 at Wheeler. That's a total of 291,420 hybrids that were released into the state's waters for 2007-08.

The same stocking report from half a decade earlier shows how hybrid stocking has dropped off. In 2004-05, the state planted 566,220 hybrids in the state's waterways. Those fish -- or whatever is left of them -- should now be approaching trophy size.

The lakes that were stocked five years ago were Bankhead with 18,600; Claiborne 6,000; Demopolis 22,800; Gainesville 14,400; Holt 6,400; Jones Bluff 51,200; Jordan 40,920; Lay 24,200; Logan Martin 76,800; Madison County Lake 100; Mitchell Lake 35,520; Oliver 2,200; Warrior 18,300; and West Point 56,480.

Use the stocking information as a good starting point on your quest for hybrids and remember to go upstream to the dam above where the fish were released for the best springtime action.

TOUGH CUSTOMERS
Hybrids are tough customers, not just for their tackle-busting fighting, but also because of how fast they grow. In many ways, it makes them the ideal sport fish.

State fisheries biologists gather broodfish in March and April, which is the same time that anglers are going after stripers and white bass on Alabama waterways.

They're taken to the Marion Fish Hatchery, where the milt and eggs are harvested from the fish and placed in special brood containers. Once hatched, the fry grow rapidly, with the young fish reaching 1 1/2 inches by the time they are stocked in June. "By their first fall, they'll be 7 or 8 inches long," Nichols said. "By the following spring, they weigh 2 pounds and will be catchable size."

HOW TO TELL IF IT'S A HYBRID
To many Alabama anglers, stripes are stripes, whether they're talking about white bass, stripers or hybrids. But, according to state biologists, hybrid bass can be distinguished from striped bass by the broken lateral stripes along the lower sides of the body. Those stripes are continuous on a striped bass. Hybrids also have a deeper, thicker, shorter body form.

Hybrids can be distinguished from white bass by two tooth patches on their tongues as opposed to only one such patch on the white bass. Older hybrid bass have a much more stocky appearance than a white bass and, of course, get much bigger.

Hybrids are thought to be the most wide ranging and abundant members of the striped bass family in Cotton State waters, and specimens have been collected from the Mobile basin all the way to the Tennessee River.