08/13/2026
Hybrid Report for Lake Livingston
It’s been a long time coming to write a report about Hybrid striper in Lake Livingston. It started all the way back with my brother writing letters to Texas Parks and Wildlife(TPWD) 20 years ago asking to stock hybrid in the lake. To now getting hybrid stocked yearly by TPWD!
TPWD started stocking hybrid in the lake in 2024. A lot of people are asking why, so here is the best detailed answer I can give you.
For the last 11 years lake Livingston has been dealing with serious changes to the lake due to flooding, silt, and water clarity. With that being said, the striper that TPWD stocked over the years have not done well. Striper thrive in deep cool water lakes that have a good amount of deep timber, natural creeks and rivers, and have good bait supply. Stripers are native to the Atlantic coast that have very cool water temperatures and strong currents. They can also live in fresh water if conditions are right. Lake Livingston conditions have changed for striper to stay at large numbers in the lake. It has always been a better suited lake for Hybrid in my opinion due to many things such as: warmer water temperatures, abundant amount of bait fish (thread fin and gizzard shad), the trinity river, and a good amount of timber.
When lake Livingston gets muddy which usually happens for 2-4 months in a year sometimes longer, the muddy water stresses striper. Striper rely on cold clear water to thrive, and are mostly a sight fish. Several things become a factor for lack of survival. The two main factors are: A hybrid that has the white bass gene and the striper gene can have better survival rates. Due to how white bass can survive better in warmer and muddier water given the name (sand bass).
For years TPWD gathered striper below lake Livingston’s damn to make hybrid for many of the lakes in Texas. Since 2020 the numbers have almost been non existent. With some years of them not being able to gather zero striper to make hybrid. That was one of the biggest factors for them introducing hybrid in the lake due to the poor numbers of striper. Related from TPWD were collecting them through out the last 5 years.
Some people disagreed and said that hybrid were not gonna make it in lake Livingston due to floods. Actually the first year that hybrid were stocked into lake Livingston, was a year Dallas flooded. So in result lake Livingston flooded out within weeks of the stocking. But since that year the stockings have proven in being very successful! The hybrid are thriving and the numbers are growing rapidly! In just over two years many of the first stock of hybrid are 18-20in. Many anglers are enjoying the fight, and lake Livingston is proving that it will soon be one of the top hybrid lakes in the state of TEXAS!
It took a lot of effort and hard work to make this happen. With that being said, I would like to say a big thank you to Dan Ash and his team with TPWD. From pushing this up the ladder to make it happen. I want to thank Mike Bischoff and the Lake Livingston Fishing Club for getting in contact with Dan and helping us get permits for stocking the lake as well. Thank you to TRA for donating to three years of extra stockings to the lake. And thank you to the many residents of the lake that were sending emails to TPWD for pushing for the stockings.
Many people don’t know how much effort it took get this accomplished! Also many don’t know that myself and Jeff (fishing addiction guide service) donated 5k out of our own pockets to take the chance and start the first stocking of hybrid in lake Livingston! I guess you would say “we put our money where our mouth is”, but it sure looks like it was worth it! Many people are going to enjoy catching hybrid, and I’ve already seen many people posting about them! Now let’s go have some fun and enjoy the fight!!
These are some trips from through out the summer and some recently.
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