Influences of Water Quality on Distribution of Striped Bass in a Tennessee River Impoundment

Abstract

Abstract Telemetry techniques were used to evaluate relationships between water quality and distribution of adult striped bass Morone saxatilis during an 18-month period in Watts Bar Reservoir, Tennessee. Distribution and movements of fish were influenced by water temperature and dissolved oxygen concentration. During winter and early spring, temperature was vertically and horizontally uniform, and striped bass were relatively mobile and occurred in both tributary arms as well as in the main body of the reservoir. As the reservoir warmed in summer, fish were less mobile and progressively limited to areas in the tributary arms where temperature was less than 24 C and dissolved oxygen exceeded 4 mg/liter. Parts of the tributary arms of Watts Bar Reservoir provided such areas due to hypolimnetic discharges from upstream impoundments and groundwater inflows. Striped bass were restricted to these areas until late fall, when the entire reservoir cooled and again was nearly isothermal. Knowledge of relationships...